every week.To win their first playoff game since 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. Nike Vapormax Halvalla . - With no picks in this years NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers still made news in offering All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge a maximum contract extension. The offer was confirmed Thursday by a person close to the negotiations who could not comment publicly because the team had not formally announced it. The offer, made to Aldridges representatives last week, was first reported by Yahoo! Sports. Aldridge, in the fifth and final year of a $65 million contract, is set to become a free agent next summer. The Blazers hope to lure him to stay with a five-year, $108 million extension. Aldridge averaged a career-best 23.2 points and 11.1 rebounds last season for the Blazers, who went 54-28 and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals before losing to eventual NBA champion San Antonio. The move does not come as a surprise after general manager Neil Olshey emphasized the importance of getting the deal with Aldridge done. "The most important thing is everybody, including LaMarcus, knows hes the number one priority in the organization right now," Olshey said when the season ended. There was talk last summer that Aldridge was interested in entertaining other offers, but as the season drew to a close he said several times that he was happy in Portland. The Blazers have been known in recent years to pull off draft night surprises, but the team was quiet with no picks this season. It was the third time that the Blazers had gone without a selection, but first since 1999. The team surrendered its picks in this years draft because of earlier trades. The No. 24 overall pick went to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a 2011 trade that brought Gerald Wallace to Portland. The No. 56 pick went to the Denver Nuggets in the 2011 trade that sent Andre Miller to the Nuggets. Nike Vapormax Kengät . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. Vapormax 97 Suomi .com) - P.K. Subbans power-play goal 4:08 into overtime sent the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. http://www.vapormaxsuomi.com/vapormax-2019-ale.html . The Rangers centre left early in Game 1 with an upper body injury after being checked by Canadiens defenceman Mike Weaver and has not played since. Brassard told reporters after practice that he was good to go. That brought a smile to the face of Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Carolina Panthers are back in the playoffs, thanks in large part to the resurgence of their defence.The Panthers clinched the NFC South with a 34-3 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, a win punctuated by a pair of interception returns for touchdowns by safeties Roman Harper and Tre Boston.Theyll host the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday in an NFC wild-card game.Carolinas win Sunday was the culmination of a big turnaround for its defence, which ranked 27th in the NFL through Week 7, but rallied to finish in the top 10 for the third straight year under co-ordinator Sean McDermott.The Panthers (7-8-1) allowed 388.3 yards and 27.9 points per game in their first seven games. They allowed just 302.1 yards and 19.8 points per game over the final nine games.When I looked at it, I felt we had to put more speed in the defensive secondary, Panthers coach Ron Rivera said Monday.That meant releasing defensive backs Charles Godfrey and Antoine Cason, and moving cornerback Josh Norman into the starting lineup. It also meant adding young, but aggressive rookie defensive backs Bene Benwikere and Boston to the starting mix after recovering from early season injuries.We were trying to find answers as a coaching staff, the right combination of guys — and we found it, Rivera said.Rivera also credits the emergence of defensive end Charles Johnson as a huge reason for the turnaround.Johnson, a normally reserved eight-year veteran, has stepped into a leadership role down the stretch.It was Johnson who spoke to the team after the win on Sunday, telling them beating the Falcons isnt enough and were not done.Hes a unique individual, Rivera said. He cares a lot, but hes really guarded. Lately hes been very emotional and very outspoken, which in my opinion is very uncharacteristic of him. But Imm glad hes doing it. Vapormax 2020. Johnson also helped get the teams mindset right midway through the season when it became clear Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy would not be returning this season following the fallout from his domestic violence conviction.Hardy had 15 sacks last season.I do think there was a part of us that said, Guys, weve got to get past it. Weve got to move on, Rivera said. And its hard because hes such an integral part of what we had planned for going into this year and what he was for us last year. So was he missed? Most certainly. But I think its also been part of whats helped with Charles now, is knowing that Hey, Im the guy.Carolinas pass rush has excelled in December, getting 13 sacks during a four-game win streak.We saw glimmers of hope but we stayed consistent with what we asking the players to do and they continued to buy in, McDermott said of the teams early season struggles. Weve made some personnel moves that worked out in our favour and developed some newer players and we just continued to improve every week.To win their first playoff game since 2005, the Panthers must exorcise some old demons.In 2008, the Cardinals (11-5) came into Charlotte and upset the second-seeded Panthers 33-13 in one of the most painful losses in franchise history.This would appear to be a good matchup for the Panthers defence given the uncertainty surrounding Arizonas quarterback situation and the fact the Cardinals have lost four of their past six games.Carson Palmer is out for the season and primary backup Drew Stantons status for this weekend remains uncertain.Ryan Lindley is 0-2 as his replacement.Hes thrown four interceptions and two touchdown passes and has been sacked six times in those two defeats.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '