meter heats, then back again.The plan wasnt to win, the plan was t

Two struggling teams square off when the Philadelphia 76ers host the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.The Sixers (4-16) have lost six straight games, while the Nuggets (7-13) have dropped five of six.Weve got to get a W, Denver guard Will Barton gold Nuggets.com after the team opened a six-game road trip with a 105-98 loss to Utah on Saturday. Weve just got to find a way to put a complete game together.Denvers defense is of particular concern. One night after Houston shot 50.6 percent from the floor and nailed 17 3-pointers in a 128-110 victory over the Nuggets, Utahs Gordon Hayward matched his season high of 32 points, 21 coming in a third quarter that saw the Jazz outscore Denver 33-16 to open an 82-63 lead.The first half and the fourth quarter, the defense was obviously there, but weve got to do it for four quarters, forward Wilson Chandler told Nuggets.com. Weve got to be able to guard the ball one-on-one.Chandler, who comes off the bench, has scored 20 points or more in four of the past five games and leads the team with an average of 18.5 a night. Veteran forward Danilo Gallinari is averaging 16.8, and guard Emmanuel Mudiay checks in at 14.Denver is allowing 109.5 points a game, fourth-most in the league. The Sixers are surrendering 107.8 points a night, which is sixth-most.Philadelphia battled Boston on even terms Saturday night, only to see Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas explode for 13 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter of a 107-106 Boston victory. Thomas became the fifth point guard this season to score 30 or more against the Sixers.You see it time and time again with some people who come through our building, Sixers coach Brett Brown said, and you saw it again tonight. We give him credit. Hes hard to guard.Brown was heartened, at least, by the fact that his team put up a fight, after a poor effort in Fridays 105-88 loss to Orlando.This group has a character I respect, he said, in that they reload after laying eggs.He was further encouraged by the performance of rookie forward Dario Saric, who matched his career highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds. Brown said Saric, who began the night averaging 8.7 points on 36.6-percent shooting, was a man down there (in the low post) while playing his best game to date.The last five, six games, my confidence was really low, Saric said. This game, when you get the first easy basket or (play) good defense, after that its easier playing.The Sixers rested rookie center Joel Embiid and were without forward Robert Covington (knee) and guard Jerryd Bayless (wrist). Brown said its up in the air as to whether any of the three will play Monday.Denver center Nikola Jokic has missed the last two games with a sprained left wrist and guard Gary Harris has missed the last 11 with a foot injury. Neither is expected to play Monday. Cheap Kobe Bryant Shoes .com) - The Calgary Flames aim to bounce back from their first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago. Kobe Bryant Shoes Outlet . Self was acquired from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade for Alex Hill midway through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013. https://www.cheapkobebryantshoes.com/ .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. Kobe Bryant Shoes Deals . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. Kobe Bryant Shoes For Sale . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Its one thing to say youre going to win an Olympic medal or two. Its another to plan out every step in minute detail -- on laminated flash cards, even -- the way Tianna Bartoletta does.The 30-year-old American is one of those rare throwbacks -- trying for sprint medals in the 100 and the relay, while also focusing on her day job, the long jump, where shes the defending world champion.It makes her busier than your average Olympian, and shes got the perfect system to handle it all. Printed on cards , in near minute-by-minute detail, are her daily routines for pretty much everything -- practice days, long jump days, sprint days, transportation, meals, packing her suitcase, and so on.We have laminated cards to give to the cab drivers, said Bartolettas husband, John, who doubles as her team manager. We treat it like a business. That way, it takes everything off her mind and allows her to run free. When shes on the line, theres nothing else shed even need to think about.There are legendary Olympic stories about missing bibs, late buses and other attention-diverting mishaps that come on the athletes biggest days. Shouldnt happen in this case.That sort of organization helps explain how Bartoletta put together a second act in track and field. Her world title in long jump last year came a full decade after she won the championship the first time, back in 2005 when she went by her maiden name, Tianna Madison.She described herself as on the verge of quitting during her lowest points but I was still competing just to make money for tuition, because I planned to go to school.I felt I didnt have it anymore, she said. I felt it was embarrassing to once be the world champion and not be able to jump 21 feet anymore. It was my time to go on and move onto other things.Right around her lowest point, she met her future husband, a hedge-fund trader in Florida who took a lot of what he learned in the financial world and brought it over to the track.She wasnt training, was overweight, having some struggles, John Bartoletta said.dddddddddddd. I told her, `I would never tell you what to do, but Ill give you some options. It didnt happen at the kitchen table. It was a deep, intellectual discussion of her options.It meant recommitting herself to a new training regimen, better diet, better planning. John Bartoletta did more than talk the talk; he designed an improved training program for himself, as well: If shes (going to do it), then Im not eating a piece of pizza in front of her, he said. In fact, Im going to train myself like an Olympic athlete ... because if shes doing it, Im going to do it.The truest test of their planning came at Olympic trials, where Bartoletta was trying to qualify for the 100 and long jump -- events that were literally going on at the same time. She had to take her first jump, then get to the starting line for the 100-meter heats, then back again.The plan wasnt to win, the plan was to make the team by earning a top-three spot in each event, she said. We executed it beautifully.Given the stress of that day, the Olympics will feel like a breeze in some ways.The womens 100 final is set for Saturday. The long jump starts next Tuesday. While the womens 100 -- featuring Americans Tori Bowie and English Gardner and two-time defending champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce -- is considered possibly the most competitive event on the program, Bartoletta will be among the favorites in the long jump. Shell also be in the mix in the 4x100 relay -- an event where she already has a gold medal, courtesy of her role as the lead-off runner in the world-record trip around the track (40.82 seconds) in London four years ago.Something magical could happen in Rio, her husband said. If we get her to the track and she makes the semifinals and performs there, the rest of the week will light up. Shell do very, very well.All part of the plan. ' ' '