all starts. He has three double-doubles in that stretch

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With the playoffs around the corner, catch a doubleheader of action from the hardcourt tonight on TSN2. nike air max 90 dame . First, the Miami Heat will continue their march toward the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference when they welcome the Brooklyn Nets to AmericanAirlines Arena. Then with a playoff spot already locked up, the Houston Rockets can focus on postseason positioning when they open a three-game road trip against the Los Angeles Lakers. All the action gets underway on TSN2 at 8pm et/5pm pt. The Heat have won five of their last six and are one game clear of the Indiana Pacers for Eastern Conference supremacy. The two-time defending NBA champs have clinched a fourth straight Southeast Division title. After a heartbreaking one-point home loss in double-overtime to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, the Heat dispatched the New York Knicks on Sunday afternoon. Miami prevailed, 102-91, and overcame an NBA record 10 made 3-pointers by New Yorks J.R. Smith. "You do your job and you live with the results," Miami forward LeBron James said. "We lived with the result of J.R. making some of those bombs." James led Miami with 38 points and six assists. Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh added 15 and 14 points, respectively for the Heat, while Ray Allen went 4- for-9 from long range for 12 points. Miami was without the services of Dwyane Wade (hamstring), Greg Oden (back) and Chris Andersen (back/knee). The Heat shot 55.7 percent from the floor and 44 percent from long range. They held the Knicks under 38 percent and will play three of their remaining five after Tuesday on the road. The Nets are also headed to the playoffs, but their seeding is still up in the air. They trail the Toronto Raptors by 2 1/2 games not only for the Atlantic Division lead, but also for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. The Chicago Bulls are tied with the Raps for the No. 3 spot. Brooklyn has won two straight and five of its last six. The Nets started this three-game road trip with a four-point win in Philadelphia on Saturday night and will close out the sojourn in Orlando on Wednesday. The Nets snapped a three-game road losing streak with a 105-101 victory over the 76ers on Saturday. The Nets led by as many as 21 points in the second half but stumbled down the stretch, allowing Philly to pull within a point in the final minutes. Head coach Jason Kidd ran his bench players out late and that was the unit that nearly coughed up the huge lead. Mirza Teletovic, moments after air-balling a similar shot, drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 99-95 margin with 48.9 seconds to play, and Brooklyn hit 6-of-6 from the foul line in the final 30 seconds to hang on for the win. "I felt it gave us the opportunity to execute on some late-game stuff," said Kidd. "Guys made free throws and we got stops when we had to." Deron Williams posted 19 points and nine assists to lead the Nets. Mason Plumlee scored 16 points off the bench for Brooklyn, winners in five of six. Joe Johnson and Paul Pierce deposited 12 and 11 points, respectively. The Nets have taken all three meetings with the Heat this season and those wins halted a 13-game series losing streak. They could sweep the season series against the Heat for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Nets are the only team the Heat havent beaten yet in the 2013-14 campaign. Houston Rockets at Los Angeles Lakers (TSN2, 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt) With a playoff spot already locked up, the Houston Rockets can focus on postseason positioning when they open a three-game road trip Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Rockets will makes stops in Denver and Minnesota on this trip and have a 20-17 record on the road. They are currently fourth in the Western Conference, sitting two games ahead of Portland and three behind the L.A. Clippers. Houston posted its seventh win in 10 tries with Sundays 130-125 overtime triumph against the Nuggets. James Harden scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, while Chandler Parsons scored eight points in the extra session and finished with 15 for the Rockets, who clinched a playoff berth in Fridays win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden scored 10 points in the final 3:55 of the fourth as part of a 16-3 quarter-closing run to help force overtime. Harden tied the game with 7.1 seconds left in regulation for Houston, which scored 13 of the 21 in OT. "Well we battled," said Rockets coach Kevin McHale. "We were not ready starting that game off. Our guys kept battling and James (Harden) made the huge 3 to get it to overtime, but other than that we were shaky." Harden is averaging 31.1 points in his last eight games. Dwight Howard (ankle) missed another game and is questionable Tuesday. Omer Asik has been filling in nicely for Howard and is posting an average of 12.0 points and 16.8 rebounds in his last five games -- all starts. He has three double-doubles in that stretch. A disappointing season for the Lakers couldnt end any sooner, but they still have