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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Memphis Grizzlies wanted to keep Mike Conley so much that they gave their veteran point guard the richest contract in NBA history.For Conley, the basketball -- and pressure -- is in his court after signing a five-year, $153 million deal Thursday.Conleys play will be closely monitored during an upcoming season in which he will earn more than new Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant, a seven-time All-Star with four league scoring titles and an NBA Most Valuable Player award. Durant signed a two-year, $54.3 million deal.Conley doesnt expect the lucrative deal to affect his play.Its amazing the opportunity Ive been given, Conley said. As far as the pressure, its hard to really gauge that because I put pressure on myself to perform regardless. The amount of money I make is not going to change how I approach the game. Im going to continue to be aggressive and do a lot better than I did last season and the season before.Conley, a 28-year-old point guard, has played nine seasons with the Grizzlies, during which he has averaged 13.5 points and 5.6 assists. He led the Grizzlies to the 2013 Western Conference finals, the furthest the franchise has advanced in the postseason.Ill take the heat right now (on being the highest-paid NBA player), Conley said. Eventually, it will all die down. Two years from now, everybody else will be making so much more.In Conleys non-All-Star selection defense, he has played in the Western Conference with point guards Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Tony Parker and Steve Nash.Hes our All-Star, said Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace. Hes an elite point guard in this league. Its unanimous around the league that hes one of the top-tier players at his position, a very crucial position.At an on-court ceremony at FedExForum celebrating the signing, Conley announced he was donating $1 million to the Memphis Grizzlies Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aids at-risk youth in the community. The $1 million was matched by the franchises ownership group, led by majority owner Robert Pera.Conley used the news conference -- also attended by Grizzlies season-ticket holders -- to address the recent tragedy in Dallas, where five policemen were killed by a lone gunman, and the nationwide protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.Im a quiet guy, Im very reserved, he said. At the same time, as much as I want to lead by example, I know when its time to speak up. Right now is that time ... Its not about money, we have to be on the forefront to set examples for the kids. We need to become mentors for the youth.Conley has battled injuries the past few seasons and appeared in only 56 games last season because of an Achilles tendon injury. He hasnt played more than 73 games in any of the past three seasons.Ive concentrated solely on [staying healthy] during the offseason, Conley said. I want to be healthy. I want to be able to be here every night and give everything Ive got. Im doing everything I can to be able to do that.New Orleans Pelicans?forward?Anthony Davis, who has been an All-Star, previously had the richest contract in league history when he signed a five-year deal last season worth approximately $145 million.Others who have signed max contracts without All-Star game appearances include the Wizards Bradley Beal, Utahs Gordon Hayward and Oklahoma Citys Enes Kanter. Beal signed a $128 million deal this offseason. Utah matched an offer sheet from Charlotte for Hayward worth $63 million for four years in 2014, while Oklahoma City matched Portlands max four-year deal for Kanter last summer for $70 million.Were in the era of the point guard, Wallace said. Theres probably never been a greater collection. But we know Mikes value.We have nine years invested in him. And hes just gotten better and better. Hell thrive in (new) coach [David] Fizdales offense. We never gave a second thought other than doing what it took to get him. Fake Jordan . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. Air Jordan China . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. https://www.jordanchina.us/ . LOUIS -- Attorneys for the St. Jordan China . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. Wholesale Air Jordan . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. RIO DE JANEIRO -- It was 2012 all over again for the Americans on Monday in the Rio Games.Just as in London, they followed a great performance in the preliminaries of the team competition with a terrible start to the finals and finished fifth.In a lot of ways, these guys performed better than I feel we did in London, coach Mark Wiliams said. We fought through everything and theres no giving up. Gymnastics is hard and there are a lot of good teams out there on the mens side.Four years ago things went wrong when they started on the pommel horse and two of them fell. On Monday it was the floor exercise that put the team in a big hole early with both Alex Naddour and Sam Mikulak stepping out of bounds during their routines.Its obviously tough whenever you start from behind, but thats kind of the Team USA motto to never give up, never quit, fight until the end, Chris Brooks said. So we just tried to rally together and get the ball rolling.They were able to do that, turning in solid performances on the rings, vault and parallel bars to put them within striking distance of a medal. Only the uneven bars were left and Danell Leyva knew he had to be aggressive to give the team a chance.But instead of sticking his routine, he missed a connection, leaving the Americans in fifth place once more.We started it off a little rough but we were picking it up toward the end, Leyva said. I was the one who messed it up at the end. I just slipped on the bar. I really tried grabbing on and holding on as much as I could but my grip was off, like it was not on the baar, and thats why it slipped off.ddddddddddddt was a day that illustrated the rapidly increasing gap between the U.S. mens and womens teams. While the women are overwhelming favorites to win their second straight team gold, the men have slipped to the middle of the pack after winning team medals in both 2004 and 2008. Williams watched the American women dominate the field in qualifying on Sunday night and hoped it would give his group a boost.Looking at the results obviously theyre doing the right things and they looked fantastic last night, Williams said. That was one of the best gymnastics meets Ive ever watched. Weve got to come out and be on fire as well.The gymnasts werent really interested in comparing what happened in London to Mondays performance. But Leyva summed up the feelings of most of the guys rather succinctly.It feels equally bad, he said.Despite the disappointing finish the men were happy with their effort and looking forward to better results in the individual events.Even though we didnt get the placement that we wanted it was fun. We had fun down there, Brooks said. We were supporting each other. We were competing with everything we had. Its gymnastics -- sometimes it doesnt go your way, sometimes you need a little bit of luck. But I had a great time.Naddour completely agreed with his teammate and had a smile on his face as he described the day.Fifth in the world, he said. Its still pretty good. ' ' '