ekansekans's blog: "df"

NEW YORK -- Another celebratory night at Barclays Center for a Russian. Bradie James Jersey . No, not Mikhail Prokhorov. His Brooklyn Nets were on their way to an easy win and a 2-0 start until rookie Alexey Shved led the Minnesota Timberwolves on a furious rally from a 22-point, second-half deficit to a 107-96 victory on Monday night. Shved scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter -- matching the Nets total after Minnesota outscored them 32-10. Nikola Pekovic led Minnesota with 21 points. Prokhorov was scheduled to fly back to Russia after the game, perhaps shaking his head the whole way home. "For sure this was a very important game for Russia because everybody is watching and everybody wants to know who won this game," said Shved, who helped Russia to its first Olympic mens basketball medal in London, a bronze. "Were happy we won." Maybe a little surprised, too. Shved made the go-ahead basket with 2:35 remaining and had a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after going scoreless for the first three. The Timberwolves scored the final 11 points in an impressive rally on the second night of back-to-back games. Seemingly out of it early in the second half, they overwhelmed the Nets in the fourth quarter with a brilliant effort from their bench. "We just kept talking about getting tougher down the stretch," Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman said. "We had to get stops in that fourth quarter. We played with a real edge in that fourth quarter and it just turned the whole thing around." Shved, a point guard who along with Wolves forward Andrei Kirilenko played last season for the CSKA Moscow team that Prokohov once owned, hit from in the lane to make it 98-96. Then Pekovic scored inside and Chase Budinger made a 3-pointer with 38 seconds to go, making it 103-96 in front of a stunned crowd in the second game at the new Barclays Center. Kirilenko finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Budinger also scored 16, half in the final period. Joe Johnson scored 19 points and Deron Williams had 18 points and 13 assists for the Nets, who hadnt trailed in the second half of their first two games until Pekovic put Minnesota ahead with a little more than 4 1/2 minutes remaining. It was the fourth-biggest comeback in Minnesota franchise history, the largest since falling behind Dallas 74-50 before rallying for a 113-110 overtime victory on Jan. 17, 1998. The Nets had all kinds of problems down the stretch in their second game at their $1 billion arena, including the statistics monitors going down. Instead of being 2-0, they will break out their black road uniforms for the first time in the regular season with a 1-1 mark and a tough trip, visiting Miami on Wednesday and unbeaten Orlando on Friday. Brooklyn was without starting forward Gerald Wallace after he sprained his left ankle late in Saturdays win over Toronto. The Wolves have much more severe injury problems, with Kevin Love still recovering from a broken right hand and Ricky Rubio remaining out indefinitely after tearing up his left knee last March. They did get back JJ Barea after he left in the second quarter of Sundays loss with concussion-like symptoms, and he was on the floor for the fourth-quarter flurry. It was a disappointing second game in Brooklyn for the Nets. There were plenty of empty seats at the start, perhaps a combination of lingering transportation troubles during the recovery from Superstorm Sandy and a less-than-marquee opponent on a Monday night. But the arena soon filled up well and the announced attendance was 14,017, still far below the sellout of 17,732 the Nets listed for Saturdays 107-100 victory over Toronto. The Timberwolves were glad Brooklyn got that game in, after its original opener against the Knicks last Thursday was postponed. If not, Minnesota would have been playing Monday against a team it hadnt seen in a regular-season game yet. "I was worried we were going to be their opening night, which I didnt really want to do," Adelman said before the game. "But we have a pretty good scout and he saw them in the preseason, so we know the players, so just a matter of what theyre going to run." Whatever it was, the Nets ran it well -- for three quarters. Brooklyn scored 31 points in each of the first two, shooting 59.5 per cent from the field and 61.5 per cent from 3-point range in the first half. Johnson made two of the Nets eight 3-pointers, including one that gave them their biggest lead of the half at 59-43. The lead was 15 at the break and it seemed the Nets would have an easy night against a Minnesota team that lost by 19 in Toronto a night earlier. Williams 3-pointer with 9:36 left in the third made it a 22-point game, but the Wolves trimmed that deficit in half by the end of the period, then dominated the first 6 minutes of the fourth. Nets coach Avery Johnson said it looked as if the Nets "kind of ran out of gas" and "lost our way" at the end. "I just think for our team, losses like this have to really sting more than they ever have in the past, because losses like this can come back to bite you later in the year," Johnson said. "So we cant afford to lose at home. Were trying to build a home-court advantage, were trying to get us a rhythm here at home, some momentum. So this was one that was definitely a winnable game." Budinger and Shved made consecutive 3-pointers before Dante Cunninghams basket capped a run of eight straight points to tie it at 92 with 6:29 to play. The Wolves regained the lead for the first time since the first quarter when Pekovic beat his man down the floor and took a long pass for a layup that made it 96-94 with a little over 4 1/2 minutes to play. Williams agreed with his coach that the loss stung. "I think well see how we respond tomorrow," he said. "I think more important (is) how we come out in practice. If you come out lackadaisical and not ready to work in practice, then it probably didnt mean any much to you. If we come out ready to work, well know that we didnt perform the way we should, things didnt go the right way and we want to correct those things." Notes: Barea, along with Clevelands Donald Sloan, got one of the NBAs first two warnings for flopping. The league determined Barea was acting to fool the referee into calling a foul when he threw his upper body backward after contact while defending Sacramentos Jimmer Fredette in the fourth quarter on Friday. ... Prokhorov said hello to Kirilenko when they bumped into each other earlier Monday at the arena. Prokhorov was in Brooklyn for the first two games. Andre Johnson Youth Jersey . Stevenson said on Wednesday he was hospitalized on Jan. 13 after doctors detected a clot in an artery near his heart. He spent 15 days in intensive care before being released last week. Glover Quin Womens Jersey . -- Luis Mendoza felt terrible for much of the week, then quickly got into trouble when he returned to the mound Friday night. http://www.houstontexansfansprostore.com/connor-barwin-jersey-1 . - Rookie midfielder Luis Silva scored twice as Toronto FC defeated FC Dallas 3-0 on Thursday to set up an all-Canadian final at the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. J.J. Watt Jersey . Each week, CTVOlympics.ca looks at some of the names to keep an eye on as we count down to the Trials in Calgary from June 27-30.  DISCIPLINE: Womens Pole Vault NUMBER OF OLYMPIC BERTHS AVAILABLE: Three. Kevin Walter Jersey . The prize souvenir from the 1986 World Series will go on eBay this month with a US$1-million price tag, put up for auction by the Grammy-nominated songwriter who once bought it from actor Charlie Sheen.LOS ANGELES -- Jamal Crawford scored 29 points in 30 minutes in his first official game with his new team, and the Los Angeles Clippers converted 21 turnovers into 29 points Wednesday night in a 101-92 victory that extended the Memphis Grizzlies NBA-record streak of opening-night losses to 12. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, who had 12 assists, were among six Clippers to score in double figures. The Clippers are 20-23 in season openers, 12-17 since moving from San Diego to Los Angeles in 1984. The Grizzlies are 2-16 on opening night, 0-12 since the franchise shifted from Vancouver to Memphis in 2001. The Grizzlies got 25 points from Rudy Gay and 20 from Marc Gasol. Zach Randolph, who missed more than two 2 1-2 months last season after tearing the MCL in his right knee and undergoing surgery, had 15 points and 16 rebounds. The Clippers ended Memphis 2011-12 season with a win in Game 7 of the Western Conference quarterfinals. The Grizzlies began their 18th season in the NBA under new management, following the announcement Wednesday that the $377 million sale of the club to a group led by California technology entrepreneur Robert J. Pera had been finalized and that the team will stay in Memphis. Peras group includes former NBA star Penny Hardaway, as well as actor and singer Justin Timberlake. The leagues board of governors approved the sale last Thursday. Crawford, who signed with the Clippers as a free agent after averaging 14 points in 60 games last season with Portland, gave the Clippers an 83-77 lead with a short jumper and a 3-pointer less than 2 minutes apart after they entered the fourth quarter trailing by four. Memphis managed to stay close until Paul set up Crawford for a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:41 remaining for a 96-90 lead, after DeAndre Jordan grabbed a critical offensive rebound of Pauls missed 3-point attempt. Less than a minute later, Crawford was awarded a basket on a goaltending call against Mike Conley following a steal by Paul, who then threw alley-oop pass to Jordan for a nine-point lead with 1:05 to play. Gasol powered the Grizzlies to a 53-49 halftime lead with 14 points. They trailed by as many as 12 with about 5 minutes left in the second quarter, but the 7-foot-1 Alll-Star scored the final eight points of a 12-0 run that tied the score at 46 with 2:41 left in the half. Danieal Manning Womens Jersey. The Grizzlies and Clippers both set franchise records for winning percentage during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, finishing 4-5 in the Western Conference standings. Memphis was 41-25 and Los Angeles 40-26. The Clippers made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2006 and only the fifth time in Los Angeles. They were swept by San Antonio in the conference semifinals after beating the Grizzlies in the first round -- a seven-game series that included a stunning 99-98 victory in Game 1 after the Clippers trailed by 24 points in the fourth quarter. They became the first team ever to win Games 1 and 7 on the road in a first-round series. Reserve forward Matt Barnes, who rejoined the Clippers on Sept. 14 as a free agent after playing the last two seasons with the Lakers, served a one-game suspension from the league. The suspension stemmed from Barnes arrest in July on suspicion of resisting arrest and threatening a public official, which is a felony, after he was approached on foot by a Manhattan Beach officer who was aware that Barnes had an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanour traffic violation. The 10th-year veteran pleaded no contest to the original misdemeanour charge last month at the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. NOTES: After learning of his suspension on Tuesday, Barnes wrote on his Twitter page: "My suspension handed down by the NBA 2day is a (hash)JOKE, but best of luck 2 my team 2maro vs a tough Memphis team & ill be ready for Friday vs Lakers." ... The Grizzlies exercised the fourth-year option on swingman Quincy Pondexters rookie contract, which will pay him $2.2 million next season. He was acquired from New Orleans last December for G Greivis Vasquez. ... Los Angeles has seven players with at least nine seasons of NBA experience -- including Grant Hill, who began his 19th pro campaign in street clothes because of a bone bruise on his right knee. ... Conleys steal on a pass by Jordan broke Shane Battiers club record of 523 -- in 60 fewer games. Last season, Conley was second in the league with 2.19 steals per game, a franchise best. ' ' '