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ELIZABETH, N.J. -- NBA referees will be cracking down this season on the kind of hits to the groin area that resulted in Draymond Greens suspension during the NBA Finals.They also will more closely monitor traveling after complaints from coaches that players are getting away with too many steps on the perimeter.The referees were informed and instructed about those items this week during their preseason meetings and training camp.The hits to the groin -- termed unnatural acts by the league -- are a point of emphasis after a number of situations involving Green during the postseason. Golden States All-Star forward had a habit of flailing his arms or legs and a few times made contact with opponents in the groin area.He was finally suspended after hitting Clevelands LeBron James during the Finals and missed Game 5 because of an accumulation of flagrant foul points. Cleveland rallied to beat Golden State for the title in seven games.Joe Borgia, the NBA senior vice president of replay and referee operations, said players are no longer just swinging their arms in attempt to draw a foul when taking a shot.Now all of a sudden legs are coming out in different directions at weird times, theyre coming higher, he said. Well, for the protection of the players, were going to stop it.Another point of emphasis is making sure players are allowed freedom of movement away from the ball.Critics have long griped that walking isnt called enough in the NBA, and coaches shared the complaint with officials at their recent meeting. Referees will watch especially for players who spot up behind the 3-point arc looking to shoot, but then are chased off by a defender and often get away with an extra step as they begin their dribble.Also, referees manning the Replay Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, will continue to be given greater responsibility this season. Owners will vote on a plan in October to have the replay official make the ruling on all plays that are reviewed, except for ones involving flagrant fouls and fights.Former referee Lee Jones was voted the winner of the inaugural Greg Willard Spirit Award, recognizing a current or former official for his service, professionalism and leadership. Jones officiated 1,749 regular-season games and 71 playoff games from 1971-96.Bob Delaney, the NBAs vice president of referee operations and director of officials, said if an active referee wins the award, he would for one game wear the former No. 57 of Willard, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2013 at 54. Brook Lopez Bucks Jersey . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Vin Baker Bucks Jersey . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. http://www.nbabucksproshop.com/Authentic-Glenn-Robinson-Bucks-Jersey/ . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. Brook Lopez Jersey . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Eric Bledsoe Jersey . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. For the first time in 14 years, neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal will be among the worlds top eight men playing at the ATP Finals. The poignant reality is injuries have dogged them so much this year that both were forced to call it a season within six weeks of each other.The last time they were anywhere near a tennis court together was in street clothes. Federer flew in for the opening of Nadals new tennis academy in Mallorca, Spain, in mid-October, another sign that the end of their tour-dominating days is upon us.Nobody likes Federers and Nadals absences, or these force-fed glimpses of how the tour will looks a little less lustrous when their departure is permanent, especially if some of the #nextgen hopefuls the ATP has been promoting dont get on with dominating already. (Yes, Nick Kyrgios, were especially looking at you and your latest questionable move. )Federer and Nadal may yet rise up here or there and grab another Grand Slam title. Or two. But all the wishful thinking in the world wont bring their heydays back. And Federer and Nadal both know it.The two are good friends, and they smiled a little wistfully at each other at the ribbon-cutting for Nadals academy last month. They publicly commiserated about their season-ending injuries and beat back retirement questions. They seemed like two aging lions hoping to stay in the title hunt as long as they can. Even the gift that Nadal presented Federer as thanks for coming -- a poster with photographs from all 34 matches theyve played, many of them epics -- underscored how much time is under the bridge. Nadal was ranked a pedestrian eighth in this weeks world rankings, and Federer has slid to No. 16 because of his inactivity.And yet, while the 30-year-old Nadal is five years younger than Federer, its Federer who seems to have more jump in his step and big hopes in mind. The Swiss star had never had an injury that required surgery until he hurt his meniscus in January at the Australian Open and had his knee repaired. This is new territory for him, and he told Nadal hes taken heart during his rehab work from Nadals many injury comebacks before his left wrist gave out this year.Youve done it a million times, Federer said, so I can be inspired by the way you made it look so easy when you came back. You came back to the worlds top 10, top five, even world No 1. Thats something that Im going to be thinking about when I come back to the tour in January.Nadal hasnt been as specific as Federer about how much longer he wants to play: I am enjoying what I am doing, especially when I am healthy; when Im not healthy, for sure I dont enjoy it, Nadal allowed. But when asked if he knew in his own mind when he might retire, Nadal dismissed the suggestion he knows his end is very near.I cant give an answer to questions that I cannot answer to myself, Nadal said. If you start to think about when youre going to retire, then your work is not 100 percent focused on what you want to do. So I cant say and I cant think about it now. Im not worried about it at all.dddddddddddd When it happens, it happens. When that day arrives I am sure I will know it.Its not a day for which I have to prepare.He has a point. Theres an old saying in boxing that the truth will find you inside the ring. The same is true in tennis. Theres nowhere to hide on the court and no teammates to carry you. Though Federer still reliably pops up in tournament semifinals, even at the Slams, he hasnt won a major since Wimbledon in 2012 and hasnt won a title of any sort since October of 2014.That kind of drought can -- and has -- driven off a lot of less relentlessly optimistic and well-balanced champions into quitting. Many wouldve said forget it a long time ago. Not Federer. In a video interview posted on the ATP website after he pulled out of the US Open, he actually called these tougher times something he finds super interesting, and almost, in some ways, something fun. His reasoning? He said hes never had a five-month gap like this to repair his body and work on his game since turning pro.Nadals future is cloudier. Hes looked like a man with too many hard miles on the odometer for a while now. He did win two titles early this year, but he didnt get past the third round of any major in 2016 and hasnt won a Grand Slam title since the 2014 French Open. Yet true to his full-tilt personality, it took Nadal a while to give into the reality he, too, needed to call it a year. Its probably telling for all his greatness that hes never won the year-end finals. The best he could do was a second-place finish, twice.Nadal now concedes he was still in pain when he played singles and doubles in the Rio Olympics, and again all through his lackluster fall campaign in which he lost a five-set shocker to Lucas Pouille in the fourth round of the US Open and then dismissed by Grigor Dimitrov in Beijing. A week later, Nadal suffered a first-round loss against Viktor Troicki in Shanghai, another opponent he used to trounce.So Federer and Nadal were wise to quit punishing themselves and put off their returns until the new year, even if the ATP Finals will miss them. Federer, who won the title six times and finished the runner-up four other years, has been posting photos on Facebook and Instagram about how hes been spending his time in Switzerland hiking the Alps, while getting in a light hit on a modest-looking clay court and doing agility drills in a low-ceiling gym.On Monday, Nadal tweeted a photo of himself at a mountain lookout point at Sainte-Agnes on the Cote dZur of France, along with the message: Just resting these days.Both spots look beautiful. But its different than seeing Nadal and Federer walk on-court at an ATP Finals, unzip their racket covers and then hunker down across the net from each other knowing a three- or four-hour epic might be just ahead.Those days were great.Those days increasingly feel gone. ' ' '