five games left. Los Angeles is 25-52 on the season and has lost four in a row and 13 of the last 17 games. In Sundays 120-97 blowout loss to the rival Clippers, Jordan Hill had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead the way. Nick Young scored 17 of his 18 points in the first half and was bothered by a balky knee. "We battled," said Lakers head coach Mike DAntoni. "We didnt have enough to win today. They focused more. They upped the ante and got us." Jodie Meeks had 17 points in defeat. L.A. was outrebounded by a 52-38 margin and committed 15 turnovers, leading to 24 Clippers points. Hill, meanwhile, is averaging 16.9 points and 9.8 rebounds in his last eight games -- all starts. The Lakers are opening a three-game homestand Tuesday versus Houston, Golden State and Memphis, and are 14-24 as the host. Lakers guard Kent Bazemore (foot) is done for the year and center Pau Gasol is expected to miss another game with vertigo. Gasol hasnt played since April 1 and has missed several games over the past few weeks. Guard Steve Nash (back) is probable versus the Rockets. Nash needs five assists to pass Mark Jackson for third on the NBAs all-time list. Only John Stockton (15,806), Jason Kidd (12,091) and Jackson (10,334) have dished out more assists than Nash (10,330). Houston is 2-1 against the Lakers this season, but has lost six of the previous eight as the guest in this series. nike air max thea norge . -- The hallmark of a good team, at least in Royals manager Ned Yosts opinion, is the ability to wedge open the smallest of openings that an opponent provides. nike air max thea norge . Manager John Gibbons wasnt taking the bait on Friday afternoon following his clubs 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Red Sox. "When we put the team together, well announce it at the end," said Gibbons. "Nice try, though." Pressed further, Gibbons was only slightly more willing to share what everyone believes hes thinking about his 23-year-old right-hander.The Buffalo Sabres have been a complete mess in the 2013-2014 NHL season, accumulating just nine points in 20 games, and it cost general manager Darcy Regier and head coach Ron Rolston their jobs Wednesday, with Sabres legend Pat Lafontaine taking over as President of Hockey Operations and Ted Nolan assuming head coaching duties. Scott Cullen looks at the state of a team for which things can only look up. Last season, the Sabres finished with 48 points in 48 games, finishing 22nd out of 30 teams; not nearly good enough for the playoffs, but not utterly disastrous, which means not bad enough to secure a premium pick at the top of the first round. They traded veteran winger Jason Pominville and defenceman Jordan Leopold during the season, but seven of their top eight scorers were returning for the 2013-2014 season. Even so, the Sabres ranked 29th in my preseason Power Rankings, with not enough proven talent, aside from left winger Thomas Vanek and goaltender Ryan Miller who, as pending unrestricted free agents, were prime candidates for trade. Of course, Vanek was traded, to the New York Islanders and the Sabres received a quality package in return, but it is a curious turn of events to allow Darcy Regier to oversee the start of a rebuilding process and take responsibility for trading the clubs best player, only to clean house in the front office two-and-a-half weeks later. Now, this doesnt mean that people shouldnt have been fired (On XM NHL Network Radio last Friday, I said that Rolston was my pick to be the next coach canned). The Sabres have been unabashedly terrible. They have one regulation win in 20 games and that was in a game at Florida in which they were outshot 45-21 by the Panthers, a team that sits a lofty 28th in the NHL standings. The Sabres have the worst puck possession stats in the league, by a sizeable margin and, given these poor underlying conditions, will need patience in order to develop a roster that is consistently competitive because they cant even argue that theyve been especially unlucky to have this poor record. Matt Moulson, a pending unrestricted free agent who was acquired as part of the package in exchange for Vanek, has 17 points in 18 games with the Islanders and Sabres, and Cody Hodgson has 15 points in 20 games; they are the only Sabres with more than 10 points through the first 20 games of the season. These are the skaters at the top of Buffalos pay scale: RW Drew Stafford, who has a $4-million cap hit, has two goals and six points. A three-time 20-goal scorer, Stafford topped out with 31 goals in 62 games as recently as 2010-2011. LW Ville Leino, a $4.5-million cap hit through 2016-2017, has one point in eight games and has been a healthy scratch even when hes not injured. D Christian Ehrhoff, signed through 2020-2021 at a $4-million cap hit, has four assists in 19 games. Hes not playing poorly, but isnt good enough to be a difference-maker on a bad club. D Tyler Myers, inked through 2018-2019 for $5.5-million per, has four points and is minus-9. His play has declined dramatically since his impressive rookie campaign of 2009-2010. No team can generate positive results in a salary cap league when their highest-paid players are so unproductive. The highest-paid player remaining in Buffalo is G Ryan Miller, who has a $6.25-million cap hit on a contract that expires at seasons end. Miller has a .916 save percentage, pretty much his standard since 2010-2011, and good enough that he will likely hold some appeal on the trade market when the time finally comes to move out a 33-year-old who is not a fit for a team at this level of rebuilding. Once Miller is moved, that would be right down to the foundation. Is there hope for the future? Sure, eventually. The Sabres have given substantial playing time to young players this season. Teenage defencemen Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov have played more than 17 minutes per game, immediately after they were drafted in 2013 and 21-year-old rookie Mark Pysyk plays 21 minutes per game on the blueline, ranking third behind Ehrhoff and Myers. As the experience with Myers has shown, there is not necessarily a linear path from teen NHL defenceman to future NHL star, so even if the young defencemen pan out, there is some risk andd it should take time before they can be counted on to anchor the unit. nike free run 2 norge. The Sabres also have prospects Brayden McNabb and Chad Ruhwedel toiling in the AHL for Rochester and they could be due for a look this season. Add in University of Wisconsin defenceman Jake McCabe and Buffalo has a solid crop of blueliners in the organization. Solid enough that they might want to consider sending Zadorov back to the Ontario Hockey League for another season rather than letting the first year of his entry-level deal burn as part of this disastrous campaign. The story is less promising up front. Hodgson, Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno, Johan Larsson, Zemgus Girgensons, and Mikhail Grigorenko are all under 25, and Joel Armia holds potential as a scoring winger but, even in the best-case scenario, its going to be a while before they become impact players, if any are going to have a notable impact at all. (Incidentally, Armia is ready to make his AHL debut after suffering a broken hand in training camp). Assuming that Miller gets moved, the Sabres will have Jhonas Enroth and Matt Hackett as their top two goaltenders (depending on the return for Miller). Thats not the strongest duo, but Enroth has a .914 save percentage in 60 NHL games as Millers backup, so hes worth a try, at least while the rebuilding process is in full effect. What is most promising for the Sabres is that they have seriously stockpiled draft picks over the next couple seasons (something for which the next GM, or even Lafontaine, can thank Regier. The Sabres own the Islanders first-round pick in 2014 (Vanek trade) as well as second-round picks from the Kings (two, for Robyn Regehr), Wild (Pominville deal) and Islanders (Vanek) over the next two seasons, plus whatever returns they might get for their veteran unrestricted free agents that could be moved before this seasons trade deadline. Including their own first and second-round picks, the Sabres will have eight picks in the first two rounds over the next two drafts. Then consider that Miller, Moulson and Steve Ott are all pending unrestricted free agents that should hold significant appeal around the league. Getting picks and prospects in return could give the Sabres in the neighbourhood of a dozen picks in the first two rounds over the next two drafts. Times are tough now, but those picks should really replenish the talent in the organization. (Note: the Sabres likely cant empty the cupboard completely because they will have to get to the salary cap floor in 2014-2015 and, per Cap Geek, they have 14 players under contract for $34.9-million next season.) Draft picks and prospects are uncertain, but if a team is as bad as the Sabres are currently, its encouraging to have picks that could help change the direction of the franchise and, given their current place in the standings, the Sabres are not likely to be dramatically better as soon as next season, which means they could be in contention for the Connor McDavid Sweepstakes, also known as the 2015 NHL Draft. Acquiring talent through the draft should ultimately change the Sabres fortunes, but that build is a slow process -- it could be five years before a playoff berth is a reasonable expectation (or, ask the Edmonton Oilers, the process can take even longer). In the meantime, Ted Nolan is going to have to instill a work ethic in the Sabres young players; something could have a lasting effect going forward. Given that this is already a lost season, there is no reason for Nolan not to play his young players and play them a lot, since they might as well find out who can handle playing at the NHL level. There is a feeling, in some circles, that by digging into the franchises past to hire Lafontaine and Nolan (and rumours have begun that ex-Sabre Rick Dudley could be the next GM), the Sabres are merely looking for some positive PR spin. Maybe thats the case. Well have to see what kind of decisions the new braintrust makes and how well they set the franchise up for the future. It will be a big job for a team is going to have a lot of long nights for this season and beyond. 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. cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '