Join us » . Lehner kept the Senators within one early

FIVE QUICK HOOPS THOUGHTS 1. LEBRON JAMES (Heat): Totally agree with his stance to take a little family vacation and get away from the noise and reflect on what his next step should be in his career. Also allows Heat president Pat Riley to assess his roster and the prospects for improving his club. Im sure the two will have another in-depth conversation when he returns to set the stage for the next Decision. As we all know, too often were so busy that we dont take enough time to truly size up where were at in our lives and careers and get swept up in the busy nature of our daily existence. James has lots to think about. Five Finals appearances with the Cavs and Heat and two NBA titles. Not a bad run so far. The next step will be a huge one to say the least. 2. SAM MITCHELL (TWolves): Hired as an assistant coach by his longtime coach when he played there, Flip Saunders. Great move by Saunders. Love this hire for their team. Sam will have his back and do a terrific job for him. Sidney Lowe is another top notch hire for Saunders. Flip is a terrific coach, yet isnt the most domineering personality and needs strong assistants to "put out fires" on occasion. Mitchell and Lowe are excellent and both have head coaching experience, which really helps. Obviously, mixed emotions on my part - had a lot of fun working with Sam the past few years at TSN and in the years he was the Raptors head coach. Will miss him yet Im thrilled for him - hes an outstanding coach and leader and Im happy for his sake that hes back where he wants to be - on the sidelines. 3. KAWHI LEONARD (Spurs): MVP of the NBA Finals getting lots of attention in the past few days and deservedly so. Hes got an outstanding future ahead of him and by all accounts is a big time worker who is very coachable. Those are wonderful traits to have. No surprise coming from a Spur. They do a really nice job sizing up guys and their character. Hes in the right environment to grow considerably as a player in the years to come. Moments like these usually cause a player to take that next step and give them a true sense of what they can accomplish. Sometimes as a coach, you see it in them and they dont. I think he realizes now what he can/cant do and will develop further. Id sure love to have his future. 4. LIONEL HOLLINS: Only the Cavs and Lakers still have head coaching openings and well see if hes lucky enough to get one of them. If not, there are rumours that folks would like him to serve as an assistant coach. Im sure this is a tough time for him after doing such a great job in Memphis to still not be able to land a head coaching job. Very humbling business for such a proud man to deal with this. Hell get through it. I have no doubt that somewhere down the road a very smart GM will give him another chance that he both deserves and will thrive in. 5. NBA DRAFT and FREE AGENCY: I laugh so much this time of year with all of the lies and misinformation that both agents and teams put out there to steer folks in the wrong direction. Id love for someone to track what ends up being fact and fiction in the next 15-17 days. I assure you most of what we hear and read ends up being planted nonsense and other times its some media members thoughts and opinions that end up taking on a life of its own and becoming fact until it ends up being pure speculation. Fun time of year. China Shoes Nike . -- Washingtons Bradley Beal seemed to make every shot he took in setting a career high with 37 points. China Shoes Outlet . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net. https://www.chinashoesshop.com/. The weekend at Oriole Park has been less kind, with three players suffering varying degrees of injury. The worst ailment of the three, at least optically, is the deep bone bruise suffered by Adam Lind when he fouled a pitch off the top of his right foot in the sixth inning of Saturdays game. China Shoes Free Shipping . The Red Wings hadnt played the night before. The Boston Bruins had. A month from now, or two months from now, it doesnt matter. But right now it does matter, when you start and you play back to back, its wear and tear on you for sure, Babcock said. Cheap Shoes From China . Rinne had surgery on his left hip May 9 and recovered in time to start the season. He then had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 24 because of a bacterial infection in his hip.TAMPA, Fla. -- Martin St. Louis helped the undermanned Tampa Bay Lightning stop a lengthy scoring drought. St. Louis scored two in-close goals, Ben Bishop won his 15th game this season, and the Lightning beat the Ottawa Senators 3-1 on Thursday night. "If you look at most of my goals, Im not the kind of guy thats going to score from outside the circle," St. Louis said. "Its just not my game. I try to get free and go to the net. Thats what I did tonight and the puck came to me." Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning, who were coming off consecutive shutout losses to Columbus (1-0) and Pittsburgh (3-0). Ondrej Palat had two assists. Ottawa, which has dropped seven of 10, got a goal from Patrick Wiercioch. "Were just finding ways to lose," Wiercioch said. "We know we can be a better team and be more consistent, and we havent proven that yet." Tampa Bay defenceman Victor Hedman left after the first period with a lower-body injury, while defenceman Keith Aulie departed during the second due to a broken hand. Lightning coach Jon Cooper said Aulie will have surgery Friday, and that Hedman will likely miss Saturday nights game against Winnipeg. "I dont know when hes coming back," Cooper said of Hedman. "Hes more a day to day. Well see what happens, but I dont expect him back for Winnipeg." The Lightning were already without several key players, including centre Steven Stamkos (broken leg), left wing Ryan Malone (broken ankle), and defencemen Eric Brewer (lower body) and Radko Gudas (upper body). "A big effort from an extremely short-handed team," Cooper said. Stamkos has a goal of returning in February, while Malone will be out three to four weeks. Brewer and Gudas could soon return. St. Louis beat goalie RRobin Lehner from just outside the crease to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 advantage 13:19 into the second.dddddddddddd The Lightning captain tied Jason Arnott for 91st place on the NHL points list with 938. Filppulas goal from the left circle made it 3-1 at 10:56 of the third. St. Louis put the Lightning up 1-0 when he scored while falling forward with 3:15 left in the first. Wiercioch tied it at 1-all with a power-play goal 6:11 into the second. The defenceman had not scored a goal in his previous 20 games dating to last season. "Obviously, we didnt play hard enough to win," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. "I dont think its like inches and inches and miles and miles that we have to play harder, but we have to play harder longer." Bishop made one of his 33 saves early in the first on Chris Neils slot shot. The Lightning acquired Bishop from Ottawa last April. "Its always nice to beat a team that traded you," said Bishop, who has won both of his games against the Senators. Lehner kept the Senators within one early in the third when he stopped a shot by Nate Thompson during a breakaway. Lehner finished with 19 saves. "We were just not good enough," Senators captain Jason Spezza said. "I think we were playing too cautious, and in turn I dont think we played with enough confidence and made too many mistakes. It just seemed like we were a little bit scared to make mistakes, and when you play cautious like that and dont play with enough confidence, thats why were losing games. We have to be a more-attacking team. We have to believe in ourselves more than we do." NOTES: St. Louis was held pointless in his previous three games. ... Ottawa C Kyle Turris had an assist and has seven assists and 12 points in 10 games against Tampa Bay. ' ' '