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He remembers a start at Fen
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Cleveland, OH (SportsNetwork. Warren Sapp Youth Jersey .com) - Kevin Love and LeBron James each delivered monster efforts to get the Cleveland Cavaliers back on track via a 97-88 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Back home after being dealt back-to-back defeats at Oklahoma City and New Orleans, the Cavaliers raced out to a 21-0 lead and held on the rest of the way. James came through with 27 points and 13 assists to lead the charge, with Love pulling down 18 rebounds in addition to a 22-point performance. Having a chance to be home a bit and recharge our batteries certainly helped tonight, said Cavaliers head coach David Blatt. Kyrie Irving added 16 points to help Cleveland drop the Hornets to 1-10 on the road. The Hornets received 24 points out of Kemba Walker and 14 from Al Jefferson, but were never able to dig out of their huge early hole. Love and James were at the forefront of Clevelands game-opening tear, with the former dropping in 10 quick points and James notching assists on five of the Cavaliers seven baskets during the stretch. Kevin played a great all-around game tonight, Blatt said. I thought he was terrific. Charlotte, meanwhile, missed its first 10 shots and trailed by as many as 22 points in the first quarter, but found its touch near the end of the period. The Hornets closed out the frame on a 13-6 spurt, with Walker netting the final nine points, to pull within 34-17 at the frames end. The Hornets stayed hot in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 38-32 with a 6-0 sequence midway through the stanza. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Marvin Williams and Bismack Biyombo keyed an 8-0 run later on that trimmed the margin to 43-40. Cleveland scored the next nine points, however, and went into the break owning a 54-45 advantage. Charlotte was able to chip away once again, putting forth an 8-0 push early in the second half to shrink the lead to 59-57. Tristan Thompson then gave the Cavs a needed spark, delivering seven points during a 13-4 flurry that put Cleveland back up by double digits with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. The Cavaliers took an 80-68 lead into the fourth and were ahead by as many as 15 in the final period, with Charlotte getting only as close as eight points down entering the last minute of play. Game Notes Cleveland has won six straight at home by an average of 14.3 points ... The Cavaliers halted a five-game losing streak in the series, with Charlotte taking all four 2013-14 meetings between the clubs ... The win was Clevelands ninth straight against an Eastern Conference team and improved the Cavs to 12-3 versus the East this season ... Charlottes Michael Kidd-Gilchrist made his first start since Nov. 11, but managed only one point in 21 minutes. Mike Evans Jersey .com) - Jahlil Okafor erupted for 25 points and 20 rebounds as No. Mike Alstott Buccaneers Jersey .J. -- Fabian Johnson scored his first international goal and Clint Dempsey doubled the lead after a defensive lapse as the United States beat Turkey 2-1 Sunday in the second of three World Cup warm-up matches for the Americans before they head to Brazil.TSN 1050s Scott MacArthur and TSN contributors Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star and Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com discuss why the Blue Jays are so inconsistent, J.A. Happs future in the rotation and manager John Gibbons usage of R.A. Dickey. Click here to listen to The Baseball Podcast. TORONTO - R.A. Dickey may have gotten the win on Tuesday night, his fourth victory of the season, but he suggested afterward he would spend the next 18 hours beating himself up over the way that seventh inning played out. Dickey started the inning with a 5-1 lead, the Jays had just scored three in the sixth to pad their advantage, but he wouldnt finish the inning. In fact, he didnt get an out over four batters. A lead off single by Asdrubal Cabrera could have been erased on a double play ground ball by David Murphy, but Brett Lawrie booted the hot shot at second base. A walk and a hit batter later, Torontos lead was cut to 5-2 and Dickeys night was over. Aaron Loup came in and chipped his way out of Dickeys jam, although two inherited runners scored to trim the lead to 5-4. That would be the games final score. The knuckleballer wants to pitch deeper into games but he knows his stat line isnt the top priority. "We want to win ballgames," said Dickey. "Regardless of how I feel about how deeply I go. If thats the right move, its