NEW YORK -- They have gone from disappointment to dominant, a team that was booed on its home floor and now rarely loses there. And pretty soon, the Brooklyn Nets will also be a playoff team. Pierce scored 22 points after another sensational start, and the Nets moved to the brink of a post-season spot by beating the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-99 on Sunday for their franchise record-tying 13th straight home victory. "First part of the season was rough on us with injuries and everything that we went through, and it feels good," guard Deron Williams said. "It feels good to be able to turn it around." Pierce scored 16 in the first quarter, two nights after putting up 17 in the period, and didnt miss a shot in either. He couldnt keep it going after asking for a rest so he would stay fresh to defend Kevin Love, but the Nets had to plenty more to pull away. Joe Johnson added 19 points for the Nets, who were 10-21 when they reached the new year, but will clinch a playoff spot with either another win or a loss by the New York Knicks. A post-season berth was viewed as a sure thing when the Nets acquired Pierce and Kevin Garnett while assembling a team that would cost more than $180 million, but they struggled early and then lost leading scorer Brook Lopez to a season-ending foot injury. "I think a lot of teams with bad character, bad leadership in the locker room wouldve laid down a long time ago. Probably by Christmas wouldve been making summer plans," Pierce said. "But not this group." Andray Blatche had 14 points and three players finished with 13 for the Nets. Brooklyn equaled the longest home winning streak in the NBA this season and the best in the history of the franchise, done twice in 2002 when the Nets were still based in New Jersey. They have won 20 of their last 22 games at Barclays Center. Corey Brewer and Kevin Martin each scored 21 for the Timberwolves, who had won two in row and were coming off the highest-scoring game in the NBA this season, when they scored a franchise-record 143 points in a rout of the Lakers on Friday. But they had only 17 in the fourth quarter of this one as Brooklyn surged to the finish. Love finished with just 14 points and nine rebounds for the Wolves, shooting 5-of-14 and saying afterward he felt "exhausted" and was perhaps getting sick. "I couldnt find any energy in the second half and that was really it," Love said. The Nets led by one early in the fourth quarter, but got three 3-pointers from Alan Anderson in a 13-4 spurt that gave them a 98-88 lead with 6:51 remaining, and Pierce later added a 3 to make it a 13-point cushion. Brooklyn finished off a 12-4 March, matching the team record for victories in the month set in 2006 and hopes to have Kevin Garnett and Andrei Kirilenko back from injuries by the end of the upcoming week. Pierce, who scored 17 points in the first quarter Friday, had 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting by the time he checked out after 10 minutes to open this one. He is 10 for 10 from the field, 8 or 8 on 3-pointers, in 17 minutes over the last two first quarters, and this is the first time in his career that hes scored at least 16 in consecutive first quarters. The Nets led 30-27 after one and opened a 49-36 lead on Mirza Teletovics 3-pointer with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter. Minnesota whittled that down to 59-54 by the break. The Wolves charged out of the locker room with a 15-4 run to open a 69-63 lead a little under 4 minutes into the third quarter. But the Nets, who had rarely trailed in the second half during their streak, quickly regrouped behind Johnson and Shaun Livingston to move back in front and take an 85-82 lead to the fourth. NOTES: The Nets said before the game that Garnett, who has missed 16 straight games with back spasms, is hoping to play next weekend or during their trip to Florida on April 8 and 9. Kirilenko is targeting a mid-week return from a sprained left ankle. ... Johnson became the 15th active player with 17,000 career points. Pierce and Garnett have already done it. ... Oklahoma City also had 13 straight home wins from Nov. 3-Dec. 19. . - The Baltimore Ravens have hired Steve Spagnuolo to be their secondary coach and assistant head coach. . After Mariota was pushed around by Stanford on Thursday, finishing 20/34 with 250 yards and two touchdowns in Oregons Title hope-crushing defeat, hes going to need a poor performance or two from the remaining frontrunners to have a shot at the most coveted individual trophy in college sports.
http://www.cheapgiantsjerseyssale.com/? ... ersey-sale. The first of the three games will be played in Week 4, when the Oakland Raiders will take on the Miami Dolphins on Sept. .C. - Goodyear has warned teams that increased speeds at Charlotte Motor Speedway will put a heavy emphasis on the right front tires in Saturday nights race a€” a potentially key development for drivers trying to advance in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. . -- Jose Bautista never worries about hitting homers during the regular season.MELBOURNE, Australia - Maria Sharapova moved closer to another Australian Open title, set to face a fellow Russian in the semifinals who has never beaten her. Sharapova made all the big points look easy Tuesday in defeating 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2 — her fourth consecutive win over the Canadian — and advance to a semifinal against Ekaterina Makarova, who earlier beat third-seeded Simona Halep 6-4, 6-0. I felt pretty good from the start, didnt feel I had too many letdowns, Sharapova said, adding that her close call in the second round — facing two match points against a qualifier — sharpened her focus for the rest of the tournament. When you are down and out in the second match, I dont want to face that call with my father too many times during a tournament, she said. The last time Sharapova and Bouchard met — in the semifinals at the French Open last year — Bouchard won the first set before Sharapova came back to take the next two. The Russian then won the title at Roland Garros. This time, Bouchard, who made the finals of Wimbledon and two other Grand Slam semis last year, didnt come close to taking a set, looking flat from the outset while being broken in her opening service game. The Genie Army, a group of young Australian men who croon about the Canadian player, was left to sing another day. Bouchard had 30 unforced errors and had her service broken four times. She didnt give me many chances, and against the great players you have to take any chances you can get, Bouchard said. If you dont have time, you have to go for riskier shots, and I made a few too many unforced errors because I was under pressure. Bouchard said she plans to go back to Canada to see her family, reflect on some possible coaching changes and decide whether shell play Fed Cup for Canada against the Czech RRepublic in Quebec City on Feb.dddddddddddd 7-8. Sharapova, the 2008 Australian Open champion and a two-time finalist, has a 5-0 record against Makarova, including wins in the quarterfinals here in 2012 and 2013. In four of those losses, Makarova failed to win a set. She is going to come into that match free and happy to be in that situation, Sharapova said. And thats dangerous. She uses that left-handed serve really well. Its always tricky playing a lefty and your compatriot, as well, but one of us will be in the final and that makes me happy. It will be Makarovas second consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. She made her first major semi at last years U.S. Open, losing to Serena Williams after beating Bouchard in the fourth round. Im so comfortable here, its all the atmosphere and maybe memories from New York that I bring here, said Makarova. The other womens semifinalists will be determined on Wednesday when No. 1-ranked Williams plays last years finalist, Dominika Cibulkova, and Venus Williams, playing in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in nearly five years, takes on 19-year-old American Madison Keys. If the Williams sisters play each other in the semifinals, it would be their first meeting in a Grand Slam tournament since the Wimbledon final in 2009 — won by Serena. The 26-year-old Makarova has had her best Grand Slam results at Melbourne Park, advancing to fourth round twice as well as those quarterfinal losses to Sharapova. Last year, she lost to eventual champion Li Na in the fourth round. Halep said her nerves got to her. I was just I was a little bit stressed, I dont know why, the 23-year-old Halep said. I had experience from last year to play quarterfinals, so it doesnt mean that I felt pressure. I just I didnt feel the game, the ball. It was a very bad day for me. ' ' '
