were believed to be bubble players until the day the roster was

Posted in IYH Forums by lavender123456 at 01:00, Jun 12 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. -- San Antonio stars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker took the night off Wednesday. No matter. As is usual when the Spurs are without their stars, the rest of the team got the job done. Patty Mills came off the bench to score 29 points, Marco Belinelli hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining and San Antonio rallied in the second half to pull out a 111-109 victory over the Trail Blazers. San Antonio has won two of three games this season when Duncan and Parker were both absent from the lineup. Mills helped fill the void with a 24-point second half. The fourth-year guard from Australia came off the bench to hit 13 of 26 shots against the Blazers. Belinelli had 20 points and Manu Ginobili 16 for San Antonio. Mills has been on a hot streak since the All-Star break concluded, scoring 25 and 29 points in the Spurs first two games back. "If it wasnt for him the last couple nights, we would have really struggled," San Antonio forward Danny Green said. "Hes doing what Tony usually does, in taking over in that fourth quarter." Mills explained his recent stretch in humble tones, saying "for me, its just been learning from great guys. Weve got three future Hall of Famers and a great coach, so Ive just sat back and learned." It wasnt just Mills, though. Belinelli hit four 3-pointers, and Tiago Splitter had 15 points and six rebounds in returning to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 6. "I thought the effort was fantastic," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. Portland was without leading scorer and rebounder LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with a groin injury and is expected to be out at least a week. Also sidelined were forward Joel Freeland (knee) and centre Meyers Leonard (ankle). Aside from Duncan and Parker, the Spurs also were without guard Kawhi Leonard (right hand). Damian Lillard scored 31 points, including 15 during the fourth quarter, for Portland. Coming off his first All-Star game appearance, Lillard hit 13 of 21 shots and handed out six assists. Mo Williams had 19 points and Wesley Matthews 18 for the Blazers. Without Aldridge, Freeland and Leonard, the Blazers had to resort to playing a small lineup. It resulted in erratic play, with stretches when the Blazers offence went missing. "We tried to beat San Antonio at their game and they did it better than us," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "San Antonio is used to playing these games without their guys and they plug guys in and they play well." Trailing 81-79 after three quarters, San Antonio took command when Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to fuel a 10-0 run at the fourth quarters outset. The Spurs led by as many as 10 points, but the Blazers eventually pulled even at 101-101 on Matthews steal and dunk with 1:52 remaining. On San Antonios next possession, Belinelli hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:34 left to put the Spurs back on top. Portland led by as many as eight points during the first half, and settled for a 52-51 halftime lead. Both teams had big runs during a free-flowing third quarter. Mills finished an 8-2 run with a layup to give San Antonio a 69-61 lead. Portland responded with seven consecutive points, then took a 79-75 lead when Williams scored six consecutive points late in the quarter. NOTES: Portland was the last NBA team to use the same starting lineup this season until Wednesday, when Dorell Wright replaced Aldridge against San Antonio. The Blazers are the first team since the 2010-11 Spurs to start the same lineup during its first 53 games. . Splitter returned to the lineup after missing the past four games with a calf injury. . Blazers forward Victor Claver, who hasnt played since Nov. 15 and has logged just three minutes of playing time this season, made a first-quarter appearance and played seven minutes . San Antonio concludes a nine-game road trip that began Feb. 3 on Friday at Phoenix. . Before Wednesday, San Antonio was 1-9 in its past 10 games at Portland. Sacramento Kings Jersey UK . And it was a former TFC player punishing his old club, as Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario led the way with two goals in D. Oklahoma City Thunder Jersey UK . On Wednesday, the two teams will get together in Dallas to play the game that was postponed due to a scary incident involving Stars forward Rich Peverley. http://www.nbashopofficial.co.uk/orlando-magic/. - After a fifth-place finish in a World Cup super-G, her third race in three days, Lindsey Vonn used six simple words to sum up where things stand in her comeback from major knee surgery. Houston Rockets Jersey UK .500 for the first time since Nov. 23, playing the entire second half and over 43 minutes to make it happen. Detroit Pistons Jersey UK . Cory Vitarelli had a hat trick for Rochester (8-3), while Stephen Keogh, Johnny Powless, Joel McCready and Joe Walters had two goals apiece. Brad Self and Dan Dawson both scored, with Dawson adding seven assists.Steve Yzerman and Hockey Canada are getting a little bit of everything with the eight defenceman named to represent Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The eight defencemen named – Jay Bouwmeester, Drew Doughty, Dan Hamhuis, Duncan Keith, Alex Pietrangelo, P.K. Subban, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Shea Weber – bring a blend of offence, defence, mobility, responsibility and physicality. For Canada, that responsibility may well start at the top with returnees Keith, Weber and Doughty. "To me they have everything you want in a defence pairing," TSN director of scouting Craig Button said of the potential top pairing of Keith and Weber. "They can skate, they can move the puck up the ice or they can join in the attack. They can play against the other teams best players and theyre going to play a lot of minutes." "Mike Babcock will have no hesitance to put those two out there against anybody at any time," Button added. While some of the players selected were academic, especially returnees Doughty, Keith and Weber, others such as P.K. Subban and Dan Hamhuis were believed to be bubble players until the day the roster was unveiled. Representing the oldest membeer of the defence corps and one of the youngest are both new additions to Canadas Olympic squad as 24-year-old Subban and 31-year-old Hamhuis will both be expected to fill Canadas niche needs.dddddddddddd "The bottom pair is exactly what we thought it would be," said NHL on TSN analyst Mike Johnson. "Subban is there for an infusion of offence, a change of pace on special teams and Dan Hamhuis is there for the other end: defence, shot-blocking and penalty-killing depending on the situation." The defence is a perfect balance of right-handed and left-handed shots, which was a conscious effort by Canadas management. That balance may have played in Vlasics favour as he edged teammate and 2010 Canadian Olympian Dan Boyle out of one of the coveted blue line spots. Button praised Vlasics inclusion on the team, complimenting the 26-year-olds composure. "Hes steady, hes consistent and he plays at a high level," Button said. "Its not just skating and competing, his mind is very, very strong. Mistakes are going to be at a minimum in this type of tournament so you want a guy thats comfortable playing in those big minutes and those important times and hes not going to make mistakes." ' ' '