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CLEVELAND -- Kevin Love scored an NBA-record 34 points in the first quarter, LeBron James had his 44th triple-double, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Portland 137-125 on Wednesday night. Dan Fouts Womens Jersey .Love fell three points shy of the league record of 37 for points in any quarter set by Golden States Klay Thompson on Jan. 23, 2015.Love made 11 of 14 field goal attempts, including 8 of 10 on 3-pointers in the first quarter. He finished with 40 points, 11 off his career high.James had 31 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists for his second triple-double this season. He also passed Guy Rodgers for 17th place on the career assist list. Cleveland also set a franchise with 20 3-pointers.Damian Lillard scored 40 points for Portland, including 25 in the second half.WARRIORS 149, LAKERS 106OAKLAND, Calif. -- Stephen Curry had 31 points with seven 3-pointers and nine assists, Kevin Durant scored 28 and Golden State found an astonishing first-half offensive flow to run away from undermanned Los Angeles.The Warriors franchise-record 47 assists -- on 53 baskets -- are the most in the NBA this season and surpassed their record of 46 in 1981.Golden State had 26 assists on 29 baskets before the break, as in sync as the Warriors have been since adding Durant during the offseason and far better than when they took a 20-point beating at Los Angeles less than three weeks ago.Rookie No. 2 overall draft pick Brandon Ingram scored a career-best 16 points in his first start for Los Angeles, which had no answers defensively as Golden State shot 61.6 percent with 19 3-pointers.PELICANS 117, TIMBERWOLVES 96NEW ORLEANS -- Anthony Davis had 45 points and 10 rebounds, and New Orleans beat Minnesota for its fourth straight victory.Davis was 17-of-27 shooting in his third games this season with 40-plus points.Terrence Jones added 17 points. The Pelicans trailed early in the second half before Davis scored eight points during a 13-2 run.Zach LaVine scored 26 for the Timberwolves. Theyve lost three straight.CLIPPERS 124, MAVERICKS 104DALLAS -- Chris Paul scored 18 points, DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and eight rebounds and Los Angeles routed Dallas in a matchup of the teams with the best and worst records in the NBA.Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting in 20 minutes in his return for Dallas after the 13-time All-Star missed eight games with a strained left Achilles tendon.Austin Rivers added 22 points for the Clippers (14-2). They had a 30-6 run in the second and third quarters on the way to their fourth straight win and 11th in 12 games.Harrison Barnes had 22 to lead the Mavericks (2-12). They lost their seventh straight game to match their longest skid since February 1999, during Nowitzkis rookie season. Dallas is off to its worst start since going 1-23 in 1993-94.SPURS 119, HORNETS 114CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kawhi Leonard scored 30 points and San Antonio beat Charlotte for its seventh straight victory.LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points and seven rebounds, and Danny Green had 16 points to help the Spurs improve to 8-0 on the road.Kemba Walker led the Hornets with 26 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Frank Kaminsky had 13 points and eight rebounds. They have lost three third straight game after starting the season 8-3.RAPTORS 115, ROCKETS 102HOUSTON -- DeMar DeRozan scored 21 of his 24 points in the third quarter and Toronto beat Houston to snap a two-game skid.Raptors avoided losing three in a row for the first time since last November, and ended a nine-game losing streak in Houston.James Harden had 29 points and 15 assists for Houston, but also had 12 turnovers. The Rockets lost for the first time in four games.KINGS 116, THUNDER 101SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- DeMarcus Cousins had 36 points and 13 rebounds, leading Sacramento over slumping Oklahoma City.The Kings had a 36-point third quarter and gradually pulled away in the fourth in dealing the Thunder their third straight loss and seventh in nine games.Darren Collison had 21 points and six assists for the Kings. Rudy Gay scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. The Kings had 12 3-pointers in winning their second straight and evening their home record at 4-4.Russell Westbrook nearly had his sixth triple-double of the season, getting 31 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists for the Thunder, who opened the season with a 6-1 record.HAWKS 96, PACERS 85INDIANAPOLIS -- Dwight Howard had 23 points and 20 rebounds to help Atlanta beat Indiana.Indiana rallied to cut Atlantas lead to a point with 3:42 left in the third quarter, but the Hawks pulled away with a 19-2 run.Paul Millsap added 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks. Thaddeus Young led the Pacers with 24 points and had seven rebounds. Monta Ellis added 19 points, and Paul George had 18.GRIZZLIES 104, 76ERS 99, 2OTPHILADELPHIA -- Marc Gasol scored 27 points, Mike Conley had 25 and Memphis outlasted Philadelphia for its sixth straight victory.Conley added nine rebounds and nine assists. The Grizzlies came back from an 11-point, second-half deficit for their eighth consecutive victory over Philadelphia.Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Philadelphia.PISTONS 107, HEAT 84AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Andre Drummond had 18 points and 15 rebounds, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 22 points in Detroits victory over Miami.Detroit snapped a four-game losing streak. The Pistons are 6-2 at home and 1-7 on the road.Tyler Johnson had 17 points for Miami. The Heat have lost eight of 10.JAZZ 108, NUGGETS 83SALT LAKE CITY -- George Hill scored 22 points in his return from an eight-game absence and Utah beat Denver to break a four-game losing streak.Hill had tape covering the strained thumb on his shooting hand. Gordon Hayward had 22 points and seven assists, and Rudy Gobert added 19 points and 13 rebounds.Rookie Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 23 points.SUNS 92, MAGIC 87ORLANDO, Fla. -- Alex Len had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Eric Bledsoe added 16 points to lead Phoenix past Orlando.Bledsoe made two free throws with 16 seconds left for a five-point lead, and Devin Booker added two more with 6.2 seconds to go. Phoenix snapped a two-game losing streak and finished 2-4 on a six-game trip.Evan Fournier scored 25 points for Orlando.CELTICS 111, NETS 92NEW YORK -- Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points, Avery Bradley had 22 and Boston beat Brooklyn.Al Horford added 17 points for the Celtics in their third straight victory.Sean Kilpatrick scored 23 points for the Nets. They have lost five in a row. Junior Seau Jersey . "It was nerve-wracking, but we pulled through," said Collaros, who threw four touchdown passes to lead the Toronto Argonauts (8-4) to a 33-27 win over the Calgary Stampeders (9-3) in front of 28,781 fans at McMahon Stadium. Junior Seau Womens Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. http:///...Gordon-Elite-Jersey/ . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. You can defend 12 an over but 15 is better and you should aim for 20.The speaker was Shabbaz Kalia. He is Pakistans biggest star of tape-ball - probably the worlds most exciting version of street cricket. Twenty an over has been a routine achievement for him in a professional tape-ball career of over 20 years. His six-hitting has earned him a following in all of Pakistans major cities, and more recently in international tournaments in the UAE. In one eight-over innings, he and his brother shared a partnership of 222.Tape-ball was developed in a cricket-crazy country after a long search to replace the conventional cricket ball with something cheaper, easier to replace when lost or damaged, and less likely to damage people and property in small, crowded spaces. There were earlier experiments with balls made of rubber and composition material, and tennis balls - sometimes soaked or partly shaved. Then some genius thought of covering a tennis ball with electrical tape.Historians seem to agree that this first happened in street cricket in Karachi during the 1970s. Osman Samiuddin and Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi have suggested that it was done to counter a legendary street cricketer, Nadeem Moosa, who obtained unplayable spin by squeezing a conventional tennis ball. Writer Abid Hussain traced tape-ball to Karachis sprawling overspill development of Nazimabad in the late 1970s. Tape-ball was also popular in the Federal B area of the city, and by the late 1980s there was a recognised circuit. The K-2 Bhai Tournament at that time seems to be the first to require a set of rules. One of these suggested the commercial potential of the new sport: Nitto brand electric tape will be used in the tournament. Another was an obvious necessity for street cricket: Any time the ball is hit directly inside a house, the batsman is out.Taping created a ball that could be delivered at fair pace with an overarm action without impossible bounce. However, it did not require batsmen to wear protection, it did not cause too much damage when hit out of the ground, and it did not matter much if it got lost. A replacement could be produced quickly.Best of all, as it acquired scuffs or nicks, a tape-ball could be made to swing, both conventionally and in reverse.This gives a little hope to bowlers who can deliver a reliable yorker, and gives some balance to a version of cricket that would otherwise be stacked in favour of batsmen. They do not have to worry about lbw (the rule doesnt