SALT LAKE CITY - Roy Hibbert helped the Indiana Pacers to a big lead and then had to nervously watch his teammates withstand Utahs furious comeback bid. Cheap Nike Air Max Shoes Free Shipping .Hibbert scored 22 points — his first game over 20 in nearly two months — to help the Pacers outlast the Jazz 105-101 on Monday night.I told my guys I believed in them and it was going to just come down to a free-throw game and rebounds, said Hibbert, who fouled out with 55.7 seconds to play.The embattled centre, who got in a skirmish with the Lakers Carlos Boozer in a one-point loss to Los Angeles on Sunday, again played with a fiery edge and repeatedly went over 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert for inside baskets before fouling out.Im trying to be as effective as possible and take good shots. Looking back at the end of last year and the summer, I can see things arent always going to go my way but I need to always be locked and mentally strong, Hibbert said.The Pacers centre had four scoreless post-season games, setting an NBA record for most NBA post-season games with zero points by a current All-Star, and hasnt returned to his former productive self — except when he plays the Jazz.He was great tonight. He was scoring in the post and making moves from the mid-post in the pick-and-roll game. Thats why hes a special player for us, Indiana coach Frank Vogel said.Derrick Favours had 27 points and 11 rebounds and Gordon Hayward scored 24 for the Jazz.For the most part, I think we played extremely hard but we just seemed to miss a lot of shots. We turned it up defensively and were more active and urgent at the end, Hayward said.The Pacers led 98-90 with 1 minute remaining when they Jazz nearly came all the way back from 12 points down with a 39-point fourth quarter.Trevor Booker had a three-point play and a 3-pointer while Hayward and Favours each made two free throws to get Utah to 101-100 with 9.0 seconds left.We never gave up and that was impressive, said Utah rookie Joe Ingles, who had eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists.CJ Miles and Solomon Hill each made two foul shots in the final seconds to clinch the game for the Pacers.We are learning to finish games with this group, Hibbert said. Last year with Paul (George) and Lance (Stephenson) and those guys, we knew how to win, how to finish out games. Wed been through it all together.Reserve forward Luis Scola scored 16 points on a variety of crafty moves when Indianas offence bogged down.Miles, who played his first seven seasons in Utah, had 11 of his 13 points in the first half when the Pacers raced to a big lead.The Jazz began the fourth quarter with a 12-4 run that brought Utah to 78-74. The run was capped by an emphatic dunk by Booker that brought the crowd to its feet.But Donald Sloan answered with a 3-pointer, Scola made two free throws and Solomon Hill converted a three-point play to lift the Pacers, winners of six of nine, right back into a double-digit lead.Hibbert had 29 points the first time these teams met on Nov. 10 and has 52 points and 26 rebounds in the first three games of Indianas four-game road trip.The Pacers led by as many as 19 in the first half before Jazz started closing the gap.TIP-INSPacers: Rodney Stuckey left the court with a sore right groin just 4 minutes into the game but returned to score 13 points in 20 minutes. ... George Hill did not dress for the Pacers for the third straight game due to a left groin strain. ... Hibbert pushed Gobert and pointed at him after a foul call in the second quarter and both were assessed technical fouls.Jazz: Elijah Millsap just signed a 10-day contract Monday but appeared in the first quarter. His first shot was an air ball but he scored his first NBA basket shortly thereafter. ... Jazz missed their first nine 3-point attempts. ... The Jazz have now dropped four straight to the Pacers.JUST STARTING OUTDante Exum, the No. 5 overall pick of last summers NBA Draft, made his first start and tied his career-high of 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting. Fellow rookie Ingles made his second start and second-year player Gobert made his fourth. Gobert is so athletic. He is so much better than I was my second year, Hibbert said.FREE THROWS ARE FREEThe Pacers made 28 of 30 free throw attempts. We were able to get to the free throw line and knock down some big free throws and that was the difference, Hill said.UP NEXTPacers: At Golden State on Wednesday.Jazz: At Chicago on Wednesday. Nike Air Max Shoes Online . Richard Jefferson scored 17 points and Diante Garrett had a career-high 15 points as the Jazz had seven players with 10 points or more in Utahs largest margin of victory this season. Wholesale Nike Air Max Shoes . Sopoaga hit the upright with his first shot at goal from 15 metres. He then kicked nine goals in succession -- two conversions and seven penalties -- before being replaced in the 62nd minute, three points short of the Highlanders record for most points in a match. http://www.cheapairmaxshoes.com/ . The Brazilian-born strikers brace drew him level with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as the leagues leading scorers with 17 goals apiece through 16 rounds. "The important thing is to help the team win, not the goals," Diego Costa said. After a first half dominated by defence, Atletico pressed Valencia into its area and Diego Costa did the rest.CHICAGO - The young man with broad shoulders and a bright smile leans back, relaxed in his chair, and crosses his muscular arms, because young men like him, with broad shoulders and bright smiles dont have much to worry about. Theyre big enough for every moment. The world and its opportunities should belong to him: Hes 23, 6-foot-6, and a recent graduate of Iowa State — and oh, this Brampton boy is headline news in Des Moines, Iowa. And if this was Des Moines, and the young man was sitting inside the Hilton Coliseum - where the Iowa State Cyclones play - hed be affectionately crushed by so many wearing so much cardinal and yellow, because they know him. Hes Melvin Ejim: No one has played more basketball games for Iowa State (135). Few Cyclones have ever been as successful on a basketball court (12th in scoring with 1,643 points). But this isnt Des Moines, this is a big gymnasium on Chicagos west side. Its the second day of the NBA combine and in this large gym are plenty other large, young men with huge reputations from other corners of America. And they want to steal Melvins dream. Because in front of NBA general managers and scouts there are no pep bands to proclaim Ejims college achievements; all he has are his broad shoulders and a basketball - his tools to answer the crucial