Today in sports

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Today in sports

June 6, 2013: The NBA Finals start in Miami; baseball picks its stars of tomorrow tonight and the ladies face off in the French Open semifinals.

THE JAMES GANG: The NBA Finals begin in Miami tonight (9 p.m., ABC) and history beckons LeBron James, if not Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James and Bosh signed with Miami to win titles and after falling in the Finals in Year 1 to Dallas, they won last year against Oklahoma City and to defend will put James and the Heat on the path to what the Big Three wanted -- a dynasty. The San Antonio Spurs, who beat James in his first Finals appearance while with Cleveland in 2007, stand in the way.

YOUR FIRST-PLACE BRAVES: The Braves play like champs at home, but will need to step up their road performance as they begin a four-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers tonight at 10:10 p.m. (SportsSouth). If you haven't seen him yet, tune in to watch 22-year-old Dodgers rookie right fielder Yasiel Puig, who already has shown an All-Star caliber arm and hit two home runs in a game in his first week with the big club.

FRENCH FOR SEMIFINAL: The women's French Open singles semis are Thursday in Paris (ESPN2 coverage begins at 9 a.m.) with Victoria Azarenka meeting Maria Sharapova (above) and Serena Williams playing Sara Errani. The expectation here is that Sharapova will meet Williams for the title on Saturday, but Sharapova showed some vulnerability with a 6-0 loss in the first set of her quarterfinal.

STARS OF TOMORROW: The baseball amateur draft begins Thursday night with the first and second rounds. The Braves have a first-round supplemental choice (No. 31) and a second-rounder. The top two local players who are expected to go in the top 10-15 picks include Clint Frazier (right) and Austin Meadows, both of Loganville. The draft continues on Friday and Saturday.

OLD-TIME HOCKEY: Or at least old-time hockey towns are alive and moving inexorably toward a Stanley Cup Finals. The Boston Bruins took a 3-0 lead in the Eastern finals on Wednesday night and the Chicago Blackhawks will try to take a 3-1 stranglehold on the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (9 p.m., NBCSN) in the Western finals. It would set up a Cup final of two of the Original Six teams that formed the NHL for its first 25 years, and lead inevitably to grainy highlight film of Chicago's Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull from the 1960s and the famous Bobby Orr clinching goal for Boston in the 1970 final.

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THE JAMES GANG: The NBA Finals begin in Miami tonight (9 p.m., ABC) and history beckons LeBron James, if not Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James and Bosh signed with Miami to win titles and after falling in the Finals in Year 1 to Dallas, they won last year against Oklahoma City and to defend will put James and the Heat on the path to what the Big Three wanted -- a dynasty. The San Antonio Spurs, who beat James in his first Finals appearance while with Cleveland in 2007, stand in the way.

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