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Is there a bigger myth in professional sports than the notion that coaches can’t do their jobs effectively if they happen to be in the final year of a contract? That somehow they’ll be seen as lame ducks by their players, who will simply tune them out and the team will tumble down the standings? This idea gets repeated so often it’s like it’s become part of the pro sports gospel. Makamae Gomera-Stevens Jersey . The problem is, there’s virtually no evidence to support it. Just consider some of the recent examples in Toronto alone. Start with Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, who coached all of last season in the final year of his contract, as a so-called lame duck. What happened? Well, Casey’s team outperformed expectations more than any Toronto team in recent history. The Raptors were supposed to be terrible and a whole lot of people expected them to tank. And while their turnaround was based on a whole lot of different factors, Casey’s ability to pull it all together was the key. Did the players tune out Casey? Was his message having trouble getting through because the players saw him as dead man walking? It was quite the opposite, as the Raptors became one of the most stunning turnaround stories in recent NBA history. About the same time Casey was being rewarded for his efforts with a new contract last spring, the Leafs decided to tack an extra year onto the end of Randy Carlyle’s deal, which was set to expire at the end of the 2014-15 season, even though his team has underperformed during the latter part of last season. Presumably, the Leafs didnt want him to go into this season as a lame duck coach who would get tuned out by his players. We all know what happened. Carlyle, contract extension in place, couldn’t get through to his players and was fired last week. The example of former coach Ron Wilson is even more stark. At the start of the 2011-12 season, Wilson began the season entering the final year of his contract. To the surprise of many, the Leafs had a great start to the season – despite Wilson being a so-called lame duck – and he was rewarded with a contract extension on Christmas Day. Less than three months later, he was fired. Its not to suggest that getting an extension hurt Wilsons abiltiy to coach, but it sure didnt help it any, either. Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons has a contract that tacks an extra year onto his deal every January 1, ensuring he never has to go through a season as a lame duck manager. The only problem is the Blue Jays haven’t won anything under Gibbons. The strange thing is that when it comes to players, we usually anticipate the best out of them during a year when a contract is expiring, because we expect them to be giving their all in order to earn their next deal. Maybe it’s time we started to think of coaches the same way. Tiffeny Milbrett Jersey . The Cottagers last victory came in a 2-1 home win over West Ham when Rene Meulensteen was still in charge. Since then, a miserable run of seven defeats and two draws has seen the club part with the Dutch coach and replace him with German Felix Magath. USWNT Shirts . The Extreme Heat Policy was enacted at Melbourne Park just before 2 p.m. Thursday, suspending all matches on outer courts until the early evening and requiring the closure of the retractable roofs at Rod Laver and Hisense arenas before play could continue on the show courts.Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Blake Griffin scored 18 points, DeAndre Jordan recorded a double-double and the Los Angeles Clippers breezed past the Detroit Pistons, 113-91, at Staples Center on Monday. Jordan finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds while Jordan Farmar added 15 points for LA, which bounced back from consecutive losses to the Wizards and Bucks over the weekend. Coming home and closing a team out is a really good feeling, Jordan said. After losing two games in a row it feels like you lost 10. Chris Paul committed six turnovers in each of those setbacks but returned to his sure-handed ways, recording 11 points and eight assists while only turning it over once. The Pistons, on the other hand, coughed it up 18 times and trailed by as many as 27 as their two-game winning streak came to a crashing halt. Jodie Meeks netted a game-high 20 points while Andre Drummond donated 18 points and 13 rebounds in a losing cause. We couldnt get stops, Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy said. TThey tore our defense apart. Alex Morgan Jersey. Theyre a good offensive team. They were at a quicker pace than we were defensively. The Clippers scored the final seven points of the opening quarter for a 29-27 lead, and they went ahead by double digits, 47-36, when Jordans alley-oop dunk capped an 11-2 run in the middle stages of the second. LA was ahead, 55-44, at halftime and stretched the lead to as many as 26 in the third quarter. Matt Barnes hit back-to-back 3-pointers at one point and was fouled on the second one. His free throw made it a 73-53 game, and the Clippers led by a comfortable 86-63 margin going into the fourth. Game Notes Griffin, who also pulled down seven rebounds and handed out seven assists, moved past Danny Manning and sits fifth on the Clippers all-time scoring list with 7,122 points … The Clippers have won the last eight meetings … The Clippers shot 53.8 percent from the floor and made half of their 24 3-point attempts. ‚ ‚ ‚