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LOS ANGELES -- Gregg Popovich emerged from his first look at the revamped Los Angeles Lakers with enormous respect for the work of fellow coach Luke Walton.Popovichs veteran San Antonio Spurs also showed Waltons Lakers just how far theyve still got to go.LaMarcus Aldridge scored 23 points and Kawhi Leonard added 23 points and 12 rebounds in the Spurs fifth straight victory Friday night, 116-107 over the Lakers.Tony Parker had 16 points and seven assists for the Spurs, who improved to 7-0 on the road this season. Theyve won six straight over the Lakers, but this back-and-forth victory bore little resemblance to San Antonios regular demolitions of the Lakers over the previous few seasons.Luke has done a great job of making them believe and playing aggressively, and you can really see it, said Popovich, who earned his 1,099th win to pass Larry Brown for seventh place on the NBAs career list. They came back and stuck it to us. ... We got after it and executed better, but I am just so impressed with what (Walton) has done with this group.Pau Gasol scored 16 points in his first trip to Staples Center with the Spurs, who went 18 for 19 at the free throw line to hang on after the Lakers rallied late. Parker hit a clinching 17-foot jumper with 33.6 seconds left.Theyre talented, Parker said of the Lakers. They play hard for Luke. They play with great energy, and they have a lot of pieces. Now its all about chemistry and how theyre going to gel.Lou Williams scored 24 points and Nick Young added 20 for the Lakers, who played without injured leading scorer DAngelo Russell for the first time this season. Los Angeles still kept it close until the final minutes, when Aldridge and Leonard took turns hitting big shots before Parkers big bucket.We cooled off a little bit (in the third quarter), and they just continued to go, which is what they do, Walton said. The important thing to take away is how we come back from this, how we respond.BENCH CHARGEJordan Clarkson scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half while the Lakers rallied. Williams also came off the bench in another enormous game by the teams reserves, who lead the league in bench points per game. Theyll need all that depth: The Lakers began a stretch of 18 games in 30 days with only their third loss in nine games.BIG RALLYThe Spurs blew an early 13-point lead, but took control in the third quarter while making 11 consecutive shots. San Antonio stretched its lead to 91-76 while scoring 39 points in the third quarter on 14-for-19 shooting, but the Lakers chipped it down to four points before succumbing.Last year, we would have been out of this game if we were down by that much, Clarkson said. Were out here to compete every night now. Were not OK with any loss.D-LO OUTRussell has a sore left knee, and the Lakers elected to rest their point guard out of caution. He wont practice Saturday, either. Walton doesnt expect the injury to be a long-term problem, although the Lakers brutal schedule over the next month wont help. The second-year pro leads the Lakers balanced lineup with 16.8 points and 4.7 assists per game.Jose Calderon started in Russells place, scoring five points while playing only 14 minutes.TIP-INSSpurs: Gasol got another warm ovation in Los Angeles, where he won two NBA championships as Kobe Bryants right-hand man in 2009 and 2010. The 7-foot Spaniard was booed late in his Lakers career, but has been welcomed back enthusiastically since his departure as a free agent to Chicago. ... Former USC big man Dewayne Dedmon has a sprained left knee and didnt make the trip with San Antonio.Lakers: Los Angeles recalled center Ivica Zubac from its D-League affiliate, but the rookie didnt dress for this game. ... Lakers rookie Brandon Ingram had a rough night. The No. 2 pick missed his first seven shots before finishing with four points on 1-of-9 shooting.UP NEXTSpurs: A weekend off and a visit from rival Dallas on Monday.Lakers: The homestand continues with a visit from Dwyane Wade and the Chicago Bulls on Sunday night. Blaine Gabbert Jersey . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Haason Reddick Jersey . Los Angeles star goalie survived those perilous gymnastics with no problem, and he eventually backstopped the Kings to a skid-snapping win. Quick stopped 27 shots in his return from a 24-game injury absence, Jeff Carter scored the tiebreaking goal with 7:55 to play, and the Kings snapped their five-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. http://www.officialauthenticcardinalsshop.com/authentic-david-johnson-jersey.html .Y. - Jerome Samson scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the St. Jared Veldheer Jersey . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Tyvon Branch Jersey . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. LAS VEGAS -- Before the Los Angeles Kings final home preseason game in Las Vegas earlier this month, Luc Robitaille, the president of business operations for the Kings, presented Bill Foley, the majority owner of Las Vegas NHL franchise, with a silver hockey stick. It was a ceremonial passing of the torch from the team that had been Las Vegas adopted hockey team to the team that next season will become Las Vegas first major professional sports franchise.The Kings had a lot to do with developing interest in hockey in Las Vegas, Foley said. Theyve been playing preseason games here for years. Its great for us. Were coming in here a couple of steps ahead.Not only have the Kings been playing preseason hockey games in Las Vegas since 1991, but the Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company that owns the Kings, has been trying to build an arena in Las Vegas, which it always believed could house an NHL team, for the past decade. AEG was able to partner with MGM Resorts International a little more than two years ago to build the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip, just behind the New York-New York and Monte Carlo hotels. The arena, which opened in April, was a big reason the NHL awarded Las Vegas and Foley an expansion franchise two months later.We always felt an arena would be successful here, said Dan Beckerman, AEG president and CEO and alternate governor of the Kings. The fact that the arena was coming out of the ground made it real for everyone. And for the prospects of Bill Foley and his group, having the arena as a reality made the process of getting a team a lot smoother.As a company with a 50 percent ownership interest in T-Mobile Arena, the addition of an NHL team as an anchor tenant was always a hope for AEG, but as the owners of the Kings, the larger goal was also to bring in a new hockey team to the West Coast, create a rivalry and ease the travel burden for the Kings.When the Kings were part of the NHLs major expansion in 1967, they joined the league along with the California Seals in Oakland (and four other teams). After the Seals left town in 1976, the Kings were left as the only team west of Minnesota and south of the Canadian border for much of the next 15 years until the San Jose Sharks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Phoenix Coyotes eventually joined them.When the Las Vegas team starts play for the 2017-18 season, the Kings will not only get a new Pacific Division rival, but they will get much-needed road games that are just a 55-minute flight from Los Angeles. Thats not to mention a road crowd that will likely be pro-Kings initially, with a fan base that has been cultivated over the past 25 years and Kings home and away games still shown locally in Las Vegas on Fox Sports West.Bob Miller, who has been the play-by-play announcer of the Kings since 1973, still vividly remembers having to give the weather report before a game for the first time in his career on Sept. 27, 1991, when the Kings played the New York Rangers in an outdoor game at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Not only was it the first NHL game in the city, but it was also the first outdoor game between two NHL teams, which would become an annual tradition 17 years later.ddddddddddddI remember the day of the game, they put a tarp over the ice to keep the direct rays of the sun off and it was held up by ropes but when they took it down, they dropped it down on the ice and the ropes were hot and melted into the ice, Miller said. They were all these ridges in the ice and at 1:30 I looked out of my room at Caesars Palace and I thought, Theres no way were playing tonight.Millers broadcast partner, Jim Fox, who played right wing for the Kings from 1980 to 1990, wanted to take a closer look at the ice, which was littered with grasshoppers.Someone working on the ice asked me to strap on a pair of skates and go see how it was, and at that point it was unplayable, Fox said. There were gauges where the tarp had fallen and melted the ice. It was up and down. So they worked on it and somehow made it work. It wasnt the best ice but it was playable by the time the game started.It wouldnt be the last time the Kings encountered a bad playing surface in Las Vegas. In 1998, the Kings and Colorado Avalanche played at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the score at the end of regulation was 2-2. With the ice in bad shape, the officials asked the coaches if they wanted to decide the preseason game with a shootout. So seven years before the NHL adopted the shootout, Las Vegas got a taste of what would be in the NHLs future.I was confused, I didnt know what they were doing, Miller said. I thought they had awarded Colorado a penalty shot, but the referee said the ice was so bad that they didnt want to take a chance with an overtime, so they went to the coaches and asked them if they wanted a shootout. They said sure and it went 10 rounds and Sandy Moger won the game for the Kings with a goal on Patrick Roy. A writer called the NHL the next day and asked them, When did you go to a shootout? They said, We didnt and he said, Well, you did last night in Vegas.After the Kings first game at Caesars Palace in 1991, they didnt return to Las Vegas until 1995, when they again played the Rangers, this time at Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. The success of both games prompted the Kings to host annual preseason games in Las Vegas dubbed Frozen Fury. The annual tradition began in 1997 at MGM Grand and ended earlier this month with the first NHL game at the new T-Mobile Arena between the Kings and the Dallas Stars. While the Kings will return to Las Vegas next season, they will do so for the first time as the road team.If we wouldnt have played here all these years, I dont think there would be a team here, Robitaille said. People saw the attention we got and that hockey got year after year, and thats one of the main reasons they were able to get a team here. AEG stepping up and building the arena here was a big key, but I think it had everything to do with us playing here for so long. It was important for us to establish the league and establish market here. Now we pass the torch and look forward to a new rivalry. Wholesale Hoodies NFL Shirts Outlet Jerseys NFL Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '