andere Teams » ol de Joux Plane, there is always an i

NEW YORK -- In the last week, the Brooklyn Nets have faced two elite point guards in the Western Conference.Their meetings with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City and Chris Paul in Los Angeles did not go well.On Sunday, the Nets return home and face another top point guard when they host Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers.The Nets return from their five-game trip with a 4-8 record and a three-game losing streak, partially because they could not stop Paul and Westbrook.On Monday, Paul had 21 points and nine assists in Brooklyns 127-95 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. A night later, second-year point guard DAngelo Russell shredded Brooklyns defense by scoring 32 points in a 125-118 loss.We stopped moving the ball offensively and stopped making the extra pass, and that fueled their transition, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said. Defensively, weve slipped in these past three games.The road trip ended Friday when Westbrook torched the Nets for 30 points in a 125-104 loss. If Westbrooks performance was not frustrating enough, the Nets were within three points and then gave up a 12-1 run while Westbrook was relaxing on the bench and enjoying his latest triple-double.It was a continuation of a trend against opposing point guards for the Nets. Brooklyn has allowed an opposing point guard to get at least 20 points in six games and has lost each time.If those were not bad enough for Net fans, Lillard is a sore spot from 2012. The Trail Blazers used their sixth overall pick in the 2012 draft to get him and the pick was obtained from the Nets for Gerald Wallace, who eventually was traded to the Boston Celtics along with three first-round picks in the ill-fated Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce deal.Lillard is averaging a career-high 28.7 points per game while also shooting a career-best 45.5 percent. He scored 27 points Friday but shot 8 of 24 from the field in a 113-101 loss at New Orleans as Portland dropped its third straight.I feel like soon its going to go in that direction, Lillard told reporters. We just have to stay true to it, stay true to what we do.During its slide, Portland has lost by an average of 18 points per game. Lillard is shooting 34.9 percent (22-of-63) while Portlands defense has allowed 117 points and been outscored by 36 points in the last three opening quarters.Its a long year, were not in panic mode, Portland forward Ed Davis said. I mean it is an 82-game season. We just finished with game 14. We are still working on things.We obviously are not playing the best basketball right now, but we are still .500. Its not like we are on an eight-game losing streak, but we are on a three-game losing streak. We just need to take it one day at a time, stay together and see what happens.One thing that will not happen Sunday is Jeremy Lin returning from a strained left hamstring. Lin was injured in the first half of a 105-100 win over the Detroit Pistons Nov. 2 and the Nets are 3-4 without him.Lin was re-evaluated Thursday and the Nets did not have a further timetable. He accompanied the Nets on the trip and did some running and shooting after not participating in Fridays morning shootaround.Just progressing as planned. Hes on target. Im not going to give exact dates but hes progressing on schedule. Atkinson told reporters Friday. Im going to listen to the performance team. Were going to be smart about this, take a long term approach.Without Lin, the Nets have tried different things at point guard. Rookie Isaiah Whitehead started the first two games before getting a concussion, Sean Kilpatrick shot 14-of-49 while starting the next four and Randy Foye played 15 minutes as the starter Friday.However, the starting point guard matters little if the Nets are unable to rebound effectively. Brooklyn was outrebounded 46-30 Friday and while it is around the middle of the pack with 44.2 rebounds per game, the Nets had a minus-30 rebounding differential in their last three games.Weve got to do a better job protecting the rim. I thought they were getting to the rim, and we didnt protect it like we should, and we need to do a better job, Atkinson said.Portland has won five of the last six games with the Nets and six of its last nine road games in the series. Lillard has scored at least 30 points in his last three games against the Nets while Brook Lopez has scored at least 20 points in his last five games against Portland.Air Max 95 Pas Cher France . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. Fausse Balenciaga a Vendre .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.airmaxpaschervente.fr/destockage-air-max-tn-france.html . "I was fortunate to play many years at this level with a great organization and unbelievable teammates," said Hejduk in a statement. Fausse Air Max 97 Pas Cher . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. Fausse Yeezy 700 Pas Cher . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season.MONTAUBAN, France -- Serge Pauwels says he is quite a good descender. But as the blue strapping on his left wrist and hand shows, even he can get it wrong and, with it, throw away the chance of a career-defining win in a race like the Tour de France.Climbing prowess is great, especially during Wednesdays 216-kilometer fifth stage from Limoges to Le Lioran in the Massif Central that had six categorised climbs -- four of which were in the last 45 kilometres. And Belgian Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) proved to be the best climber, taking the yellow leaders jersey after soloing away from Belgian Thomas de Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) with 17 kilometres to go.But as Pauwels (Dimension Data) was reminded in a stage that suited his climbing ability, descending can be just as significant an asset. Pauwels was in the original nine-rider breakaway with Van Avermaet. But unlike his countryman, he did not reap the glory he had hoped for, instead crashing on the descent before the last climb and then finishing the stage in 32nd place, 6 minutes and 3 seconds behind Van Avermaet.With his left wrist strapped and still sore for Thursdays sixth stage from Arpajon-sur-Cère, Pauwels told ESPN: I went off the course on the descent before the last climb, which was pretty tricky. Generally, I try and stay within myself and within my limits. But I made a mistake. Im lucky its nothing really bad. In general, I am quite good at [descending]. I normally dont have any problems with it. I am not the kind of guy who likes to take a lot of risks. Normally I can be well focused.However, he said other elements can affect a riders ability to descend. Accumulated fatigue in the Tour -- the peloton raced 1,048km in the first five days -- can impact concentration. Also influential can be the changing weather, like what this years Tour has experienced. After the cooler climes of Normandy where the Tour began, the peloton faced the heat of the Massif Central on Wednesday that turned bitumen on the road into a slippery hazard.[On Wednesday] the asphalt was melting, Pauwels said. Also the fatigue. I was happy to be in the breakaway, but unfortunately I wasnt feeling super great. Maybe the first heat [of the Tour] got me a little. I was expecting to go a little better. Well, I will try and fight again.Pauwels will get his chance possibly in the Pyrenees, where the Tour enters on Friday in stage seven -- 162.5km from LIsle Jourdain to La de Payolle. It remains in the mountain range bordering France and Spain for the weekend with stage eight, 177km from Pau to Bagnères de Luchon and stage nine, 184km from Vielha Val DAran in Spain to Andorra Arcalis.Yes, thats kind of my plan, Pauwels said. Its about taking opportunities and being flexible in the mind with whatever comes. I generally dont make big plans. I like to take my chances when they come. Hopefully everything falls into a good place sooner than later.Tejay van Garderen: Riders must manage the risk of descendingDescending doesnt just impact individual stages; it can have also have a significant impact oon the overall race.dddddddddddd The Giro dItalia in May proved that. Dutch leader Steven Kruijswijk (Lotto-Jumbo), who is not racing in the Tour, crashed on the descent of the Colle DellAgnello in stage 19 while following Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Colombian Esteban Chaves (Orica-BikeExchange). He had an overall lead of three minutes. But the crash cost Kruiswijk the leaders pink jersey that went to the stage winner, Chaves, who lost it the next day to Nibali who went on to win the Giro. Kruijswijk finished fourth at 1 minutes, 50 seconds.The importance of descending is not lost on American Tour contender Tejay van Garderen, who has twice placed fifth in the Tour -- in 2012, when he also best young rider, and in 2014. You have to have the skills on the bike to go down hill, especially [when] a lot of time, you see in these hot temperatures the tarmac starting to melt. The wheel can slip, van Garderen said before starting Thursdays sixth stage. There are a lot of [stages] that finish after descents. So, its something you have to be good at and manage the risk.Like Pauwels, van Garderen looks forward to the Pyrenees; but while it is a stage winning opportunity for Pauwels, for the American it is with the overall race. He forecasts a shake up of classification in which he is still on the same time as the best placed favourites. There are definitely some hard stages coming up that will shake up the GC [general classification] quite a bit, van Garderen said. There is going to be some attacks.According to former British professional Graham Jones who raced on numerous European teams from 1979 to 1988, this years Tour route will challenge every riders descending. Some people are very good descenders and can take time, but the most important thing -- especially for a GC rider -- is to be able to not lose time, Jones said. So it is important he can at best have the ability to follow the main favourites.Jones says the greatest hazard could be on stage 20, with the descent to Morzine from the Col de Joux Plane. I know the Col de Joux Plane, there is always an incident, he said. Descending may be not quite as significant as climbing, but certainly it is very important.Certainly, it is when one rider detects a weakness in descending in the other, adds Jones. You can force an error into somebody. You might know somebody has got a weakness on the descents, Jones said. Giving it that little bit extra can make somebody make a mistake. Once you lose it on a bend or corner, you have a scare. After that, it is difficult to recover.You will probably take more risks if you need to try and gain time. If you are defending, sometimes you just dont want to take any risks because you dont want to fall off. We have seen it before: People have lost tours. There is also that fine line when it is dry between people who descend very well, but when it is wet, then it completely goes out the window. ' ' '