CHICAGO -- D.
[b]Air Max Outlet Online[/b] .J. Augustin came into the league with high expectations. He came to Chicago simply looking for another chance. Augustin delivered on Saturday, scoring 18 points to help the short-handed Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-84 and snap a four-game losing streak. Carlos Boozer led the way with 19 points, and rookie Tony Snell came on strong in the second half to finish with 17 points. Chicago prevailed after matching its longest slide of the season and its longest in four years under coach Tom Thibodeau. "As we get bodies back, D.J. gets comfortable, I said all along that I have great belief in this team," Thibodeau said. Augustin looked like a guy whos settling in. He played more than 46 minutes, hitting 4 of 6 3-pointers while dishing out 10 assists. He did commit five turnovers. But overall it was a good night for a former first-round draft pick whose career hasnt quite gone the way he hoped. Augustin found himself in a limited role with Indiana last season after spending his first four years in Charlotte, and he was waived by Toronto this year before being signed by the Bulls last week. "The Indiana situation, I had some good games there," Augustin said. "At the same time, it was tough. The style of play maybe didnt fit me a little bit. Coach (Frank) Vogel had his guy that he went with, he played the majority of the minutes. I kind of knew that going in. The Toronto situation, I dont know what happened there. But I just tried to stay professional and just keep myself ready." Boozer and Augustin both got off to strong starts as the Bulls built a 17-point halftime lead, and Chicago withstood several pushes down the stretch to come away with the win after dropping 13 of 16. The Bulls shot nearly 54 per cent overall and were 10 of 15 on 3-pointers against a weak defence. Boozer hit 8 of 14 shots. Snell nailed five 3s -- four in the second half -- and finished one point off his career high. Taj Gibson scored 15 points. Joakim Noah grabbed 18 rebounds, and Chicago got a reprieve from the losing despite all its injuries. Besides Derrick Rose, the Bulls were also missing the injured Luol Deng (sore left Achilles), Jimmy Butler (sprained right ankle) and Kirk Hinrich (back). But they still had enough to beat Cleveland. "There were a lot of things I saw our team do that you just kind of sit back and go, Is this really us?" coach Mike Brown said. Andrew Bynum had 19 points for the Cavaliers, but Kyrie Irving had a rough night. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting after fighting through an illness to score 39 in Fridays overtime win over Milwaukee, and the Cavaliers lost for the third time in four games. It didnt help that they were missing second-leading scorer Dion Waiters, who sat out his second straight game because of a sore right wrist. "Theres no excuses, we just didnt execute on both ends of the floor," Irving said. The Bulls saw a 19-point lead early in the third shrink to 68-61 late in the quarter. But a basket by Gibson and back-to-back 3-pointers by Snell bumped the lead to 81-65. The Cavaliers made another run in the fourth, cutting their deficit to 85-76 on Matthew Dellavedovas 3, but Chicago hung on. NOTES: Brown expressed sympathy for Kobe Bryant over the Lakers stars most recent injury. "You feel bad for him because of how hard he works, how bad he wants it," Brown said. "To see him go through the last two injuries, especially at this point of his career, makes it tough, makes it tough, so you feel bad for him." Brown was fired by the Lakers early last season and returned to Cleveland for a second tenure in April. ... No. 1 draft pick Anthony Bennett sat out his second straight game for Cleveland because of an illness. ... Deng, averaging 19.6 points, missed his second straight game for Chicago because of a sore left Achilles tendon. Butler left Thursdays game at Oklahoma City because of a sprained right ankle. The Bulls were hoping Hinrich would return from an ailing back against Cleveland. Instead, he missed his fifth straight game.
[b]Wholesale Air Max Shoes[/b] .com) - Ryan Miller made 28 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and second in as many nights as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday.
[b]Air max Outlet[/b] .com) - Brad Stuart has yet to play a regular-season game for the Colorado Avalanche, but that didnt deter the club from signing the veteran defenseman to a two-year contract extension on Monday.TAMPA, Fla. - A scoreless night from star Steven Stamkos was no problem for the surging Tampa Bay Lightning.Cedric Paquette scored his first two NHL goals as the Lightning completed a four-game home sweep by beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 on Thursday night.Tampa Bay also got goals from Brian Boyle, Tyler Johnson and Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning had scored 15 goals during three wins earlier in the homestand against Arizona, Philadelphia and Washington.Its big if Stammers line is not going, somebody else is picking that up, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.Stamkos was held without a point, finished minus-1, and got both of his shots during a third period in which the centre played just five shifts.Jiri Hudler and Sean Monahan scored for the Flames, who had won three in a row. Mark Giordano had two assists.I felt that the effort was there, Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. I dont think that we looked like a bunch of fat cats out there. Its not a matter that they outworked us. They outsmarted us because we made some bad mistakes, but its a game of mistakes. No one does it on purpose, especially not in this organization.After Paquettes second goal at 61 seconds of the second period, Boyle put Tampa Bay up 3-1 at 4:02 on the rebound after Jonas Hiller stopped the forwards initial shot during a short-handed breakaway.Weve got it going pretty good up and down the lineup, Boyle said. We want to continue that..
[b]Cheap Air Max Online[/b]. Monahans power-play goal 20 seconds after Boyle scored cut the Calgary deficit to 3-2.Johnsons first goal in 12 games made it 4-2 at 40 seconds of the third. The centre had 13 assists over the previous nine games.Filppula added an empty-net goal with 2:10 to play.We were forcing things, especially after they got up, Giordano said. I think we were forcing more than we normally do.Paquette opened the scoring with his first NHL goal from in-close at 9:55 of the first.Its a great moment for me, Paquette said. I think I will remember it for the rest of my life.Hudler tied it at 1-1 when he beat Ben Bishop with 4:38 left in the period.Bishop stopped 29 shots, while Hiller made 28 saves.NOTES: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game and said the league is keeping our eye on Tampa for future events including the All-Star Game. We know this is a great place to host events, Bettman said. ... Bettman remains upbeat about the establishment of a hockey World Cup and said talks are continuing with the players association. ... Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman had the cast for a broken finger removed but could miss three to four more weeks. ... Calgary D Ladislav Smid was scratched because of an upper body injury but should play this weekend. ... Lightning C Alex Killorn sat out due to an upper body injury. ... Tampa Bay D Andrej Sustr returned after missing one game with a hand injury. ' ' '
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