Upshall from a slight angle as opposed to straight on and first se

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - James Harden needed just seven made field goals to drop 35 points on the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the Houston Rockets to a 104-93 win on Monday. Harden hit 17-of-18 from the free throw line and added nine rebounds and five assists for Houston, which improved to 4-0 on the season. Trevor Ariza gave 24 points and Dwight Howard scored 11 with 14 rebounds and four blocks. Through four games, Harden has 25 baskets and is shooting 51-of-54 from the stripe. Tony Wroten paced the winless Sixers with 20 points in the setback, while rookie big man Nerlens Noel contributed a team-high five assists and six steals. Houston made seven 3-pointers in the first quarter to claim a 32-19 lead after one. Ariza was a perfect 4-of-4 from distance, with his 14 points leading the way. Jason Terry also hit a pair of triples off the bench during a 13-2 run to close the stanza. Philly countered with a 17-3 push to open the second quarter and took its first lead. Houston went just over four minutes without a field goal before Terrence Jones got a difficult runner to go at 6:42. K.J. McDaniels hit consecutive threes late in the period to put the Sixers up, but Harden beat the buzzer with a bucket to send the Rockets into halftime leading 55-54. Four straight Philadelphia turnovers early in the third quarter led to eight points, as the Rockets regained control. They led the rest of the way, but the young Sixers didnt go down quietly. In the final seconds of the third, Harden drove and tried to put Noel on his highlight reel with a two-handed jam, but Noel denied the dunk to a chorus of cheers from the home crowd. It was a six-point game midway through the fourth when the Rockets put the game away. Isaiah Canaan hit a pair of 3-pointers around a Wroten layup, and out of a timeout, Ariza and Harden hit from deep. Game Notes Houston is 4-0 for the first time since winning six straight to begin the 1996-97 season ... Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury ... The Sixers have lost all four of their games by at least 11 points. Adidas NMD Uitverkoop .com) - The New York Rangers hope to punch their ticket to the second round when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday for a Game 6 battle at Wells Fargo Center. Adidas NMD R2 Dames .com) - Richard Shermans two interceptions highlighted a dominant defensive effort, as the Seattle Seahawks routed the San Francisco 49ers in a highly anticipated NFC West Thanksgiving clash. http://www.nmdtekoop.com/stan-smith-sneakers/stan-smith-heren.html . -- Jerry Rice Jr. Adidas Superstar Schoenen Sale . Correia pitched six innings of one-run ball, Eduardo Escobar homered, and the Minnesota Twins pulled away late to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Saturday. Adidas Ultra Boost Nederland . The NFLs Defensive Rookie of the Year will be named at the NFL Honours Award show on February 1. The 23-year-old 2013 second-rounder out of Oregon becomes the third Bills linebacker to win the honour after Jim Haslett (1979) and Shane Conlan (1987.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hey Kerry, Did you catch Tampa and Florida last night a€“ the hit by Radko Gudas on Scottie Upshall? Upshall appeared to have his head down but how would you interpret this hit? What will be factored in on deciding the punishment, if any? Michael Sekoff, Toronto Welcome Michael: I did see the hit last night while I was watching the Devils 6-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at the Well Fargo Center. Let me state right off the bat that I have a real soft spot for any player that suffers a direct blow or some form of contact to the head; no matter how significant. I always felt my primary function as a referee was to provide for player safety by applying the rules of the game to act as a deterrent for escalation of hostilities. Many times I was called upon to apply the most severe penalty in the book, a match for deliberate attempt to injure or deliberate injury, which resulted in a hearing and ultimate suspension to the guilty player. While it pained me to see the result of Radko Gudas hard open-ice hit on Scottie Upshall, I dont believe there will be any further punishment issued by the Player Safety Committee. I base this on the circumstance of the play and actions by both players as defined and interpreted in rule 48-Illegal Check to the Head. While I believe a minor penalty should have been called on the play it will not result in a suspension to Gudas. Let me provide you my interpretation of the play and the factors that must be considered. There was significant separation between Upshall and Gudas when Upshall picked up a loose puck four feet inside the top of the Panthers end zone face-off circle and contact was eventually made approximately six feet outside the circle. Once Gudas began to step up and pinch from his defense position inside the blue line, Upshall placed himself in a vulnerable position with a lowered posture and his head looking down at the puck. Rule 48.1 (ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.) It could also be argued that as per item (iii), Upshall materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.dddddddddddd I am often uncomfortable casting an element of blame upon the victim, but based on Scottie Upshalls actions he does bear some responsibility on this play as defined by the rule. The mitigating factors relative to Gudas actions are also outlined in the language of Rule 48.1: A hit resulting in contact with an opponents head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted. In determining whether contact with an opponents head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered: (i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponents body and the head was not picked as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward. Gudas approached Upshall from a slight angle as opposed to straight on and first separated Upshall from the puck with a poke-check. This demonstrates a conscious effort to play the puck first as opposed to delivering a devastating hit on a vulnerable player. Following this, Gudas continued to alter and slide his body position off the center line of Upshall to finish with an intended shoulder check. While there was certainly contact to Upshalls head as Gudas slid by to deliver an intended shoulder check, I would contend that it was not the main point of contact. Gudas elbow remained in a tucked position and his skates firmly planted on the ice as evidenced in freeze-frame images. Another mitigating factor which would be considered is that Scottie Upshall remained in the game and did not sustain apparent injury (My preference is to rule on the act and not the result but its not my stick and puck!). As I said from the outset of this column, I cringe whenever a players head is contacted. I would like to see head contact totally eliminated from the game. Based on existing rules, precedent that has been set and acceptable checking practices you can rest assured it wont happen any time soon. ' ' '