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The Los Angeles Clippers will try to knot their Western Conference playoff series with the Golden State Warriors on Monday night when the two teams collide at Staples Center. Salvador Perez Royals Jersey . The Warriors stole home-court advantage with a 109-105 victory Saturday afternoon. Klay Thompson tallied 22 points and seven rebounds, while David Lee had 20 points and 13 rebounds. Harrison Barnes scored 14 with eight boards off the bench for Golden State, while leading scorer Stephen Curry was limited to 14 points with seven assists and seven turnovers. "I am proud of my guys," said Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. "Were not going to quit. We had a tremendous will. This series is far from over." Chris Paul flirted with a triple-double for Los Angeles, depositing 28 points with eight assists and seven rebounds in the disappointing setback. He helped bring the Clippers back into the contest, but made some critical mistakes late. J.J. Redick added a playoff career-high 22 points and DeAndre Jordan scored 11 and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Blake Griffin, an MVP candidate this season, was plagued by foul trouble for most of the game. He managed 16 points before he fouled out after just 19:14 of action. "I kept putting myself in a bad situation by fouling," Griffin said. "I have to do a better job. I have to play smarter. I think some of us, including myself, wanted it too much. We have to relax." The Warriors were in front through most of the second half, but Paul buried a pair of 3-pointers to tie the contest. It was knotted at 105-105 when Golden States Draymond Green worked his way to the free throw line with 24 seconds left and made both. The Clippers used their final timeout and put the ball in their All-Star Pauls hands, but a hard double team forced Paul to lose it out-of-bounds, although a foul couldve been called. After initially ruling Clippers ball, officials went to the monitors and quickly overturned the call, handing it back to Golden State. It appeared to be a classic case of the referees electing not to call a foul, instead, letting the team retain possession. While the replay was used correctly by the officials, the NBA acknowledged a foul shouldve been called. "Just prior to the ball going out-of-bounds, Paul was fouled by Green and Paul should have been granted two free throws. Contact preceding out-of-bounds calls is not a reviewable matter," Rod Thorn, NBA President, Basketball Operations said in a statement. Barnes then made 1-of-2 from the stripe, leaving the door open for Los Angeles, but Paul was intentionally fouled and the 86 percent career foul shooter missed both. Green could have put the game away, but he too missed two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play. On the second miss, the Clippers Darren Collison chased down the rebound and stepped out of bounds. Thompson then took his turn at the stripe and made 1-of-2, sealing the outcome. "We didnt play very well," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. "We were in foul trouble most of the game. We played hard but a lot of times I think we lost our trust." There were no fireworks that marred three of the four regular-season meetings between the teams. For the Warriors, who pulled off an upset of the Denver Nuggets in the first round last postseason, it was a great win as they were not immune from foul trouble. Andre Iguodala, a stout defender, fouled out in the fourth quarter after around 20 minutes of action. Golden State is already without its defensive anchor, center Andrew Bogut, who fractured a rib and is out indefinitely. "Maybe being short-handed focused on that a little bit more," said Lee. "We feel like this is two very good basketball teams, were a little bit short- handed so our goal tonight was to come out aggressive and to come out and hit first. That didnt mean get down 10 to one or whatever happened, but thats the way it worked but we feel like we have enough players to win this series and just try to be aggressive." This series shifts to Oracle Arena for Game 3 on Thursday night. Alex Gordon Jersey . Grant was fired a day after the Cavs dropped their sixth straight game, an embarrassing home loss to a Los Angeles Lakers team that started with eight players and finished with five. George Brett Royals Jersey ... thanks to every "buddy" that was involved.OMAHA, Neb. -- Dayn Belfour walks and talks like his father. He does not, however, play goalie like newly inducted Hockey Hall of Famer Ed Belfour. Thats not a knock against Dayn. Few men have worked between the pipes the way "Eddie the Eagle" did in a 16-year NHL career highlighted by a Stanley Cup and two Vezina Trophies. Dayn, however, wont stop trying. The 22-year-old, first-year walk-on at the University of