PORTLAND, Ore. Tim Hudson Jersey . -- Nate McMillan came to Portland in 2005 with a mission to rebuild the Trail Blazers into a Western Conference contender and repair the once-proud franchises tattered image with its adoring fan base. The dignity and respect have largely been restored, but the division titles and playoff successes have proven more difficult to come by. And with the losses getting uglier each time they hit the court, the Blazers brass felt it was time for McMillan to go and to start the process all over again. McMillan was fired on Thursday as part of a massive overhaul by team owner Paul Allen and President Larry Miller that also included the release of former No. 1 overall draft pick Greg Oden and came one day after a 42-point drubbing in New York. In an evening news conference, Miller said the decision was challenging but "unavoidable." "The moves that we made...today really set us up for this summer with the draft and with free agency, to really be able to move in the direction that we want to move in and make this team better," Miller said. McMillans firing, which was first reported by Yahoo! Sports, means three-quarters of the nucleus that was supposed to lead the Blazers back to greatness is gone. With McMillan drawing up the plays for All-Star guard Brandon Roy and forward LaMarcus Aldridge, and with Oden getting acclimated to the league as a prized rookie, the Blazers won 54 games in 2008-09 and looked to be a team on the rise. But Roy was forced to retire in December because of recurring knee problems and Oden saw yet another season go down the drain when he had his third microfracture knee surgery in February. The Blazers waived him on Thursday to make room for several players arriving via trades. "Thats hard to come back from, but we feel weve set a course," Acting General Manager Chad Buchanan said. "Obviously LaMarcus Aldridge is an All-Star player in our league. Weve got a lot of room to spend this summer. Weve got some really attractive draft picks. We feel good about the direction were setting ourselves with." Assistant coach Kaleb Canales was made interim head coach, leaving Aldridge as the only franchise face left from that promising core. "Hard to see coach Nate go," Aldridge tweeted. "He was my coach since day one and Ive grown a lot under his coaching." The Blazers also traded veteran centre Marcus Camby to the Rockets for centre Hasheem Thabeet and point guard Jonny Flynn and versatile forward Gerald Wallace to the Nets for centre Mehmet Okur and forward Shawne Williams on Thursday in a house-cleaning for a team that had lost seven of its last 10 games to fall out of the Western Conference playoff race. Portland is 20-23 and in 12th place in the West, last in the Northwest Division. "Some tough trades today & letting Nate go but had to face reality of how the season was going," Allen tweeted. "Now (the Blazers are) focusing on future." McMillan went 266-269 in over six seasons as coach of the Blazers and led them to the playoffs the previous three seasons. But the Blazers failed to make it out of the first round in each of those trips to the post-season, and the warning signs started to pop up pretty early that this season was going to be rough. General manager Rich Cho was abruptly fired in late May, just weeks before the NBA draft. Once the lockout was lifted in December, Roy, the heart and soul of the team, retired after the Blazers used the amnesty clause on his contract, Aldridge was slowed in camp by a heart condition and Oden was on the operating table again in February. The chemistry in the locker room, and on the court, seemed to disintegrate as well. Aldridge made the All-Star team after quickly recovering from his heart ailment, but point guard Raymond Felton has bounced in and out of the starting lineup, shooting guard Jamal Crawford has openly complained about the way he has been utilized and the competitiveness has vanished. They trailed by as many as 29 points in a loss at Indiana on Tuesday, then got embarrassed by the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. All six of their losses in March have come by double digits. "The fight has to be within everybody and not just a few guys," Camby said after the game. McMillan leaves with the third-most victories in Blazers history, behind Jack Ramsay and Rick Adelman. He is just the second coach in NBA history to improve a team by at least nine wins or more in three straight seasons and helped instil a new culture of accountability for a team that was plagued by malcontents like Darius Miles and Zach Randolph before he arrived. The Blazers are the fourth team to change head coaches this season. Sacramentos Paul Westphal and Washingtons Flip Saunders were fired and Mike DAntoni resigned from New York. McMillan and DAntoni served as assistants on Team USA when the team took home the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. The 34-year-old Canales has been with the Blazers since 2004, starting as a video intern and being promoted to video co-ordinator before being named assistant coach in 2008. Miller said the search for a permanent coach and general manager would begin after the season. "(Canales) has great connection with our player, he has great enthusiasm for the game, and we just thought that to give someone like Caleb the opportunity to finish out the season for us was the right thing to do." Tom Brady Jersey . On Friday, Ben Zobrist clubbed the go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning, and Tampa Bay snapped a season-long seven-game skid with a 2-1 victory. The Rays (56-39), who have been a huge surprise this season, moved back into first place in the AL East, a half-game ahead of Boston, which lost to the LA Angels of Anaheim. Matt Hasselbeck Nike Jersey . It took the eighth longest game in NHL history to do it. Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal 9:03 into the fourth overtime by deflecting a pass from Stephane Robidas as the Stars eliminated the pesky San Jose Sharks 2-1 in a game that ended early Monday morning - the longest game in the NHL playoffs this season, and the longest in San Jose history. Dwight Freeney Youth Jersey . Et pour la huitième fois, il faudra disputer un septième et ultime match. Michael Cammalleri et Brian Gionta ont tous deux profité de doubles avantages numériques pour marquer, mardi, et lancer le Canadien vers une victoire de 2-1 qui lui a permis de rester en vie dans sa série du premier tour contre les Bruins. Fred Jackson Elite Jersey . will play for Russia instead of the United States after the International Tennis Federation approved the switch on Thursday. Andrew Luck Jersey . The left-hander takes the mound for the third installment of a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Catch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 8pm et/5pm pt. Friday night, Johan Santana threw the first no-hitter in Mets history and yesterday afternoon R.TORONTO - Andy Murray politely described his stay in Toronto as "one of the best weeks Ive had," when it would have been just as accurate to describe his run at the Rogers Cup as one of the best weeks anyone could have on the ATP World Tour. The 23-year-old from Scotland beat the top-ranked player in the world on Saturday, and he followed it with a win over No. 2 on Sunday, winning the tournament with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Roger Federer at Rexall Centre. It was his first title of the year. Murray has become the first man to repeat in Canada since Andre Agassi successfully defended his title 15 years ago. He also became only the fifth player to beat both Rafael Nadal and Federer in the same tournament. "Winning a tournament is always great," Murray said. "This is the first time Ive beat Roger and Rafa in the same tournament, which is probably the most pleasing thing. And I didnt drop a set against either of them -- so its good for the confidence for the next few weeks." Play was delayed several times by rain at York University, where the players also had to combat the heat and oppressive humidity in the US$2.43-million event. Murray claimed $443,500 with the win, while Federer had to settle for $222,000 with the loss. "I feel great," Murray said. "Any time you win a tournament, youre obviously incredibly happy. Theres a sense of relief, especially at the end of a match like today, where youre up, and then you get delayed and he comes back at you." It was the first time the two men had met since Jan. 31, when Federer rolled to a straight sets win to claim the Australian Open. It was the 16th Grand Slam win of Federers career, more than any other player in the game. "I thought he played well," Federer said. "He wasnt giving me much and he clutch-served at the very end when he had to. He deserved the victory." In the doubles final, Americans Bob and Mike Bryan won their seventh title of the season with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra of France. Rain delayed the start of the match by 15 minutes, and when play finally began, Murray seemed intent on blasting Federer from the stadium before fans could dry their seats. The defending champion jumped out with an early break, and broke Federer for a second time to go up 3-0 before the match was 10 minutes old. Federer had arrived in Toronto looking to recapture his lost form, six weeks after playing in his last competitive match, a quarter-final loss at Wimbledon. He hadd taken a rare step -- for him -- by enlisting the help of a coach (American Paul Annacone), and declared he would "love to win another 10 Wimbledons, another five French Opens, an Olympic gold in London, a Davis Cup and whatever -- you name it. Wes Welker Nike Jersey. " After being held to only two points through the first two games on Sunday, Federer broke back to get to 3-1 and continued the comeback through the first set. He climbed all the way to 5-5 when Murray double-faulted his way to a break, but then Federer lost his own serve and lost the set with Murray on serve. Murray was on serve with Federer up 2-1 in the second set when rain made its second appearance of the afternoon. Players were sent first to their umbrellas, and then to their dressing room during a delay that stretched to more than 45 minutes. Murray held serve to level the second set at 2-2 when the chair umpire called the two men back to their umbrellas just moments after play resumed. A storm rolled in just after 4 p.m. local time, sending everyone scurrying for cover. Play resumed just after 5 p.m., with Murray on serve, up 3-2 in the second set. Federer seemed to have a burst of energy as the skies cleared, but he struggled to contain Murrays booming serve down the stretch, especially as it screamed past 220 km/h. "The rain delays completely kind of shut it down for me to get any kind of rhythm," Federer said. "It was played at a couple of points here and there. It didnt even feel like the end of the match, you know? All of the sudden, it was all over." Murray broke Federer to go up 6-5 and serve for the win. The match finally ended when Federer hit his final return long, after another series of booming shots from Murray. "With all the physical strain I had to go through this week, honestly, Im actually feeling pretty good, considering," Federer said. "Thats definitely a good sign for whats to come." Organizers had announced earlier on Sunday that the event had set an attendance record in Toronto, with 161,467 fans streaming onto the university campus throughout the week. The tournament made history on Saturday when the top four-ranked players in the world played in the semifinal round, with Federer beating Novak Djokovic and with Murray beating Nadal. "I felt pretty good this week, and I prepared well for the tournament," Murray said. "I just wanted to go for my shots more this week, you know, play the way that I felt like playing and it definitely worked." ' ' '