yyys123
Joined: 08 Jul 2019
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 Posted: 22.02.2009 Post subject: rned nasty before t |
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| (SportsNetwork.com) - The Arizona Coyotes will have one more chance to snap their longest home losing streak in team history before hitting the road for a few games. The Coyotes try to snap their nine-game skid at home on Tuesday night against the Edmonton Oilers, who take to the ice one day after the firing of their head coach. Arizona has not picked up a victory at home since Nov. 4, going 0-6-3 since. The Coyotes have been outscored 17-6 in losing the first four of a five-game homestand that ends tonight. They hit the road for three in a row starting on Saturday in Los Angeles. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Lauri Korpikoski and Antoine Vermette all scored in Saturdays 4-3 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild, while Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves through overtime before getting beat twice in the tiebreaker. Arizona has lost five in a row overall. We said the other night we are going to have to play harder, were going to have to be harder to play against, Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. Tippett scratched both forward Sam Gagner and defenseman Connor Murphy in an attempt to shake up his slumping club. It is unknown if either will slide back into the lineup tonight, but Korpikoski is questionable with a lower-body injury suffered on Saturday that kept him out of practice on Monday. The good news for Arizona is that it has won eight of its past nine over Edmonton and nine of the last 12 played at home. The Coyotes have scored 14 goals in beating the Oilers three times in as many meetings already this season. Edmonton comes in having lost four in a row and 15 of its past 16 (1-11-4). The Oilers are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the fewest points in the NHL with 19 and the ax finally fell on head coach Dallas Eakins on Monday. Eakins was fired 31 games into his second season with the Oilers, who went 29-44-9 last season under their former coach. General manager Craig MacTavish will take over the Oilers on an interim basis before transitioning the team over to Todd Nelson, who was in his fifth season coaching the Oilers American Hockey League affiliate in Oklahoma City. Hell join the team as an assistant coach before MacTavish hands him the reins on an interim basis. Theres blood all over my hands in this as well because I put the lineup together and the roster, noted MacTavish on Monday. Im not here to absolve myself of accountability for the situation that were in, nor am I here to solely blame Dallas for the job that he did because in my mind he did a lot of really good things for our group. Eakins last game on Edmontons bench was a lifeless 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday in which the Oilers had only 16 shots. Ben Scrivens made 20 saves but Edmontons offense remained stuck in a slump. The Oilers have now scored two goals or fewer in seven consecutive games and were shut out for the fourth time this season. Edmonton has lost seven straight on the road. Dominic Solanke Jersey . But qualifying for her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts after years of falling short in tough Manitoba provincial championships is as good as consolation prizes get for the 29-year-old from Winnipegs Fort Rouge Curling Club. Nathaniel Clyne Liverpool Jersey . - While a fast-paced offence has become more of a fixture in recent years, the San Antonio Spurs can still grind out games when needed. http://www.footballliverpoolstore.com/Women-James-Milner-Liverpool-Jersey/ . Appearing on TSN 1050 on Tuesday, Sean McAdam of Comcast SportsNet New England reported that the Blue Jays, along with a number of other playoff contenders were in the mix for the Boston ace. Pedro Chirivella Jersey . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. Joel Matip Jersey . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. NEW YORK -- Kyle Lowry was nursing a sore knee and a bloody lip, with coach Dwane Casey saying his point guard looked like hed been through a "15-round bout." The Toronto Raptors dropped a 102-98 decision to Brooklyn on Friday giving the Nets a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series. And in the dressing room after the loss, and moments before he headed back to the team hotel with "a whole lot" of ice, Lowry called on his teammates to bring more fight as well. "Weve got to be more physical, theyre bringing their physical nature, weve got to bring our physical nature," Lowry said. "I think weve got to figure it out sooner, how were going to play from the jump to the finish. . . I figured out weve got to play physical from top to bottom." DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points and Patrick Patterson added 17 points for the Raptors, who rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to nearly steal a victory in Brooklyn. Jonas Valanciunas added 10 points and 10 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double of the series. Toronto was looking for its first playoff road win since Game 1 of their second-round series against Philadelphia in 2001, but trailed 77-66 with one quarter left against the Nets in the unfriendly confines of Barclays Arena. The Raptors dug themselves a 15-point hole in the fourth quarter before finally showing some fight, rallying to within a point with 34 seconds left in a final scrappy 12 minutes that saw 22 fouls called. "Weve got to be aggressive through the whole game, we cant wait until they pick up their aggressiveness and then we pick it up too," DeRozan said. "Weve got to be aggressive throughout the whole game. "Once they had their big lead, we tried to fight back and we cant put ourselves in that situation." Toronto forward Terrence Ross continued to struggle in the series, scoring five points in 21:36 of work. He also had two rebounds and three turnovers. The Nets led by 15 a couple of times in the fourth before the Raptors finally came to life, with Patterson draining a three-pointer to spark an 8-0 Raptors run that pulled Toronto within seven points with 2:31 on the clock. They continued to eat away at the point difference, pulling to within a point on a free