RIO DE JANEIRO - Although the Miami Heat had been downplaying the game against LeBron James all along, coach Erik Spoelstra and Chris Bosh said Saturday that they were glad it was finally out of the way. Fake Nike Baseball Jerseys China .Spoelstra said there was certainly a level of strangeness in the preseason game in Rio de Janeiro, while Bosh said that he hopes now everybody can move on.The Cleveland Cavaliers won 122-119 in overtime, with James scoring seven points and picking up eight assists in 20 minutes at the HSBC Arena.It was the first time James played against the Heat since returning to Ohio after leading his former teammates to two NBA titles in four years.For me it was a special moment to be back there competing against my old teammates, James said. I didnt get that awkward feeling, but a lot of memories came back about the things that we accomplished.James barely talked to his teammates before and during the game, though, doing his usual game routine.If you have to do something like this, I think it really benefits both teams to get the awkwardness out of the way in the preseason, Spoelstra said. There was certainly a level of strangeness to it.He said he didnt think it really affected the way the teams approached their preparations, though.I think both teams also used this week just to concentrate on themselves, Spoelstra said. We have quite a bit of work to do to get our defence and our continuity offensively together. This was just another step, so in terms of game plan I dont think either team spent a lot of time on that.James and Bosh quickly shook hands, but didnt even seem to make eye contact before the game.Bosh said it was just normal routine stuff to guard James, but he also thought it was good that the meeting is already in the past.I like the fact that we could get everything out of the way, that we could just come out here for the preseason and kind of just let everybody see us, Bosh said. We can move on.He said it was tough as usual to play against the former teammate, but as far as him in another uniform and being on different teams, we are pretty much over that.We are here to improve our team, to get better, and he is doing the same thing, Bosh said. Im glad we could get that out of the way and move on.He acknowledged that its going to be a work in progress for the Heat to play without James.For the last four years, of course, its been a little easier with LeBron handling the ball, Bosh said. He made everybodys lives easier.___Follow Tales Azzoni at http://www.twitter.com/tazzoni Cheap Baseball Jerseys Authentic . Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve better. Cheap Nike Baseball Jerseys . - Nikita Jevpalovs scored 6:22 into the second overtime as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada edged the visiting Rimouski Oceanic 2-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. https://www.fakebaseballjerseys.com/ . "Yes, Id like to get them in," Detroits rookie manager said. "Mother Natures going to have a say in that." Sure enough, the Tigers had their game against the Kansas City Royals postponed because of rain on Thursday.Optimal player deployment is a hockey question thats never going to have a definitive answer. Each team has unique roster and character traits that necessitate different use of skaters and goaltenders and some teams are afforded luxuries other teams dont possess. But trying to extrapolate the best possible performance from a 23-man roster is a league-wide question - one thats ingrained in a hockey operations or coaching staffs ability to maximize performance for each player on the roster. Like never before, todays NHL has an insatiable appetite for competent even-strength hockey players. And there are a lot of factors at play here. For one, the phasing out of enforcers and specialists has created a window of opportunity for a wave of skill players to take on larger roles at both positions. Front offices in Vancouver and Toronto have pointed to successful models in Los Angeles and Chicago - two franchises which have enjoyed reliable production from those bringing up the rear. And teams are cognizant that first lines and first pairings win a lot of hockey games. But finding the appropriate balance between maximizing their ice-time and minimizing fatigue effects has led to further prioritization of back end guys who can pick up the slack as needed. Theres another factor at play – the creation of more even-strength ice time by the continued decrease in penalties. Take for an example, this seven-year graph of the average NHL teams total power play minutes: In just seven seasons, the NHL teams full season average power play time has dropped more than 100 minutes from 528 to 426 – a 19 per cent decline. Its substantial - and there are shot and goal differentials to be won in the additional minutes created for five-on-five play. Have organizations handled their deployment as a result of this? I think the answer is yes. Take, for one example, the comparison chart below showing ice time for forwards (meeting our minimum criteria of 245 minutes played) in 2007 and 2014: The rightward shift here should seem apparent – a higher concentration of guys playing larger minutes now as opposed to seven years ago and fewer guys picking up scrap minutes in smaller roles. Thee number of forwards playing ten or less minutes a night has dropped from 109 in 2007, to 65 in 2014. Fake Nike Baseball Jerseys. And the number of forwards playing between 13 and 16 minutes a night has moved from 153 in 2007 to 231 in 2014. As a group, teams may still be leaning on their star players, but theres also been a more balanced spread of total ice time than there was seven years ago. So on a league-wide scale, forwards have experienced considerable change in deployment. But what about defencemen (meeting our minimum criteria of 245 minutes played)? Other than defensive defencemen, specialists on the blue line have been far less common than specialists (be it special teams specialists or enforcers) in the forward ranks. I think a large part of that is the fact that teams only carry six defencemen into a game and at least four of those guys play significant minutes every night. That said, I anticipated less overall change - at least relative to the forwards: My intuition, of course, was wrong. The rightward shift is rather clear here, too. There are far fewer players picking up scrap minutes on the blue line today then there were seven years ago. And again, there is a noticeably larger concentration of defenders picking up significant minutes per game. The 16- to 20-plus minute band is particularly interesting. In 2007, 38 per cent of regular defenders were playing 16 or more minutes a night. In 2014, that number has jumped to 64 per cent. Combine the importance placed on puck possession and territorial control with dissipating non-even strength minutes and you have a premium placed on guys who can skate regular shifts at five-on-five. This premium is more evident in some cities than others. But at the league level, talent and depth are no longer a luxury – they are a necessity. Popular hockey analytics writer Travis Yost joins TSN as a columnist appearing every Tuesday and Thursday during the season on TSN.ca and as a frequent guest on TSN Radio. Yost has appeared as a regular contributor to The Sporting News, NHLNumbers.com, Ottawa Citizen and HockeyBuzz.com, where he served as one of the sites lead analytics writers in addition to covering the Ottawa Senators beat. ' ' '