rd-facing 4.5 somersault. The new dive, which athletes did not p

Alexandre Despaties attempt at the extremely difficult 4. Cassius Marsh Jerseys .5 forward somersault dive may have fallen a little short on Sunday, but the two-time Olympic silver medallist says he feels encouraged by his performance at the Montreal Canada Cup. "I am exactly where I want to be, I think, at this point," Despatie told CTVOlympics.ca after he finished second in the competition. "Today I did a little technical mistake at the come-out of the dive when I came out of the rotation, but you know, its no big deal." Despatie spent most of 2011 sidelined with tendinitis in his knee, and was only able to return to full-dive training early this year. The comeback has been complicated by the widespread implementation of a new, 3.8 difficulty dive: the forward-facing 4.5 somersault. The new dive, which athletes did not perform at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games where Despatie earned his second Olympic silver medal, is one of the toughest dives of the springboard competition. With its potential for racking up points, it is also expected to be a game changer at this summers Games in London.  In his attempt on Sunday, Despatie began the dive with strength, but exited his final rotation early for a sizeable splash as he entered the water. The miss earned the Laval., Que. veteran four 5.5 marks from the judges and caused him to drop of first place on the leader board. Even so, Despatie and those around him believe that he can bring the dive up to Olympic quality in time for London 2012. "You can always get a sense of where things stand based on how (Alex) feels at the end of the day, and this is among the most positive that Ive seen him after a competition that didnt go perfect," said Mitch Geller, chief technical officer at Diving Plongeon Canada, following the competition. "He sort of was of the mind that, You know what? It didnt go perfect but I feel it. I know Im just about there." Despatie scored a total of 497.20 for his list of six dives. While it was good enough for silver on Sunday, a similar score is unlikely to earn an Olympic medal in London. "He wasnt in any way peaking for this competition, so not at max strength, and you really sort of need that to easily put away that four and a half," Geller said. "But what we saw was that he doesnt really have a whole lot of trouble with the dive. Its got the potential we were hoping it would have." Despatie says he will continue training the dive, and he plans to use it in competition a few more times between now and the London Games. "I did some really good ones in training this week," he said. "I know weve got to keep working at it. Ill get more comfortable with the dive, more confident, and that was the great thing about this week. Now we know where were at, we know the work were doing is really going in the right direction and thats what matters. Thats whats most important." Derrick Coleman Jerseys . A noon downpour turned the 2.25-mile, 13-turn circuit into a slippery strand of roadway, but Bourdais proved to be the best on rain tires. The French driver made it through the first two qualifying rounds and into the Fast Six. Michael Bennett Jerseys . Canada dropped a 24-21 decision to Zimbabwe before bouncing back with a 10-7 win over Spain. All three sides finished with seven points apiece in Pool E to move on to the final eight while the Philippines was last with only three points.MINNEAPOLIS -- Kevin Love had 32 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 116-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night. Kevin Martin added 32 points and five rebounds and Corey Brewer scored 17 points to help the Timberwolves snap a two-game skid. Jose Calderon made 6 of 8 3-pointers and scored 21 points for the Mavericks. Monta Ellis scored 23 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 14 for Dallas. The Mavericks played without trusted reserve Vince Carter, who was suspended for the game for elbowing Oklahoma Citys Steven Adams on Wednesday. The Wolves led by 11 in the third and eight with less than 4:30 to play, but had to hold their breath down the stretch. Calderon hit his sixth 3 of the night, Ellis scored on a drive to the bucket to make it 105-102 Minnesota with 2:24 to go. Love, who just missed his first triple-double of his career, hit a 3 on the other end, Ricky Rubio foiled Elliss drive to the basket and Love sealed it with a 17-foot Nowitzki-style fade-away on the baseline with 1:13 to play. Nikola Pekovic had 15 points and six rebounds for Minnesota. Jae Crowder had 10 points and six rebounds for Dallas. The new-look Mavericks have been one of the best offensive teams in the league, with Ellis and Calderon making a seamless transition and flourishing as role players surrounding Nowitzki. Elliss has been remarkably efficient in comparison to his volume shooting ways with the Warriors and Bucks, entering the game shooting 55 per cent on 2-pointers.Robert Turbin Jerseys. That efficiency wasnt there on Friday night as Ellis needed 24 shots to score 23 points. The Wolves appeared to be taking control midway through the third quarter with a 16-4 surge that put them in front by 11. But the Mavericks came right back, getting two 3s from Calderon and another from Ellis during a 13-3 run that cut the deficit to one point. For much of the game, Love was the Timberwolves best passer, even with Rubio on the floor. He hit Brewer for several home run passes and racked up six assists in a sensational first quarter. He also had nine points and six rebounds in the period. Rubio had six points on 2-for-8 shooting and four assists and he was bottled up for most of the night by Spanish countrymen Calderon, who didnt fall for the sleight of hand that Rubio uses to keep defenders off balance. Calderon also had seven assists and four rebounds. NOTES: Carter said at shootaround that he wished he could take the elbow to Adams back, but couldnt and felt bad for putting his team in the position of not having him available for the game. ... Timberwolves F Derrick Williams did not play because of back spasms. ... Robbie Hummel made his NBA debut for the Timberwolves, scoring two points in 11 minutes. ' ' '