导出博客文章HOUSTON -- Given the lack of drama in the second half, it was easy to chuckle at
how the Rockets fumbled away an opportunity to set an NBA single-game record for
3-pointers on Wednesday night in their blowout win over the Sacramento Kings.The
Rockets (19-7) won their eighth consecutive game by, in part, sinking 22
3-pointers in their 34-point victory. Houston shares the NBA record of 23 with
the Golden State Warriors, and after rookie forward Kyle Wiltjer nailed a 3 with
3:55 left, the Rockets were one away from that mark. They closed the game by
taking six of their final seven shots inside the arc to squander their shot at a
new league mark.But the bigger picture is this: Houston has hit at least 20
3-pointers in a game twice this season after having done so only twice
previously in franchise history. Second-year forward Sam Dekker expressed
confidence that this group will get another shot at the record this season, and
with four Rockets ranked in the top 11 league-wide in 3-pointers, Dekker has
every reason to forecast another record run.Each person has their job on this
team. Its a specific group thats really put together well, said Rockets forward
Ryan Anderson, whose 65 treys rank 11th in the NBA and fourth on the team behind
Eric Gordon (93), James Harden (76) and Trevor Ariza (70). And everybody accepts
their role here. There are rare teams where everybody comes together as a
cohesive unit rather than trying to play too much one-on-one or look out for
themselves. And its fun. Its an unselfish style of basketball.The Rockets, who
will host the New Orleans Pelicans (9-18) on Friday night at Toyota Center, did
get a bit of bad news with the announcement that forward Donatas Motiejunas
rights were renounced and that he was an unrestricted free agent. Motiejunas and
the Rockets had been in a prolonged stalemate regarding his contract status and
his health. The resolution reached may ultimately hurt the team.The Pelicans,
meanwhile, snapped a 10-game losing skid against the Indiana Pacers with their
102-95 home win on Thursday night. All-Star forward Anthony Davis posted his
seventh 35-point, 15-rebound game this season with 35 points and 16 boards while
rookie guard Buddy Hield scored a career-high 21 points.Perhaps the biggest
positive for the Pelicans was the return of swingman Tyreke Evans, who played in
his first game in 11 months after being sidelined by multiple right knee
surgeries and a blood clot in his calf. His previous appearance was Jan.
25.Evans finished with seven points, three rebounds and two assists in 11
minutes. With Evans and guard Jrue Holiday, who missed the first 12 games of the
season, back in the fold, the Pelicans are inching closer to finally being whole
again.Getting out there running with my teammates in an actual game was exciting
for me, Evans said. Ive been doing practices ... but its definitely different in
a game.The first couple of minutes I just wanted to get out there and catch a
feel for the game and get my feet wet. When I hit that 3 (with 9:29 remaining in
the fourth quarter) and that Euro step, I felt like I was ready to go.
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sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep.
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to a report from the Vancouver Province, the Lions are expected to replace
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Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of
letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed
necessary.
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through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013.
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coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the
Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. In November
1962 one of crickets lingering anachronisms was finally abolished when the
distinction between amateurs and professionals was officially scrapped. While of
significance until World War Two - until the growth of Test cricket, outside an
Ashes summer the highlight were the Gentlemen v Players matches - it all but
fell apart in the social upheaval that followed.The splitting of players into
two distinct groups was a fundamental part of the game. In its simplest form,
professionals were paid, amateurs (widely known as gentlemen) were not. Within
that the British class system was prevalent. Almost all amateurs were public
school or at least middle-class; the professionals were generally working-class.
Even then there were professionals who made a living from the game and those who
were professional because they could not afford to me amateurs.Professionals
were often treated much as servants would be and were expected to be as
deferential to amateurs and committeemen as a butler would be to the master of
the house. They had separate hotels when they travelled, separate changing rooms
and food at the grounds, referred to by their surnames only, and at most
counties could never aspire to captaincy. Even scorecards made a small but
marked distinction - amateurs were given full initials, professionals surname
only.Perhaps the way captaincy was handled was the most ridiculous aspect of it
all. Professionals were deemed unable to take on such a role and so often found
themselves playing under amateur captains who were barely of club standard.
Counties often scratched round to find someone - anyone - willing to take
charge. Some were so poor that they did little more than stand on the field
while the senior professionals ran the show.The lines between the two were
always murky - WG Grace, technically an amateur, earned more from the game than
even the top professionals - and caused deep resentment. After World War One
fewer people had the time or money to play for the fun of it and so the lines
became ever more blurred. Some were often found work by counties and given
under-the-counter payments to allow them to remain amateur - or shamateurs as
they were widely known - making the distinction even more meaningless.In 1938
Wally Hammond had to switch from being a professional to a gentleman to allow
him to become England captain. He was the same man, the same cricketer, but
overnight he became acceptable in the eyes of the establishment. Even when Len
Hutton became Englands first professional captain in 1952 it was only after he
refused to go down the same route as Hammond. The mood of the country after
World War Two was one of change and in 1946 Glamorgan proposed the abolition of
the amateur but they found little support.By the late 1950s the distinction had
long lost any credibility and amateurs were all but extinct. One by one the
distinctions - dressing rooms, initials on scorecards, accommodation - were
chipped away but the old guard refused to go down without a fight. Several
committees reported it was time to treat everyone as simply cricketers but it
was not until May 1962 the Advisory County Committee put forward a proposal to
scrap amateur status.To distinguish between them is often humbug, reported the
Times. That did not stop the same newspaper still refusing to print initials for
anyone other than the so-called amateurs in the first matches on the 1962-63 MCC
tour of Australia. At the start of the MCC tour of Australia the ccaptain, Ted
Dexter, nominally still an amateur, admitted he earned considerably more from
cricket than his various business ventures.ddddddddddddThe debate rumbled on all
summer but even those who fought the change seemed to realise they were railing
against the dying of the light. The curtain came down at Scarborough when
fittingly the Players beat the Gentlemen in the final match of the summer. It
was the 274th meeting of the teams in a contest dating back to 1806.On November
26 the 17 first-class counties met at Lords and after a six-hour meeting voted -
although not unanimously - to end the distinction. The formal and official
scrapping of amateur status came on January 31, 1963 when the MCC confirmed
without dissent the earlier decision.Its a sad day and signals the end of an
era, said Sir Jack Hobbs, the first professional to be knighted for services to
the game. They were a great asset because they could freely whereas many
professionals felt they couldnt take chances.In the Daily Telegraph EW Swanton
lamented the change and questioned the moral authority of those making the
decision.Those views were in a minority. in the same paper Michael Melford
countered all that had been abolished was a form of legalised deceit. And
Herbert Sutcliffe, who as a professional had turned down an at-the-time
remarkable approach to captain the ultra-conservative Yorkshire in 1927, said he
was in full agreement. Stuart Surridge, who as an amateur had led Surrey to
seven successive Championships in the 1950s, said its a good thing … we are all
cricketers at heart.Vic Wilson, who led Yorkshire to the Championship in 1962,
said: A team is one body of men … it is commonsense to out all players on one
footing.In a lead editorial the Daily Mirror congratulated the lawmakers … this
silly social distinction needed hitting for six and could not resist a swipe at
the Times into the bargain. Perhaps now this olde-world journal will print the
initials of all MCC players … or is that expecting too much? As with many such
long-debated changes there was actually little fallout. The Gentlemen v Players
game disappeared off the fixture list but was largely unmourned. Several
counties who had steadfastly refused to pick a professional captain were freed
to choose the best man with a clear conscience.On February 14 Surrey picked
their first non-amateur captain in Micky Stewart, ten years at the club but
until then ineligible for the role. He said: It was a farce that an amateur
could receive money for putting his name to sports equipment and writing
articles without it affecting his status.Ken Grieves, who took charge at
Lancashire that same summer, was even blunter. This cuts out the snobbery, he
said. In the past a lot of things have been pushed aside for the old school
tie.What happened next?Former England spinner Phil Edmonds asked to play as an
amateur in 1988 as his business ventures meant he couldnt afford the time to
commit to full-time cricket. You decide which games you want me to play, and Ill
play, for nothing, he said according to the Daily Telegraph and he even began
signing autographs Mr P H Edmonds. His offer was refused by the committee and he
retiredIn 2010 a match between Gentlemen and Players was staged at Wormsley,
with the Gentlemen recording their first win since 1953. As a sign of the time,
it was a Twenty20 match ' ' '
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