OAKLAND, Calif. - The San Antonio Spurs held off a furious final rally to beat the Golden State Warriors 94-82 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Western Conference finals.

Tim Duncan had 19 points and six rebounds, Kawhi Leonard scored 16 points and the Spurs won the series in six games.

Tony Parker shook off a poor start to score 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. Tiago Splitter added a career-playoff high 14 points for San Antonio, which led by 13 late in the third quarter.

BOSTON - Brad Marchand scored with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

Marchand, Boston's top goal scorer in the regular season, got his first of the post-season on a pass from Patrice Bergeron. Marchand had carried the puck up the right side, passed it to Bergeron and kept going toward the net. Bergeron passed across the slot and Marchand tipped it past goalie Henrik Lundqvist from the left side of the crease.

BOSTON - Good things happen for the Bruins in overtime. Even for Brad Marchand.

Boston's leading goal-scorer during the regular season scored his first of the post-season with 4:20 left in the first overtime and the Bruins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Thursday night in the first playoff game in 40 years between the Original Six teams.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - For the New York Knicks, it was about playing harder, even if not really much better.

Saving their season would be more about effort than execution.

"Tonight it was just one of them days where you just got to leave it out there on the basketball court," Carmelo Anthony said.

Now they have to do it two more times.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Even as numbers on a roster, the Pittsburgh Penguins' power play appears intimidating.

At times on the ice, it looks borderline unfair.

Start with two NHL MVPs in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Add a future Hall of Famer like Jarome Iginla and a Norris Trophy finalist in defenceman Kris Letang. Throw in a grinder to do the dirty work in Chris Kunitz and the Penguins have a unit that's an electric mix of skill, speed and grit.

TREVISO, Italy - Sprinter Mark Cavendish won the rainy 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Thursday for his 100th career victory, while Vincenzo Nibali maintained his overall lead.

Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins dropped out of contention, finishing more than 3 1/2 minutes behind the main pack as he struggled with a cold and chest infection. There were questions over whether he would withdraw overnight.

ROME - Six-time champion Rafael Nadal overcame one of the worst opening sets of his career to edge Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Thursday and reach the Italian Open quarterfinals.

Nadal's performance, and sometimes sluggish movement on the court, raised questions about whether he will be able to successfully defend his title at the French Open. The year's second Grand Slam starts in 10 days.

WASHINGTON - Alex Ovechkin played the last two games of the Washington Capitals' season with what the team said Thursday is a hairline fracture in his left foot.

Ovechkin was hurt during Game 6 of Washington's first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, a 1-0 loss on Sunday. The Capitals didn't explain specifically how their captain got injured, but Ovechkin did get up a bit gingerly after dropping to the ice to block a shot in the first period.

CANNES, France - Sofia Coppola was just 8 years old when she first came to the Cannes Film Festival. Her father, Francis Ford Coppola, was there to premiere a work-in-progress cut of a film he had spent years wrestling with: "Apocalypse Now."

BOSTON - Boston Marathon runners who were stopped on the course when bombs went off at the finish line, including many Canadians, will have a chance to come back and run again next year, race organizers said on Thursday.