TSNs Jack Armstrong offers his thoughts on the Spurs being back in the mix, the bench strength of the Raptors, the Pacers and Heat not being ready for prime time, the compete level of Kemba Walker and the Warriors coaching situation. Mike Moustakas Brewers Jersey . 1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: Have won 15 straight games and suddenly here they are again in the mix regarding the discussion of what teams can be in the Finals in June. Dont beat you ever with flash but man, oh man lots of substance when you talk about this team. Wednesday night against Denver, they had five players in double figures and had 30 assists on 43 field goals. Thats quite impressive. The commitment to the team and playing the game together is a principle that has served them well over the years and will make them a tough out in the playoffs. The sum is more important than the parts. 2. RAPTORS BENCH: Its pretty evident that in spite of the Raps being 6-5 in the absence of Patrick Patterson, they miss his presence big-time in a variety of ways. Hes a wonderful perimeter defender on screen and roll sequences, gets after it on the glass, defends in the post and can give you both scoring inside/out as well as intelligent team play on offence. He and Greivis Vasquez are the two major contributors off the bench and when you look at the Boston game Wednesday night with less than 10 points coming off the bench, its an area of concern to say the least as you prepare for the playoffs. Pattersons absence has clearly affected the defence as well with teams putting the Raptors in screen and roll scenarios and the nightly battles on the boards without one of your sturdier post guys. John Salmons has struggled of late and is a solid veteran player. When hes going good, this team has another gear. Getting Patterson back and healthy and an on-track Salmons will go a long way towards getting this team ready for the playoffs. Digging themselves early holes that they have to battle back from are an issue that has to be corrected along with tightening the screws again with the defence. They do that and Im confident that they can compete quite well in a first round series. 3. PACERS VS. HEAT: Watched the game Wednesday night and I must say I was underwhelmed with the quality of play. Yes, it had great playoff intensity but it appeared to me that both of these teams have needed a game like this for a while to get that next gear back in their playing style. Both looked like they need to work out some kinks in the final weeks with offensive flow/execution to be ready to roll in mid/late April. A long season combined with injuries, etc. have a way of messing up your chemistry and neither looked as fluid as when theyre at their best. The Raptors see both of them next week with the Houston Rockets sandwiched in between (what a week!) which will be a good test of their playoff readiness as the Heat have been able to knock off the Raptors this season three times while the Pacers are 2-1 and the Rockets won their game in Houston vs the Raps. The good teams start to take that next step here in the final 10 games to get everything humming and in sync. Always fun to watch as teams gear up for the second season. 4. KEMBA WALKER (Bobcats): Al Jefferson (35 and 15) was awesome in the overtime win vs. the Nets Wednesday night. Coach Steve Clifford has done a terrific job with that team. Its about time the folks in Charlotte get behind their team and support them for a change; this is a team you can root for. Love Kemba - what a gamer, scoring 20 points and five rebounds along with 12 assists. There are certain guys that you just throw out the stats some night because they just play so hard and have amazing pride and competitive spirit and do whatever it takes to win. From his days at UConn to now, he personifies what it means to give it his all. Hes been in a tough situation there with a poor roster, shaky coaching and questionable management decisions and Im happy for him that some of the proper decisions have been made around him and things are coming together. This team has become fun to watch and Walker is the heart and soul of that. 5. BRIAN SCALABRINE (Warriors): Assistant coach gets demoted to the D-League by head coach Mark Jackson. This is right out of the book of Jason Kidd/Lawrence Frank differences that took place early in the season. Jackson was adamantly supportive of Kidds move in the fall with Frank and now he does the same thing. Ive been both an sssistant coach and a head coach and I always felt that loyalty to the boss was #1 and if you disagree, you do it behind closed doors and it never gets picked up by the players, media, etc. At the same time, its vital that the assistant coaches cant be Yes Men that have to supress their opinion as opposed to express their opinion. Healthy dialogue is important yet at the end of the day, the head coach makes the call and we all march together in unison. (Hes also got to be open to suggestions and not have all the answers.) Jason Kidd got past this controversy and has done a good job with the Nets and it will be significant for Jackson to get past this as well by the performance of the team. Expectations are high in the Bay Area and results will be needed. Never an easy situation for any coach to be in and I can relate to the feeling of both. Jackson has a healthy ego and high opinion of his coaching acumen which is good to a degree, yet its time to get this team to the next level and the playoffs will be a major stage for him and his team to show that they can do it. Hes got major potential to be an outstanding coach in this league for a long time and this is another of the many tests young coaches go through in their development. Youre paid to make the tough calls and many times you have to be ruthless in this results-oriented business because at the end of the day, it all falls back on you and your record. Jackson is nobodys fool and is as competitive as they come. Its his show - plain and simple. Never easy or fair. In one word, you have to produce. Matt Albers Brewers Jersey . Tyutin has missed the last nine games with an ankle injury which occurred while playing for Russia at the Olympics. The top-two defenceman has four goals and 20 assists, 30 penalty minutes and a plus-6 rating in 53 games with Columbus this season. Jordan Lyles Jersey . According to USA Today the Finns have tapped forwards Jarkko Immonen and Sakari Salminen to replace injured forwards Mikko Koivu and Valtteri Filppula at the Sochi Games. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/249y-jay-jackson-jersey-brewers.html . Still, Milan remained five points behind city rival Inter Milan in the race for fifth place and the final Europa League berth, after Inter beat 10-man Parma 2-0. Meanwhile, Paul Pogba led the way as Juventus stayed on course for a third consecutive title with a 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Bologna.EDMONTON -- Coach Mike Benevides got a sneak peek at how his team handles adversity on Friday night. Steven Shotts 38-yard field goal with just eight seconds to play was the difference as the B.C. Lions overcame a tough start to defeat the Edmonton Eskimos 14-11 in a CFL pre-season game. "We definitely had to overcome some stuff in this game," Benevides said. "We had some positive plays and some negative plays we needed to rebound from. We had a touchdown at the goal-line in the second quarter and dropped it and had another one on a corner route and didnt exactly get the throw we wanted. We were down the entire game and had to fight that adversity. It was good to see how they handled the final two minutes." Lions quarterback Travis Partridge engineered the comeback and was thrilled to be able to make a difference in his first CFL game. "It was fun," he said. "There were a lot of firsts for me. I had my first bonehead mistake with an interception, my first completion, my first rushing yards and my first TD pass. It was a blast. Even though it was a pre-season game, a win always feels good. I have a lot to learn, as do a lot of us, but it was something I can build on." The Lions finished one spot ahead of Edmonton in the Western Division last season, tied with Saskatchewan at 11-7. The Eskimos are hoping a ton of off-season changes, including bringing in Chris Jones as the new head coach, will help them improve on a disappointing 4-14 record in the 2013 season. "It was a pretty good game," Jones said. "Theres a lot of good things on that film, unfortunately we ended up coming out on the short end of the stick. We talked about it pre-game, we had to hold onto the football, we couldnt take penalties and that ended up being the Achilles heel at the end, but there were some good things." Edmonton started the scoring with 5:45 remaining in the opening quarter as quarterback Mike Reilly capped off a long drive with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Fred Stamps. B.C. responded with a 37-yard Ricky Schmitt field goal three minutes later to make it 7-3 for Edmonton heading into the second quarter. John Beck replaced Kevin Glenn as the Lions quarterback for the second half. He had a couple of decentt drives fall short as B. Corbin Burnes Brewers Jersey. . could only add a punt single to its side of the score column before turning the ball over at the Edmonton nine-yard line on a third down gamble with just under two minutes to play in the first half. Edmonton got a late interception from Dexter McCoil at the Lions 35, leading to a Grant Shaw field goal and a 10-4 lead for the home team at the mid-mark. The slow pace to the game continued into the third quarter as Edmonton got a single point on a missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Zackary Medeiros. It just wasnt Medeiros day as he got a second chance from the 36 late in the third quarter and hit the uprights to keep the score at a humdrum 11-4. The Lions were pressing to tie the game with nine-and-a-half minutes remaining, but a pass from third string QB Partridge was picked off in the end zone by Edmontons Ryan Hinds. B.C. was finally rewarded on one of their drives with just 2:43 remaining in the fourth quarter as Partridge hit Brian Burnham with a 23-yard TD pass into the end zone to tie the game 11-11. The Lions got the ball back at the Edmonton 25 with 47 seconds left on Alex Ellis-Hoffmans recovery of a Mark Dell fumble, leading to the game-winning field goal. Notes: Both teams close out the pre-season with games next Friday as the Eskimos travel to Regina to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Lions head home to host the Calgary Stampeders. The two teams will then face each other again to start the regular season on Saturday, June 28 in Vancouvera The Esks came into the game with losses in their four previous pre-season games and just one win in their last sevena It was the first game for first-year head coach Chris Jones at the helm of the Eskimos after coming to the team following a stint as an assistant with the Toronto Argosa Edmonton quarterback Matt Nichols played in his first game after missing all of last season with a knee injury. He was 9-for-12 passing for 107 yardsa Lions star quarterback Travis Lulay remains on the mend after undergoing shoulder surgery last November and may not be able to return by the start of the regular seasona Among those vying for a spot as QB with the Lions this year is former NFL quarterback John Becka The announced attendance was 25,963. ' ' '