Vorschläge » Nuggets opened the fourth quarter with a surge

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The first sign that Kansas Speedway was going to be a heartbreaker for Hendrick Motorsports should have come during qualifying when Jimmie Johnson inexplicably spun and earned one of his worst starting spots since 2005.Even that couldnt prepare the organization for the trouble it encountered during Sundays race.Johnson was involved in an early accident and finished 40th, which dropped the six-time and defending NASCAR champion to last in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. It was Johnsons worst Chase finish since the 2005 season finale.It only got worse from there for the Hendrick cars. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a tire problem while leading and hit the wall, causing him to finish 39th. Then Kasey Kahne also hit the wall — he too believed it was caused by a tire problem — and finished 22nd.Even Jeff Gordon, who finished a team-best 14th, had a problem. A tire got away from his pit crew during a stop, earning a penalty for the four-time series champion.A lot of people had trouble, so today was a real survival day, Gordon said.But Kahne, Earnhardt and Johnson are now at the bottom of the 12-driver field, and four will be eliminated in two weeks after Talladega. It means theyve got to be above average Saturday night at Charlotte to avoid having their championship hopes depend on Talladega.A win earns a driver an automatic berth into the next round, and on Sunday it went to Joey Logano, who picked up his fifth victory of the season.Johnson wants to also earn that automatic berth.It just means weve got to be on our game at Charlotte and Talladega, Johnson said. Certainly need Ws, I would assume, going forward.Here are some other major developments from the fourth race in the 10-race Chase:LOGANO SURGES: With his win on Sunday at Kansas, Logano once again proved hes going to be tough to beat in this race for the Sprint Cup.Hes won in both rounds of the Chase to stay alive in the elimination format, and his career-best five wins this season is tied with teammate Brad Keselowski for most in the series.Getting us to the next round, thats awesome, Logano said. Im having a blast this year, and weve got a real shot to win this championship. I feel like were one of the teams to beat.MIXED BAG: Although Keselowski visited his teammate in Victory Lane, the Team Penske group had mixed emotions at the end of the race.He was also felled by a tire problem and finished 36th, lamenting after that the Goodyear issues turned the race into a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.Team owner Roger Penske said the focus must now turn to Charlotte and not what happened to Keselowski at Kansas.These races, when theyre over, theyre over, Penske said. Obviously well do whatever we can to help him. The whole team will. But the thing we cant do is make a big right or left turn here. Weve got to take on the same track were on.HARVICK NOT HAPPY: Kevin Harvick once again had one of the fastest cars on the track and nothing to show for it at the end of the race.He led 61 laps and was third when he headed to pit road with what he believed was a flat tire. His Stewart-Haas Racing crew found nothing wrong with the tires, but the damage was done: Harvick had dropped to 23rd, was out of contention for the victory and had to charge his way back to a 12th-place finish. He apologized to his crew over his radio.I thought I had a flat tire and pitted because you see all the trouble that is going on, he said after the race, explaining his car simply didnt turn.LARSON, AGAIN: Kyle Larson continued to creep closer and closer to his first career Sprint Cup Series victory with his second-place finish.Larson, a rookie who did not qualify for the Chase, has finished second in two of the last three races and was in a late battle for the win at Chicago before finishing third. Hes not finished lower than sixth since the Chase began.I definitely feel like Ive been running a lot better than what I thought I would to start the season, but I thought I would make the Chase, too, Larson said. I think midpoint through the season, I noticed I was running better than what our goals were and raised those goals into top 10s, and now the way weve been running, we want to be top-5 every week.BIG DAY FOR BUSCH: Kyle Busch has seen his championship hopes come to a crashing halt many times at Kansas, a track that he simply couldnt get a grasp of in the Cup Series.He finally ended his unlucky streak Sunday, a day after he won the Nationwide Series race, with a career-best third-place finish. It gave Busch a top-five finish at every active track on the Cup schedule, and moved him to second in the Chase standings.I won today, I just didnt get champagne and a trophy, he said. To get through Kansas feels nice. Vapormax 97 Suomi . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. Vapormax Flyknit 2 Ale .ca. Hi Mr. Fraser, When I was watching the Heritage Classic in Vancouver there was a play midway through the third where Ottawa crashed the Canucks net and it came off its moorings. http://www.vapormaxsuomi.com/vapormax-flyknit-3-ale.html . -- The Grand Rapids Griffins scored three goals in 33 seconds of the second period en route to defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-1 in American Hockey League action on Friday. Nike Vapormax Tukku . Wheeler said Kane was just making a joke that was misunderstood and misinterpreted by "Winnipeg folks" and the media once again. Wheeler repeated that he believes Kane is a player who has the ability to help the Jets get to the next level as they try once again to reach the playoffs in 2014. He made the comments initially in an interview, when asked how the Jets could compete in the Central Division with teams that have made some high-profile off-season signings. Nike Vapormax Kengät . These days, just about anyone can get a taste of the friendship that has blossomed between All-Star Kevin Durant and Oklahoma City Thunder teammate James Harden, most famous in the past two weeks or so for the elbow to the head he took from the Los Angeles Lakers Metta World Peace.SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Even with a new coach, the Denver Nuggets still love to push the basketball. Thats exactly what they did best Sunday night against short-handed Sacramento. Ty Lawson scored 27 points and Wilson Chandler had 20 for the Nuggets, who used their fast-paced philosophy to beat the struggling Kings 125-117. Following an emotional home win over Indiana on Saturday and a late-night flight to Sacramento, the Nuggets played the up-tempo game that was encouraged for years by George Karl and has continued under rookie coach Brian Shaw. Denver shot nearly 52 per cent, made 10 3-pointers and bothered the Kings enough at the defensive end to force 16 turnovers — many of them contributing to Denvers 33 fast-break points. It was a season high allowed by the Kings, who have had trouble all season slowing down opponents. The Nuggets are 12-2 this season when scoring at least 110 points. "We come out and run and play with energy, thats our game," Lawson said. "If we dont do that, were not going to win many games." It was the second consecutive victory for the Nuggets, who went ahead late in the third quarter and never trailed again. Denver was coming off a 109-96 victory over the Pacers, who have the best record in the NBA. The Nuggets (22-21) now return home for games against Charlotte, Toronto, the Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee. "Its the first time this year we have followed up a good win with another one," Shaw said. "If we take care of business at home we can really build some momentum." The Kings, who have dropped three straight and five of six, played their second consecutive game without leading scorers DeMarcus Cousins (ankle sprain) and Rudy Gay (Achilles strain). The two combine for nearly 43 points per game and are day to day. Chandler scored seven points in the fourth quarter and Kenneth Faried finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets. Timofey Mozgov added 14 points, while Nate Robinson and Randy Foye had 12 apiece. "Were starting to come around as a team," said Chandler, who made three 3-pointers and added five of Denvers 28 assists. "Were getting used to each other. We have 10 or 11 guys who can play and we dont lose a thing, no matter who is on the court." Isaiah Thomas had 22 points and eight assists for Sacramento, and Marcus Thornton scored 19. Ben McLemore added 18 pooints, Jason Thompson had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Derrick Williams scored 12.dddddddddddd "We never got defensive in the game tonight," Kings coach Michael Malone said. "Both teams shot the ball the exact same field goal percentage (51.9 per cent). We were not going to outscore that team. We put up 117 points and yet everyone is worried about Rudy Gay and DeMarcus being out. I havent been worried about our offence once this year." Denver didnt have a field goal in the final 3:30 of the game, but stayed on top thanks to its foul shooting. The Nuggets made 14 of 19 free throws down the stretch, most of them in the final 3 minutes. A pair of free throws by J.J. Hickson gave Denver a seven-point lead. Robinson made one of two attempts at the line with 1:02 left, putting the Nuggets up 119-113. Lawson hit two free throws and Chandler made four straight, increasing the lead to 10. "We just couldnt get any consecutive stops in the fourth quarter," McLemore said. "We would get a stop here, but not consecutively. What happened was that we turned the ball over too much tonight. Thats what allowed them to score 125 points and 58 points in the paint. It was us not defending and turnovers." Leading by two points, the Nuggets opened the fourth quarter with a surge, taking a 111-102 lead on a 3-pointer by Robinson. But Denver went scoreless for more than 3 minutes before Lawson scored for a 113-107 advantage. Lawson gave the Kings all sorts of trouble in the third quarter, scoring 12 points to help Denver take a 95-94 lead into the fourth. Thornton scored 10 for the Kings. The Nuggets ran off eight unanswered points to open an eight-point lead in the third. But the Kings countered with a 15-2 run, including seven points from Thomas and six from Thornton, to pull ahead 80-75 at the 4:36 mark. Foye had 12 first-half points and Lawson 11 for Denver, which led 65-59 at halftime. McLemore scored 10 off the bench for the Kings, who had 12 turnovers that led to 20 points. NOTES: Thomas made a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter to extend his streak to 37 games, the second-most in franchise history. Mitch Richmond holds the team record with 39 consecutive games with a 3 during the 1996-97 season. ... In a fast-paced opening half, the Kings shot 59.5 per cent and Denver was at 54.5 per cent. ... Denver made 31 of 40 free throws. ' ' '