Antlers duo working out in San Jose

Kashima Antlers midfielders Mitsuo Ogasawara and Masashi Motoyama have both been training with the San Jose Earthquakes and will be on trial through the end of the week, the Major League Soccer club said on its official website Wednesday.

The former Japan internationals have been at the Earthquakes' training facility since Monday, competing in short-field drills on their first day of training and a full session on Tuesday.

But a Kashima official said, "They (Ogasawara and Motoyama) are just taking part in practice as a way of extending their personal training."

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Bolt working out hard ahead of worlds in South Korea

PARIS — Usain Bolt blames his laid-back personality for being injured last season and insists he has learned from his mistakes, pledging to eradicate any complacency ahead of the world championships in South Korea.

The Jamaican sprinter said the back and Achilles' tendon problems that hampered him in 2010 came about due to his casualness in failing to stretch properly.

"My coach said that I will never get an easy year again because when I get it easy, I get lazy," Bolt said Wednesday. "I think I got a little bit too laid-back last season because it was an offseason for us and I was trying to take it easy not to pressure my body too much. I backed off doing my back exercises, stuff like that. That's part of the reason I got injured last year.

"For me, the key thing is just to learn from your mistakes. So now I have learned. All I have to do now is work toward just being a better person and just being a better athlete."

Bolt made a belated start to the season because he was exempt from the Jamaican nationals for the worlds, which will be staged Aug. 27-Sept. 4 in Daegu, South Korea. He still has the quickest 200 time of the year after clocking 19.86 in Oslo last month.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist will have a new bulked-up physique when he faces European champion Christophe Lemaitre of France in the 200 meters of the Areva meet on Friday.

"I've been working a lot on my back. I've been strengthening my hamstring. As you can see, I've got a little bit more muscle this year because I've been really putting a lot of emphasis on that," Bolt said. "I've set a standard for myself which is really high. People don't understand that with sport comes injury. When you get injured, it's hard to get back sometimes. You got to really work hard."

The last sprinter to beat Bolt after his victory in the 100 at Stockholm last year, No. 1 rival Tyson Gay pulled out of the U.S. nationals last month with an injured hip and won't even run at the worlds as a relay member.

Despite the absence of Gay, Bolt said he won't underestimate the rest of the field in South Korea.

"This season, I personally think he pushed himself a little bit too much," Bolt said. "When you get injured, you got to make sure you're fully fit before you start going back into 100 percent work. I can't get complacent because Tyson dropped out. I won't get complacent because it's all about business.

"My goal is just to defend my titles. I want to become a legend in the sport."

Those titles he won in 2009 brought world records of 9.58 seconds in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200, breaking the marks he set a year earlier at the Beijing Olympics.

Bolt said former world record holder Asafa Powell is a contender at the worlds after his Jamaican teammate ran the fastest 100 in 2011 with a time of 9.78 last week in Lausanne, Switzerland. The best Bolt has run is 9.91, in Rome and Ostrava, Czech Republic.

"Asafa just posted a wonderful time," Bolt said. "That meant he's back in business."

For now, however, Bolt's sights are set on Lemaitre. They have squared off only once this year, the Jamaican coming out on top in the 100 at the Golden Gala meet in Rome in May.

But Bolt's priority will be refining his technique to improve the fluency of his stride.

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Nowitzki's title-or-bust approach working so far

DALLAS — The biggest party of Dirk Nowitzki's career was going strong. Teammates, friends and the rest of the 20,000 people who had been screaming "MVP!" since the first quarter were on their feet in appreciation of him and the Dallas Mavericks.

Hungry: Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki is in his second NBA Finals and is doing all he can to win a championship. AP PHOTO

And Nowitzki wanted no part of it.

A few minutes into the celebration for winning the Western Conference, Nowitzki pried off his new 2011 NBA Finals cap and headed to the locker room.

Reaching the NBA Finals no longer qualifies as a big deal to Nowitzki. He's been there before, in 2006. He was the league's MVP in 2007. He carried Germany's flag into the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics.

As he's made clear on and off the court the last six weeks, all that matters is winning a championship.

"There is no second-place finish in this league," he said. "You get nothing for losing the finals."

The team doesn't. But Nowitzki will walk away from this postseason with a new reputation regardless of whether the Mavs or Miami Heat are crowned champions.

Sure, he's long been an All-Star and a perennial pick for All-NBA, and that MVP award didn't come in a Cracker Jack box. But honors usually have come with the disclaimer, "Yeah, he's a great scorer, but ..." Nowitzki has lacked the unqualified, widespread admiration and appreciation from the average fan.

By powering Dallas past Portland, sweeping the Lakers and showing the Thunder how the big boys get things done this time of year, Nowitzki has redefined his legacy.

"This ride he's been on has been incredible," teammate Jason Kidd said.

Nowitzki is averaging 28.4 points per game in the playoffs, 0.2 behind Kevin Durant for the best overall. He's scored 40 twice, including 48 in the opener of the conference finals.

The real eye-popper is his average of 9.7 points per fourth quarter, the best by anyone in the postseason since 2006 and the best of anyone to get out of the second round since 2003, according to STATS LLC. Among those he trumps are the best by recent NBA Finals MVPs Kobe Bryant (9.6), Paul Pierce (9.0) and Dwyane Wade (8.8).

Heat forward Udonis Haslem covered Nowitzki in the 2006 Finals. He knows the guy he's going to cover the next two weeks will be a much tougher challenge.

Nowitzki has put to rest the idea he's a big man who shoots 3-pointers but is afraid to mix it up in the paint.

"He's just as big a threat down low as he is on the perimeter," Haslem said. "He's a complete player and right now he might be the best player in the playoffs."

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