make it.The Rice Lake High School band also played during pregame

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Hes back. Hes back among the greats. Six months after his return to the circuit, Juan Martin del Potro reminded everyone in Rio de Janeiro that he belongs among the very best.The former world No. 4 and 2009 US Open winner made it clear that after several wrist surgeries he belongs in the top 10 when healthy. He managed to defeat Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the Rio Olympics, becoming the only Argentine tennis player to win two Olympic medals.One month before turning 28, the extremely powerful Tower of Tandil made the podium once again in his second Olympic appearance. He took the bronze medal in London 2012, and this time, he won silver, stopped only by Andy Murray in the final match.Gabriela Sabatini was the first of Argentinas tennis players to step on an Olympic podium; her silver was followed by three bronze medals by the country (Javier Frana and Christian Miniussi in doubles at Barcelona in 1992 and then by Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini in doubles at Athens in 2004).To the surprise of almost everyone, del Potro reached his 26th final in a tournament where he drew a tough opening match against Djokovic. Del Potro later showed authority and character in overcoming Nadal in the semifinals. Del Potro has been back for six months, and hes already challenging the tennis elite.With his massive serve and forehand, plus a backhand that is slowly starting to regain strength, del Potro showed great mental strength to prevail in the most challenging circumstances. This was his first final in 2? years (Sydney, 2014).Del Potro is now a seasoned player, hardened by the impact of his four wrist surgeries and the threat of early retirement. Hes mature enough to fully appreciate the Olympic environment. Hes no longer that kid who surprised the world by defeating the very best to win the US Open. Hes now showed another side of his personality by sharing celebrations with his fans, and even embracing some of them as he did after beating Nadal on Saturday.It became increasingly clear that del Potros No. 141 ranking is a poor indication of his ability. Its a shame, really, that the Olympics dont give ranking points, because with his great performance, he could have made up a lot of ground.But if he goes on playing like this, del Potro will soon improve his ranking. He will, because he is one of the greats, and not just physically. It was not by chance that he crushed Nadal in the 2009 US Open semifinals and then overcame Roger Federer to win his only Grand Slam final two days later.Its not by some quirk of fate that del Potro has managed 37 wins against top 10 contenders. Before Djokovic and Nadal in Rio, del Potro took out Stan Wawrinka, the world No. 5, at Wimbledon. This explains why del Potro is so greatly respected by all his rivals.A month ago, del Potro returned to Davis Cup -- after almost four years -- to provide a key point in doubles. Theres a big semifinal coming in Glasgow a month from now against Murrays Great Britain team, the reigning Davis Cup champions. So del Potros performance in Rio was crucial toward building up his confidence.Im living a dream once again, del Potro said in Rio on Sunday.And what he did was the stuff of dreams. He was awarded a silver medal, but his achievements were truly golden. Cheap Sabres Jerseys Authentic . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Cheap Buffalo Sabres Jerseys . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. http://www.cheapsabresjerseys.com/ . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Wholesale Sabres Jerseys . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Cheap Sabres Jerseys . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. MINNEAPOLIS -- Andre Drummond flexed his muscles, bowed his back and enforced his will on the Minnesota Timberwolves.And the free-falling pups showed they wanted nothing to do with Detroits monster in the middle, raising alarm bells all over Minnesota.Drummond had 22 points and 22 rebounds for his second straight 20-20 game and the Pistons cruised to a 117-90 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday night.His energy was great, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. He was dominant. He was all over the boards.Marcus Morris had 15 points and seven rebounds and the Pistons had their way with Minnesotas struggling defense, hitting 14 of 29 3-pointers. Detroit came into the game second-to-last in the NBA averaging just 7.1 made 3s per game.Andrew Wiggins scored 16 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolves.Drummond had his third 20-20 game of the season and 10th since 2014-15, the most in the NBA during that span, and Detroit won for the fourth time on the road in the last five games after starting the season 1-8 away from home.I give my all every night, Drummond said. When the balls falling the right way like that, my energy kept going up more and more as the game went on because everything was kind of going the right way that night.Van Gundy has been harping on Drummond to give more consistent effort night-in and night-out, and he beamed that he has gotten three straight strong performances from his All-Star center.Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau is having even more difficulty squeezing energy out of his team and said he was very concerned that his message is not getting through to a team that is 6-17.Im going to keep coming. I dont go away, Thibodeau vowed. Im going to look at everything, re-examine. Somethings being missed. Its got to change.Detroit broke the game open in the third quarter, hitting six 3s during a 31-10 run that bled into the fourth and prompted boos from a sparse Target Center crowd.Reggie Jackson scored 16 points in his fourth game back from a left knee injury.REELING WOLVESMinnesota has lost seven of its last eight games and has not wonn at home since Nov.dddddddddddd 17.We can accept making mistakes and dont make shots, said Ricky Rubio, who had 10 points. Playing with no heart, with no desire, its just awful. Right now, its just bad.Thibodeau said everything is on the table as he looks to fix things, including lineup changes.Something is not right, he said. We have to find the answer to that.LONG DISTANCEThe Wolves started out the season as the best 3-point shooting team in the NBA, an enormous improvement from recent seasons when they have languished near the bottom of the league. They have steadily regressed to the mean, however, and made just 3 of 16 3s on Friday night. They went through a stretch of 13 straight misses before Brandon Rush made one, his first since Nov. 1, in garbage time.HOMECOMINGPistons rookie Henry Ellenson is from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, a two-hour drive from Target Center. Ellenson said more than 150 people were making the trip for his first game in Minnesota. It was such an anticipated night that Rice Lake High School rescheduled its boys and girls basketball games so more people from the town could make it.The Rice Lake High School band also played during pregame warmups.The vocal contingent cheered Put in Henry! as the game got out of hand in the fourth, and cheered wildly when he finally entered with four minutes to play.TIP-INSPistons: F Jon Leuer, a native of Orono, also made a homecoming. He scored 17 points. ... Drummond air-balled a free throw in the first quarter.Timberwolves: F Adreian Payne was ejected in the fourth quarter for elbowing Morris. ... F Nemanja Bjelica missed the game with a sore right ankle. ... Gorgui Dieng had 13 points and seven rebounds.UP NEXTPistons: Detroit heads home to host Philadelphia on Sunday.Timberwolves: Minnesota stays home to host the Golden State Warriors, who will be playing the second night of a back-to-back, on Sunday.---This story has been corrected to show that Drummond has three 20-20 games this season, not five. ' ' '