sakura

HOUSTON — The Phoenix Suns did something against the Houston Rockets they had not done in their previous two games. Vans Old Skool White Sale . Every time the Rockets made a run at the young Suns on Wednesday night, Phoenix responded. Eric Bledsoe had 20 points and seven assists to lead Phoenix to a 97-88 win over Houston on Wednesday night that snapped the Suns two-game losing streak. PJ Tucker added 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting with six rebounds. Channing Frye had 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds, and Goran Dragic chipped in 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting for the Suns, who shot 45.6 per cent from the field, including 45.8 per cent from behind the arc. „Throughout the year, we have had games where we have the lead in the fourth quarter,“ Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. „We have blown some, and as a young team, that happens. You want to see the progress where that doesnt happen. They cut it down, and we could have gotten panicked where we forced shots, but we didnt.“ Dwight Howard had 15 points and 18 rebounds, Aaron Brooks added 17 points and six assists, and Omri Casspi had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Rockets, who lost their second straight game. James Harden, who was guarded by Tucker, finished with 14 points, hitting 3 of 17 from the field and going 0 for 10 from behind the arc. Patrick Beverley had 12 points and eight rebounds. Houston shot 35 per cent from the floor and turned the ball over 23 times. Houston coach Kevin McHale said the Rockets did not play very well. „In the first quarter, Phoenix came up and got real aggressive with us and were denying us around the court,“ McHale said. „We didnt handle that very well, and then you compound that with shots not going. We had no flow tonight. . I just thought the 13 assists, 23 turnovers, some really errant passing. We gave up 25 points off our turnovers, so we just fed them.“ The Rockets opened the fourth quarter with a 13-2 run to cut the Suns lead to 75-74 on Brooks 3-pointer with 7 minutes remaining. As they did throughout the game, the Suns responded, going on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to expand the lead to 14 on Marcus Morris 3-pointer with 3 minutes remaining. Houston tried to answer, closing within 88-82 on an 8-0 run capped by Brooks 3-pointer with 1:49 remaining. „Playing on the road against the No. 1 offensive team in the league, you know they are going to make a run,“ Tucker said. „Its just one of those things where you keep playing hard and keep taking those shots. We started missing some shots, but we wanted to stick with it and pushing the ball back up.“ Again, the Suns would have an answer as Morris connected on a 3-pointer from the corner followed by two free throws from Dragic to push the lead to 11 with 1:15 left. „We know that Houston likes to push the ball,“ Dragic said. „In every NBA game, we know that every team is going to have a run. If youre solid on defence and play together on offence, I think we find the right open guy at the right time, and he makes shot. Thats huge play.“ Houston tried once more to slice into the lead, getting it down to seven points on Beverleys 3-pointer with 57 seconds left. Houston got no closer the rest of the way. Howard said the Rockets bad offensive night had nothing to do with them missing shots, the Suns „just played harder than us.“ „We cant give away games like this,“ Howard said. „It will come back to bite us in games later this season. Weve got to learn how, no matter how many guys we have out there, short-handed and all, weve got to play the same way, play hard and play aggressive.“ After the Rockets got to 63-61 on Garcias 3-pointer with 2:20 left in the third, the Suns finished the quarter on a 10-0 run, capped by two free throws by Markieff Morris to take a 12-point lead into the fourth. Houston opened the second half with an 11-4 run to get within 55-51 on Beverleys 3-pointer with 6:50 remaining in the third quarter. Phoenix used a 14-3 run over a three-minute span of the second quarter to take a 47-34 lead on Tuckers 3 with 3:09 remaining in the quarter. The Suns shot 50 per cent in the first half and took a 51-40 lead into the break. Houston shot 29.8 per cent in the first half. „We just didnt have enough energy,“ Harden said. „We didnt make shots on the offensive end or move the basketball, and they did.