question: Who is Melvin Ejim? But dont they not know him already? "I dont think they knew as much about me," Ejim says, and his smile turns into a sneer. "If anything, people knew about me more in the Big 12 (NCAA conference), and everybody appreciated what I did, but it was still kind of downplayed. "But I think once I got the Big 12 Player of the Year, and I beat out Andrew Wiggins - who is a phenomenal player - people started to realize: Wait, Wiggins was in that league? Marcus Smart was in that league? Joel Embiid was in that league? And THIS guy got the Big 12 Player of the Year? It solidified for people: Well he might actually be pretty good, but it still left some doubt in people." Doubt? What kind of doubt? There was Ejim on Day 1, fluttering along the true NBA 3-point line, hitting more shots from distance than any other prospect. Then on Day 2 hes screaming on the court, communicating, waving his arms, exploding from one end to the other, making himself too loud and too energetic to be forgotten. Meanwhile, his fellow high-ranked Canadians, Tyler Ennis and Nik Stauskas, decided to participate in only selective drills. And Wiggins, Embiid, and Jabari Parker, the provisional Top three prospects ahead of June 26s NBA draft, decided to skip the event entirely. Doubt? There cant be any doubt of Melvin Ejims passion and potential. Does he really have to sell himself so hard to get drafted? "I think he does," says Matt Kamalsky, director of operations for the college prospect website DraftExpress. "When you look at guys getting drafted who are significantly older than their class, its very rare for guys over 23/24-years old to get picked at all, let a lone make a team, and then be successful at all in the NBA. "But just because it hasnt happened doesnt me it wont work for him." Its not a unique perspective: Too old and too small are ubiquitous descriptions of Ejims flaws in most scouting reports. He spent four years at Iowa State, while Wiggins, Ennis and Stauskass immediate talent created immediate hype. The highest Ejim is projected to be selected is somewhere in the mid-to-late second round. After the Top 30 draft picks, however, there are little-to-no guaranteed contracts. But criticism and long odds wont blunt Ejims smile. Defiance somehow makes it brighter. "People say Im too old, because on the paper it says Im 23 and the other guy is 22 and were born in the same year— its silly," Ejim says. "They say stay in college for four years, and I wasnt going to get any younger by staying. Its part of the process. "The undersized thing, Ive been hearing that from Day 1. That has kind of been overplayed now. Theyre saying Im undersized because they have to, because there is nothing else to say. Nike Air Max Shoes China. . Can you say I cant shoot well enough because I think I proved that [on Day 1 of the combine]. What are they going to say? That I didnt do well enough on the perimeter? Thats what they do here, they criticize—they want to evaluate." And Ejim wants to be evaluated. He wants to be poked and prodded and tested, again and again. He graduated with a history major and business minor, and in the future he wants to go to law school. But thats tomorrow. Today, he measures his growth with every shot he attempts, and every defensive challenge. He can feel himself growing into an NBA player. "A lot of people dont think I can shoot from the perimeter, and a lot of people dont think I can defend the perimeter," he says. "Im just trying to prove them wrong, and I think that is just the first step. Letting them know I can be a knockdown shooter. I can space the floor. I did it in college and being able to translate that to the (NBA) 3-point line — just showing people that I have the capability to do that, the capability to play on the perimeter as a [small forward] and it was gratifying." "Just listening to him talk its very obvious - and its not with all these guys - he knows what he needs to do in order to put himself in the best position to get drafted," Kamalsky says. "Guys dont have that kind of degree of self-awareness and maybe that maturity is a positive." And maturity, and perspective are Ejims greatest strengths. He came to the combine not just to show, but to tell. He wonders: Why would a general manager just obsess over a freakish, young talent that needs constant work? When here he is, learning, adapting, and thriving. Ejim remembers those early, early mornings - sometimes 6 am - walking or biking or busing to the Brampton or Mississauga YMCA. Sometimes hed have to bring his brothers health card and pretend to be someone else, because money was too tight for a membership, and one person can only have so many guest passes. And most of the time young Melvin wouldnt even get on the court; hed be off to side with a ball, watching his uncle and his uncles friend play, listening whenever he was told to: "Melvin, work on your handles." And he grew bigger and stronger and better, but he was still often an inch or inch and a half shorter than many others. So he worked and worked, from Amateur Athletic Union basketball to the NCAA. He counts his uncle, David, AAU coach Mike George (now his agent) and Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, as part of his inner circle because they ingrained in him the everlasting directive; and if you listen to older, wiser Melvin long enough the mantra hits you like his smile: "I still think I can do a better job of being a better player. Solidify in peoples mind that Im a player, that Im good, that Im good enough." Those ranked higher than Ejim completely agree. "Ive worked out with him," says Ennis, projected to be selected in the Top 20. "I think he really shoots the ball better than people expect. At Iowa State he was playing more (small forward), going forward I think he has the ability to dribble the ball well enough to move to the wing." "We (Michigan) played Iowa State this year - Melvins a beast," says Stauskas, also potentially a Top-20 pick. "Hes a little bit undersized. Hes a guy I feel is going to go to workouts and really impress some people." Only when asked about workouts and meetings with NBA teams does Ejim become skittish. Dig deep enough and he reveals a meeting with the Utah Jazz next week, and then maybe three or four other teams after that. But each session is like a little secret, meant only for him. "My dream is to play in the NBA, to be a contributing part of a NBA team and continue to work, and be a solid player - the best player I can be. However I get there, time will tell." Maybe its why hes smiling: This is Melvin Ejims moment, after all. His big shoulders can bear it. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '