Die Macht » Put it all in a run-on, stream-of-

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State trailed at halftime, and coaches told players to be more physical, take care of the ball and get into a rhythm on offense.The group we have are competitors and they all want to win. Well do whatever it takes to try to come back and chip away at the lead, and sure enough, we did, said Tres Tinkle.Tinkle had a career-high 26 points and 12 rebounds as Oregon State stormed back in the second half to defeat Texas-San Antonio 72-64 on Sunday afternoon.Drew Eubanks and JaQuori McLaughlin each had 13 points for the Beavers (2-0).Guys I thought showed a ton of resiliency and toughness, which is great for us early in the year, said Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle, Tres Tinkles father.Jeff Beverly scored 12 points and Lucas OBrien had 10 points but both fouled out for the Roadrunners (0-2), who have lost both their games this season to teams that were in the NCAA Tournament last year.I was proud of the way our guys competed. We did a really good job defensively in the first half. We were in foul trouble again. We have to figure out a way to defend without fouling, said first-year Roadrunners coach Steve Henson.Were going to be a good ballclub at the end of the year, he added.Texas-San Antonio (0-2) led 37-29 at the break, but Oregon State opened the second half on an 11-2 run, capped by a Tinkle 3-pointer, to take a 40-39 lead and seize the momentum.The Roadrunners trailed 61-50 when they responded with a 9-0 surge, punctuated by a Giovanni De Nicolao layup with 4:38 remaining.With 1:44 left and Oregon State up 67-63, the Roadrunners had a chance to cut into the lead, but Tinkle had a block in a wild sequence near the basket where the Beavers ended up with the ball. On the next possession, McLaughlin scored a layup.Oregon State held the Roadrunners to 24 percent shooting in the second half.BIG PICTURETexas-San Antonio: J.R. Harris injured his right leg about midway through the first half and finished with eight points in six minutes. ... The Roadrunners early season schedule features plenty of travel, as the team plays eight of its first 11 games away from home.Oregon State: Stephen Thompson Jr., Oregon States third-leading scorer last season, missed the game for precautionary reasons with a left foot injury. He could be back in the lineup on Wednesday. Wayne Tinkle said that none of the guards active for Sundays game played a minute last season, but players stepped up. Losing Stevie, hes a guy thats capable of getting 20, 25. ... Thats big, he added.FREE THROWSFor the second straight game, the opposing coach pointed to Oregon States aggressiveness in driving to the basket as being the difference. They went at us and got to the free-throw line, Henson said. The Beavers made 23 of 37 free throws, while the Roadrunners were 18 of 27.NO RESTTres Tinkle is recovering from a foot injury, but with the close game, he played 38 minutes. I kept saying to the staff on the bench, `Ive got to take Tres out. Ive got to take Tres out. I cant play him this much, Wayne Tinkle said.UP NEXTTexas-San Antonio: Plays Wednesday at Illinois-Chicago, which lost their season opener at San Francisco on Friday.Oregon State: Hosts Lamar on Wednesday. The Cardinals are 1-0, but were picked to finish 12th out of 13 teams in the Southland Conference. Shoes NZ Nike . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round. Cheap Shoes NZ . Newcastle dominated in the early stages but City weathered the storm and then raised its game in extra time. Negredo broke the deadlock from close range after a simple move in the 99th minute before Dzeko took the ball round goalkeeper Tim Krul to seal the victory in the 105th. https://www.shoesnzonline.com/ . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night. Wholesale Shoes NZ . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. Shoes NZ From China . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. LOS ANGELES -- It really is hard to find a narrative that LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers isnt willing to indulge in. The other night he even asked a group of journalism students from USC, who were observing his postgame news conference, for extra questions at the end of what had already been a lengthy session after a blowout 127-95 win against the Brooklyn Nets.But there is one subject he isnt touching right now.And its a topic the rest of the league most definitely is talking about with the Clippers off to a franchise-best 10-1 start.So you know theres all this talk of the Clippers being the best team in the NBA now ...Noooo. Mmm, mmm. Nooo. Nooo, Rivers said before the question was even asked.Part of Rivers caution is the youngness of the season. Eleven games is hardly a large enough sample size to start making judgments, let alone boast about anything.But mostly its because Rivers and his team have been stung by all manner of playoff scorpions in recent years.You get tired of losing, Rivers said. The whole second-round [playoff ceiling the franchise has yet to break through] ... I dont think our guys care about that, they just want to win. At some point guys just get tired of losing. I think our guys are at that point.There are all sorts of metrics that would make a compelling case for the Clippers as the best team in the NBA right now.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Clippers have outscored their opponents by 183 points this season, the fourth-best margin through 11 games of a season in NBA history behind only the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls (plus-212), 1964-65 Boston Celtics (plus-194) and 1971-72 Milwaukee Bucks (plus-193).Theyre leading the NBA in defensive efficiency and have the most dominant five-man lineup in the league. (According to ESPN Stats & Information, starters Blake Griffin-Chris Paul-J.J. Redick-DeAndre Jordan-Luc Mbah a Moute are 98 points better together than any other five-man lineup in the league.) They also feature a vastly improved bench with the additions of Raymond Felton, Brandon Bass and Marreese Speights.Still, Rivers isnt going there.I dont care really, Rivers said, dismissing the best-team-in-the-league talk. We like us. As good as were playing, we can play a lot better.Griffin actually started his postgame interview on Monday by saying his team had a couple of defensive lapses and couldve played better during a first quarter in which it led the Nets 35-7 at one point.Challenged to explain where any lapses couldve been in a 35-7 game, Griffin laughed and sheepishly said, Yeah, a couple.In other words, this team really doesnt want to take any bows yet.Rivers said it reminds him a bit of the 2007-08 championship team he coached in Boston. That was the NBAs first super team, if youre into those sorts of labels, where Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined forces to win each of their first titles.Oh yeah, Rivers said. It was the exact same thing with Paul and KG and Ray. They were tired of losing and they were like, Well, we gotta do it together.But that team was all about Ubuntu, a philosophy and rallying cry used by Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as they fought against apartheid in South Africa that roughly translates as, I am because we are.This years Clippers team has no such higher calling. Pierce was in Boston when Rivers explained it and ingrained Ubuntu into the DNA of that team. Hes in Los Angeles now -- although he has yet to play this season -- and says its vastly different.Its a lot different, Pierce told ESPN.com. This team has a lot of built-up frustration. They have first-round lossees, second-round losses.ddddddddddddUbuntu -- we dont have that. Its a totally different team. Different style, different team. This looks like built-up frustration over here.The biggest difference really is that the 2007-08 Celtics were about three future Hall of Famers coming together after a decade-plus of failing apart, with other teams. These Clippers have mostly been together for six years, sharing all these painful playoff losses.It all looked so promising in the first year of Lob City when the Clippers rallied to win a Game 7 on the road in Memphis in the first round of the 2012 playoffs. They were swept by San Antonio in the next round, but the season went down as a success for such a young team.They went backward in Year 2, losing to the Grizzlies in a bruising six-game first-round series. The Clippers won the first two games, lost the next three, then lost Griffin to a high-ankle sprain during walk-through practice. According to one insider, they were practicing traps to get the ball out of Zach Randolphs and Marc Gasols hands. Griffin spun, leaped, got bumped, landed on Lamar Odoms foot and let out the kind of scream that makes everyone in the gym cringe.The Clippers lost Game 6, fired coach Vinny Del Negro and turned to Rivers to get them over the hump. Instead, the Donald Sterling scandal landed like a stink bomb in the middle of a first-round series against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers somehow pulled out the series in seven games, marking the last time theyve been ahead of the Warriors. But they basically collapsed out of emotional exhaustion in the next round against Oklahoma City. Which seemed like the worst thing that would ever happen in their careers, until they blew a 3-1 series lead against the Houston Rockets the next season.Last season was just stupid. Griffin and Paul went down with season-ending injuries in the same game of a first-round playoff series against Portland, and Damian Lillard put them out with four straight wins.You sort of have to bunch all those memories together to deal with the emotional trauma they evoke. Put it all in a run-on, stream-of-consciousness sentence and swallow it whole. Down it like a snake trying to eat a huge rat.The Houston series, Griffin said. Thats something that we still think about.Of all the Clippers playoff losses, thats still the worst because it was entirely in their hands. There wasnt a freak injury or twist of cruel fate. They just melted down.It happens, Griffin said. You saw it happen to Oklahoma City, you saw it happen to the Warriors in the Finals, the Indians if you want to go baseball. Thats part of it. As a team when you go through something like that, it can do one of two things: It can make you grow apart and resent each other, start pointing the finger. Or it can make you closer together. I think thats what thats done.Even last year, going through that season and that ending, I think its brought us closer together.Closer together, maybe. But still galaxies away from vindication. As good as theyve played this season, they still have many of the same weaknesses as before. They could use an upgrade at small forward to match up with the Kevin Durants and Kawhi Leonards of the world. Teams will still foul Jordan late in games to try to force Rivers to use a smaller lineup. And someone other than Paul needs to be able to make a clutch shot.But thats how thresholds always work. They are guarded until you finally overcome them. ' ' '