“ NOTES: Jeremy Lin sat out with a right knee sprain. … Houston said centre Omer Asik will miss a week with a right thigh contusion. Asik will be re-evaluated at the end of the week. . Houston forward Chandler Parsons missed his second straight game with back spasms. . Phoenix centre Alex Len missed his eighth straight game with a sore left ankle. Vans Old Skool Black . The Flames are in the midst of a six-game slide (0-5-1), their longest losing streak since an 0-6-3 skid from Jan. 11-28, 2010. They havent won since Nov. 3 in Chicago and most recently went winless on a three-game homestand. Vans Sk8 Hi Leather .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night.BROSSARD, Que. – Hope and speculation ran high when Carey Price took to the ice in full equipment before the Montreal Canadiens game-day skate on Tuesday. But coach Michel Therrien threw a wet blanket on it all when he said emphatically that Price will not play again in the NHL Eastern Conference final, even it the Canadiens managed to extend it to seven games. „Thats just part of the process of making a comeback,“ said Therrien. „Hes not going to play in that series. Hes not going to play.“ The goalie who backstopped Canada to gold at the Sochi Olympics in February has not played since suffering a right knee injury in the second period of the series opener when New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider crashed into him while on a breakaway. Therrien said at the time that Price would miss the rest of the series but may be back if Montreal advanced to the Stanley Cup final. It appears that is still the plan. Price had a brief skate wearing a track suit before practice on Monday and was out in his gear with goalie coach Stephane Waite and a trainer for about 30 minutes a day later. He didnt put any pressure on the knee by making stops and starts. But he was down on his knees and stopping shots from Waite, without moving from side to side. „There is a process in place for him to come back, but it wont be in the next few days,“ said Therrien. „And we dont want to start thinking about the next series because we have a (very) big game to play. „But Carey is working really hard in physio and in the gym. (Monday) was a step, this was another step in his rehab. Hes working on what he has to do.“ Dustin Tokarski, the third stringer behind regular backup Peter Budaj, took over in the third period of the series opener and has been solid in goal, even though the Rangers took a 3-1 series lead going into Game 5 on Tuesday night. The 24-year-old had played in only 10 regular season NHL games before this years playoffs, perhaps because teams are wary of using an undersized (five-foot-11) goalie, but the Watson, Sask., native has held his own. In 11 periods of hockey from the first to the fourth game, including two overtimes, he allowed eight goals for a 2.63 goals-against average annd a . Vans Old Skool Clearance. 917 save percentage. Price was 8-4-1 with a 2.36 average and .919 save percentage. Forward Max Pacioretty has no worries about having Tokarski in the net. „Not at all, anymore,“ said Pacioretty. „You dont see goalies get hurt too often, so at first its kind of a tough pill to swallow. „But since Game 1 weve had confidence in Dustin. Each game hes better and better and I think that confidence has gone to a whole new level.“ He was excited to see Price back on the ice, however. „Seeing him every day and talking to him, we know his timeline and we know we have to win for him to come back,“ he said. „And that he will come back if we win. „So seeing him put the pads on gets the boys going a bit more than it would just seeing him on the (trainers) table. But we know we have to win to get him going and we want to do that for him.“ Defenceman Mike Weaver said Tokarski has earned the teams confidence. „Having a goalie back there where you know hes going to make that key save consistently, everybodys behind him,“ said Weaver. „Weve just got to concentrate on we do — speed, getting pucks to the net and getting bodies to the net.“ The Rangers had good news on the injury front as well as Derek Stepan skated while wearing a guard on his helmet to protect his broken jaw. Stepan was injured in Game 3 on a blindside hit that earned Montreals Brandon Prust a two-game suspension. While Stepan finished the game, he had surgery the next day on his jaw. He was to be checked out by three doctors, but was expected back in the lineup. Coach Alain Vigneault was ready to welcome back one of his top centres. „I could be wrong here, I think the last game he missed was his first one in four years, right?“ said Vigneault. „Hes played all the games Ive been here except for the last one, and prior to that hes played all the games since hes been a New York Ranger. „Hes a good, young player that is a big part of our team. He plays huge minutes, plays five-on-five, power play, penalty killing. Hes the only right-handed face-off guy. So hes a big part of our team and has been a big part of our teams success.“ ‚ ‚ ‚