SACRAMENTO, Calif. wholesale jerseys from china . -- Al Horford was stellar on the offensive end Tuesday night. His defence on DeMarcus Cousins made the difference, though. Horford had 27 points and 10 rebounds, Paul Millsap had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and the Hawks held off the Sacramento Kings for a 105-100 victory. Horford was largely responsible for Cousins mediocre game. The Kings centre was limited to 11 points and six rebounds. Cousins made his first three shots in the games opening minutes, but didnt score again until getting a three-point play at the 11:21 mark of the fourth quarter. He was then called for three quick fouls early in the fourth, and he went to the bench for good at the midway point of the period. "My teammates did a great job of disrupting him and were digging real well and keeping him off balance," Horford said. "Any given night he can be the best big man in the league. Mentally, I feel hes stronger this season." When asked about Horford, Cousins only reply was, "Next question." Horford received plenty of help from Millsap, a key off-season addition for the Hawks. The two combine to give the Hawks a strong inside presence. That was evident in the fourth quarter when Horford scored 10 points and Millsap had eight, combining for 18 of Atlantas 23 points. "Paul has a knack for scoring late (in the game)," Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer said. "I think both Paul and Al stepped up for us. They are working well off each other." The Hawks (2-2) led by 17 points going into the fourth quarter, but the Kings cut it to three with 32 seconds left. Isaiah Thomas had a chance to tie it with 3 second left but missed a 3-pointer and the Hawks beat the Kings for the 11th straight time, including six straight in Sacramento. Atlanta shared the ball effectively throughout and were getting open looks for much of the game until the final six minutes. The Hawks shot 48 per cent, made eight 3-pointers, and had only six turnovers going into the fourth quarter when they committed eight more in helping to fuel the Kings comeback. "The defence isnt where it should be obviously right now, and we continue to dig ourselves in big holes," Kings coach Mike Malone said. "Every time you do that you have to fight out of it and that takes a lot when youre 19 points down." Jeff Teague, who left the game in the first quarter with an ankle problem, returned in the second and played well, finishing with 18 points and 10 assists for Atlanta. Both Kyle Korver and Cartier Martin had nine apiece. Thomas had 18 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter for the Kings (1-3), who have dropped three straight. Marcus Thornton and Ben McLemore had 15 points and John Salmons added 13. Thomas has made a habit of coming off the bench this season and providing the energy that has the Kings in up-tempo mode on offence and hustling defensively. However, there was no helping the Kings in the second and third quarters when they were outscored 57-33. "We just cant keep doing this to ourselves like we are some great team," Thomas said. "It takes a toll on your whole team. We keep coming back, but its not going to happen every night." Using a suddenly energized defence in the fourth, the Kings scored 11 straight points, cutting the Hawks lead to 96-95 at the 2:45 mark on a fast-break layup by Thomas. When the lead had been reduced to three points at the 3:04 mark, Millsap brought the Hawks together for a little inspirational talk. "It was one of those moments when everything was unraveling," said Millsap, who played the previous seven seasons with Utah. "I told everyone, Lets finish this game. Thats my personality, to lead." Millsap was inspirational with his play as well. With the clock running down and Atlantas lead reduced to one point, he made an 8-footer and added a free throw for a 99-95 lead. After dominating the second quarter, the Hawks controlled the third. Getting numerous open looks against the Kings lacklustredefence, Atlanta went on a 19-6 run for a 75-56 lead at the 4:47 mark. Korver connected on his first 3-point attempt early in third quarter, extending his streak to 77 straight games, the fourth longest in NBA history and one less than third place Dennis Scott. Dana Barros holds the NBA record with 89. Teague scored 14 points and Millsap had 13 in the opening half. The Hawks trailed the entire half until the midway point of the second quarter. They ended up outscoring the Kings 29-13 in the second to take a 54-45 lead into halftime. McLemore had 12 first-half points for the Kings, who had 12 turnovers. The Kings are in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which they play six home games. Their only away game is Friday at Portland. The two teams play again Saturday night in Sacramento. NOTES: Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather was sitting in a courtside seat. ... Kings rookie point guard Ray McCallum dressed for the first time this season, replacing centre Hamady Ndiaye on the active roster. ... Salmons had seven points in the first quarter and the Kings shot 12 of 22 in leading 32-25. ... Atlanta concludes a three-game road trip Thursday night in Denver. wholesale jerseys free shipping .H. -- Kyle MacKinnons first-period goal held up as the winner as the visiting St. wholesale jerseys . While Minnesota takes aim at its eighth win of November, the Canadiens will try to post just their third victory in nine games this month.Arrigo Sacchi once said, "You dont have to have been a horse to be a jockey." With regards to becoming a professional soccer coach, that is an expression that one will hear often. In fact, it is a mantra for aspiring coaches who never made the grade as professional players. They point to recent successes in football management - like Tottenhams André Villas-Boas - who never played the game professionally as examples of why a professional playing career is overrated when it comes to being a professional coach. But is it? Does a professional coach need to have a professional playing career first in order to be successful as a coach? Is it a prerequisite for getting hired? Is a coach who never played the game viewed by the establishment as inferior to those who did? Lets take a look at the coaches in the English Premier League for some insight. Since the league began in 1992, there have been 179 different men in charge of the 20 clubs in the league. Some were only in the job for a day as caretakers, while others - like Sir Alex Ferguson - were in charge for many years. By my count, only six of those coaches moved into coaching without first having enjoyed a substantial professional playing career. The likes of Villas-Boas, Roy Hodgson (now manager of England) and Avram Grant didnt accumulate years of experience in the game as professional players before moving into coaching. Instead, they served years as coaching apprentices before working their way up through the coaching ranks. Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers retired from the game as a player at the age of 20 due to injury before beginning his journey on the coaching pathway. But these coaches are very much the exception. When it comes to getting a job as a coach at the highest level in England, having a professional playing career behind you is almost mandatory. But does it actually make a difference? Does a professional playing career make you a better coach? Im not convinced that it does. Some of the brightest coaches in the game - people like Villas-Boas and Rodgers - demonstrate that the ability to coach the game isnt reflective of ones ability to play the game. Those coaches became students of the game at an early age and worked their way up the coaching ladder, either as assistant coaches or as academy coaches, before moving into senior management. Internationally, some of the most successful coaches in the game achieved their success without ever touching the field as professional players. Arrigo Sacchi turned AC Milan into one of the greatest club teams ever in the late 80s and early 90s, winning back-to-back European Cups. Carlos Alberto Parreira won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994; neither he nor Sacchi ever set foot on the field as professional players. Closer to home, Canadas womens national team coach, John Herdman, never played professionally. Yet he is one of the best coaches Ive come across in over two decades of professional involvement in the game. wholesale jerseys stitched. While players are immersed in a football culture day in, day out, that doesnt necessarily translate to success in coaching. Take Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams, for example. An exceptional player for both club and country, his forays into management with Wycombe Wanderers and Portsmouth FC failed to bring success; he suffered relegation to League Two with Wycombe and only managed to win four of his 22 games in charge of Portsmouth before being sacked. Adams last coaching appointment was in May 2010 with Gabala FC in the Azerbaijan Premier League, a post he subsequently left in November 2011. Arguably the worlds best-ever player, Diego Maradona, had a disastrous spell as manager of his national team. In charge of Argentinas 2010 World Cup appearance, he will be remembered for his tactical naiveté and general incompetence during his countrys 4-0 hammering at the hands of Germany. In professional football, being able to manage the personalities of your players is far more important than being able to ping a 60-yard ball across the pitch. Sir Alex Ferguson summed it up nicely in his recent autobiography, when he said, "Football management is a never-ending sequence of challenges. So much of it is a study in the frailty of human beings." While a professional playing background teaches you the technical, tactical and physical requirements of the game, does it teach you to understand the frailty of human beings? Not really. Being a player is often a selfish existence; you worry, first and foremost, about your own performance. You dont have that luxury as a manager, where you must give as much of your time (if not more) to the weakest member of your team as you do to your star player. You must be able to see the bigger picture, and must be able to tailor your teaching methods to meet the needs of each and every one of your players and staff. The ability to do this comes naturally for some - which might explain why so many clubs make the mistake of hiring a former player as their coach. They assume that years spent playing the game are equivalent to years spent teaching it. But for most coaches, being able to manage a group of professional players comes only with years and years of practice. But if you dont have a professional playing career behind you, getting an opportunity at a professional club is very difficult. Because there is definitely a perception amongst club owners and chairman that the lack of a professional playing career is somehow a black mark on a coachs resumé - as if the ability to teach the game is directly related to the ability to play the game. Perhaps the only way to dispel this belief is for more coaches like Villas-Boas, Rodgers and Herdman to achieve success in the game. cheap custom jerseys wholesale jerseys store cheap jerseys Cheap Jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '
