NEWS » netball skills but also friendship skills.Wh

MIAMI -- Kemba Walker already knows one thing about these Charlotte Hornets.Were resilient, Walker said.That was proven in earnest Friday night.Walker scored 24 points and the Hornets erased a 19-point deficit in the third quarter on the way to beating Miami 97-91. Charlotte won in the building where its season ended in Game 7 of a first-round matchup last spring, albeit against a very different Heat team that played a home opener without Dwyane Wade on the roster for the first time since 2002.We could have given up, but we didnt, Walker said. We kept wanting it.Hassan Whiteside led Miami with 20 points and 15 rebounds but sat a long stretch of the second half with foul trouble and needed four stitches to close a gash on his left elbow.Down 65-46, Walker made a 3-pointer to unknowingly start what became a 29-point turnaround. The Hornets clamped down on Miami in the second half, with the Heat shooting 6 for 17 from behind the arc in the final 24 minutes -- and just 6 for 26 from 2-point range in that time. Charlottes reserves had 30 points after halftime, while the entire Miami roster combined for 34.One thing is we were able to stop their penetration more, Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. Our defense more energized the offense, and we got really good bench play.Jeremy Lamb scored 16 points for the Hornets, who had six players in double figures and turned the 65-46 hole into a 94-84 lead with 3 minutes left -- a 48-19 run in about 18 minutes. Nic Batum and Marco Belinelli each scored 12 points for Charlotte.Theyre a well-coached, veteran team, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. They werent punch-drunk or anything when we went up. ... We knew going in we would have to play a complete game against them and we werent able to do that.Goran Dragic scored 14 points and Dion Waiters added 13 for the Heat, who lost a home opener for the first time in nine years. Charlotte had runs of 12-0 and 9-1 in the third quarter alone.We just stopped getting stops, Heat forward Justise Winslow said. That was it.TIP-INSHornets: Roy Hibbert started at center, played the first 4:29, and did not return because of right knee soreness. Cody Zeller started the second half in his place. ... Frank Kaminsky (right foot strain) went through a pregame workout but was inactive. ... Belinelli now has 11 regular season appearances in Miami with seven different teams.Heat: Team captain Udonis Haslem grabbed a microphone and addressed the crowd before tip-off, promising them that we will play as hard as we can for you guys every night. ... The locker Wade used for the last several years is now empty, not assigned to any current Heat player. ... Wayne Ellington (right thigh bruise) and Josh Richardson (right knee) were again sidelined.FOR STARTERSMichael Kidd-Gilchrist just recently turned 23, missed most of last season with a shoulder injury and still made the 200th start of his Charlotte career on Friday night. Miamis entire starting five -- Dragic (100), Whiteside (77), Winslow (10), Luke Babbitt (2) and Waiters (2) -- now have a combined 191 starts in Heat colors.RILEY SPEAKSHeat President Pat Riley sat down with team broadcast outlet Fox Sports Sun before the game and raved about the job Spoelstra has done with a new group that was largely assembled after Wade left for Chicago this summer (and before Chris Bosh failed his physical in September to essentially end his time with the team).Theres a saying that Spo uses a lot, and I like to use it myself now ... when you look at a player, the player doesnt care what you know until he knows how much you care, Riley said. Spo and his staff cares a lot about these guys and these young players.UP NEXTHornets: Saturday, they play their home opener against Boston.Heat: Sunday, the homestand continues when San Antonio visits. Air Jordan 1 Nz Clearance . -- Sergey Tolchinksy scored his second goal of the game 3:56 into overtime as the Sault Ste. Air Jordan 1 Nz Sale . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. http://www.airjordan1nz.com/ . Vokoun departed practice on Saturday morning after discovering swelling in his thigh. He was taken to a local hospital where the clot was revealed. The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Discount Air Jordan 1 Nz . Bryzgalov stopped 25 shots on Saturday in the Oklahoma City Barons 4-1 victory over the Abbotsford Heat. The Oilers signed Bryzgalov to a one-year $2 million contract last Friday after shedding payroll by dealing defenceman Ladislav Smid to the Flames. Cheap Air Jordan 1 Nz .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. When I was a kid, my mum coached our netball team. Shed never played, and taught herself the rules with a tattered paperback shed borrowed from the library. She only signed up because nobody else would. At first I was proud she was so committed to my sporting life that shed coach a game shed never played. But that soon changed.Some days it was the best having her around. She was funny and kind and the other girls loved her. But some days I hated how being the coachs daughter made me stand apart. Plus, her obsession with fairness meant I rarely played the position I wanted, lest it be seen as favoritism. And I could forget ever winning most valuable player.So when my daughter started a netball team and they needed a coach, I fled. The last thing I wanted was for my daughter to feel as confused as Id felt as a teenager. My feelings about all that changed quickly.My mum, whod been fighting?cancer for 18 months, died. Suddenly, my rock, someone Id relied on, was gone. That hit home when I undertook the wrenching task of sorting through her possessions and a million memories surfaced. Among them, a photograph?of her and I taken on the day we won our first netball championship back in 1982. I was 12, tall and slim with a long ponytail and a grin from ear to ear. Mum was next to me, wearing a grin equal to my own. I hadnt seen that photo for a long time. And it rocked me. It made me realize that I wasnt just grieving my mums death, I was grieving the loss of being a child.With her gone, nobody knew when my first tooth had fallen out, or how I cried after my boyfriend dumped me. That part of my history was lost. I ached for some connection to it. I hoped that maybe if I could coach like she had, some link to my past would still live.At the first few training sessions I was terrified. The kids were learning the game, I was learning how to coach, and somewhere a ghost of my mum hovered on the sidelines smiling at the whole catastrophe. When my daughter flashed a look of fury my way during a game, I realized we needed some ground rules. I agreed that fairness meant letting her play the position she liked as often as the rest of the girls, and she agreed not to think she could get away with stuff just because we were related.Coaching was something I took on for peersonal reasons, to try to be close to a mum who was no longer here.dddddddddddd I never expected to actually enjoy it. Three years in, I have discovered more about myself than I thought possible.Ive rediscovered a love of netball and now play again in an adult team. Ive uncovered a love of teaching and most weeks look forward to training nights when I can help the girls to learn new skills and strive to improve. And Ive realized that mum never coached to learn about netball, or to help us win championships. She coached to be close to me and show she cared. Even if Im not the greatest coach in the world, thats exactly why Im doing it too.Thats what I lost when she died. Not my childhood memories or a connection to my past, but someone to teach me how to be a mother. Perhaps by finding that photograph my mums parenting choices and style have found a way to live on. Just like netball gave mum and I the way to share belonging to a team, I now get to share my daughters special world. It also gives me rare insight into her friendships and closeness with her friends that I wouldnt otherwise have.They call me (affectionately, I hope) the hugger, because so often with a tween-aged team of 10 girls, there are tears. Someone is always feeling something strongly, and more often than not my role is to sit, listen and counsel. I not only coach them netball skills but also friendship skills.When mum died an old friend that I hadnt seen in many years contacted me via email. She told me how jealous shed been of my relationship with my mum when she was a teenager, because my mum was one of those involved mums who was always there, and always approachable. I think coaching did that.At the time I never noticed, but now that Im in the same boat, I see how lucky I am. Granted my daughter doesnt always like that Im her coach, but sometimes she does, and for now, those rare times are enough. Hopefully when shes grown up and Im gone, shell look back as fondly as I do and maybe coach her daughters team too.Nova Weetman lives in Melbourne, Australia. She writes childrens books and writes childrens television shows, and she loves the game of netball. ' ' '