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HOUSTON -- It might be too early in the season to get ensnarled in the implications of one particular game, but given the recent trajectories of the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets, their meeting on Tuesday at Toyota Center could feature plenty of intrigue.The Spurs (22-5) have responded to their first road loss of the season (and chastisement from coach Gregg Popovich) on Dec. 8 at Chicago with four consecutive wins by an average margin of 16 points.San Antonio and Houston split their two previous meetings this season, each winning on the road as part of a home-and-home last month. The teams will not meet again until March 6 in San Antonio, by which time the Southwest Division standings could look different.Even with their early-season hiccups the Spurs remain a juggernaut, ranking in the top 10 in both offensive (sixth) and defensive (fourth) rating. And as another testament to their collective professionalism, the Spurs handled an emotional night centered on the jersey retirement of Tim Duncan with focus by dispatching the New Orleans Pelicans 113-100 on Sunday night prior to honoring The Big Fundamental.I thought our physical effort was pretty good, Popovich said. The mental effort was better than it has been. A lot of people participated and got involved, so that was good.The Rockets (21-7) claimed their 10th consecutive victory on Saturday night with a white-knuckle win at Minnesota, rallying from a 17-point deficit in the second half, 11 points with just over a minute remaining, to win in overtime 111-109.Playing the second half of a back-to-back on the road against a team that had three nights off, the Rockets had every reason to pack it in once the deficit swelled to double digits. But one attribute they have shown this season is a resiliency they lacked last year as they stumbled to a .500 finish.James Harden scored 10 of his 28 points in overtime while Ryan Anderson hit seven 3-pointers en route to 28 points.Im so confident in this team, Harden said. I dont ever see us out of a game. We score the ball so easily, so well.The Rockets exceptional 3-point shooting is an obvious asset, but their tenacity requires a deeper appreciation.Unbeaten in December, the Rockets rank third in offensive rating (113.6 points per 100 possessions), second in defensive rating (98.4) and second in net rating (15.2) over 10 games this month. Opening the season without guard Patrick Beverley qualified as early adversity. Houston is 15-2 since Beverley returned to action.Now, the Rockets will be tested again, this time via the loss of center Clint Capela, who suffered a left knee contusion against the Timberwolves. Capela, averaging 17.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per 36 minutes, underwent an MRI on Monday, has been declared out for the Spurs game and reportedly for four to six weeks.Rockets coach Mike DAntoni has done a commendable job juggling the minutes of his big men, a collection that also includes veteran center Nene plus second-year power forward Montrezl Harrell.With Capela sidelined for an indefinite span of games, that rotation shrinks and responsibilities will be greater for Nene and Harrell.Nothing changes for me, Harrell said. I come out and do the same things that the teams needs me to do every night. I come in and play the game with a lot of energy, I come in and do all the little things they need me to do and its as simple as that.Its unfortunate that were missing a teammate thats definitely a huge part of our roll but it doesnt change anything with what I have to do. Y-3 Shoes NZ .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. Adidas NMD Womens NZ . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-superstar-cheap-nz.html . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. Superstar NZ . Irving scored 23 points, Tristan Thompson had 20 points and 10 rebounds and the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-109 on Friday night. Adidas NMD Mens NZ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. EVIAN, France -- Its a little known fact that prior to this summers Rio Olympics one nation already had two gold medalists in its professional golfing ranks. That country was Russia, the athletes were tennis star Yevgeny Kafelnikov and gymnast Vera Shimanskaya, and neither of them was in Rio.But Maria Verchenova was.The 30-year-old from Moscow may not be Russias most famous professional golfer, but she is comfortably the nations best player of the game and, having set the Olympic course record (and posted a hole-in-one) in the process of finishing tied for 16th, shes rubber stamped that reputation.There was also the little matter of her hat and her dresses: They were flamboyant. They made an impression on sports biggest stage, and these details matter.Golfers who are not golfers? Big hats and retro dresses? It seems to be a rule in Russian golf that the curiosities are always integral, rather than incidental, to the tale.The Evian Championship, the fifth and final major in the LPGA season, takes place this week in the French spa town of Evians-les-Bains on the waters of Lake Leman overlooked by the snow-peaked mountains of the Alps.As a venue it reeks of old world French glamour, of the resorts which played host to Europes aristocrats and mega-rich in the early decades of the 20th century. It was also the very destinations the Russian elite escaped to following the Revolution, where they discovered golf and created the first Russian club, in Cannes during the 1920s.Nearly 100 years later, ahead of her fourth appearance in the event, Verchenova reflects on a month that has changed her profile around the world. And when she talks about the outfits which captured the attention of the world, she does so with a nod to the past.I think my dresses are very elegant, she says. Ive always liked it that in the early days of ladies golf they wore elegant dresses, but now it is more like sportswear. I wanted to return to those old styles. The hat is more sensible. Ive been wearing for a few years now, to protect myself from the sun.Through 54 holes in Rio, the outfits garnered more attention than her scores, a little like her career in microcosm. Its fair to say that she is best known for her magazine shoots. But just as her 13 top-20 finishes on the Ladies European Tour prove, she can play the game. So did her final round in Rio -- a superb 9-under 62 which drew attention to her golf after the cameras and commentators had focused on the hat most of the week.The highlight was her 6-iron at the 155-yard par-3 fourth (her 13th hole of the day) which dropped for a hole-in-one, not that she knew it.It was quite funny, she laughs. You can see on TV that Im not quite sure. There werent many people behind the green, but they were cheering and so I was asking my caddie What happened? What happened? and he was asking me the same question. I only found out for sure when I overheard the scorers radio say Verchenova 8-under. It was an amazing moment.On sports greatest stage she had played the round of her life.It really was one of those days. I was hitting it well all week, but the tactics were wrong. The greens were hard and we were hitting the ball low into them and running through the back. So we talked about it, decided to hit higher approaches, and it worked.That week in Rio was a long way from her introduction to the game on a vacation with her father in the Czech Republic at age 12. She had dreamed of becoming a ballerina, swayed by the beauty of the dancing, but was now taken by the beauty of golf courses and honed her game at Mooscow Country Club.ddddddddddddThe Moscow course is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design which was first mooted in the 1970s by the American business tycoon Armand Hammer. The son of a Russian emigre, he dreamed that golf could draw Russia back into the international community. Leonid Brezhnev, then general secretary of the Soviet Union, thought otherwise. Moscow had to wait until 1993 for it to be built.For Verchenova, the course, which trails through thick, dacha-dotted forest in the suburb of Nakhabino, was where she fostered her dreams and where more recently she plays golf with Yevgeny Kafelnikov, two-time tennis Grand Slam winner and the tennis gold medalist at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.At the same Sydney Games, Vera Shimanskaya claimed gold in rhythmic gymnastics. Today both athletes are professional golfers, but, with a combined count of zero cuts made in 35 appearances on major tours, there is a gulf in class between themselves and Verchenova.What they do all share is the status of Olympians, something Verchenova cherishes personally and recognizes the importance of for her sport.The whole week was a buzz, she says. I stayed in the Olympic village because I wanted to feel the excitement. Seeing the other athletes going to their event in the morning was so unusual and exciting, so different from any other tournament.For me it was something else. I was so proud to be the only Russian representative and to know the whole country was supporting me was amazing.The Olympics is in our blood. Ever since I was little every two years, winter or summer, we all watch the Games and support our players, it is very prestigious to represent Russia.The final round drama was picked up by Russian broadcasters and prompted a welcoming party on her return.It was such a long journey home, we were stuck in Madrid six hours, but when we arrived the people were still standing there at the airport. A group of junior golfers from Moscow CC had waited six hours for me. They were just young kids, but they gave me flowers as congratulations.As a youngster herself, Verchenova had limited assistance outside her family. Not only was there little in the way of structure for the still fledgling game, but it very definitely remains a pastime for the elite in Russia. The recently opened Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club, peppered with fake Greek temples and boasting a helicopter park, is rumored to have (and need) less than 20 members. Even if that is not true, the fact many believe it could easily be is instructive in itself.It would have been nice to have support like other nations and to have a role model, says Verchenova, but I want to do my best to be a pioneer. I did a lot of speaking about golf before the Games, lots of photo shoots, TV and interviews. I wanted to promote Russian golf. But who knows if they will put money in?Ahead of this weeks challenge she is keen.Rio has given me confidence. It shows what I can do. I know it is only one round, but then I remember how much work I put into this. Ive worked hard with my coach, my gym coach, my psychologist. The 62 was the result of that hard work. Hopefully it will push me on. I also won the European qualifying for Evian back in May, that was another boost.At the end of the year she will head to qualifying school, hoping to write the latest chapter in the quirky story of Russian golf -- the one about the Russian girl in the big hat winning a card to play on the LPGA. ' ' '