There was nothing second-rate about their performance, but second place is where Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir find themselves following their short program in the ice dance event on Sunday. Following a pattern that has become all too familiar for the defending Olympic champions, the American team of Meryl Davis and Charlie White bested Virtue and Moir by a margin of 2.56 points at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi to take top spot. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov fed off the pro-Russian crowd and tallied a 73.04, putting them in bronze-medal position heading into Mondays free dance (10:00 a.m. ET, streaming live at cbc.ca/olympics). Virtue and Moir, skating to Ella Fitzgeralds Dream a Little Dream of Me, put their slip-up in the team event far in the rear view mirror with a seemingly flawless performance, carving perfect turns, nailing their rotational lifts and staying in sync during their twizzle sequences. As the music ended and they struck their final pose, Moir let out a triumphant "Yes!", knowing that the skate represented one of their best performances of the season. Their joy was short-lived though, as their score of 76.33 came in below their season best score of 77.59 at the Grand Prix Finals in December, leaving the door wide open for the reigning world champions Davis and White, who set a new short dance world record with a score of 78.89. Canadas other medal hopefuls, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, skated a strong routine that earned them a 65.93, good for seventh place. The third Canadian entry, featuring Toronto-born Alexandra Paul and Barries Mitchell Islam, skated a light, airy and up-tempo routine, marred only by a small bobble on the opening twizzle by Paul. The 2010 world junior silver medallists finished with a score of 55.91, putting them in 18th place. Virtue and Moir have some work to do to catch the leaders, but they were still happy with how the day unfolded. "It was a really fun performance," the 24-year-old Virtue told CBC Sports. "Obviously, you are here to defend your title. You also want to have fun. You still love what you do." Moir, 26, said that it was this type of performance that has kept them going for the last four years. "Its definitely the reason we keep going. To be on this stage representing Canada, its a huge thing for Tessa and I to be part of a fantastic Olympic Canadian team." Moir added that they still get plenty of enjoyment out of competitions like these. "We love what we do. We love skating together. We have a lot of special moments, and that was one of them." Sundays short dance marked the third head-to-head battle between the Canadians and Americans at these Olympics. Davis and White beat Virtue and Moir by three points in the short dance portion of the team event early in the Games, and repeated the feat in the free dance portion with a seven-point victory. The two rivals bring contrasting styles to the sport. Virtue and Moir boast an elegant and flowing style, and a sense of unison that no other team can match, thanks to nearly 17 years as an on-ice tandem. Davis and White, on the other hand, typically display a faster and bolder technique than the Canadian duo, albeit one with arguably less precision. Virtue and Moir have laid claim to an Olympic gold medal in Vancouver, two world titles and six Canadian championships during their careers, but theyve consistently come up short against the American pair over the past two seasons, including at the 2013 world championship in Virtues hometown of London, Ont. What makes the rivalry even more peculiar, if not slightly peculiar, is the fact they share not only the same training facility in Canton, Mich., but also the same coach and choreographer, Russian-born Marina Zoueva. Zoueva has coached Davis and White for the past 14 years, and has been working with Virtue and Moir for 10 years. While they arent close friends with the Americans off the ice, Virtue and Moir have often said that they have a good relationship with them and that both sides enjoy the friendly rivalry. Another storyline that has surrounded the athletes since the team event, an alleged judging scandal, has fortunately faded into the background. During the opening weekend, the French sports publication LEquipe had reported that the American and Russian judges were conspiring against Canada in order to assure a gold medal for Russia in the team competition and gold for the U.S., in ice dancing. Despite being at the centre of the controversy, Virtue and Moir insist that the rumours havent affected their focus on or off the ice. Chris Webber Kings Jersey . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. Jason Williams Jersey . Case in point: LeBron James vs. Ben McLemore. 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Costa Rica followed up its surprise win over Uruguay with another World Cup stunner on Friday, beating four-time champion Italy 1-0 to secure a spot in the next round and eliminate England in the process.SALT LAKE CITY -- The Denver Nuggets have been struggling to close out games, so theyve resorted to just trying to win quarters. Andre Miller, the oldest player on the team, showed his teammates how its done. Miller scored nine of his season-high 15 points in the fourth period and the Nuggets defeated the winless Utah Jazz 100-81 on Monday night. "Weve been struggling, just like the Jazz," the 37-year-old point guard said. "But we talked about just taking one quarter at a time. We remembered that tonight and held them down in the fourth quarter and closed it out." Ty Lawson had 17 points and Kenneth Faried added 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Nuggets, who outscored the Jazz 30-13 in a dominant fourth quarter. "Andre stepped it up, like hes been doing for years," Lawson said. "He was getting mismatches, even taking on bigs. He knows how to orchestrate the offence. He was getting himself a good shot or he was kicking it out to one of us for a good shot." Utah dropped to 0-8 and remained the only team in the NBA without a victory. Miller hit a 3-pointer -- he hasnt missed in four attempts this season -- and Faried added an emphatic dunk to power a 10-1 run that gave Denver an 82-74 lead with 7:13 to play. "When things get tough, you just need to start working harder. We finally found a rhythm somehow," Miller said. John Lucas III drove for a layup but Miller responded with a pair of nifty baskets in the lane, and the Jazz couldnt get within nine the rest of the way. "The fourth quarter has been our Achilles heel," said Lawson, who also had 10 assists. "We have been letting other teams do what they want. We have turnovers and give up offensive rebounds. Tonight we took it to them and got the crowd out of the game." Gordon Hayward had 22 points but didnt score in the final period. Derrick Favors added 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who extended their worst start to a season since moving to Utah in 1979. "This is the NBA. We cant look for excuses. Its not going to get any easier," coach Ty Corbin said after his team played its seventh game in 10 days. The Nuggets had the fourth-best record (57-25) in the NBA last season, but a ffourth straight first-round playoff exit ushered in new coach Brian Shaw after George Karl was fired.dddddddddddd Weary of Denvers lethargic play this season, Shaw threatened to sit any of his players who fail to give maximum effort. The Nuggets responded with their finest quarter of the season in the fourth, even without starting centre JaVale McGee, who has a stress fracture in his leg. Shaw liked what he saw. "Defensively, we contested their shots. We scored on the offensive end in the fourth quarter probably for the first time all year, and we had them struggling to score points," he said. Fighting a bad hamstring, Faried looked to be his lively self until he got hit in the throat during a mad scramble for the ball in the fourth. He put his head in a towel and ran to the locker room. He later returned to the arena, but the Nuggets were already coasting to their first road win. "He played with a lot of energy, hit the boards, scored with a nice shooting touch when he got the ball inside," Shaw said. Denver outrebounded the Jazz 52-35 and outmuscled their big frontline, outscoring Utah 48-36 in the paint. Behind Haywards 18 points in the first half, the Jazz led by as many as 10 before Denver erased the deficit and pulled ahead 46-45 at the break. In the fourth quarter the Jazz missed layups, let balls go through their legs and got lost on defensive rotations -- all reasons the team has yet to win a game. Utah shot 4 for 18 in the final period. "Too many turnovers, too many offensive rebounds, wide-open layups. Yeah, Id say a lot went wrong," Hayward said. The Jazz have a number of issues but foremost is their poor shooting -- a league-worst 40 per cent from the field and 23 per cent on 3-pointers. Utah went 4 for 17 from beyond the arc against Denver. NOTES: McGee, who started the first five games this season, will be out indefinitely after X-rays on Sunday revealed a stress fracture in his left tibia. ... The Jazz wore road navy uniforms and red-white-and-blue socks to honour the military on Veterans Day. ... Utah rookie Trey Burke, who broke his finger in the preseason, has been cleared for solo drills but wont be re-evaluated until Nov. 25 for full team practice. ' ' '