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ouragement,” Kadri observed. The leash for Gardiner, however, h

in Here is your first Forum Tue Nov 26, 2019 6:45 am
by sakura698 • 285 Posts

MIAMI -- For Philadelphia, the season finale was about whats coming next year. Brian McCann Braves Jersey . For Miami, its about whats coming next week. And really, nothing else mattered. Thaddeus Young scored 20 points, Michael Carter-Williams had 12 in the final game of his impressive rookie campaign, and the 76ers wrapped up a dismal season by topping the Heat 100-87 on Wednesday night for their second win of the season over the two-time defending NBA champions. Brandon Davies had 11 points, while Henry Sims, James Anderson and Casper Ware each scored 10 for the 76ers (19-63). "We stuck together," Young said. "We did a very good job of staying together, playing as a cohesive unit. Sometimes the odds were stacked against us but we didnt let that get us down." Dwyane Wade scored 16 points in 23 minutes for Miami (54-28), which got 13 from Toney Douglas and 11 from Ray Allen. Shane Battier -- in his final season barring a seismic change of heart -- scored nine points and eclipsed the 30,000-minute mark in his regular-season career. "Couldnt be more proud of my guy," Battiers wife, Heidi Battier, wrote on Twitter. Her husband half-seriously talked about the milestone with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra earlier in the day. "If you had told me when I was a little boy that one day youre going to play 30,000 regular-season NBA minutes, Id have said Get out of here," Battier said. "Even at 35, 13 years in, the novelty of playing in the NBA and living my dream is still there." The Heat -- who came into the night locked into the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs -- rested LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Mario Chalmers, Rashard Lewis and Chris Andersen, and found out before the game that their quest for a third straight NBA title opens Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Their first-round opponent: Charlotte. "That team competes very hard," Wade said. Miami went 4-0 against the Bobcats this season, though one was a one-point game and another went to overtime. And since Miami landed James and Bosh, the Heat are 15-0 against the club now owned by Michael Jordan, a guy who knows a thing or two about three-peats and whose jersey was retired long ago in Miami as a show of respect. "Theyre a worthy, worthy opponent," Spoelstra said of the Bobcats. "So weve got to get to work." The last time Miami and Charlotte met was March 3, when James scored a career-high 61 points. Wednesdays game was decided in the third, when the 76ers outscored the Heat 29-15. By then, Wade had played 23 minutes in one last tuneup, and the Heat seemed content to get the second season started. "Our record doesnt show we had a good season but the main thing is we stayed together," Carter-Williams said. Philadelphia finished with the leagues second-worst record, but has the expected rookie of the year in Carter-Williams and could have as many as seven picks -- two of them out of the lottery -- in this years draft. This year was bleak. The future shouldnt be in Philly. "The relief that the season has ended truly does not creep into my mind because its trumped by the excitement that I see going forward," 76ers coach Brett Brown said. "Im so excited to watch the direction of ping-pong balls. Im so excited to watch what we do with our summer leagues. ... I see the foundation." Brown said it was a season where he wanted to emphasize fitness and start building a culture when it comes to professionalism in terms of absorbing scouting reports, weight-room sessions and studying video. He thinks that was accomplished. "At times I get excited because I think I know something others may not," Brown said. "I feel like were heading in the right direction. I hope we can get some luck with the draft and move our program forward." NOTES: It was Fan Appreciation Night in Miami, and Battier addressed the sellout crowd in a brief pregame ceremony. "Lets go Heat and lets go get this ring," said Battier, who logged nearly 40 minutes, his most since the 2011-12 season. ... Brown, who was an assistant with San Antonio before taking the 76ers job last summer, plans to fly there Thursday night to visit with Gregg Popovich and the Spurs staff. ... Greg Oden returned to the Miami lineup, his first appearance since March 26 because of back issues and more recently, a stomach virus. He had two points and five rebounds in 13 minutes. John Smoltz Braves Jersey . Berdych and Stepanek played all five matches when the Czechs beat Spain 3-2 in the final last November in Prague to win the countrys first title as an independent nation. Hank Aaron Jersey . - A Tuesday funeral is planned in Toronto for 20-year-old Saginaw Spirit forward Terry Trafford. https://www.cheapbraves.com/1523o-mark-melancon-jersey-braves.html . And thats good news for Canada. Kelly, who plays No. 8 at the back of the scrum, is captain of the Canadian womens team.TORONTO – They were making Morgan Rielly hold the shopping bags as they strolled through Eaton Centre during a rare day off the ice. Nazem Kadri was there and so was the 24-year-old walking backwards and documenting the light mocking of his junior teammate with a cell phone camera. Then he tripped over a garbage can. Things just aren’t going Jake Gardiner’s way these days. Gardiner has been a healthy scratch in each of the past two games, an odd show of faith to a player who signed for five years and more than $20 million in late July. The Maple Leafs, though, have consistently taken a tough love kind of approach to the former Ducks first round pick. The results mostly indicate that such an approach has failed to reap much in the way of reward, Gardiner struggling to find consistent form in each of the past two seasons – some of that, no doubt, the growing pains of a young defenceman. In question is whether such an approach is beneficial to the long-term development of a talent the organization is clearly high on, but also someone whom the head coach, Randy Carlyle, has prodded most often. Tough love from a coach can have its benefits, say various players in the Toronto room, but only if the personality in question is right for that type of motivation. Some respond to old-school types, benefiting from constant barks in the ear. Dion Phaneuf, for example, recalls his time under hard-edged former Flames coach, Mike Keenan, fondly. Others need that positive voice. Nazem Kadri would probably fall more under the latter. He took his share of prodding over his early Toronto years from the likes of Dallas Eakins and Ron Wilson. And while he hated it, he also was the fiery type to respond to it. “It sucks,” said Kadri. “I don’t like it all. But I’m not going to let it ruin my confidence or my self-esteem as a player because at the end of the day I know what I can do and I believe in myself. “I don’t want to say it works because then they’ll just keep giving me tough love,” he continued. “[But] I think I respond well to it. It doesn’t really bother me. I’m a pretty thick-skinned kid, even going back to minor hockey; I’ve had some pretty tough coaches. I don’t like it so much and sometimes I’m not so patient with it, but I think I react well. It doesn’t really bother me. It’s not like I go into a shell after I get ripped out or reamed out, I just continue playing my game.” Gardiner isn’t really that fiery type. And the odd seat in the press-box or even down to the Marlies hasn’t done much to affect his performance positively. When the lockout ended in Jan. 2013, Gardiner was first healthy scratched and then sent to the American League, where he lingered unhappily for weeks. He finally returned to the NHL in March – amid the ranting of fans, media and his agent at the time – played a couple games, and then was sent back to the press box for the final days of the regular season and even Game 1 of the playoffs. Gardiner flourished when the Leafs turned to him for the rest of that playoff series with Boston, but promptly struggled again the following fall – drawing another prominent healthy scratch in late November. Is this the best way, then, to motivate Gardiner? A player, mind you, who questioned his security with the Leafs before – amid ongoing trade rumours – only to believe he was done with all that when the team sprung for a five-year deal in the summer. There’s nothing wrong with scratching a player from time to time despite media and fan protests, but to do so three games in the season – given the history of disconnect bbetween player and team, the splashy new deal, and fact that said player hadn’t played so poorly – seems off the mark. Orlando Cepeda Braves Jersey. Gardiner has ultimately been pushed out of the lineup by rookie Stuart Percy, an early revelation in a top-four role. But is removing Gardiner, who was by far the Leafs top possession player a year ago and leading defensive point-getter at even-strength, best for the team and best for his development as a young player? That’s unlikely, especially given the predictable early season struggles of Stephane Robidas. Carlyle, speaking generally, says his motivational tactics are dependent on the individual. “I think a lot of that is feel and a lot of it is personality,” he said. “Some people take coaching as criticism and other people take criticism as personal. Those things are things that you to weigh and have to measure when you’re applying it.” Carlyle admits to making mistakes in how he’s handled things in the past, though not specifically with Gardiner. Sometimes, he says, it might be the wrong time or the wrong setting for certain tactics. “We’re all human,” he said. “We all make mistakes. Those are things that you have to gauge with experience. I think those are learning curves for a coach.” Communication can make all the difference. And to Carlyle’s credit, he has been up front with Gardiner about why he’s not playing – though not anymore so than usual. He’s told the Minnesota native that his play hasn’t been up to the level that they expect. Today’s players, Carlyle says, want more of that. They want answers and responsibility. And despite his old-school leanings, it’s apparent that Carlyle has tried to adapt. There was a point last year before a game in Philadelphia that saw him bring Gardiner onto the visitors’ bench at Wells Fargo Center, pull out the iPad and show him a few video clips on what needed improvement. More of that might be helpful. And through some film dissection this fall, Gardiner has been told that he needs to contain the opposition more effectively in the defensive zone and move the puck quicker. Cody Franson wasn’t afforded such treatment by the team’s previous head coach, Ron Wilson, during his first training camp in Toronto. Franson found out he’d be the seventh defenceman to start the regular season not from the coach himself, but from an online video of the coach speaking to media. The worst part about it, he says, was leaving the rink every day uncertain of why he wasn’t playing and when he’d get back in. “When I went through it it wasn’t the best thing for me,” Franson said. “But every guy’s a little different. Some guys need stuff like that. Some guys just need to be talked to. It all depends on the individual.” “It always helps when you get some words of encouragement,” Kadri observed. The leash for Gardiner, however, has seemed short at times and especially now. He seemed to say as much in his exit meeting with Carlyle last spring – revelations that went beyond the imagination of the head coach. All that being said, Carlyle did doll out more even-strength minutes to Gardiner than any other player on the team last season, an indication of trust if there was ever was one. “We feel that we have a quality hockey player that can play to a higher level and he agrees with that,” said Carlyle earlier this week. “So to me that’s end of story.” Asked what Gardiner could do to impress once he earned another opportunity, Carlyle responded bluntly, “Play better.” Time will tell if he does and Carlyles tough-love approach is worth pursuing. ' ' '

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