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rds around the arena.

Started by douhua2233, 2018/09/19 11:56PM
Latest post: 2018/09/19 11:56PM, Views: 74, Posts: 1
rds around the arena.
#1   2018/09/19 11:56PM
douhua2233
George McPhee will only get a ring if the Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup.

Maybe he should get one if the Washington Capitals win.

McPhee is responsible for acquiring 13 players on the current roster during his 17 years as general manager and also hired longtime friend Brian MacLellan Roger Craig Jersey , who became his successor and built the rest of the team. Kicked around the past five years for trading Filip Forsberg to Nashville for Martin Erat and not being able to bring the Cup to Washington, McPhee has his fingerprints all over this final after building the foundation of each team.

”It’s funny how life goes,” McPhee said Sunday in Las Vegas. ”Two years ago I was walking around Ann Arbor kicking stones and couldn’t get a job.”

McPhee went two years between his job as Capitals GM and his new one when new owner Bill Foley hired him for the dream job of his life as GM running the as-yet-named Vegas expansion team. From MacLellan to captain Alex Ovechkin, star center Nicklas Backstrom, goaltender Braden Holtby and management staffs on either side, this final in many ways is a validation of McPhee’s philosophy, knowledge and career.

”It’s great to see him have success somewhere else,” said Capitals defenseman John Carlson, one of 12 McPhee draft picks facing him in the final. ”I knew he would, based on the pieces that he put in place here.”

McPhee was GM when the Capitals last made the Cup Final in 1998 but had just taken over the previous summer. Until the past year, his greatest accomplishment was rebuilding Washington into a perennial playoff team and title contender that went to the playoffs from 2008-2013.

After missing the playoffs in 2014, the Capitals did not renew McPhee’s contract.

”When you’re working with (players), they’re sometimes like your own kids,” McPhee said. ”You’re on call for them all the time, you’re trying to help them, you try to steer them in the right direction. Then you get fired and you’re suddenly persona non grata because nobody wants to be seen to be too close to you in the organization. I understand that’s how things change quickly and that’s the business.”

Things changed quickly because MacLellan went from McPhee’s college teammate and roommate and then right-hand man as assistant GM to the person who owner Ted Leonsis said gave ”the most negative of the interviews” among candidates. MacLellan said he felt like he had nothing to lose during the interview process George Kittle Jersey , which led to him landing the job at the same time Barry Trotz was named coach.

MacLellan conceded Friday his relationship with McPhee was ”not as close” as in previous decades.

”I think it just took a little time for things to evolve,” MacLellan said. ”I think he needed a break from the game, needed a break from how it went down for him here and it just took time.”

MacLellan choked up a couple of times talking about glory days with McPhee, when they won the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Championship together at Bowling Green. McPhee and MacLellan have had dinner and texted in recent days about how strange it is to face each other after all that has transpired.

”It’s kind of a weird experience,” MacLellan said. ”It’s a little awkward, but it’s going to be a fun experience, I hope.”

McPhee still has plenty of supporters in the Capitals’ locker room, especially among players he stuck his neck out for. He signed Jay Beagle as a college free agent in 2007, listened to now-Vegas goaltending coach Dave Prior and selected Holtby as the 10th goaltender in the 2008 draft and picked Tom Wilson in the first round in 2012.

”I have a very fond respect for George,” Wilson said. ”You always have kind of a soft spot for the guy that drafted you, that brought you into the league, that gave you a chance. … He kind of always had his players’ back.”

Not only is Beagle thankful to McPhee for taking a chance on him, but he also believes in the moves made to try to bring a championship to Washington well before now, even if they didn’t work out perfectly.

”The trades and the deals that he made were to win the Stanley Cup that year,” Beagle said. ”You can always look back and be like, `Oh it wasn’t the right one’ or `It was the right one.’ But at the time it was the moves that he felt needed to be done to win a Stanley Cup that year because we had a team to do it for a lot of years.”

Now that the Capitals – and Golden Knights – have that team Will Lutz Jersey , McPhee will be there each night to see one of his teams lift the Cup.

”I’m certainly proud of the Washington team and the players,” McPhee said. ”Really happy for them – and really proud of this team we have in Vegas.”



More Stanley Cup coverage: Joel Embiid had trouble with his new mask.

It didn’t slow him down.

Embiid’s playoff debut was a smashing success for Philadelphia. The All-Star center returned from a 10-game absence by scoring 23 points, including a personal 7-0 run down the stretch that iced matters, and the 76ers reclaimed control of their Eastern Conference first-round series by topping the Miami Heat 128-108 on Thursday night.

The 76ers outscored the Heat 32-14 in the fourth quarter, and took a 2-1 lead in the series.

”I am just so proud of what he did,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said.

Rightly so, too. Embiid started the day doubtful, ended it dominant, and had plenty of help as well. Marco Belinelli and Dario Saric each scored 21 for Philadelphia, and Ben Simmons finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.

”It was annoying,” Embiid said of getting used to the mask. ”But that was the only way I could play in this game, if I wore the mask and protected my face with goggles. I had to work through it and I did.”

Thursday began with the 76ers saying Embiid wasn’t likely to play. His status was upgraded to probable in the afternoon and then he finally was inserted into the starting lineup – medical clearance coming from the team, mask clearance coming from the NBA after the league signed off on the dark, translucent, carbon-fiber Howie Long Jersey , goggled apparatus that was made in consultation with independent experts.

The mask came off a couple times, the goggles were askew at times as well – Heat forward Justise Winslow even stomping on them once for good measure, a play that Brown chalked up to the intensity of playoff basketball – but in the end Embiid found a way.

”It’s definitely a different look when you have an All-Star back in the lineup,” Winslow said. ”It changes things, for sure.”

Goran Dragic scored 23 points for Miami, which got 19 from Winslow and 14 from Josh Richardson.

Game 4 is Saturday afternoon.

Embiid banked in a turnaround straightaway jumper – a fortuitous bounce – to put Philadelphia up nine late, then connected on a 3-pointer and added a pair of throws to start the spurt that put away the game.

Meanwhile, Miami couldn’t find any sort of stride.

Hassan Whiteside was mired in foul trouble and ineffective, finishing the night all of 1 for 1 from the field for five points. Dwyane Wade, who Miami needed to be superb in the win at Philadelphia in Game 2, shot 2 for 10. Wayne Ellington, Miami’s single-season leader in 3-pointers after making a record 227 this season, was 1 for 5 from the floor.

The Heat won Game 2 by controlling the physical battle.

Game 3 was another street fight, and Philadelphia didn’t back down. Philly won Game 1 by dominating the second half, and Game 3 went a similar way. The 76ers outscored Miami 74-43 in the second half of Game 1, and 65-44 in the second half on Thursday.

”It’s clear that the first game and the third game were played on their terms Sheldon Rankins Jersey ,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

TIP-INS

76ers: Philadelphia had a pair of shooters fouled beyond the 3-point line in the first quarter: Robert Covington made two of his three free throws, and Belinelli turned his chance into a four-point play. … Embiid missed his first five shots, then put his finger to his lips in the universal ”shush” sound to the crowd after getting his first one to fall.

Heat: Winslow’s previous season high for scoring was 18. … Wade, who carried Miami to the win at Philadelphia in Game 2, didn’t get his first field goal in this one until 2:46 was left in the third. … The Heat allowed Philadelphia to shoot 51 percent.

MANY WHISTLES

The teams combined for 56 personal fouls – Heat 30, 76ers 26. Each team also was whistled for three technicals.

IN MEMORIAM

The game was preceded by a moment of silence to remember the lives of Erin Popovich, the wife of San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, and former first lady Barbara Bush. Brown is a former a Spurs assistant who has remained close with the Popovich family, and said Erin Popovich ”was a star, like a real star. A very strong woman, and somebody that will be missed.”

WELCOME BACK

Among those in the sold-out crowd were former Heat point guards Mario Chalmers and Jason Williams, the starters on Miami’s three NBA championship teams. Both got warm ovations when shown on the videoboards around the arena.

UP NEXT

Game 4 is Saturday in Miami, a rare 2:30 p.m. start.

W... Saquon Barkley Jersey


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