Für unsere Gäste » ongly, leading 16-14 with Narwal having s

LOS ANGELES -- The improved Los Angeles Lakers play host to the San Antonio Spurs in a matchup of two of the NBAs top offensive teams and best defensive clubs on Friday night at Staples Center.The Spurs (9-3) are riding a four-game winning streak after a 110-105 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night. Ex-Laker Pau Gasol led the way for San Antonio with a season-high 24 points and nine rebounds. Gasol will face his former team for the first time in a Spurs uniform.The Lakers (7-5), who have won three of their last four games, will face an obvious and early challenge against the Spurs, annually one of the leagues top teams. After dropping consecutive contests to the Los Angeles Clippers and Houston Rockets at home more than a week ago, the Spurs responded with consecutive wins over the Detroit Pistons, the Rockets, the Miami Heat and the Kings.Were connecting with each other better, moving the ball better, said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who is tied with Larry Brown for seventh on the all-time NBA list for regular-season coaching victories at 1,098. Were improving.The Spurs are 6-0 on the road and have captured the last five contests against the Lakers, going 4-0 last season. Ball movement and contributions from several players sparked the Spurs recent surge.Forward Kawhi Leonard, again an early MVP candidate, is averaging 25 points per game and 2.4 steals (third best in the league). LaMarcus Aldridge is scoring 17.8 points per game and hitting 54.5 percent of his 3-point attempts.Were at our best when we move the ball, when we make the defense work and we find the open guys, Gasol said. We get much better shots that way, and it pays off. It creates a flow and energy that carries over to the defensive end.The Spurs average 101.9 points on offense (19th in the NBA), but their defense is holding opponents to 96.8 points (fourth).The Lakers have emerged as one of the leagues top scoring teams. Los Angeles is ranked second in scoring at 110 points per game, trailing only the Golden State Warriors (117.4 points).Point guard DAngelo Russell scored a season-high 32 points and forward Julius Randle contributed a triple-double with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists Wednesday in a 125-118 win over the Brooklyn Nets.The Lakers bench has been another strength, averaging a league-best 50.6 points. Reserve guard Lou Williams has been one of the main sparkplugs with a 15.6 scoring average.They have been great all year, so obviously were not going to complain about them, but even before the (Brooklyn) game I said I think the reason that they have so much success is because of how unselfish they play as a group, Lakers coach Luke Walton said of his reserves.Both clubs are among the leaders in 3-point shooting percentage. San Antonio is ranked second at 39.2 percent per game, with Los Angeles is tied for third with Golden State at 37.4 percent.The Spurs will be without center Dewayne Dedmon (left knee sprain), who is not traveling with the team.NMD Human Race Australia . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Cheap NMDs Australia . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. http://www.nmdaustraliasale.com/ultra-boost-shoes-australia/clima.html . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. NMD Buy Australia . The 25-year-old Japanese star has officially been posted by his club team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. Ultra Boost 4.0 Australia . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta.Jaipur Pink Panthers bounced back from their opening game loss, producing an all-round performance to beat Telugu Titans and move up to third in the table with six points after two games. Titans defeat left them rooted at the bottom.?Both teams began cautiously and after five minutes, they were tied 3-3, with both defenses doing a fine job. The first do-or-die raid for both teams came in the 11th minute of the first half, but neither side could make it count.Titans Vinoth Kumar scored four raid points, while Panthers Jasvir Singh had five empty raids. In the final minute of the first half, Panthers forced the first super tackle of the game to tie the score 12-12.Jasvir opened his account and scored two points with his sixth raid, in the third minute of the second half. With 13 minutes to go, Panthers had a slender 16-15 lead and their defence held strong, as Titans star raider Shabeer Bapu struggled to score points.Rajesh Narwal first scored two points and then helped Panthers inflict their first all out, in the 12th minute of the second half, as Panthers led 24-17.Sukesh Hegde came on as a substitute for Titans with less than four minutes left but failed to inspire his team. Titans scored five points in the last five minutes, but it was in vain, as Panthers sat back to defend their lead. Jasvir scored with a scorpion kick in the dying seconds to give Panthers a 28-24 victory.Pardeep Narwal stars in Pirates winIn the second game of the night, Patna Pirates survived a late charge from U Mumba to record a 36-34 win, as raider Pardeep Narwal produced a stunning performance to score 18 raid points. ?The win also moved Pirates, the deffending champions, to second in the league; U Mumba remain sixth.dddddddddddd.Narwal scored three points in the first five minutes as Patna led 4-3. A green card was shown to U Mumba captain Anup Kumar in the sixth minute of the first half for talking during a raid. However, their defence did not faulter, as Rakesh Kumar helped inflict the first super tackle, in the seventh minute of the first half. U Mumba forced another super tackle in the 10th minute to take an 8-6 lead.It was the U Mumba defence marshaled by Jeeva Kumar that helped them rake in the points as they executed four super tackles in the first half. However, Pirates inflicted an all out in the 17th minute to lead 14-12. They subsequently finished the first half strongly, leading 16-14 with Narwal having scored seven raid points.Narwal began the second half the same way he did the first, attaining a super 10 in the fourth minute to help Pirates lead 20-15. Eight minutes later, Pirates inflicted their second all out to stretch their lead to 27-17.Rishank Devadiga scored a super raid for U Mumba in the 13th minute and followed it up with another raid to record his super 10, as the team cut the deficit to just four points. U Mumba inflicted an all out with less than three minutes to go and tied the game at 33-33.Devadiga then appeared to have won the game for U-Mumba, as his bonus point in the last minute gave the team a 34-33 lead, but Narwal had the last laugh, scoring two points with his final raid as Pirates held on for a narrow victory.? ' ' '