Talk » points on the season for Quincey. Ales He

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Utah Jazz have won two straight on this current road trip and will continue the odyssey Saturday night at Time Warner Cable Arena against the Charlotte Hornets. After going 1-12, the Jazz swept a trip through Florida with victories over four-time reigning Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat on Wednesday, and the Orlando Magic on Friday. Against Orlando, Derrick Favors had 23 points and 10 rebounds as the Jazz prevailed, 101-94. Gordon Hayward posted 20 points and six assists, while Enes Kanter added 11 points and seven rebounds for Utah, which shot 53.4 percent from the field on Friday. Coach talks about it all the time, but no negative plays is huge for us, Hayward said. The Jazz jumped on the Magic early and really never looked back. Their margin was 12 after the first quarter, six at the half and 15 after three. Orlando never got closer than six over the final 12 minutes. Utah will finish this six-game sojourn Monday at FedExForum against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak on Friday with a 109-91 drubbing of the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. Kemba Walker scored 30 points and Al Jefferson added 20 points and 12 rebounds in the win as the Hornets led for the final 41 1/2 minutes of the game. Our readiness was good to start the game and when the guys came off the bench we sustained our play well and we were able to play from ahead, said Hornets coach Steve Clifford. They earned just their third win in the last 17 games, shaking off Wednesdays loss to Phoenix, when they blew a 17-point lead. Gerald Henderson chipped in 11 points, while Gary Neal added 10 off the bench. Charlottes starting forwards - Cody Zeller and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist - combined for 13 points. Lance Stephenson sat out the contest with a sprained pelvis and he will miss Saturdays game as well. The Jazz have won 10 in a row over Charlotte, including five straight as the visitor in this series. Alex Avila Jersey .com) - Robert Upshaw made a putback jumper to put 17th-ranked Washington ahead with 1:27 remaining in the game and the Huskies held on to beat Eastern Washington 81-77 on Sunday. Jake Lamb Jersey . As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier. http://www.authenticdiamondbacksproshop.com/customized/ . Fourteen players were suspended last summer by Major League Baseball as part of the Biogenesis drug scandal, ranging from All-Stars to also-rans. A. J. Pollock Jersey . As deep as their roster is, they need their superstar. Rose scored 23 points in his return from a five-game absence due to back pain, and Chicago hung on to beat the struggling Atlanta Hawks 90-79 on Monday. Archie Bradley Jersey . McCutchen was cut before the series opener against Seattle on Monday night, when Lewis was set for his first start for Texas since July 18, 2012. Texas selected Lewis contract from Triple-A Round Rock.A look at the slumping Toronto Maple Leafs, Alexander Steen, Scott Gomez, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. The world is crashing down around the Toronto Maple Leafs, and new head coach Peter Horachek, as they have managed all of two goals during a five-game losing skid. It’s one thing to be losing – the Leafs were already doing that – but coming up empty, with no offence to speak of, night after night, is quickly wearing thin on a fanbase that was ready, maybe even hopeful, for a new-coach bounce. Even if the early schedule has been more than a little daunting – the trip through California then St. Louis was going to be tough no matter who was behind the bench – there is no hiding from the fact that the Leafs’ results under Horachek have been poor, but taking a deeper look at the numbers, there is also reason to believe they are not the worst team in the history of hockey. Setting a low bar, I know. First, let’s compare the overall numbers under the last three Maple Leafs coaches: Ron Wilson, Randy Carlyle and Peter Horachek. COMPARING LEAFS LAST THREE COACHES COACH GP G/60 GA/60 SH% SV% Ron Wilson 310 2.7 3.1 9.0% .896 Randy Carlyle 188 2.8 3.0 10.3% .912 Peter Horachek 7 1.3 3.4 4.5% .879 (G/60 - Goals/60 minutes; GA/60 - Goals Against/60 minutes) What this shows is a complete aberration in the shooting and save percentages under Horachek. Unless you want to take the position that the new coach is driving percentages in such a way that the Maple Leafs suddenly have the worst shooters and worst goaltending in the league, after spending the past five years among the top shooters and riding strong goaltending for the past couple seasons, the most reasonable explanation is that the Maple Leafs’ current slump is a percentage-driven fluke. It doesn’t make it any more pleasant to experience, but it’s not as bad as it seems. The Leafs have had percentage-fueled streaks in the past. Remember the 10-1-1 stretch that ended way back in mid-December? It was no more reflective of the Maple Leafs’ true talent than this current slump would be representative of the team’s true talent. If the underlying numbers (shot attempts, scoring chances etc.) don’t change, there’s not much reason to expect sustainable change when it comes to goals. Next, here is a comparison of the Maple Leafs’ play during 5-on-5 situations. This is where we can see that Horachek has improved the Leafs’ puck possession and the only thing that seems out of whack is the percentage of goals-for, which goes right back to crashing shooting and save percentages. 5-on-5 COMPARISON COACH CF/60 CA/60 CF% SC% GF% Ron Wilson 58.4 58.1 50.1% 50.2% 48.3% Randy Carlyle 50.3 64.2 43.9% 44.2% 48.1% Peter Horachek 54.8 56.0 49.4% 49.5% 23.8% (CF/60 - Corsi For/60 minutes; CA/60 - Corsi Against/60 minutes; CF% - Corsi For%; SC% - Scoring Chance%; GF% - Goals For%) (Corsi = shot attempts) The fascinating part in all this is that Toronto’s underlying possession numbers have improved under Horachek and should provide reason for optimism. Admittedly, when a team scores two goals in five games, trying to be optimistic requires searching for a faint silver lining on enormous dark clouds, but the point of this is to understand that percentages tend to fluctuate a whole lot more than shot attempts. Seven games isn’t enough to declare that Horachek has forever improved Toronto’s puck possession, but it appears that they are headed in the right direction. Now the Leafs just need to get back to finishing opportunities like they did in the past because there isn’t any reason to justify shooting 1.5%, as they have over the past five games. Even as percentage variance goes, thats a remarkably bad run. This isn’t to say that everything is fine with the Maple Leafs or that they should remain content with improved underlying numbers, because even with the improvement, they are a below average team but, at the very least, try not to be blinded by short-term percentage variancee that simply can’t continue.dddddddddddd HEROES Alexander Steen – The high-end two-way performer for St. Louis, and former Maple Leaf, is riding a 10-game point streak after getting a couple of assists in a 3-1 win over Colorado. During that 10-game streak, Steen has recorded 18 points (7 G, 11 A). Scott Gomez – The Devils centre has been an unlikely source of offence, but he registered a couple of assists in a 5-2 win at San Jose, giving him nine points (2 G, 7 A) in his past eight games. James Wisniewski - The Blue Jackets defenceman had a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win at Minnesota. He has seven points (3 G, 4 A) in the past nine games and has the best possession stats (48.0% Corsi, +1.2% Relative Corsi) of Columbus’ regular blueliners. ZEROES Sean Couturier & Matt Read – Plus-minus doesn’t hold a lot of analytical weight, but these two Flyers forwards were both minus-5, with possession under one-third (33.3% and 31.8%, respectively), in Monday’s 7-4 loss to the Islanders. Tyler Bozak & James van Riemsdyk – By the same token, this pair of Maple Leafs forwards each took a minus-4 in a 4-1 loss to Carolina. Sometimes you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time and, sometimes, being in the wrong place is what leads to being minus-4. Jonathan Bernier – Toronto’s goaltender surrendered three goals on 13 shots, getting pulled 42 seconds into the second period, against Carolina. In seven games this month, Bernier has an .877 save percentage, his worst save percentage in a month for which he’s played at least five games. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Mark Fraser – The Devils defenceman played a season-high 22:23 at San Jose, his first time playing more than 19 minutes in a game in seven games since his return. SHORT SHIFTS Flyers RW Jakub Voracek had a pair of assists in Monday’s 7-4 loss to the Islander, pushing his league-leading point total to 55 (17 G, 38 A) in 47 games…Islanders LW Nikolay Kulemin scored a pair of goals and added an assist in a 7-4 win over Philadelphia, and has six points (5 G, 1 A) in the past five games…Islanders C John Tavares had a goal and an assist, giving him 19 points (9 G, 10 A) in the past 14 games…Hurricanes C Eric Staal scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 win at Toronto; he has 10 points (8 G, 2 A) in the past dozen games…Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell recorded a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win at Minnesota, giving him nine points (2 G, 7 A) in the past eight games…Blues LW Jaden Schwartz picked up a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win against Colorado, giving him 14 points (7 G, 7 A) in his past 11 games…Islanders D Johnny Boychuk (2 A) and Nick Leddy (1 G, 1 A) each had two points and were both on the ice for four even-strength goals for (and none against) in the win over Philadelphia…Devils RW Jordin Tootoo and C Tim Sestito had strong possession games (14 shot attempts for, 3 against, 82.4%) in New Jersey’s 5-2 win at San Jose… Flames G Joni Ortio made 33 saves, on 34 shots, in a 2-1 overtime win at Los Angeles…Hurricanes G Anton Khudobin stopped 34 of 35 shots in a 4-1 win at Toronto…Canucks G Ryan Miller had 23 saves on 24 shots in a 2-1 win at Florida…Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 25 of 26 shots in a 3-1 win at Minnesota…Flyers G Robb Zepp was pulled after allowing four goals on 20 shots at the Islanders. FANTASY FOCUS Some players to consider for your lineup - digging extra deep today: Dale Weise – It’s fine that he has four points (2 G, 2 A) in the past seven games, but interest in Weise is more due to his taking regular turns on Montreal’s top line with Tomas Plekanec and Max Pacioretty. Kevin Klein – Nothing on the power play for this Rangers defenceman, but Klein’s 17 even-strength points ranks 18th in the league among defencemen, ahead of Kevin Shattenkirk, Mark Streit, Ryan Suter and others. Kyle Quincey – The Detroit defenceman had seven points in 38 games to start the season, and now has five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past four games. Like Klein, no power play points on the season for Quincey. Ales Hemsky – He got off to a brutal start for the Stars this year, but does have 10 points (5 G, 5 A) in the past 14 games. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '