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ever happen today. As

in camera talk Fri Nov 29, 2019 1:45 am
by jinshuiqian0713 • 1.470 Posts

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike DAntoni resigned Wednesday after less than two seasons on the job. Team spokesman John Black confirmed DAntonis resignation, ending the brief tenure of the Lakers fourth head coach in less than three years. DAntoni went 67-87 after taking over the Lakers early in the 2012-13 season. He replaced the fired Mike Brown, who lasted just 71 games after replacing 11-time NBA champion coach Phil Jackson in 2011. The injury-plagued Lakers were 27-55 this season, their worst campaign in more than 50 years and the second-worst winning percentage in franchise history. With Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol sitting out large chunks of the season while the Lakers lost an NBA-worst 319 man-games to injuries, the 16-time NBA champion franchise missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons and only the third time in 38 years. "Given the circumstances, I dont know that anybody could have done a better job than Mike did the past two seasons," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "On behalf of the Lakers, we thank Mike for the work ethic, professionalism and positive attitude that he brought to the team every day. We wish him the best of luck." The 62-year-old DAntoni had one year left on his contract, but wanted the Lakers to pick up his option year for 2015-16 to have any chance of success. The Lakers apparently refused, leading to DAntonis resignation. DAntoni walked away from a $4 million payday for next season, although he may receive a portion of that money as severance. A phone message left for DAntoni wasnt immediately returned. Despite the Lakers injuries on a roster consisting mostly of players on one-year contracts, Los Angeles fans largely directed their anger during a rare down season toward DAntoni. Lakers great Magic Johnson, who was sharply critical of DAntonis coaching style, hailed the news on his Twitter account. "Happy days are here again!" Johnson tweeted. "Mike DAntoni resigns as the Lakers coach. I couldnt be happier!" DAntoni also has coached the Nuggets, Suns and Knicks. He reached two Western Conference finals with Nash in Phoenix before having much less success in New York. "Whenever a coach isnt there anymore, for whatever reason, all of us in the fraternity feel badly," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said after the Spurs playoff victory over Dallas. "He is a heck of a coach and heck of a guy. You always feel badly when something like that happens. I just hope that what he wants is going to be what happens for him. He is a special guy." DAntonis signature up-tempo style of play seemed an odd match from the start with the aging, ball-dominating Bryant and the Lakers, who ran Jacksons deliberate triangle offence to perfection. Lakers owners Jerry and Jim Buss curiously chose DAntoni to replace Brown over Jackson, who strongly contemplated a return for a third stint on the Los Angeles bench. Jackson became the president of the Knicks in March. Kupchak said he will begin the search immediately for the Lakers fifth head coach since 2011 -- including Jackson, who walked away from the team after falling short of a third consecutive championship. DAntonis departure will allow the Lakers franchise overhaul to begin in earnest after their worst season since 1957-58 back in Minneapolis. Los Angeles missed the post-season for just the second time in the 17-season career of Bryant, who occasionally clashed with DAntoni. The Lakers have a top-10 pick in a strong draft and just three players under contract for next season, including Nash and Bryant. The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history will make more than $48 million over the next two years. A coaching change also might make the Lakers more attractive to Gasol, an unrestricted free agent who intimated he wouldnt consider returning if DAntoni still coached the team. Kupchak has said the Lakers are very interested in re-signing the 7-foot Spaniard, one of the top available free agents. "There would have to be significant changes," Gasol wrote in Spanish on his personal blog recently. "Ive never concealed the fact that DAntonis style doesnt suit my game. Everybody knows this. I dont know if my decision will be swayed by whether Mike stays or leaves. Obviously, the coach is a very important factor for any team." After joining the Lakers on short notice last season, DAntoni was unable to assemble a contending team immediately around Bryant and Dwight Howard, who struggled to embrace the pick-and-roll game so important to DAntonis offence. Los Angeles won 45 games last season despite its awful start under Brown. But the Lakers lost Bryant to a torn Achilles tendon late in the regular season before getting swept out of the first round by San Antonio. Howard left the Lakers as a free agent last summer, fleeing to Houston for less money to escape the Lakers drama and high expectations. Bryant played in just six games this season after breaking a bone near his knee in December, and Los Angeles never had a consistently competitive team in his absence. Nash also missed most of the season with various injuries, but the 40-year-old point guard hopes to play again next season. DAntoni realized he would take the blame for the Lakers woes this season, and the veteran coach seemed comfortable with the prospect when the team packed up for the summer. "Every coach should be under scrutiny," DAntoni said two weeks ago. "Some coaches get fired even after the best years theyve ever had. ... Theres always things we could have done better, and its easier with hindsight. Things dont always go smoothly. For the most part, our guys were very competitive. For us, there are some silver linings in there, but in hindsight, its disappointing for everybody." How to Buy Cheap Jerseys . Jagr had a goal and two assists, Andy Greene scored 43 seconds into overtime and Marek Zidlicky had two goals as the Devils rallied past the Washington Capitals 5-4 Saturday night. What is the best site to buy team jerseys from China .com) - Eric Fehr and Marcus Johansson each registered a pair of goals, as Washington spoiled the head coaching debut of Peter Horachek by picking up a 6-2 victory in Toronto on Wednesday. https://www.wheretobuycheapjerseys.com/. Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . What is the best place to buy Cheap Jerseys . Didnt need any help this time. Wood beat Cincinnati for the first time in his career, repeatedly pitching out of threats for seven innings, and Chicago stalled the Reds week-long surge with a 2-0 victory Monday night. Where can one buy good quality but cheap jerseys . The NFL says Wednesday that the game between the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions at Wembley on Oct. 26 will start at 1:30 p.October 1st of 1980 wasnt a particularly special day in Blue Jays history. It was the final home game of the regular season at old Exhibition Stadium. The Jays were days away from wrapping up a 67-95 season. On this day, there were but 12,426 fans in the stands to watch the culmination of a fifth straight losing season. The fans on hand probably didnt even realize they were witnessing something special, something unique. Not the final score. Detroit out slugged the Blue Jays 11-7. So what was it about this game? Well it was the final start of the incredible, yet semi tragic career of Mark Fidrych. On this day the man-child they called the "Bird" went five innings giving up five runs, four of those earned. The Jays effectively ended his day by scoring four runs in the fifth. Ernie Whitt keying the rally with a three run homer, the last "Round Tripper" Fidrych would ever surrender. Fidrych gutted it out through that fifth inning and managed to get the win, to finish his season at (2-3). The starter for the Blue Jays that day was a 23-year-old Dave Stieb. He got torched for seven hits and six earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings and took the loss to fall to (12-15). Greatness was yet to come for Stieb who was in just his second season in the Majors, his first full campaign. For Fidrych, we were just left with memories and the lingering question of how great he might have been. Flash back to May 15th of 1976. The Tigers were home to Cleveland. Their scheduled starter that day had the flu. The manager, Ralph Houk "the Major" of Yankees fame, handed the ball to a 21-year-old long lanky right hander, who reminded a minor league coach of his at Lakeland of the legendary Sesame Street character "Big Bird". All Fidrych did was pitch a complete game two-hitter as he out-dueled Clevelands Pat Dobson in a 2-1 Tigers victory. There were 14,583 people on hand for the game. Remember that number. There were some great Blue Jays and Canadian baseball connections in that game. Rusty Staub was in right field for Detroit. Alan Ashby, a Blue Jay a year later was catching for Cleveland and the two DHs - the Tigers Willie Horton and the Indians Rico Carty - played with the Jays as well. For Fidrych this was only the beginning of one of most magical seasons in baseball history. After losing his next start at Fenway in yet another complete game, 2-0 to the great Luis Tiant, Fidrych would go on to reel off seven straight victories He was more than just a pitcher though, he was a fun loving unassuming kid who just loved playing the game. He would talk to the ball and carefully groom the mound before every inning. He caught the baseball world by sttorm.dddddddddddd. Fidrych appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice and was the first athlete ever to appear on the cover of "Rolling Stone" Magazine. In his first 13 starts, Fidrych worked an unbelievable 120 1/3 innings. If you do the math, thats over nine innings per start. How is that possible? Well three times over that span Houk let him go 11 innings. On June the 28th, he was featured in a Monday Night baseball national telecast, Fidrych beat the Yankees 5-1 in just an hour and 51 minutes. Fidrych would go on to start the All-Star game for the American League in his 12th Major League start. He would go on to finish the season at (19-9) for Detroit with a 2.34 ERA. But it was some of his other numbers that were truly astounding. Fidrych made 29 starts from mid-May till the end of the season. He pitched 24 complete games including four shutouts and pitched 250 1/3 innings. Pitchers today are proud just to hit 200 innings. On May 31st, he pitched a game that lasted one hour and 48 minutes. Then in his next start, he bested that taking just one hour and 46 minutes. Another unusual thing about Fidrych was he had his own personal catcher. He was 24- year-old Bruce Kimm, a rookie who played his first game with the Tigers just two weeks before Fidrych made his first start. They worked so well together in that first start Houk kept them as a battery all season. I dont know if that would ever happen today. As great as he was for Detroit that season, the Tigers still finished up the track at 74-87. Somehow, though he was voted Rookie of the Year, he didnt win the Cy Young too. That honour went to the Orioles Jim Palmer. But Fidrychs success on the diamond would be short lived. He injured his knee in the spring of 1977, and later in that season damaged his shoulder. Times being what they were, and medical advances in the treatment of arm injuries were still in their infancy, it wasnt discovered till 1985 that the "Bird" had a damaged rotator cuff. He finished his career with a (29-19) record and 3.10 ERA and 34 complete games in just 58 starts. This is the really incredible number. When Roger Clemens, one of the All-time greats pitched for the Blue Jays in 1997 and 1998, attendance barely increased on days he was on the mound at Rogers Centre. Yet in 1976, a year in which the Tigers drew 1,467,020 fans, more than half of that number showed up for the 18 games Fidrych pitched in. That is incredible. So if you were one of the few who were at Exhibition Stadium on Oct. 1, 1980 consider yourself lucky. You saw the final appearance of one of the most unique talents and colourful characters the baseball world has ever seen. ' ' '

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