Not their shots.

Not their injured All-Star.

Stephen Curry had 30 points and 13 assists, and the scrappy Warriors handed the Denver Nuggets their first loss at home in more than three months, a 131-117 stunner that evened their playoff series at a game each.

Rallying around injured David Lee, who cheered from the bench in street clothes, the Warriors got 26 points from surprise starter Jarrett Jack, a career-high 24 from rookie Harrison Barnes in his debut at power forward and 21 from Klay Thompson.

The sixth-seeded Warriors, who became the second road team to win in this postseason following Chicago’s victory at Brooklyn on Monday, wrested home-court advantage in the series from the NBA’s best home team. The series shifts to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night.

“They were knocking down shots,” Denver’s Andre Iguodala said in an understatement.

Better than they ever had before in a playoff game, with a franchise playoff-record 64.6 percent (51-of-79) from the field.

“We are a very good shooting basketball team,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “We’ve got guys that can knock down shots. You talk about Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, in my opinion, they’re the greatest shooting backcourt in the history of the game.”

The third-seeded Nuggets were an NBA-best 38-3 at home during the regular season but needed Andre Miller’s last-second shot to beat Golden State by a basket in the opener and extend their franchise-best winning streak to 24 games.

With Golden State losing Lee to a torn hip flexor and the Nuggets getting top rebounder and energizer Kenneth Faried back from a sprained ankle, this one looked like a mismatch, even Curry acknowledged.

And it was, but not the way the Pepsi Center crowd anticipated.

“We’re a resilient team, said that all year. When guys go down, other guys step up,” said Curry, who played despite a tender left ankle after turning it late in the third quarter. “We showed that tonight. Big road win for us. We’ve got to go home and protect our home court.”

Even without their All-Star, the Warriors outrebounded the Nuggets 36-26.

“We didn’t do much of anything very well,” Nuggets coach George Karl lamented. “I don’t think I ever coached a game when a team got three 35-point quarters, maybe in my career. Ever.”

The best anybody shot against Denver during the season was 54 percent, by the Los Angeles Lakers way back on Nov. 20, and the most points the Nuggets had allowed was 126 at San Antonio on Nov. 17.

Ty Lawson and Corey Brewer each scored 19 points for Denver, and Iguodala and Miller each had 18, but the Nuggets were playing catch-up from the middle of the second quarter and couldn’t keep up with so many of the Warriors’ shots falling, negating Denver’s league-best transition game.

Lee led the league with 56 double-doubles and had another before getting hurt in the fourth quarter of the series opener Saturday. The Warriors were 3-18 without him over the past three seasons, but Jackson mixed and matched his lineup to make up for his All-Star’s absence on this night, when Lee gave advice to his teammates during timeouts.

The Nuggets were hoping Faried’s return would help reverse their 10-point disadvantage on the boards in Game 1. But he was rusty, and the same problems that plagued Denver in the opener — missing too many open shots, getting outmuscled on the glass and giving up open 3-pointers — haunted the Nuggets once again and even more so.

Curry scored 15 points in the second quarter and hit four jumpers during a 14-5 run the Warriors used to grab control and take the air out of the Pepsi Center as they cruised into halftime with a 61-53 lead that would never be threatened in the second half.

Curry swished another sweet jumper to start the third quarter, and the Warriors opened up a 17-point lead they would stretch to 20 in the fourth quarter.

“The game plan tonight was to keep the ball out of Stephen Curry’s hands, but he came off [the pick-and-rolls] and had open looks and then he started finding people,” Lawson said. “After that, we started scrambling, and we can’t play like that.”

The Nuggets pulled within 76-69, but Thompson hit a 3-pointer from the right corner and Curry a 3 from the left to make it 82-69. Both were wide open, as Denver’s mismatched defenders were again running ragged trying to keep up with the Warriors, who handled the altitude just fine.

Denver got its deficit down to 115-105, but this time it was Jack’s turn to make a wide-open 3 with the Nuggets’ defenders scrambling around.

Faried finished with four points and two rebounds in 21 minutes.

The arena was half-empty by the time the horn sounded, a solitary fan yelling derisively, “Tacos!” when Evan Fournier’s free throw fell through the hoop to give the Nuggets 110 points, the magic number for a promotion in which fans get discounted tacos.

Game notes

The Warriors shot a sizzling 61 percent in the first half, when they outrebounded the Nuggets 21-14. … The Nuggets’ previous loss at home was 112-108 to the Washington Wizards on Jan. 18. … Denver had just eight fast-break points, compared to Golden State’s 14. … Curry’s 30-10 playoff game was the first for the franchise since Sleepy Floyd on May 10, 1987.

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Making his NHL debut, big defenseman Jarred Tinordi set up Tomas Plekanec’s tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the Canadiens extended their winning streak to five games with a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

“What a start for the kid,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of the 20-year-old son of former NHL defenseman Mark Tinordi. “We’re all pleased with the way he played the puck at net. It looked routine out there for him.

“He showed a lot of poise for his age and played very solid. He wasn’t nervous. He saw more ice time because you can see him become more comfortable. He made the right decisions.”

The best decision by Jarred Tinordi was understanding that goalie Johan Hedberg’s clearing pass from behind the net took a bad bounce off the sideboards and was heading to open ice above the left circle. The 6-foot-6 Tinordi skated toward the puck from the right side and let go a shot that Plekanec deflected past Hedberg at 6:49.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” said Tinordi, who played 19 shifts and almost 15 minutes just two days after being called up from Hamilton. “I think the nervousness and the butterflies were gone after the first couple of shifts.

“I tried not to think about the way I was playing. I knew we scored on the play. I didn’t realize I got an assist. The boys were pretty happy for me. I was just shooting it to get it on net.”

Hedberg said the goal was the type one would expect to decide a tight-checking game.

`We make that play 20 times a game, and sometimes the puck doesn’t want to go your way,” said Hedberg, who finished with 20 saves. “It came back to them and boom boom, it’s in the net. It was one of those games that comes down to a goal like that, and we were weren’t fortunate enough to get it.”

Colby Armstrong also scored for Montreal, and Carey Price made 32 saves. The Canadiens moved into a tie with Pittsburgh for the most points in the Eastern Conference.

Defenseman Peter Harrold scored for New Jersey, which lost for the second time in two nights (0-1-1).

“It’s a tough one to swallow, but their goalie played well and so did ours,” Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk said.

Price was just a little bit better in making Plekanec’s 12th goal of the season stand up. He stopped 18 shots in the third period, including a chest save through traffic on Patrik Elias with 1:24 left and stoning Adam Henrique and Travis Zajac in close in the final minute.

“They put a little bit of a full-court press on us, but our guys battled hard all night,” Price said. “We’re working hard every night, trying to keep things simple. I think that’s the style of play we have to have. We have good teamwork and that’s what’s working for us.

“I think our team is excellent in coming back after I make a save, collapsing on everything I leave out there, cleaning up the trash. We’re sticking to the game plan and that makes it a lot easier.”

Playing for the third time in four nights, the Devils tied it 1-1 on Harrold’s power-play goal at 3:54 of the second period.

With Ryan White off for holding the stick, Kovalchuk intercepted a clearing pass at the right point and slid the puck across the ice to Harrold. The defenseman got a shot off quickly and squeezed it between Price’s pads for his first goal since Dec. 2, 2010 — a span of only 26 games for the journeyman, who has spent much of his career in the minor leagues.

Armstrong snapped a 39-game goal drought, dating to February 2012, to give the Canadiens the lead at 8:08 of the first period.

Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov lost his footing shortly after a faceoff. Armstrong retrieved the puck, skated into the right circle and ripped a shot past Hedberg, who made his career-high 12 straight start in place of the injured Martin Brodeur.

Forward Mike Blunden, who grabbed an early-morning flight after being recalled from Hamilton, appeared to screen Hedberg on the play.

“You have to like the way the young guys played,” Canadiens captain Brian Gionta said. “They came through.”

Goal posts kept both teams from taking the lead during the same second-period penalty. Kovalchuk, who leads the NHL with four short-handed goals, just missed another on a 2-on-1 break while Harrold was in the penalty box.

Lars Eller beat Hedberg about a minute later, but that puck also struck a post.

Game notes

The Canadiens have scored first in 21 of 28 games. … Montreal RW Michael Ryder had his streak of 114 consecutive games played snapped because of a lower body injury. He last missed a game in March 2011. … Devils C Andrei Loktionov, who was hurt Friday against Philadelphia, sat out due to an undisclosed injury. … C Harri Pesonen made his NHL debut for New Jersey. .. Harrold was cut badly on the forehead by a shot in the third period, but returned to the game. … The Devils honored former goalie coach Jacques Caron before the game.

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Like a good teammate, Dwyane Wade swooped in for the saving tip, preserving the lead and keeping the Heat’s amazing win streak rolling.

James scored 27 points and the Heat became the fourth team to win at least 20 consecutive games in a season, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 98-94 on Wednesday night.

Against a struggling Sixers team that was revved up like a playoff game, the Heat just found a way to win.

And when it was done, they took the time to admire their mark.

“Twenty is special,” Wade said. “Win 20 games in a row, it’s awesome. You can’t get around it. We’re going to try to go for the next one.”

Wade scored 21 as the Heat needed big baskets in the final 2 minutes to top the Sixers for the milestone win. He stuck with the ball on James’ misses and scored the clutch tip that made it a three-point lead with 29 seconds left and squashed the Sixers’ upset bid.

“It shows you he, like many of our guys, are just willing to make winning plays at the end,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Only three teams have won at least 20 consecutive games in the same season: the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33), the 2007-08 Houston Rockets (22) and the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20). The Washington Capitols also won 20 straight, spanning the end of the 1947-48 season and the start of the 1948-49 campaign.

James and the Heat have started to acknowledge just how special this winning streak is in a season that has them running away with the Eastern Conference.

They opened a five-game road trip as 8½-point favorites over the slumping Sixers, a team they’ve defeated three times during the streak. They beat Atlanta on Tuesday for streak win No. 19, then made the flight to Philadelphia that put them in just before dawn.

“You get sleep when you can and do your job,” center Chris Bosh said.

Maybe fatigue played a bit of a role in Miami’s inability to truly put away the Sixers. Led by Thaddeus Young, the Sixers opened the third quarter on a 16-8 run that helped slice the lead to four. Miami led 71-66 at the end of the quarter.

The Sixers hung around in the fourth, too. Dorell Wright hit a 3-pointer to make it a six-point game and he followed with a steal and fast-break dunk to cut it 82-78. Sixers fans coming to see a slice of history were suddenly rooting for history denied. Philadelphia’s fans started going wild to the “make some noise” sign on the video board and started singing the catchy anthem, “1-2-3-4-5-Sixers!”

Jrue Holiday brought them back with a 3-pointer for an 83-82 lead with 5:26 left and had fans chanting, “Beat the Heat!”

Ray Allen silenced them with a big 3 in front of the Sixers’ bench for an 89-86 lead. Bosh scored to make it 91-89.

It wasn’t enough, at least not yet. Holiday, the All-Star point guard, showed no fear of the moment when he dunked on a leaping James for the tying bucket.

James came right back made one of two free throws for a 92-91 lead. Holiday dribbled the ball into Bosh’s leg, then off his own foot, leading to Wade’s tip after James missed twice at the rim. James drove from beyond the arc and missed from the right side, he put up his own rebound off the back of the rim, and Wade slid in underneath two Sixers defenders for the bucket.

“I miss two gimmes and D-Wade was able to tip ’em home,” James said. “It was just great of him not giving up on the play and putting us up.”

The Heat escaped with a scare — and No. 20.

“When you have a streak like this, you have to have some luck,” James said.

Unless they wear down, there’s no reason to think the Heat can’t keep the streak going toward 33. The rest of the road trip includes games at Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston and Cleveland.

“We just think about winning the next game and we’ll see where it takes us,” James said.

Young had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Sixers. Holiday had 21 points and Evan Turner scored 15.

“At the end, we just couldn’t come up with that one rebound,” coach Doug Collins said. “I thought we executed, got some shots at the end, and just couldn’t quite find a way to get over the top.”

Fans in Heat jerseys dotted the arena and dozens packed the baseline three rows deep snapping pictures of Miami’s pregame drills. James wowed them with some around-the-back reverses that served as a sneak peek for what was ahead.

James, the reigning MVP, turned the second quarter into his own dunk contest. It helped that he didn’t have any competition.

With flair, James threw down thunderous dunks about every time he touched the ball. His best came on a reverse he brought between the legs that had the sellout crowd of 20,398 “Oooohhhh!” in amazement. His dunk capped a 17-2 run that put the Heat up 10 and helped them cruise toward a 51-39 halftime lead.

But the first half wasn’t all about James’ dazzling dunks. The Heat had 14 assists on 19 baskets and Shane Battier came off the bench to hit a pair of lead-stretching 3-pointers. It’s the kind of teamwork that has the Heat rolling.

“You have to have a unique group that are willing to sacrifice, a unique group willing to keep perspective of what we’re playing for and not get caught up in all the noise outside,” Spoelstra said. “There are so many distractions, not only in this league, but everyday life.”

Spoelstra could talk to Heat president Pat Riley on how to handle the distractions that come with a record winning streak. Riley played for the Lakers team that won 33 straight games. But while the two talk daily, Spoelstra said Miami’s streak hasn’t been discussed. Not once.

Thanks to a fantastic finish, they’ll have another day to bring it up.

Game notes
New Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly had a lengthy chat outside the locker room with Spoelstra before the game. Kelly had previously made a pregame visit with Collins. … The Heat have beat the 76ers 14 straight times. … The Heat missed 15-of-20 3-pointers.

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James scored 26 points, including a go-ahead layup after getting past DeQuan Jones with 3.2 seconds left, and the Heat scrambled late to beat the Orlando Magic 97-96 on Wednesday night and extend their franchise-record winning streak to 16 games.

“I had no intention of shooting another jumper,” James said.

