given night." When Leafs general manager Dave Nonis swung | Forum

LOS ANGELES -- After weeks of negotiations and intrigue, Doc Rivers has officially left the Boston Celtics for the Los Angeles Clippers. Cheap Stitched Jerseys . Rivers will be introduced as the Clippers new coach and senior vice-president of basketball operations at a news conference Wednesday at their Playa Vista training complex, capping a lengthy process by completing a rare trade involving a championship-winning coach. The Clippers and Celtics finalized the move Tuesday when the NBA approved the deal. Boston will get an unprotected first-round pick in 2015 from the Clippers for Rivers, who went 416-305 and won the 2008 NBA title during nine seasons with the Celtics. Bostons front office mostly had warm words for Rivers after he took off for his exciting new team on the West Coast, apparently not eager to stick around for the aging Celtics rebuilding process. "We dont have a championship without Doc Rivers coaching," said Danny Ainge, the Celtics president of basketball operations. "He did an unbelievable job. He has a long history of great success with us in the last nine years, and we wish him the best in Los Angeles." Rivers is likely to be the NBAs highest-paid coach with the deal, and hell also have a prominent role in the Clippers front office with his additional title. Clippers owner Donald Sterling will expect impressive results for such an investment, but his long-suffering franchise has never been in better shape on the court -- providing Los Angeles re-signs Chris Paul, who is eligible for a five-year contract worth nearly $108 million in July. Paul is widely expected to stick with the Clippers, and Rivers arrival might cinch the deal. With Boston likely to spend the next few years revamping, Rivers seized the chance to take over one of the leagues most compelling young teams. He was eagerly pursued by the Clippers, who are coming off the best regular season in franchise history with a roster built around Blake Griffin and Paul. "He felt like it was time for a change," Ainge said. "He felt like we all needed a change. That was his rationalization or justification for going to the Clippers, that this was better for everybody. I dont think there should be any resentment. I know how Boston fans are. This may be a win-win for everybody." The 51-year-old Rivers replaces Vinny Del Negro, who wasnt re-signed after the Clippers won a franchise-record 56 games and their first Pacific Division title last season. Los Angeles first-round playoff loss to Memphis likely cost Del Negro, who went 128-102 over three years and became the only Clippers coach to post consecutive winning seasons in 35 years. Rivers new deal is expected to be similar to the three years and $21 million that remained on his contract with the Celtics. Boston was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by New York last month, and Rivers gradually became more interested in the Clippers vacancy than the Celtics rebuilding process. The negotiations for Rivers proceeded deliberately and abruptly over the past two weeks, with several potential moves discussed by the franchises. Ainge would have welcomed Rivers back to the Boston bench, but Rivers apparently saw the Clippers as a golden opportunity. "Sometimes youve got to let your good people go to pursue what they need to pursue to make themselves happy," Celtics President Rich Gotham said. "While its tough to see Doc go, I think we feel good about what he did here. We will be lucky to find as good a coach as Doc was." Los Angeles also spoke to Boston about acquiring star forward Kevin Garnett in another element of the trade involving Rivers, but NBA Commissioner David Stern wont allow teams to trade active players for a coach. Garnett and Southern California native Paul Pierce wont be reuniting with Rivers in Los Angeles any time soon: Ainge said the NBA has forbidden player trades between the two teams for the rest of the year, and both aging stars are under contract for next season. Garnett has discussed the possibility of retirement with two years and over $23.5 million left on his deal, while Pierce is due to make $15.3 million next season. Rivers played one season for the Clippers in 1991-92 during his 13-year NBA career, and they made the playoffs that season for the first time since the former Buffalo Braves moved to the West Coast in 1978. Los Angeles has made only five playoff appearances and won just two rounds since that season. But the Clippers are coming off the best two-season stretch in club history, and Rivers arrival further alters the franchises decades-long reputation. Rivers will be an intriguing match with the high-flying Clippers and their Lob City acrobatics, but his coaching pedigree and leadership skills will provide him with immediate credibility in his new locker room. Rivers Boston teams played at a more deliberate pace than last seasons Clippers often used last season, but the veteran coach is likely to adapt his offensive plans to fit the Clippers talent. Rivers impact on Los Angeles could be felt most on defence, where the Clippers often struggled last season despite their lofty record. After his playing career ended in 1996, Rivers went into broadcasting before serving as the Orlando Magics head coach for just over four seasons from 1999-2003, going 171-168 and winning an NBA coach of the year award. He is one of four active NBA coaches who have won a championship. Cheap Jerseys From China .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Cheap Jerseys China . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. http://www.cheapjerseysforwholesale.us.com/ . The return match will take place next Wednesday. Udinese leads Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semifinal. Napoli staged a second-half comeback from two goals down after Gervinhos opener and a stunning strike from Kevin Strootman.EDMONTON – The Maple Leafs do not have a controversy. What they own instead, through the first 12 games of the season, is one of the strongest goaltending tandems in the league. "I dont think you could say that we dont have 1-A and 1-B," Randy Carlyle said confidently of his two goaltenders, following practice in Edmonton on Monday afternoon. Tag-teaming between the pipes in Toronto, Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer have combined to post the fifth-best collective save percentage in the NHL so far this season. Right there alongside potent special teams and a juiced up offence, goaltending has been a primary factor in the Leafs early season success (16 points, tied for first in the Eastern Conference). "If you dont have goaltending you dont have a chance, you dont have a starting point," said Carlyle, frowning on the daily interest his goaltenders attract. "And every team in the league is looking for the same thing; for their goalies to go in there and give them a chance. In our situation our goalies have been very, very good for us." The numbers between the two are nearly identical so far. Bernier (5-4-0) has started seven games and owns a .930 save percentage; .936 at even-strength and .919 when his team is shorthanded. Reimer (3-0-0) has started five of his own and boasts a .933 overall mark; .933 at even-strength and .920 shorthanded. As a tandem, the duo boast a .928 save percentage, trailing only the hot-starting Avalanche, (10-1-0), Bruins (7-3-0), Sharks (10-1-1) and Canadiens (7-5-0). Theyve managed such effectiveness in spite of an increasingly heavy strain; the Leafs yield an average of 35 shots per game, falling under the 30-shot plateau in just one game so far. Working within the tandem concept has been an adjustment for both goaltenders. Bernier had never started three consecutive games in the NHL prior to joining the Leafs, stuck as the understudy to Jonathan Quick for years in Los Angeles. The 25-year-old has started three in a row twice already this season and says the adjustment is mental above all else. "Its a whole new mind-set for me," he explained to the Leaf Report. Rather than gearing up for the one customary start hed made every couple weeks with the Kings, Bernier has had to prepare himself mentally for the possibility of a string of starts. He hadnt done that since the 2009-10 season, when he was the starting netminder for the AHLs Manchester Monarchs. "To get that routine back and get that good feeling every night I think thats the hardest part," he said. "I knew coming in this season if I was going to play a few games back-to-back my focus [needed] to be consistent. All year, thats what Im going to try to work as hard as possible because I kind of lost that." Bernier, who considers any game where he yields more than two goals to be an off-night, looks to Martin Brodeur as the ultimate example of mental consistency. Cheap Jerseys Paypal. The Devils future Hall-of-Famer was previously a regular for 70-plus games each and every season. Guiding the Leafs to their first playoff berth in nine years in 2013, Reimer faces a different and maybe more difficult circumstance than his Quebec-born counterpart. He was the entrenched No. 1 in Toronto last season, starting 31 of 48 games with a .924 save percentage that ranked eighth at the position. His once-firm hold on the starting job was thrown into question with the acquisition of Bernier. "I think you want to play consecutive games," he told the Leaf Report. "Thats when you feel you can get in a groove and thats when you feel you can play your best. I think thats the ultimate thing. And so when you have two guys its kind of hard to do that sometimes. It might be a little harder to adjust." Competition certainly has the tendency to breed improved results, but in Reimers situation, that may not be the case exactly. His focus, as he explains it, isnt squared so much on competing with Bernier, but rather on his own individual performance. "You cant think about it," said Reimer of the competition, coming off a 37-save performance against the Penguins on Saturday. "Its just some more, in essence, white noise that you cant let get through. "You dont run a marathon looking behind you the whole time – youre looking forward," he continued. "And if you feel a guy on your heels do you run a little faster? Maybe. But maybe thats not how you should run anyways ... You can say [the competition will] push you, but at the same time its more important for you to stick to your game-plan and not worry about it." Leading the bench in Anaheim for seven seasons, Carlyle has plenty of experience and success with the tandem approach in goal. When he and the Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2007, it was actually Ilya Bryzgalov who started the opening four games of the postseason before Jean-Sebastien Giguere took over in Game 5 against the Wild, running the crease the remainder of the way. "That was the plan in the beginning," Carlyle said of the tandem concept. "Weve stated that and were going to continue to go again with the person who we feel is going to give us the best chance for success on any given night." When Leafs general manager Dave Nonis swung the trade for Bernier in late June he pledged to have the makings of a strong foundation in goal with a pair of 25-year-olds. "We feel weve got two of the top young goaltenders in the league right now," said Nonis. "Both of them we feel have the potential to be solid No. 1s. "Both guys have the potential, both of them want it, and that can only make your organization stronger." So far – its still early – so good. Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '