BERLIN -- Borussia Dortmunds emergence as a main rival to upset Bayern Munichs dominance in Germany was confirmed at the weekend with its second consecutive Bundesliga title. In doing so it became the first team -- other than Bayern -- to retain the title since its last successful defence 16 years ago, while ending Bayerns habit of winning the league at least every second season since 1996. Dortmund secured its eighth German league crown on Saturday while extending the Bundesligas record unbeaten run in a season to 26 games. "Its crazy what were doing," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said. Win its remaining games and Dortmund would set a Bundesliga record haul of 81 points, while a first ever domestic double is in sight with the German Cup final on May 12 -- against Bayern. "Its impressive that Borussia won the title for the second year in a row with this young team," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. Few would argue though -- least of all Dortmund -- that the balance of power has swung away from Munich. The German powerhouses financial might is too strong. Bayern responded to Dortmunds title win last year by investing close to C44 million (then $63 million) on shoring up its defence, with the bulk taking Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from Schalke. Bayern started the season with a loss but recovered to win the following eight games, scoring 25 and conceding none, leaving experts to fear an unexciting season. "No team can threaten Bayern in the German league in normal circumstances," Bayern captain Philipp Lahm said in September. Meanwhile, Dortmund made a stuttering start, and had fallen eight points behind Bayern after six games played. "After six matchdays we were 11th," Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said. "To come back again from that is huge. Its simply grandiose." With a side virtually unchanged from the year before -- Ilkay Guendogan had come in to replace the Real Madrid-bound Nuri Sahin -- Dortmund recovered to clinch the title with an eight-point advantage over Bayern. All this with a squad cheaply assembled and which should yet improve. Mats Hummels, Shinji Kagawa, Kevin Grosskreutz, Sven Bender, Mario Goetze and Robert Lewandowski, scorer of 20 Bundesliga goals so far, are all 23 or younger. Rising star Marco Reus is joining from Borussia Moenchengladbach at the end of the season after Dortmund agreed to pay his C17.5 million ($23 million) buy-out clause. The 22-year-old Reus turned down Bayern to move to his hometown club, while another Bayern target, 18-year-old midfielder Leonardo Bittencourt will join from second-division Energie Cottbus. While the size of Reus transfer may raise eyebrows, Watzke said the transfer was "soundly financed" from the clubs reserves from the previous years. Dortmund is still paying heed to the lessons learned from near bankruptcy in 2005 after years of financial problems going back to the early 1980s. Despite successes on the pitch -- Dortmund beat Juventus to win the Champions League in 1997 and then Brazilian club Cruzeiro for the Intercontinental Cup -- the debts continued to spiral. The departure of coach Ottmar Hitzfeld and a host of important players didnt help as they werent adequately replaced. Dortmund flirted with relegation in the 1999-2000 season. In 2000, Dortmund became the only German club listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the money raised bringing in expensive stars to help win the Bundesliga in 2002. Costs continued to spiral out of control, however, and failure to reach the Champions League in 2003 had serious implications. The club was forced to sell its Westfalen Stadium -- which it leases back -- before tottering on the brink of bankruptcy in 2005, when share value plummeted by more than 80 per cent and players wages were cut. It was around this time that Bayern loaned Dortmund C2 million ($2.6 million) to help make ends meet. "Id do it again," Bayern president Uli Hoeness said recently. "Id always help anyone lying on the floor." Dortmund recovered, and its stadiums capacity was expanded to 80,720 for the 2006 World Cup, though relegation also loomed the following season, when three coaches were appointed. It wasnt until Watzke appointed Klopp as coach in 2008 that Dortmunds fortunes began to improve, culminating in back to back Bundesliga titles achieved in swashbuckling fashion. "There are no words to describe what the lads have done," Klopp said as he was soaked with beer. "If ever there was a deserved champion, then its us." The progress has not gone unnoticed in Munich. "The team showed class and consistency and is therefore deserved German champion for 2012," said Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Bayern will do all it can to prevent Dortmund claiming the double in Berlin on May 12. "Well celebrate a bit, drink a bit, have a bit of fun. But we still want to collect something in three weeks," said Watzke, with his eye already on the German Cup final. . The team said Saturday that the 36-year-old Robidas is expected to miss four to six months, jeopardizing his return this season. He was injured when he slid hard into the boards in the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss to Chicago on Friday. [url=http://www.soccernetherlandsonline.com/world-cup-klaas-jan-huntelaar-footba... Huntelaar Jersey . Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick scored 22 points, and the Clippers had an 18-0 run in the second half to rally for a 107-94 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night. Crawford had 16 points, Chris Paul added 14 points and 13 assists and DeAndre Jordan had 12 points and 18 rebounds for the Clippers. . -- With his team down 16 points in the second quarter and headed for another blowout loss at home, Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson yelled out to his players to keep shooting and keep fighting on defence. [url=http://www.soccernetherlandsonline.com/world-cup-bruno-martins-indi-footbal... Martins Indi Netherland Jersey . Less chatter about injured goaltender James Reimer, his recovery and a growing injury list and more talk about the most dangerous duo in the NHL. AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Tim Duncan made his move to the basket and didnt come close to scoring. After he released the ball, the San Antonio star fell to the ground, the victim of a stray elbow from Detroits Ben Wallace. What began as a mismatch between the streaking Spurs and rebuilding Pistons had turned into an enthralling showdown between Duncan and Wallace, two veteran big men facing each other for perhaps the final time. "Two old guys trying to get it done for their teams," said the 37-year-old Wallace, who plans to retire after this season. Duncans Spurs came out on top, overcoming a spirited Detroit rally to beat the Pistons 99-95 on Tuesday night for their eighth consecutive victory. Duncan had 18 points and 13 rebounds, spoiling a special night for Wallace, who played in his 1,055th game -- a record for an undrafted player since the 1976-77 NBA-ABA merger. Wallace drew a standing ovation when his record was announced after the first quarter, and he ignited the crowd again later on when Detroit rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit. Wallace finished with nine points and five rebounds. "That was great. Hes always in great shape, and hes moving well, and he was really active," the 35-year-old Duncan said. "I asked him on the floor how much longer he was going to play, and he said he was done after this year. I told him hes had an unbelievable career." The Spurs and Pistons arent scheduled to play again in the regular season, so this may have been the final meeting between Duncan and Wallace. Duncan outplayed Greg Monroe, Detroits young big man, but the Pistons stuck with Wallace down the stretch, and the four-time defensive player of the year helped swing momentum in Detroits favour. Finally, San Antonios Tony Parker made a driving layup with 1:13 remaining to break a 91-91 tie and put the Spurs ahead to stay. Parker also made a floater with 27.2 seconds left to make it 95-92. After Ben Gordon missed from the left corner with Duncan contesting, the Detroit guard was called for a technical foul, andd the Spurs held on.dddddddddddd "I thought Detroit did a great job in the fourth. We got up 15 or 16, but they got physical on defence and moved the ball." San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "Weve got three veteran players out there in Tim, Manu (Ginobili) and Tony, and they made plays down the stretch when we needed them." Down 79-64, the Pistons went on a 14-0 run that included the seventh three-pointer of Wallaces career. Later, with the Spurs up 83-82, Duncan missed inside and was caught by Wallaces elbow. While Duncan remained on the ground, Detroits Brandon Knight scored while being fouled at the other end to give the Pistons the lead