He missed a pair of 3-pointers about 90 seconds earlier, so he went for the 3-footer instead. From the right wing, James drove diagonally through the lane, then used his left hand — after all, he is left-handed — for the basket that won it for Miami. It was the first time he came up with what became a game-winning basket in the final five seconds of a game since a 3-pointer beat the Magic in the 2009 playoffs, according to STATS LLC.

“This is tough,” Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said, after his team fell to 0-2 against Miami this season — the two losses by a total of three points. “You’ve got guys who battled, who really wanted to win this game and deserved to win this game.”

Dwyane Wade scored 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting — he’s now shooting 62 percent in his last seven games — and Chris Bosh added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who blew a 20-point, second-half lead and then rallied from a five-point deficit in the final minutes.

Nik Vucevic had 25 points and 21 rebounds for the Magic, who got 16 points apiece from Jameer Nelson and Tobias Harris, 13 from Arron Afflalo and 12 from Maurice Harkless.

“They’re one of the best teams in the NBA, if not the best and we gave it our all,” Harris said. “They knew that. It’s just a matter of a couple of seconds that could have changed the game. It’s a tough loss for us but it’s the right step in the right direction.”

Vucevic now has two games of 20 rebounds or more in his career — both this season, and both against Miami. He had a 20-point, 29-rebound effort in a loss to the Heat on Dec. 31.

But he was one of three Magic players to foul out in the final minutes, as Orlando let a golden chance go awry.

The foul discrepancy in the game — 30 for the Magic, 17 by Miami — was a hot topic in the Orlando locker room afterward. The Magic went 10 for 12 from the foul line, Miami 27 of 31.

Perhaps the biggest two calls of the game came late, and both went Miami’s way, although the Heat didn’t like one of those at first.

Nelson hit a jumper with 1:36 left, giving the Magic a 96-93 lead. James missed two 3-pointers on the next Miami possession, and on the ensuing Miami trip, Harris drove from the left baseline but his basket was waved off, with Shane Battier beating him to the spot and drawing an offensive foul, Harris’ sixth of the night.

Battier said he had no hesitation about the charge.

“He is defined by winning plays,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He just continues to make them.”

Miami tried for the tie twice on the next trip, but Wade and Ray Allen missed 3-pointers. Bosh was fouled on a rebound — the sixth on Vucevic, making him the third Orlando player to reach the limit in the final minutes. Bosh made both free throws to get the Heat within one with 38 seconds remaining.

Al Harrington missed a wild 3-pointer, and James got the rebound to seal the stop Miami desperately needed. So with 12.6 seconds left, the Heat got the ball and a chance to win.

Spoelstra had told referees that if Miami got a stop, the Heat did not want a timeout. One was whistled anyway, and Spoelstra said that referees apologized for the miscommunication afterward. No matter — the play got set up, the ball went to James, and he delivered in the clutch.

Orlando had no timeouts, and only managed a 3-point try by Afflalo from near midcourt as time expired.

“It’s about getting W’s and trying to find a way not get L’s,” Wade said. “Tonight we found the way.”

The Heat came in with 44 wins, the Magic with 44 losses, and after two possessions of the second half the reigning NBA champions had a 20-point lead.

And then about one quarter later, they were losing.

Vucevic had 10 points and nine rebounds in the third quarter alone — the Heat, as a team, had four rebounds in the period — and the tide of the game totally turned in a matter of minutes. What was a 60-40 Miami lead got whittled down steadily, with the Magic getting within 15 after a jumper by Afflalo, then 10 on a hook shot by Vucevic, five on a 3-pointer by Harris and finally within 77-74 when Vucevic closed the quarter with two free throws.

Orlando didn’t stop there, either. Nelson made a contested 3-pointer to tie the game at 79-all with 10:29 left, and his three-point play about a minute later gave the Magic their first lead of the night.

Vucevic added back-to-back baskets, and suddenly, Orlando was up 86-81 with 8:29 left — meaning the Magic run, in about 14 minutes of actual playing time, was a 46-21 burst.

“Maybe it’s the way they defend,” Vucevic said. “They give me open looks and a chance to rebound a little bit more.”

Miami answered with the next six points to briefly re-take the lead, but Vucevic struck again with 5:03 remaining, getting a short shot off the glass to drop and stake the Magic to a 91-87 edge.

In the end, James was one play better.

“He took it into his own hands,” Spoelstra said.

Game notes

James was in double figures for his 200th straight regular-season game with the Heat, extending his franchise record. … Vaughn played against Miami 30 times in his career, his teams going 15-15. … The Heat have honored a military member who has returned home from a tour of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan before games in Miami for the past several seasons. Their honoree on Wednesday: Army 1st Sgt. Darrell Williams, who returned just two weeks ago from serving a tour in Afghanistan — and is the first cousin of Bosh’s wife, Adrienne Bosh.

The post LeBron James’ layup helps Heat extend win streak to 16 games appeared first on IdealCapper.

