DHL » n. He was hired by Bryan Colangelo, and Ujiri

Memphis, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Monta Ellis scored 25 points and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away for a 103-95 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday. Dallas ended the game on a 14-4 run after Mike Conleys 3-pointer gave Memphis its first lead since the first quarter with 4:03 remaining. The Southwest Division-leading Grizzlies missed nine of their last 10 shots and had a four-game winning streak snapped. Dirk Nowitzki got eight of his 21 points in the game-ending run and Chandler Parsons scored 15 for the Mavericks, who pulled within a half-game of Memphis lead atop the division. Conley returned after missing two games with an ankle injury and scored 22 to lead the Grizzlies. Marc Gasol added 20 points and Zach Randolph scored 18 with 15 rebounds. Conleys straightaway 3 made it 91-89, Memphis first lead since it was 4-2 in the opening minutes of the game. Rajon Rondo scored just six points for the Mavericks, but four of them came over a quick 6-0 burst that gave them the lead for good. The Grizzlies last four points all came from Conley, including two at the foul line and a runner with about a minute to play. Earlier, Devin Harris scored nine points in the first quarter and the Mavs led by as many as 11 on his 3 with about 1 1/2 minutes remaining. Memphis scored the next eight points -- Jeff Green had six of them -- but Dallas pushed its lead to 10 several times before taking a 53-46 advantage into halftime behind 12 points each from Harris and Ellis. The Grizzlies shot 55 percent from the field in the third quarter but still trailed by seven going into the fourth. Game Notes Harris scored 12 points and Tyson Chandler had 10 points and 16 rebounds for Dallas ... Memphis also had a four-game home winning streak snapped ... The Grizzlies have hosted a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game every year since 2003, going 5-8. The American civil rights leader was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 ... The Grizzlies beat Dallas 114-105 at home on Dec. 9 in the first of four scheduled meetings between the division rivals this season ... Memphis continues a five-game homestand on Wednesday against Toronto ... Dallas remains on the road to play Minnesota on Wednesday. Eric Hosmer Jersey . Jimmy Howard made 44 saves and Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Cheap Padres Jerseys China . - Dolphins safety Louis Delmas has been carted off the field with a right knee injury against the Ravens. http://www.cheappadresjerseys.com/?tag=c...-richard-jersey. Claude Noel will be the man behind the bench when the team hits the ice of the MTS Centre to begin its inaugural season. Randy Jones Jersey . Cain departed in the fourth inning of a 10-5 loss to the Pirates on Thursday. X-rays on Cains bruised forearm were negative. He was hit when Sanchez led off the fourth with a groundout. Hunter Renfroe Jersey . Carreno Busta broke his opponent five times in the match, but also lost his serve three times in the second set before prevailing in the tiebreaker. Both players struggled with their first serve, as Carreno Busta landed just 51 per cent of his to 47 per cent for Kukushkin.TORONTO -- Dwane Casey has been carrying around a contract in his briefcase for the past few months, signed by all the Toronto Raptors and the teams staff. The contract, just two or three lines long and something that "wouldnt hold up in court," Casey said laughing, was a pledge of commitment. Its headline: "Im all in." Perhaps no one was more committed than Casey to the Raptors success this season, and on Tuesday, the 57-year-old coach was rewarded with a new three-year contract. The announcement came two days after Torontos season ended, but a couple of months after GM Masai Ujiri first approached the coach to get a new deal done. "Coach Casey was really classy because he said to me and he said to the players, Lets leave this and concentrate on the season, this is our chance to prove ourselves," Ujiri said, recounting his initial contract talks with Casey back in March. "He said, If Ive preached that to the players, then I owe it to them to continue this and well talk about (contract negotiations) after the season. I really give him credit for that." Casey led a young Raptors team to a remarkable and unexpected season that included a franchise-record 48 wins, an Atlantic Division title, and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Toronto pushed the vastly experienced Brooklyn Nets to seven games in the opening round of the playoffs, losing Game 7 by just a point. Casey said he drew up his "Im all in" pledge right after the February all-star break. In their next game, the Raptors recorded a big 103-93 win at Washington. "(It was about) committing to the process. Leaving their egos at the door," said Casey, who said he might have the contract framed. "Each player dedicated themselves, gave themselves to the season, and also as far as Im concerned to the future. Because this year was just a start of what we want to grow and develop with Masai as our leader and also the guys that are coming back here." Kyle Lowry was the first player to jump up and sign the pledge, said Casey. Retaining Lowry, the point guard whose teammates say was their heart and soul this season, will be one of the Raptors top priorities in the coming weeks -- the 28-year-old becomes a free agent on July 1. Lowry spoke glowingly in exit interviews a day earlier about his love for his teammates and the city, and Ujiri sounded, on Tuesday, as if the feeling was mutual. "Its very important (to re-sign Lowry) in terms of continuity," Ujiri said. "Kyle has had a phenomenal year. I thought Kyle was a huge, huge key to our season. For me, negotiating is easy if we want Kyle to be here and Kyle wants to be here. "Hes grown tremendously, to be coached and to work with," Ujiri continued. "His teammates, everybody has said that. Were proud of him. And so well go through that process, but were optimistic stuff will happen." Lowry and his teammates praised Casey in season-ending media interviews, noting the consistency of his message. For his part, Casey said he never considered testing the market. Ujiri made a commitment to the coach when the season began, and Casey said it was only fair he reciprocate. Caseys job status was uncertain when the season began. He was hired by Bryan Colangelo, and Ujiri had just replaced Colangelo as GM. "Masai could have made any decision when he ffirst took over the job last spring.dddddddddddd" Casey said. "He was true to his word, he gave all of us a platform to go out and prove and show, even the players, what you can do. And he was true to his word. Thats all you can ask for in this business is an opportunity. "It would be so disingenuous to even go out and put your foot in the market and think that was a possibility, so I didnt even give it a second thought. My heart is here, my mind is here." The Raptors thrived after the seven-player deal last December that sent Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings. Casey, who is almost fatherly in the way he communicates with his team, worked four new players into the roster, and from that point forward Toronto had the best mark in the Eastern Conference at 41-22. Casey and Ujiri were proud of the teams performance in the playoffs. They squared off against a Nets team that was built for success right now, whereas the Raptors are very much a work in progress. Casey was named head coach in June 2011, shortly after he helped guide the Dallas Mavericks to an NBA title. When asked which season -- the championship in Dallas, or this Raptors campaign -- was more satisfying, he said this one. "Its far more gratifying watching kids grow, watching development ... watching guys go through Game 6, when our compete level in the first half was probably one of the lowest we had all year, and then turn it around and put ourselves in a position to win the game," Casey said. Casey said the biggest mistake the team can make now is be complacent, so improvement is the focus of the off-season. He pointed out how sophomore centre Jonas Valanciunas will work with NBA legend and former Raptor Hakeem Olajuwon over the summer. The coach said, for his part, hell do what he does every off-season and examine tape of every game, looking for what they did wrong, what they could have done better. Both Casey and Ujiri spoke again about the incredible fan support in Toronto, noting that support helps when theyre trying to sell the city to free agents. Casey called it easily the best in the NBA and compared it to the 1996 NBA finals. He was with the Seattle SuperSonics that year, bowing in the final series to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. "KeyArena was rocking, loud. The Finals in 96, I thought that was loud," Casey said. "That didnt compare to the Air Canada Centre on Sunday when Deron Williams was shooting his free throws (in the dying seconds). You could just hear it vibrating. The official had to lean over to me and whisper in my ear, which I felt kinda creepy ... but you couldnt hear yourself talk. Thats a home-court advantage, its second to none in the league." Ujiri mentioned his predecessor at the end of Tuesdays 45-minute news conference at Air Canada Centre. "I think Bryan Colangelo did an unbelievable job here," he said. "He hired Dwane Casey. The starting five were picked by Bryan Colangelo as young players. I think the guy did an unbelievable job. He was a boss here, my boss and a mentor. He needs to be given some credit." Casey was named NBA Eastern Conference coach of the month in December. The Raptors finished in the Top 10 in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage (.450) and points allowed (98.0), and also posted a franchise-best 22 road wins. ' ' '