the right move and if it ends in a win, great. I just think that Im more than capable with the stuff that I possess presently to be able to go deeper into games and I think I will." Dickeys thrown 53 2/3 innings over nine starts. Thats relatively simple math: hes averaging just less than six innings per start. Last year, Dickey averaged almost 6 2/3 innings per outing. There are a lot of starts left but using the current numbers, a two out per start difference means the Jays bullpen would be asked to pick up about 70 more outs in Dickeys starts over the course of a full year. "More frustrated is kind of how I feel," said Dickey. "I think some of its just baseball, i.e. a hit batsman or a single on a 1-2 count that you should have gotten the guy out on. I dont want to over-think it or overanalyze it but at the same time I also want to be honest about the things I maybe could do differently to get us deeper into the game." Dickey is healthy, something he couldnt say this time last year as he pitched through a strained muscle in his upper back. He isnt tiring later into games, something he suggested was happening earlier this season and when he studies his velocities inning-over-inning the readings reflect improved durability. Hes pleased just as much with the movement on his knuckleball. "I think, from my end, I just have to keep feeling good," said Dickey. "I think as long as Im healthy and feeling good over the course of the next 24 starts, quite a few of them Ill be able to go deeper into the game if I can just stay healthy." Dickey was drafted way back in 1996. He laughs when hes told it was 18 years ago, as if hes hearing it for the first time and ccant believe how quickly time has passed. Ronde Barber Womens Jersey. Theres certainly some truth to the latter. He remembers breaking into the game at a time when it was assumed starters would take the ball and for better or worse, keep it. "Its obvious that the majority of pitchers now, generationally that are new that come up into the game, have this 100-pitch threshold where its almost like theyve been convinced that thats as far as they are capable of going because thats always when theyve been taken out of games," said Dickey. "Early on, and Im talking about 2000, 2001 when I was first up, guys would routinely throw 120 (pitches) like it was nothing and they would just suck up the innings as much as they could." Dickey subscribes to the notion that strict pitch counts can affect a pitchers approach as a game wears on. "A starter that sees that hes close to 100 pitches maybe starts to anticipate that his time may be done instead of thinking to himself, Im going to keep going through this because this is my game," said Dickey. "Theres been a shift in mentality for sure." He remembers a start at Fenway Park last September. Dickey threw a complete-game eight innings in a 5-2 loss to the Red Sox. He was in trouble early but settled down, gave his team a chance to win and saved the bullpen a days work. He points to Drew Hutchisons start earlier this month in Philadelphia. Staked to a 5-0 lead and cruising, Hutchison coughed up five runs in the sixth inning but hung in to pitch the seventh and eighth. The Blue Jays would win 6-5 in 10 innings that night. "I do think that there are certain times on a case by case basis, depending on the game situation, where its good for the starter to grind through that seventh and eighth inning," said Dickey. "I did that a number of times last year when I would give up four or five runs and go seven or eight innings just to save the pen. Now, were early in the year, were trying to get wins, however (Gibbons) thinks that we can do that, thats what we should do." WAGNER ON THE CAROUSEL Neil Wagner is back with the Blue Jays, recalled before Wednesdays game against the Indians. Hes up for the second time this season. As a player with options remaining, trips to and from Buffalo are to be expected when part of an organization that sees value in regular player movement. "The fact that you know that thats just kind of how it is and that theres nothing that can be done about it doesnt make it any less frustrating but the bottom line is that if you go down there and put up your numbers and do your thing," said Wagner. "If you sit and mope youre not going to come back." Wagner replaces Chad Jenkins, who was optioned back to Buffalo for a third time, already, this season. Also, the Blue Jays recalled catcher Erik Kratz from the Bisons to fill the roster spot voided by Dioner Navarro, who was placed on the bereavement/family emergency list. Navarro can return at any time and has up to seven days to be away from the team. ' ' '