exist in tape-ball) or close catchers or flighted spin (which cannot be delivered). A terrible pitch does not affect a tape-ball bowler. The stock stroke in tape-ball cricket is to walk across the stumps and loft the ball over midwicket. But it is harder to do this with a fast, late-swinging yorker.Since the 1980s, tape-ball has generated a production line of fast bowlers for Pakistan who learnt to produce this kind of delivery in their teens or even earlier. The roll call includes Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul. Mohammad Amir was first spotted at 13 in a local tape-ball tournament. Skills learnt from tape-ball earned Aaqib Javed a place as an opening bowler in a first-class match at the age of 12 and two months (according to official records), and a Test cap at 16. All our youngsters play tape ball cricket in the streets, he was quoted as saying in the book Pundits From Pakistan. When you throw a light object over a distance, your joints and ligaments will get stronger, your bowling muscles will develop.Two former Pakistan wicketkeepers, Moin Khan and Rashid Latif, agree with Javeds assessment but expressed concern that tape-ball encourages a slinging action. They work hard to refine this in the teenage puupils of their cricket academies, and to add back the weapons a bowler gets from the regulation ball and pitch, while keeping the aggression and sheer élan they develop from tape-ball. Melvin Ingram Jersey. Conversely, they and other coaches have to make young batsmen apply themselves and concentrate after the simple six-hitting of tape-ball. That said, tape-ball cricket did no harm to Pakistans current batting anchors, Misbah ul-Haq and Younis Khan, who spent long hours in tape-ball cricket as boys. Younis told me that tape-ball, with its constant demand for big overs from batsmen, had encouraged him to become a finisher. Tape-ball spread very quickly in the 1980s through the whole of Pakistan from its starting point in Karachi. It had many things going for it. The equipment was much cheaper. A tape-ball bat is broader and lighter than a conventional one and lasts longer. It does not need to be knocked in and oiled. Tape-ball needed less space to play and did not demand a good surface. It carried far less risk of injury. The rules were much simpler and more adaptable for local conditions than regular cricket. There was a lesser need for skilled umpiring or scoring. Tape-ball cricket needed little or no practice or coaching: a good eye, alertness and athleticism, could take a player a long way. Eight players were enough for a team. Matches were fast and furious, with something dramatic happening with every ball. At eight overs (or fewer) each innings, matches were completed quickly, and it was easy to organise tournaments over a single day or after dusk during Ramadan.It is much easier to play tape-ball spontaneously than regular cricket, as I saw for myself during a railway journey (of some 20 hours) between Karachi and Lahore. Virtually every time I looked out of the window I saw a tape-ball match. I counted over 250, some under street lights, some seemingly in the middle of nowhere.Tape-ball has also spread beyond Pakistan to the UAE and other countries with Pakistani expatriates or communities of Pakistani origin. There are successful organised leagues in Bradford and elsewhere in Yorkshire.Intriguingly, tape-ball is beginning to develop as a separate professional sport in Pakistan. Local businesses are forming tape-ball teams and organising city tournaments as a cheap and popular means to get recognition and a following.Kalia is not only a professional player but a promoter, like Clarke and Parr and other cricket pioneers in 19th-century England. He is in demand to organise tournaments in all of Pakistans major cities and international contests in Dubai and Muscat. Recently he staged a series of tape-ball matches featuring veterans including former Pakistan Test captains Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam ul-Haq and Saleem Malik. He told me that the most lucrative tournaments are sponsored by Warid Telecom and shown on their cable television network. They carry prize money of half a million rupees (now equivalent to about ￡3500) for the winning team.This is a much lower reward when compared to the earnings of a successful regular cricketer. But it is much easier to become a successful tape-ball player than a regular cricket player. A tape-ball career lasts longer than a regular cricket one, and can be combined much more easily with other work or education.If tape-ball acquires a national structure, a set of rules and regular television coverage, it might go on a separate path from regular cricket, not only in Pakistan, and offer a less demanding career for all the best and most dedicated players. If tape-ball takes off as a separate sport, it could conquer the world. ' ' '