throw by DeRozan with 20 seconds left. Patterson then missed two shots from the foul line with 19 seconds left that would have tied the game. "I missed them," Patterson said. "My first big free throws that I have ever missed in my life like that. Unfortunately, it sucks but all I can do is look forward to the next opportunity." A key moment down the stretch came with 47.3 seconds left when Torontos Greivis Vasquez was called for a foul on Deron Williams -- a call that outraged the Raptors bench, and Vasquez, who was subsequently slapped with a technical. "I was just trying to contain D-Will. He was trying to push me off a little bit but it was a basketball play," Vasquez said. When asked if he expected to receive the foul, Vasquez wouldnt say. "I dont want to talk about the referees. I dont want to lose any money at all, so next question," he said. "The referees are going to go to sleep fine, Im not going to go to sleep because we lost." Patterson was a little more vocal. "Is that something new?" he said on the officiating. "In regards to calls not going our way or us feeling a certain way about referees, it has been taking place all year long. For us to think its going to change in the playoffs, we are fooling ourselves." Joe Johnson topped the Nets with 29 points, while Williams had 22 and Paul Pierce finished with 18. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Brooklyn, then the series heads back to Toronto for Game 5 on Wednesday. The Raptors shot 46 per cent on the night while the Nets made good on 49 per cent of their shots. Toronto outrebounded Brooklyn 35-29. Turnovers again proved costly -- the Raptors gave away 16 points on 19 turnovers. "I thought 19 turnovers, a lot of those was getting backed off our mark," said Casey, his voice hoarse from hollering all night. "We just have to be stronger with the ball or, accordingly, turn around and play they way theyre playing, bumping and hitting in those situations. "I love the fight from my team," the coach added. "t;This team tried to throw haymakers at us and go at us and we did a good job of battling back and staying in the game and competing.dddddddddddd." Lowry went to the dressing room briefly after banging knees, but insisted he would be fine. Asked if he could play Sunday, he laughed and said "Is that a trick question?" When asked how much ice hed be leaving the arena with, Lowry replied: "A lot. A whole lot right now. Its part of the playoffs, man. Im happy, Im excited to be icing up around this time." The Raptors hadnt been concerned about playing on the road, going 22-19 in the regular season for a franchise record for wins, tied for the most among East teams. "We were a helluva good road team in the regular season," Lowry said. "Its the playoffs. We came in here tonight thinking we were going to win this game, and Sunday well come in and think were going to win on Sunday too." The Barclays Center though has been particularly kind to the Nets this season. They were unbeatable here for two months during the regular season, winning a franchise record 15 straight games on their home court. The Raptors knew a hostile crowd awaited them at Barclays Center in this playoff series that turned nasty before the first ball had even been tossed up. Prior to Game 1, Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri dropped his now famous F-bomb while referring to Brooklyn. According to social media, fans in Toronto resurrected Ujiris F-bomb in a chant Friday night at Maple Leaf Square, where hundreds of people braved the rain and wind to watch the game on the big screen outside the Air Canada Centre. The Nets went on to win the opener 94-87 and New Yorks tabloid newspapers had fun with their headlines the next day. The headline on the New York Daily News front page: "Dont F...... With Brooklyn! Nets give foul-mouthed Raptors a spanking to take Game 1." The New York Posts front page was a picture of a grinning Paul Pierce with the headline: "After Toronto GM insults Bklyn, Nets shut up Raptors. F.(at)K YEAH!" The Raptors evened the series with a 105-100 victory on Tuesday. Ujiri was fined $25,000 for the profanity, and Garnett said he was curious how fans in Brooklyn would react to the Toronto GM. "Very, very eager to see how they respond to the F Brooklyn," Garnett told reporters earlier in the week. "Very, very eager to see how they respond to this kid." Fridays crowd in Brooklyn, though, felt more festive than hostile. Outside the sleek US$1 billion Barclays Center, a steel drum band entertained people waiting in lines. Inside, a small pocket of fans chanted "U-S-A!" when Ross went to the free-throw line, but it was otherwise just the usual refrain of "Ref you suck!" The capacity crowd of 17,732 fans at the Barclays Center included pockets of red-clad Raptors fans, including one man that stood and used a lint roller on his red shirt in celebration of Toronto baskets -- a reference to Drakes use of a lint roller to clean his pants during Game 2 at the Air Canada Centre. Rihanna, Michael K. Williams, who played Omar in "The Wire," and Nate Ruess, the lead singer of Fun, were all seated courtside. Prime Minister Stephen Harper tweeted a good luck message to the team, posting: "Heres hoping the (at)raptors take the series lead tonight in Brooklyn. .wethenorth" The optics at the Barclays Center added to the drama. The black-accented court is brightly lit like a theatre stage while the crowd sits under dimmed lights, blending into the black walls of the arena. The ThunderStix given out to fans glow. DeRozan led the way with eight points in an opening quarter that saw neither team lead by more than a couple of baskets. The Raptors ended the frame with a 12-6 run to take a 23-19 lead into the second. A Ross three-pointer stretched Torontos lead to five points early in the second, but the Nets went on a 12-1 run to take an eight-point lead with just under a minute to play before halftime. Brooklyn went into the dressing room at the break up 49-45. The Nets continued to put distance on Toronto in the third, taking an 11-point lead on a floating jumper by Johnson with 6:22 left in the quarter. The Raptors chipped away to pull within four on a three by Greivis Vasquez, but the Nets ended the quarter with a 9-2 run to take a 77-66 lead into the fourth. ' ' ' |
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