Nebraska-Omaha is among three goalies competing to win the No. 1 job thats still open even as the Mavericks (8-7-3) near the second half of the season. Dayn has modest statistics in limited playing time and probably would go about his business drawing little notice if it werent for that last name, which has alternately opened doors for him and been a curse. "Ive got one of the greatest names in hockey history, and I wear it proudly," Dayn said. "Hopefully, I can one day accomplish everything my father did and then some." UNO coach Dean Blais said theres nothing wrong with Dayn wanting to chase the dream. But he recommended a dose of reality two years ago when Dayn considered going overseas to play professionally after spending five seasons in the junior ranks. "I advised Eddie to have him to go to school," Blais said. "Obviously, he wasnt Eddie Belfour. He wasnt as good as his dad. There are only a few of those guys who come along every so often, right?" Dayn said his father didnt push him into hockey. He couldnt help but want to play after being around the NHL since he was a child. Chris Chelios is his godfather and Jeremy Roenick is one of his dads best friends. He started out as a defenceman, because he wanted to be like Chelios. Then he played forward, because he wanted to be a goal-scorer like Roenick. And then, at about age 12, he wanted to be like his father. "I asked my dad for goaltending equipment for Christmas," Dayn said. "He knew what I was getting myself into." Blais and his junior coaches said being a goalie with the name Belfour might have allowed Dayn to get a tryout that he wouldnt have got otherwise. Beyond that, they said, hes earned everything hes gotten through hard work. Dayns name certainly drew the attention of Ernie Sutherland, the assistant general manager of the Winkler Flyers, who recruited Dayn out of Ontario to play for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League team. Sutherland was Ed Belfours coach when he played for Winkler in the 80s. "Our evaluation of him was he was a goalie who deserved to be where he was," Sutherland said of Dayn. "I took one look at him and said to myself that I want that kid in Winkler." Marrk Thiessen, Ed Belfours teammate at Winkler and Dayns coach there, said Dayn made him do a double-take the first day he was on the team. Eric Hosmer Royals Jersey. The team was on a bus, and Thiessen heard a familiar voice coming from the back. "Dayn started talking, and I turned to Ernie and said, Is that Eddie back there?" he said. "He sounded just like Ed did years and years ago. And then to see Dayn on the ice. Just the way he goes about things is the same as Eddie." Dayn played three years in Winkler, and for part of that time the fans complained that he was given an unfair advantage over a local kid on the team because he was Ed Belfours son (and the elder Belfour also was part owner of the team). North Dakota, Minnesota State-Mankato and Bemidji State showed some interest in Dayn, but were wary of his academic situation. Dayn is a solid student, but he was ineligible his first year of college because of an NCAA rule that required him to finish high school in four years. He needed five years because he moved a number of times. The Belfour name helped Dayn in this instance, because Blais was an assistant coach at North Dakota when Ed helped lead UND to the national championship in 1986-87. Blais also remembered Dayn from scouting Winkler. "I thought he had a little bit of hot and cold in him," Blais said. "When he was hot, he was very, very good, capable of getting the shutout or one goal. Sometimes hed have 45 saves, too. Id seen him other games where hed give up three or four weak ones. If you can play good one time, you can play that way all the time. Knowing Eddie, if Dayn was anything like him, the kid is going to have pretty good fundamentals." Dayn said his father has always talked about goaltending technique and training and mentored him on other aspects of the games. Dayn also has watched every bit of video of his father that he can find. Ed Belfour, who lives near Dallas and didnt respond to a message seeking an interview, attended a couple UNO games early in the season, but Dayn didnt play in either. Dayn has appeared in four games, started three and has a 2.30 goals-against average and .899 save percentage. Blais said Dayn is under consideration to start one or both games in this weekends Western Collegiate Hockey Association series at North Dakota. Dayn is ready for the inevitable comparisons when he shows up in Grand Forks with "Belfour" stitched to the back of his sweater with the No. 29, the same number his father wore at UND. "One of these days Ill make a name for myself," Dayn said. "I want to be known as Dayn Belfour one day, not just Eddies boy." cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
