lucylily's blog: "ght"

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The steady improvement DeAndre Jordan has displayed at the offensive end during the Los Angeles Clippers first six preseason games has been evident to anyone who watched him struggle around the basket last season. Jordan had another strong game Monday night with 18 points and 12 rebounds, leading the Clippers to an 88-71 victory over the Golden State Warriors. "I worked tremendously hard with Marc Iavaroni and a number of the other coaches on my offensive game," Jordan said. "They all said that I had it before, but they told me I needed to just slow down and take my time when I got down there under the basket. "Last year I was a little too excited and was working too fast, but now Im getting more comfortable and letting the game come to me," he added. "Thats what a lot of the veterans told me to do. My teammates trust me with the ball, and that builds my confidence. That confidence has definitely helped me in the preseason, and hopefully it will carry over to the regular season." Blake Griffin finished with 14 points, seven boards and six assists for the Clippers (3-3), and Chris Paul had 11 points, nine assists and only one turnover during a team-high 26 minutes. "Were doing OK, but weve still got to build on the defensive end," Paul said. "I think weve showed the capability of scoring at high levels every night, but one thing I kept saying at halftime was that we cant rely on that. The good teams in this league rely on defence night in and night out, and thats what weve got to do. We have to keep the pressure on. I wish effort was enough to win in this league, but its not. We still have to play smart." Coach Vinny Del Negro sat all of his starters throughout the fourth quarter after Los Angeles built a 79-53 lead. The Clippers outscored Golden State 24-2 in the points-off-turnovers department over the first three quarters, committing only five turnovers while forcing 19 by the Warriors. "I thought it was the first time in a long time that we looked like a bad team," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "We didnt rebound the basketball, we didnt take care of the basketball, we didnt execute, and we took the path of least resistance. Its embarrassing. "Were a much better basketball team than we played like tonight, but its not a setback," Jackson added. "Weve been riding a pretty high wave and things have been going great. So tonight was a good experience for us. Well see how it feels to see what happened when you decide to stray away from who we are and why weve been so successful." Jarrett Jack had 14 points and David Lee added 12 points and nine rebounds for the wounded Warriors (5-2), who were without Andris Biedrins because of tightness in his groin and Stephen Curry due to a sore right ankle. Center Andrew Bogut continues to recover from a fractured left ankle that occurred last January while he was with Milwaukee, and the Warriors have set no timetable for his return to the lineup. "Were patient and were listening to the doctors," Jackson said. "Hes working hard, hes getting rehab and well put him out on the floor when hes a hundred per cent. But were in no rush because we understand how important he is to this basketball team." Jordan paced the Clippers to a 52-39 halftime lead with 13 points and eight rebounds. The Warriors were trailing 70-45 when reserve swingman Jeremy Tyler fouled Griffin in the lane on a delayed slam-dunk attempt. Tyler made a move toward Griffin and received a technical foul. Paul, Jordan and Clippers teammate Caron Butler all went over to Tyler and calmed him down before Griffin took his free throws. Los Angeles never trailed, building a 41-25 margin with 4 minutes left in the half and getting 16 of its first 18 field goals off assists. Golden States bench started out a collective 0 for 9 from the field and finished 9 for 37 overall as the Clippers reserves outscored their Warriors counterparts 32-22. NOTES: Jerry West, who has a statue of himself right outside Staples Center commemorating his Hall of Fame career with the Lakers, attended the game. He currently is a member of the Warriors executive board. ... In a poll of NBA general managers released by the league on Monday, Paul was voted the best point guard (69.0 per cent) and the best team leader (27.6). Injured teammate Chauncey Billups got the nod for which player would make the best head coach someday (20.7). ... Grant Hill and Lamar Odom didnt play for the Clippers because of knee issues. When Hill plays his third game of the regular season, it will be his 1,000th in the NBA. Had it not been for a rash of debilitating injuries, the 18-year veteran would be approaching 1,500 by now. ... Jackson has more seasons of NBA playing experience (17) than any other current head coach in the league. Two of them were with the Clippers, including a trip to the playoffs in 1993. Daryl Smith Jersey . -- What Tom Moore saw this week was oh, so familiar. Ray Lewis Ravens Jersey . "Harveys better!" they chanted, over and over. He was on this Friday night. Harvey outdid Strasburg in a marquee matchup of young aces, amping up while the crowd cheered his name and leading the New York Mets over the Washington Nationals 7-1. http://www.officialfootballravensshop.com/authentic-joe-flacco-jersey-womens.html . Ray threw three TD passes -- including a 37-yard strike to Jason Barnes with 2:06 remaining -- to rally the Toronto Argonauts past the hard-luck Winnipeg Blue Bombers 25-22 on Wednesday night. Ed Dickson Jersey . Promoter Top Rank said Tuesday that the fight in Pavliks hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, had been cancelled. Pavlik returned to the ring after a nearly 13-month layoff to beat Alfonso Lopez by majority decision in May. Justin Tucker Youth Jersey . Clevelands right-hander threw nine shutout innings and Nick Swishers two-out RBI single in the ninth gave the Indians a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday.One quarter of the way through the NHL season, its time for an early look at the awards races, along with some advanced stats leaders and trailers. At this early point in the season, there are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. HART TROPHY Winner: Phil Kessel, RW, Toronto Runners-up: Tyler Seguin, C, Boston; Kris Versteeg, RW, Florida Comment: Leading the league in goals and points, with a shooting percentage about twice that of his career average, Kessel has been outstanding for the Leafs, helping to ease the sting of the breakthrough performance by Seguin. Drafted with a pick acquired as part of a deal for Kessel(perhaps youve heard about this), Seguin is scoring better than a point-per-game and has a league-leading plus-18. Versteegs strong plus-minus gets him on the ballot, just ahead of Claude Giroux and others. NORRIS TROPHYWinner: Shea Weber, Nashville Runners-up: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit; Zdeno Chara, Boston Comment: All three log the tough minutes and contribute at both ends and there isnt a strong point to make against any of them, but as the only defenceman with at least 15 points and a plus-15 rating, not to mention that he plays more than 26 minutes per game, Weber is certainly deserving. VEZINA TROPHYWinner: Tim Thomas, Boston Runners-up: Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton; Mike Smith, PhoenixComment: What else is new? After last years spectacular season, Thomas is only slightly behind last years record-setting .938 save percentage, sitting at .936 (with a 1.85 goals against average) this season. Khabibulin has resurrected his career, after a summer that included jail time, with numbers very similar to Thomas. There are many contenders for the final spot, including Niklas Backstrom and Henrik Lundqvist, but Smith has been a standout for the Coyotes. Considering his last few seasons in Tampa Bay, its been a remarkable turnaround. CALDER TROPHYWinner: Matt Read, C, PhiladelphiaRunners-up: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, C, Edmonton; Craig Smith, C, NashvilleComment: Read wasnt a hugely-heralded free agent when he signed out of Bemidji State last spring, but did offer a glimpse of things to come when he scored 13 points in 11 AHL games at the end of the year. Hes stepped right into the Flyers lineup and leads all rookies in goals and plus-minus. Even with those attributes, Read is facing a challenge from number one draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who leads all rookies with 22 points in 21 games. Smith left the University of Wisconsin after his sophomore season and after his performance at the World Championships for Team USA, its not a surprise that hes been able to move seamlessly into the Predators lineup. New Jerseys Adam Henrique and Colorados Gabriel Landeskog might be the next two contenders. JACK ADAMS AWARDWinner: Kevin Dineen, FloridaRunners-up: Peter Laviolette, Philadelphia; Dave Tippett, Phoenix Comment: New coaches frequently get early results, but the Panthers have done so with a roster that underwent serious overhaul in the offseason. In a similar vein, Peter Laviolette has the Flyers playing at a high level after significant summer trades that saw the Flyers ship out Jeff Carter and Mike Richards and bring in half a dozen forwards, most of whom are playing significant roles. Dave Tippett and Barry Trotz could be included virtually every year, but Tippett gets the edge right now, while Tom Renney (Edmonton), Glen Gulutzan (Dallas) and Mike Yeo (Minnesota) are among others that might be faring better than expected. For those that have been reading my work for a while, its no secret that I like digging into the advanced stats site www.behindthenet.ca, so here are just a couple of interesting stats leaders/trailers at this point in the season (minimum 10 games played). First up, penalty differential. Its obviously more advantageous for players to draw penalties rather than take them so, all other factors being equal, it would be nice to get an extra power play every couple of games because Michael Cammalleri, Jeff Skinner or Rick Nash are challenging opposing defenders and draw penalties as a result. RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. DRAWN TAKEN PEN. DIFF/GP 1. Michael Cammalleri Montreal LW 10 0 0.59 2. Jeff Skinner Carolina RW 17 4 0.57 3. Rick Nash Columbus RW 13 2 0.52 4. Matt Duchene Colorado C 12 1 0.50 5. Joe Thornton San Jose C 12 3 0.47 6. Darren Helm Detroit C 10 1 0.45 7. Alexei Emelin Montreal D 7 1 0.dddddddddddd43 8. Dustin Brown Los Angeles RW 15 6 0.41 9. Eric Staal Carolina C 13 5 0.35 10. Cody Hodgson Vancouver C 8 1 0.33 And the trailers... RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. DRAWN TAKEN PEN. DIFF/GP 551. Brenden Morrow Dallas LW 3 11 -0.40 552. Brian Lee Ottawa D 1 5 -0.40 553. Kyle Quincey Colorado D 0 9 -0.41 554. Steve Staios N.Y. Islanders D 2 10 -0.42 555. Todd Bertuzzi Detroit LW 1 7 -0.43 556. Nicklas Grossman Dallas D 1 9 -0.44 557. Marc Methot Columbus D 0 7 -0.47 558. Chris Neil Ottawa RW 2 10 -0.50 559. Andy Sutton Edmonton D 1 7 -0.50 560. Sheldon Souray Dallas D 1 13 -0.57 Next, a look at shot differential per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play. Naturally, its much better for your team to have more shots at the opponents goal than on your own. Some familiar names among the leaders and, hey, look at Matt Ellis! RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. SHOT DIFF/60 1. Pavel Datsyuk Detroit C 17.8 2. Henrik Zetterberg Detroit C 16.8 3. Matt Ellis Buffalo LW 15.4 4. Chris Kunitz Pittsburgh LW 14.4 5. Gabriel Landeskog Colorado LW 14.1 6. Tyler Kennedy Pittsburgh RW 12.8 7. Alexander Steen St. Louis LW 12.6 8. Jordan Staal Pittsburgh C 12.6 9. Brad Marchand Boston C 12.4 10. Patrice Bergeron Boston C 12.2 And the trailers... RANK PLAYER TEAM POS. SHOT DIFF/60 551. Matt Halischuk Nashville RW -13.1 552. Chris Thorburn Winnipeg RW -13.2 553. Jerred Smithson Nashville C -13.8 554. Colton Gillies Minnesota C -13.8 555. Cam Barker Edmonton D -13.8 556. Brandon McMillan Anaheim LW -14 557. George Parros Anaheim RW -14 558. Brad Staubitz Minnesota LW -15.3 559. Ruslan Fedotenko N.Y. Rangers LW -17.8 560. Erik Christensen N.Y. Rangers C -19.3 Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. wholesale jerseys china ' ' '