Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov.PITTSBURGH -- A Pittsburgh Penguin

Last year the Denver Nuggets opened their season with a surprisingly easy rout in Houston. They were confident entering their home opener only to fall flat against Minnesota.They want to avoid that same fate this year.The Nuggets survived a 50-point night by Anthony Davis to beat the Pelicans, 107-102, in New Orleans on Wednesday. Now they want to carry that momentum when they start their home schedule Saturday night against Portland.While the win in New Orleans was encouraging, it will be tainted by a poor performance against the Trail Blazers.My hope now is, as we turn our attention to our home opener, we can have a much better showing than we had in our home opener last year, Nuggets coach Michael Malone told The Denver Post. I thought we came out flat on our home floor.The Nuggets face a Portland team that is coming off a 114-106 loss at home to the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night. The Blazers have already played two games, beating Utah 113-104 on Tuesday, and guard Damian Lillard looks to be in midseason form. He had 39 points in Tuesdays game and followed that with 29 points and 10 rebounds against the Clippers.This will be Portlands first road game. The Blazers were 3-1 against Denver last season, splitting the two games at Pepsi Center and sweeping the home games.Portland will have to quickly put Thursdays emotional game in the rearview mirror. The Blazers and the Clippers have a budding rivalry, and it was evident in L.A.s win. Portland upset the Clippers in the first round of the 2016 playoffs and the tensions from that spilled into Thursday.Mason Plumlee and C.J. McCollum both drew flagrant fouls in the loss.Counted with preseason, the season and the playoffs, weve played them, like, 12 or 13 times in the last year, Mason Plumlee told The Oregonian of the Clippers. We feel like theyre related to us.There is no history like that with Denver, but that doesnt diminish the significance of the matchup for the Nuggets. They are trying to get back to the playoffs for the first time in four years, and their collection of young talent is starting to show signs of maturity.Center Jusuf Nurkic, who played just 33 games last year because of injury, looked everything like his nickname, The Bosnian Beast, in the win in New Orleans. He had 23 points and nine rebounds and was a force inside.Malone did come away with something to fix in the win. Denver committed 25 turnovers, which led to 26 points for the Pelicans.It would have been more painful had the Nuggets blown a double-digit lead in the second half but they held on for the win.I just think it was first-game jitters, guard Will Barton told The Denver Post. Preseason is great but it still cant come close to the regular season.Denver is hopeful guard Gary Harris can return to the lineup. Harris missed most of the preseason and Wednesdays game with a groin injury but was practicing this week.The Trail Blazers are hoping to get guard Evan Turner on track. Turner, who signed a $70-million free-agent contract, is struggling while getting integrated into Portlands system.Some nights, things are going to go your way, Turner told The Oregonian. Some nights, theyre not. Ive just got to fight through it and build consistency in that area. And the tide is going to turn. Like I said, Im doing things, making plays that Ive always done and shooting shots that Im always taking. The shots are just going in and out.Authentic Tom Brady Jersey . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. The 1.83-meter (6-foot) Leapai defeated the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov in November to become the WBOs mandatory challenger. Michael Jordan Jersey North Carolina . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. https://www.sportsstarsjerseys.com/michael-jordan-jersey/ . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. Michael Jordan Jersey Throwback . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Sports Jerseys . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov.PITTSBURGH -- A Pittsburgh Penguins fan in Canada who put a sign outside his home asking Sid Crosby to sign his jersey got an unexpected knock on the door last week.Darryl Pottie had placed a hand-painted sign on the road outside his Enfield, Nova Scotia, home saying, Sid, please sign my jersey.Crosby was in the area after showing off the Stanley Cup to his hometown of Halifax.On Friday, while Pottie was at work, the Penguins captain knocked on the door. Potties wife answered annd says Crosby told her: Hi, Im here to sign the jersey.ddddddddddddCrosby signed several jerseys and took photos with Potties wife and daughter.Pottie tells WTAE-TV (http://bit.ly/2bbt9Yc ) hes thrilled to have the signed jerseys and a good story but wishes his wife wouldve called him.---Information from: WTAE-TV, http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com ' ' '