Both were huge breaks for the Miami Heat.

James scored 28 points, Wade scored 11 of his 24 in the final five minutes – when Miami needed him most – and the Heat extended the NBA’s longest current winning streak to 11 games, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-105 in a back-and-forth matchup Sunday night.

The Heat blew a 22-point second-half lead, then rallied from eight down with 5:16 left.

“We’re a veteran ballclub and we’ve been in every situation that an NBA game can offer us,” James said. “We don’t get too high, we don’t get too low, we just play the 48 minutes out and see where it takes us.”

Dion Waiters scored 26 points, C.J. Miles added 19 and Kyrie Irving scored 17 for Cleveland, which outscored Miami by a stunning 30 points over a 17-minute stretch of the second half, yet still came up empty.

The Cavaliers are now 1-8 against the Heat since James signed with Miami in July 2010.

“We had a very good chance against a very good basketball team, the world champions, and we lost the game because of mental mistakes,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. “That’s just something that we can’t have happen again.”

In fairness, it wasn’t just mental mistakes that doomed Cleveland late. There was a bit of luck involved for the Heat.

Miami was up by two and held possession with 1:03 remaining. The shot clock was running down and Chris Bosh was open to try a 16-footer from the right wing. As Bosh was about to release, James got inexplicably free under the basket, thrusting both his arms skyward. Bosh threw him the pass — and James, enjoying the best shooting season of his career, did the unthinkable: He missed the easy one.

This is where the luck comes into play.

The rebound found its way back to Bosh, the Heat ran down another shot clock, and Wade got loose for a two-handed dunk that pushed Miami’s lead to 105-101 with 24.4 seconds left.

It was a double-whammy for Cleveland. Miami scored and took nearly 40 seconds off a dwindling clock in the process.

“Hey, I’m a smart player. That’s what basketball IQ is all about,” James said afterward, unable to hold back a sly grin. “I have no idea how I blew that layup. But it did work out for us. Got an extra possession, D-Wade was able to turn the corner and get a slam.”

Said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra: “I liked that play.”

Wade started what turned into a 16-4 run with a fadeaway with just under 5 minutes to go, then added a three-point play on the next Miami possession to cut the Cavs’ lead to 97-94.

And after Irving missed a layup with 1:35 left, Wade got the rebound and set up Battier for a 3-pointer that put Miami on top again — and for good.

“I thought that we had the game,” Cavaliers forward Alonzo Gee said.

Sure looked like that was the case, after a ridiculously good third quarter.

Down 68-46 early in the third, the Cavaliers looked finished — last-place team, on the road, against the reigning NBA champions who just happened to have the league’s longest current winning streak.

Midway through the third, Miami’s lead was still 17.

With two minutes left in the period, the cushion was 10.

By the start of the fourth, it was nonexistent.

The C.J. Miles Show lasted for all of 63 seconds. And they were a scintillating 63 seconds.

It starts with 1:35 left, a 3-pointer from Miles getting the Miami lead down to seven. Then he got a rebound, came downcourt and connected on another 3-pointer. Lead down to four. Another stop by the Cavs on one end, then another 3-pointer for Miles on the other — that one coming both with him drawing a foul from Chalmers, and with Spoelstra getting hit with a technical from referee Ed Malloy for arguing.

Miles made the technical free throw to tie the game, the free throw for the Chalmers hit to put the Cavs ahead, and they carried that 82-81 lead into the fourth, having closed the quarter on a 36-13 run.

“Guys just finally decided to start playing,” Miles said.

Miami used a 23-4 run in the first half to take what looked like a commanding 42-22 lead — with more than 9 minutes left until the break. And after Cleveland got within seven, Miami answered with another burst.

James didn’t miss in the final 4:29 of the half, scoring 10 points on a 4-for-4 run from the floor and fueling what became 16-5 spurt that gave Miami a 64-46 lead going into the locker room. And for good measure, Miami got the first two baskets of the second half, pushing the lead to 22, the biggest of the night.

Over, right?

Not even remotely close. Not until the final frantic seconds, as the Heat not only extended their win streak but won for the fourth time in five nights.

“We found a way,” Wade said. “I felt like in the first three quarters, I couldn’t move. But in the fourth, you just find it. … We just turned that other switch on.”

Game notes

Miami’s two wins over Cleveland this season, both at home, have come by a combined six points. … The Cavs were without Daniel Gibson (personal) and Omri Casspi, who remained hospitalized in Orlando after surgery to remove his appendix. … Heat F Mike Miller (ear infection) was back with the team Sunday, though did not play. “He can’t hear anything we’re saying,” Spoelstra quipped before the game. … The Heat held a moment of silence pregame for Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, the moment ending with warm applause from the crowd.

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While no one was willing to talk about what is ailing the top forward, whatever it is didn’t seem to slow him down Sunday night.

Nash assisted on surging linemate Carl Hagelin’s tying goal in the second period and registered a game-high eight shots on goalie Braden Holtby in New York’s come-from-behind 2-1 victory.

Nash has been limited to three goals and nine assists in his first 14 games with the Rangers, following a blockbuster offseason trade. But his mere presence is opening up lots of space for those on the ice with him.

“They’re not going in, but I’m getting the chances,” Nash said. “A couple of posts and point-blanks. I thought they were going in for sure. The exciting thing is Carl is putting them in.”

The Rangers (8-5-1) tied it when Hagelin scored at 7:39 of the second. Ryan McDonagh fired a drive from the middle of the ice, just inside the blue line, that was tipped into the net on New York’s 30th shot.

Hagelin has scored five of his six goals in the past four games — netting at least one in each. That led coach John Tortorella to call him “probably our best forward” recently.

“He is one of the few guys who can beat his guy one-on-one most of the time,” Hagelin said of Nash. “That’s why you can hide a bit on the ice and try to disappear. When he makes that move, the D who is supposed to be on me goes over to him, and I am wide open.

“When you feel good, you continue playing well, and goals are going to come.”

One on the power play finally did for New York when Derek Stepan scored the winner early in the third period.

It was the only time the Rangers’ power-play unit connected in five chances, but it came at the right moment and helped snap the Capitals’ season-high winning streak at three.

Washington (5-9-1), which lost to New York in the second round of last year’s playoffs, had been 11-5-2 in its last 18 regular-season games against the Rangers.

“We could have played better,” Capitals coach Adam Oates said. “We took too many penalties. We spent so much energy killing penalties. It took away from the rest of our game.”

Defenseman John Carlson put Washington ahead in the first, despite the Capitals being outshot 20-8.

Washington went 2-1 on its trip and will play its next three at home.

“They played better than us,” Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said. “They had better chances. It’s tough, one-goal games coming down to the wire.”

New York improved to 5-1-1 in its past seven, despite entering the game with an NHL-worst power play that connected on only 10 percent of its chances.

The deciding advantage lasted only 7 seconds before clicking 4:25 into the third.

Brad Richards, benched for all but one shift in the third period of the Rangers’ shootout loss to the Islanders on Thursday, won a faceoff and then made a pass to Michael Del Zotto in the right circle. Del Zotto quickly found Stepan with a diagonal pass to the left post, where Stepan scored while down on a knee.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots for his seventh win. Holtby made 38 saves to earn third star of the game honors.

“I thought we were a lot better than them in the first period, but they had the lead,” Lundqvist said. “The key for us was to stay patient, and we did.”

The Capitals’ power play, which has been surging recently, was held in check on four chances. Its final opportunity came with under 7 minutes left when Nash was called for tripping. Washington had scored a power-play goal in each of its previous six games, connecting on 8 of 15 opportunities.

The Capitals put instant pressure on the Rangers and Lundqvist and nearly scored even before Carlson’s second goal of the season at 1:19. Mike Ribeiro got the puck to Carlson for a hard drive from the right circle that got past Lundqvist.

The Rangers dominated in shots in the first period, but had nothing to show for it despite three power plays that generated five shots. New York registered a season-high 20, but was denied each time by Holtby.

Marian Gaborik had perhaps the Rangers’ best scoring chance during Washington’s lone power play of the period, but he was stuffed twice in front.

Frustration swirled throughout Madison Square Garden as the Rangers consistently passed the puck all around the offensive zone during the multiple man-advantages without producing many quality scoring opportunities.

“Shooting the puck is something that we’ve tried to focus on — just getting pucks and bodies to the net,” Stepan said. “If we play that way and we have shots like that and chances like that, eventually they’re going to go in.”

Game notes

Capitals D Mike Green missed his first game of the season because of an undisclosed lower-body injury. … The Rangers’ previous season-high for shots in a period was 17 in the third on Jan. 26 when they scored four goals against Toronto. … Ribeiro, the Capitals’ leading scorer with 18 points this season, earned his 400th NHL assist on Carlson’s goal. … Rangers C Darroll Powe was helped off the ice by teammates Arron Asham and Stepan after a center-ice collision with Washington’s Matt Hendricks in the second period. Powe was woozy after flipping over and striking his head on the ice. He didn’t return.

The post Derek Stepan’s power-play goal snaps tie, gets Rangers by Caps appeared first on IdealCapper.

The 40-year-old forward scored 1:46 into the extra period, lifting the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory over the injury-riddled Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night for their first winning streak of the season.

Jagr beat goalie Devan Dubnyk with a high wrist shot for his third goal of the year.

“That feeling never gets old,” Jagr said. “When you score in overtime, everybody is talking about it. That was a big goal for us.”

Jamie Benn and Derek Roy scored in regulation for the Stars (5-5-1), who have won two in a row.

Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan was relieved his team came away with the win but thought the Stars shouldn’t have allowed the Oilers back into the game in the third period.

“I liked the win in overtime, but I didn’t like the response after our two goals,” he said. “We kept on turning the puck over and over and putting the game in jeopardy. Until we realize that we are a team that has to grind out games — and even if it gets dicey out there, we have to play a certain way — we’re not going to get traction. We have to learn to do a better job.”

Ales Hemsky and Justin Schultz scored for the Oilers, who were without three of their top four centers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (day to day with a shoulder injury), Shawn Horcoff (broken knuckle) and Eric Belanger (broken toes).

Adding to their woes, center Anton Lander left the game in the first period with a foot injury.

Oilers coach Ralph Krueger lauded his team for working through adversity and said he hoped help would be on the way soon.

“We’re in the pack and in the games with an opportunity to win, we just need to get a healthy lineup together,” he said. “We’re hoping to have Nugent-Hopkins back for our next game on Saturday and Belanger back by Sunday. We want to get back deep into our lineup again and to the four lines we were rolling earlier in the season.

“We’ve had a strange string of events. But the positive on it is that Horcoff is the only long-term injury.”

The Oilers (4-3-3) are winless in their past four games — although they have earned points in three of them.

“Down the middle we’re hurting, for sure, but we found a way to battle through that adversity and earn another point,” forward Jordan Eberle said.

There were few good chances in the first period, and most of them belonged to the Stars while they were short-handed. Dallas had several odd-man rushes late in the first and almost converted on one of them when Cody Eakin had Dubnyk beat but hit the post.

Edmonton broke the scoreless tie 3 minutes into the second following a mad scramble in front of the Dallas net. Nail Yakupov hit the post behind Stars starter Kari Lehtonen before Hemsky banked the rebound in off a defender.

Sam Gagner had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games.

The sound of metal clanging rang out through Rexall Place with 7 minutes left as Loui Eriksson hit the post behind Dubnyk, leading immediately to a rush by Yakupov, who also hit the post on his shot.

A minute later the Stars tied the game as a shot by Benn appeared to deflect off Jeff Petry and into the Edmonton net. It was Benn’s third goal in six games since ending his contract holdout.

Dallas went up 2-1 with 1:16 left in the second period when Roy ripped a shot from the point during a power play that found the back of the net untouched. It was Roy’s first goal with the Stars.

Edmonton tied it 2-all 8 minutes into the third on a power play as Schultz let loose a slap shot from the point past Lehtonen. It was the third goal of the season for the Oilers rookie defenseman.

Jagr thinks it has taken some time for the Stars to find their footing, but they’re starting to come along.

“We had three new guys coming here, and Jamie wasn’t signed,” he said. “We didn’t really have much of a chance to play together and not even much practice. We have to learn during the games. It is going to get better and better. It is just taking some time.”

The Stars return home to play the Ducks on Friday. The Oilers start a two-game trip Saturday in Detroit.

Game notes

It was the first of three meetings between the teams this season. The Stars won all four meetings last season by a combined 14-4 margin, holding the Oilers to one goal in each game. … Dallas D Alex Goligoski was a surprise healthy scratch. Goligoski is the Stars’ highest-paid defenseman at $4.2 million and is second on the team’s payroll behind Benn. … With the three injured centers, Oklahoma City call-up Marc Arcobello made his NHL debut, playing on the Oilers’ top line between Taylor Hall and Eberle. … The latest injuries added to an already long list of hobbled players for Edmonton that includes Andy Sutton (knee), Ryan Jones (eye), Ben Eager (concussion), Mark Fistric (back) and Theo Peckham (hip). … Stars forward Ray Whitney is out with a broken foot. … The Stars went into the game having been short-handed a league-high 50 times this year.

The post Advertisement Jaromir Jagr’s overtime score shoots Stars past Oilers appeared first on IdealCapper.

Matt Barnes added 19 points off the bench, and Blake Griffin had 15 points and 13 rebounds for the Clippers (29-8), who took sole possession of the NBA’s best record from Oklahoma City with their third straight win overall.

Darren Collison scored 22 points for Dallas. O.J. Mayo added 17 and Dirk Nowitzki had 15. At 13-23, the Mavs fell 10 games below .500 for the first time since March 30, 2000, two months after Mark Cuban bought the team. They’ve lost four in a row overall and three straight on the road, where they are 5-16.

The Clippers led the entire first half, fell behind by 10 points in third quarter and then regained the lead for the first time in the fourth on Paul’s steal and layup that made it 82-80.

They took the lead for good on Barnes’ 3-pointer that keyed an 8-0 run. Los Angeles forced former Clipper Chris Kaman into two misses, while Collison airballed another shot in that stretch as the Clippers went ahead 90-83.

Nowitzki’s jumper pulled Dallas to 95-93. Griffin hit a turnaround jumper to give the Clippers a four-point lead before Collison missed a 3-pointer in the right corner.

Caron Butler came up with two big offensive rebounds off consecutive misses by Griffin and Paul with 39 seconds left. After taking two timeouts, Paul missed an 18-footer with 24 seconds left and Dallas called timeout. Collison scrambled looking for a shot before he passed to Vince Carter, who missed.

Paul got fouled and made both shots for a 99-93 lead while fans chanted, “MVP!”

Los Angeles played flatly in the third, when the Mavs used a 22-8 run to take a 75-65 lead. Shawn Marion’s 3-pointer early in the spurt gave Dallas its first lead of the game and snapped the Clippers’ streak of leading for 10 straight quarters. The Clippers rallied at the end of the period, scoring seven in a row, punctuated by Barnes’ 3-pointer that beat the buzzer to trail, 75-72.

The Clippers led the entire first half, sparked by Barnes’ 11 points, including three 3-pointers. The Mavs scored seven straight points to tie the game at 50-all on Collison’s hook before Paul got around Mayo to hit a running jumper at the buzzer, keeping the Clippers ahead 52-50 at the break.

Game notes

Clippers G Jamal Crawford returned after missing the past two games because of a sore left foot. … Clippers F Grant Hill did not make his expected return after missing all season with a right knee bone bruise. Coach Vinny Del Negro said Hill has not had any setbacks and would practice a couple more days before being evaluated for Saturday’s game against Orlando. … The Mavs signed free-agent guard Mike James to a 10-day contract on Wednesday. The 10-year NBA veteran had played two games with the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League.

The post Clippers hang on vs. Mavericks to hit record home winning streak appeared first on IdealCapper.

Miami At Orlando
When: 5:00 PM ET, Monday, December 31, 2012
Where: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Prediction: Heat 105, Magic 88.

Oddsmakers currently have the Heat listed as 9½-point favorites versus the Magic, while the game’s total is sitting at 193½.

Dwyane Wade returned from a one-game suspension in time for the game in Milwaukee and scored 24 points, but it was not enough. LeBron James added 26 points, but no one else had more than 12 and the Heat were outscored by 21 in the fourth quarter. Miami has struggled at times on the defensive end but appeared to have everything come together on the winning streak, during which opponents managed an average of 89.5 points. But that defense has taken a hit in the last two games, with lowly Detroit shooting 58.1 percent in a 109-99 loss and the Bucks exploding in the fourth quarter on Saturday.

Miami lost its last outing, a 104-85 result against the Bucks on December 29. The Heat failed to cover in that game as a 4.5-point favorite, while the 189 combined points took the game UNDER the total.

Davis was joined on the sidelines by starting point guard Jameer Nelson (hip) and his backup, E’Twuan Moore (elbow), on Saturday. None of the three practiced on Sunday, and Nelson and Moore will be game-time decisions for Monday’s contest. Davis is expected to miss at least another two weeks. The upside to the injuries has been increased playing time for rookies Andrew Nicholson and Moe Harkless. Nicholson went for a career-high 22 points in the loss on Saturday after moving into the starting lineup for just the second time.

Last time out for Orlando, they were a 123-88 loser as they battled the Raptors at home. The Magic failed to cover in the match as a 3-point favorite, while 211 combined points moved the game OVER for totals bettors.

Miami:
Team record: 20-8 SU, 15-13 ATS
Current streak: lost 2 straight games.

The total has gone UNDER in 4 of last 5 games
is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 7 games when playing on the road against Orlando
is 8-16-1 ATS in its last 25 games when playing Orlando

When playing on Monday are 5-5
Before playing Dallas are 6-4
After playing Milwaukee are 9-1
After a loss are 7-3

Orlando:
Team record: 12-18 SU, 15-15 ATS
Current streak: lost 5 straight games.

is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games when playing at home against Miami
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games at home
is 18-7 SU in its last 25 games when playing Miami

When playing on Monday are 6-4
Before playing Chicago are 8-2
After playing Toronto are 3-7
After a loss are 3-7

The post Miami Heat vs. Orlando Magic Free Basketball Pick & Matchup appeared first on IdealCapper.

For more news, notes and analysis of the L.A. Clippers, check out the Clippers Report. Blog

The Clippers went 16-0 in December to join the 1995-96 San Antonio Spurs and 1971-72 Lakers as the only teams to go undefeated over a month. Their franchise-record winning streak is the longest since Boston won 19 in a row four years ago.

Caron Butler led the Clippers with 29 points, making all six of his 3-pointers. Chris Paul added 19 points and nine assists to help them maintain the league’s best record at 25-6.

Al Jefferson scored 30 points to lead Utah, which fell victim for the third time during the Clippers’ streak.

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