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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nicolas Batum hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer and finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the Portland Trail Blazers 115-105 home-opening victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night. Damian Lillard had 25 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 24 points for the Blazers, who led by as many as 13 points. Tim Duncan sat out the Spurs 91-85 win Friday night against the Lakers after bruising his chest in Wednesdays season-opening victory over Memphis. He had 24 points in the first loss this season for the Western Conference champions. Portland has won 13 straight home openers. Marco Belinelli hit a 3-pointer that pulled the Spurs to 104-100 with 1:24 left. After Lillard made two free throws, Duncan had a short jumper. Wesley Matthews dunked for Portland but Belinelli hit another 3 to make it 108-105 with 19 seconds left. Lillard and Batum made free throws before Batum hit a long 3-pointer for the final margin and the triple-double. The Blazers were also playing the second game of a back-to-back. Aldridge scored nine of his 25 points late in the fourth quarter to help the Blazers hold off Denver 113-98, snapping the Nuggets 23-game regular-season home winning streak. The Blazers jumped to an 18-11 lead, with Aldridge scoring 10 points. The Spurs tied it at 26 on Boris Diaws short jumper. Portland went ahead 37-31 on Lillards 3-pointer 3:58 before the break, and last seasons Rookie of the Year added two long jumpers to extend the lead to 41-33. Aldridge made a fast-break jumper to give Portland a 50-39 halftime. He led all scorers with 14 points in the first half. The Spurs closed the gap to 71-67 in the third quarter on Diaws basket and free throw, and Manu Ginobilis 3-pointer. But Lillard hit a clutch 3 just before the third quarter ended to give the Blazers an 82-74 lead. Blazers centre Robin Lopez, acquired from the Pelicans in an off-season trade, had a turnaround jumper that pushed Portlands lead to 84-72. NOTES: The Blazers dropped their season opener on the road to Phoenix, 104-91. ... Portland encouraged a "white-out" for the opener by giving all the fans a "This is Rip City" T-shirt on their seats. ... Portland claimed last seasons series with the Spurs 2-1. ... The Blazers have won three straight against the Spurs. Air Jordan Pas Cher Site Fiable . You can watch all the action on TSN and TSN GO beginning at 8:30pm et/5:30pm pt. Minnesota dropped the first two tests of this best-of-seven set at Chicagos United Center and was outscored by a combined 9-3 margin in those setbacks. However, the Wild righted themselves at home by taking Game 3 by a 4-0 count before knotting the series at two games apiece with Fridays 4-2 triumph at Xcel Energy Center. Jordan Retro Pas Cher . The lightning strike was in the parking lot of Crew Stadium on Saturday night, but its not known if the off-duty lieutenant was struck directly, Columbus Fire Department Battalion Chief Tracy Smith said. The firefighter, identified as Lt. http://www.pascherairjordanfrance.fr/. Gorges is believed to have suffered the injury while blocking a shot with a hand during Montreals win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. The Canadiens added to their defensive depth this week by acquiring veteran Mike Weaver from the Florida Panthers. Air Jordan France En Ligne .com) - The Ottawa Senators will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they face the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to secure their place in the post-season. Destockage Air Jordan . -- Maxence Parrot of Bromont, Que.This week, I flew out to Saint John, New Brunswick to speak at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association mens soccer championships. There are eight teams from across the country contesting the nationals, with games taking place from Wednesday to Saturday. You can watch the action live by clicking this link. While I was in Saint John, I also had the chance to speak to coaches and volunteers from the Fundy Soccer Association. We often focus our attention on the top of the pyramid in Canadian soccer - professional teams in MLS or our mens and womens national teams. While many fans are keen to follow the stories at the highest level of the game, there are also some great stories to tell about the people who are the real lifeblood of the game in Canada - the volunteers who run grassroots clubs. The Fundy Soccer Association is a great example. Their organization is full of volunteer administrators, referees and coaches, all trying their hardest to give the kids in their community a great experience with the game of soccer. It isnt about developing professional or national team players for them (although doing so would be icing on the cake); it is about ensuring that every child that comes into their club falls in love with the game, has fun, and stays involved in soccer for the rest of their life. It is about teaching them life lessons through the game of soccer. They are implementing the principles of long-term player development (LTPD) at their club because they understand the reasoning and research behind it. It isnt always an easy sell - there are parents that reject small-sided games and age-appropriate competition because it "doesnt look like real soccer" - but they continue to preach the gospel of LTPD in the hopes that it will soon become the norm. What organizations like Fundy need more than anything, is support. There are two major areas where that support would make a major difference - the first being coach education. When a club is reliant upon volunteer coaches (the vast majority of non-profit grassroots clubs in Canada would not exist if not for volunteer coaches), attracting aand retaining coaches is paramount.dddddddddddd. That is very difficult to do when the cost of training and certifying those coaches is taken into consideration. It is one thing to ask a parent or volunteer to give up their time for their club. It is quite another to then ask them to pay for the privilege. While many clubs across the country pick up the cost of coach education (which they offset through higher registration fees or hard-earned sponsorship money that needs to be generated year after year), many of them cannot. In those situations, the cost of coach education is passed on to the volunteer coach - making it even more difficult to attract and retain coaches. Ive said it before (and Im sure Ill be saying it again in the future) but our governing bodies need to find revenue sources that completely offset the cost of coach education. Making coach education free to volunteer coaches across the country removes a massive barrier to grassroots coach education, making it far easier for organizations like Fundy to develop coaches. The second area that requires support is curriculum. Volunteer coaches often find themselves rushing home from work, collecting their kids and dashing off to practice. They keep a bag of balls, their boots and assorted coaching equipment in their cars, because they are out on the field three or sometimes four nights a week. They simply dont have time to sit down on their computers after work to look for training ideas on the internet. Shouldnt it be easier than that? Shouldnt those volunteer coaches have a document that they can use, a blueprint for the development of young soccer players they can refer to when stretched for time? Of course they should. And thats where a national curriculum comes into play. That we dont have one is a problem that the CSA needs to rectify immediately. Work is being done on that right now, but until such time as we have our own national curriculum, volunteer coaches across the country will be left to fend for themselves. The Fundy Soccer Association and those like it that exist across the country deserve better than that. ' ' '