Allgemeines » maybe it helps both teams

ST. LOUIS - Zach LaVine tried not to think about guarding Derrick Rose.After starring late in the Minnesota Timberwolves rally from a 13-point deficit, the 19-year-old rookie didnt try hiding his admiration.That dudes good, LaVine said after Minnesota closed the preseason with a 113-112 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night. Its crazy, but in the game you cant really be worried about it. That dudes good.LaVine played the final 6:14 and scored all six of his points in the final five minutes. Hed been wondering if coach Flip Saunders would put him in.I was looking down at coach like, Im ready, LaVine said. Im glad he trusted me.Rose certainly looked ready to go, leading Chicago (4-4) with 27 points and five assists while playing nearly 32 minutes. He totalled 57 points the last two preseason games for the Bulls, hoping to rejoin the contenders in the Eastern Conference.Im not concerned at all, Rose said. As long as everybodys focused and on the same page, thats all you can ask of your team.Ricky Rubio led the Timberwolves with 19 points, five assists and two steals. Minnesota (5-2) won its last four in the preseason.Anthony Bennett hit the go-ahead basket with 2:05 left, making it 107-106. Two free throws by LaVine made it 113-109 with 4.2 seconds to go and the Timberwolves survived when Thaddeus Young missed a pair with one second left and Mike Dunleavy missed a desperation heave.It was just a matter of time, getting some stops and execution, Saunders said. The guys are really starting to believe.Roses 3-pointer cut the gap to 111-109 with 22 seconds to go. He missed one with about 2 1/2 minutes left that would have put the Bulls back in front.I guess it was the college rims or something, he said.TIP-INSTimberwolves: Young and Bennett had 17 points apiece. Young was 4 for 5 from 3-point range. Rookie Andrew Wiggins and Shabazz Muhammad were held out nursing minor injuries. Wiggins was a flop in his final college game. Before Friday, Minnesota had won three straight by at least 18 points.Bulls: Rookie Doug McDermott got the biggest cheers playing on the floor where he starred for three seasons for Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. McDermott struggled, though, missing seven of nine shots and blowing a pair of layups.UP NEXTTimberwolves: Open at Memphis on Wednesday.Bulls — Open at New York Knicks on Wednesday.PAYING OFFYoung, Bennett and Wiggins were acquired in a three-team trade on draft day.QUOTE OF THE NIGHTLaVine: A lot of veterans were saying this was the atmosphere of a regular-season game. Tres Barrera Nationals Jersey .com) - The Hatch Attack is back in the Southern Conference. Brian Dozier Nationals Jersey .Hammel pitched inside more and it helped him get into the seventh inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 3-2 on Friday night. https://www.cheapnationals.com/. The Wild, playing their first game since leading scorer Mikko Koivu broke his ankle Saturday at Washington, have won three straight for the first time since Nov. 1-5. Koivu underwent surgery on Monday and is expected to miss at least four weeks. Andrew Stevenson Nationals Jersey . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell. Matt Adams Jersey . - Wesley Matthews got a chance to practice his bow-and-arrow 3-point celebration on Sunday night.PITTSBURGH -- If the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins meet in the first round of the NHL playoffs, things will be different than they were Wednesday night at Consol Energy Center. The Red Wings will likely have Jimmy Howard in goal and are hopeful captain Henrik Zetterberg will return from an extended injury absence. The Penguins should get Evgeni Malkin back from a foot injury, too. But in outplaying Pittsburgh and tying the score late in the third period before losing 4-3 in a shootout, Detroit showed that it could present serious matchup problems for the Metropolitan Division champions. "I thought our team played real well tonight. I thought we were better than them," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after the shootout loss clinched a playoff spot. "We carried play, in my opinion, tonight, for sure. I thought we played well." By getting a point on the same night the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Dallas Stars, the Red Wings fell to the Eastern Conferences second wild-card spot, even though each team has 91 points. As Babcock pointed out, the Blue Jackets have the tiebreaker that could give them Pittsburgh, while the Red Wings get the Bruins. "Im not spending a whole lot of time awake worrying about this stuff," he said. "Were just in and whoever we get, were going to be a tough out." Babcock said his Red Wings didnt score as many goals as they should have, partially a product of a strong game from Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. But they also put 37 shots on net to the Penguins 24, giving up two of three goals on the power play and another when Jonas Gustavsson couldnt hang on to a puck and Jussi Jokinen poked it in. "Weve matched up well against them," said forward Riley Sheahan, whose goal with 1:15 left got Detroit the point it needed. "Theyre a really skilled team and weve got some skill as well.dddddddddddd. "If were matched up against them or whoever else, its going to be a lot of fun." Fleury likewise said it would be a "fun matchup," though one that could see him tested a year after another disappointing playoff showing. This is the same team Fleury beat to win the Stanley Cup in 2009, though only a handful of players remain. "I think theres no easy team that will make the playoffs," Fleury said. "Detroits a good team, they play hard, they got some skills. ... Its going to be a good challenge for us." Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said after his teams morning skate that aspects of the game could affect a potential playoff series, like if one team scored three times on the power play or one player won all his faceoff attempts. Pittsburgh went 2-for-4 on the power play, so that was good enough. "I dont think we were going to analyze the score of the game and project forward if it is a possible playoff matchup," Bylsma said. "We wanted to do certain things in areas of the game and maybe have that be a statement for how we played. Tonight we did that with the power play, for sure." Any statements made in the shootout can be overlooked, whether it was Fleury channelling Dominik Hasek for a diving save or Jussi Jokinen scoring the winner off the shaft of Gustavssons stick. If this were a playoff game, the Red Wings and Penguins wouldve kept playing. Thats not necessary yet, as Jokinen thinks these teams know each other well enough. "I think maybe it helps both teams. I think both teams are pretty familiar," Jokinen said. "They are in-your-face all the time. They play that man-to-man, very aggressive all over the ice. At times we did a good job of that, and at times we need to be better and do a better job making sure we get the pucks out and get pucks behind them." ' ' '