Rajon Rondo is the NBA Basketball assist leader as well as being a Point Guard.  Recently he turned into a lead scorer when the Boston Celtics managed to get a win of 91-80 against Orlando Magic. These are great rivals within the Eastern Conference and the game had just the right amount of tension to capture the interest of the viewers. Rondo was responsible for eleven of the twenty six points in the third quarter. They completely tool control and received their second win over the rival team. This was the third and final meeting in order to tally the scores.
A high energy basketball game
The key to success in this game was controlled aggression. The players could not afford to hold back and hope that the other side would make a mistake. Instead they had to take their chances. At the same time too much aggression could have led to unforced errors. In this instance they got the balance right and they were able to win the game.  In the first half the team seemed to be at loss as to where to go. They had plenty of technical fouls but credit has to be given to them for holding their composure amidst all the challenges.  During the game the Boston reserve Marquis Daniels developed a neck injury. He had to be taken off court on a stretcher. Even that incident could not take away from the drama of the game.
In fact it would seem that the injury helped Boston to catch up. In the case of Dwight Howard, there were twenty eight points scored. He also had thirteen rebounds. The visitors then fell behind by 15 points during the 3rd quarter. This was the third loss in four games and they will really need to get their act together for the rest of the NBA Basketball season. The two teams have met before and there was a testy atmosphere on the pitch. Howard had a technical foul in the first half after throwing an elbow in the direction of Kendrick Perkins.
Paul Pierce was a good score with eighteen points. Kevin Garnet had sixteen points and 9 rebounds. The game was a battle of wills and technique. Each team pretty much tried to be aggressive while not giving away free points on technical fouls. For the fans, the games with fewer errors are the ones that are most enjoyable.

It has been reported that Jerry Sloan will be stretching his tenure as head coach. At the moment he holds the record in all major professional sports within the North American region. Having had 24 years in this business, one can only admire the tenacity with which he has pursued his goals. He signed a contract to remain with the Utah Jazz. This happened throughout the season and he is likely to be their head coach.
Age is just a number in NBA Basketball
At sixty nine years of age, Sloan is still going strong. His agreement in principle with the Utah Jazz was signed in 2011. On the general front of the game, there were about two hundred and forty five coaching changes. These changes included interim hires but Sloan has been going strong since taking over from Frank Layden in December 1988. His record is 1220-802. He is the only coach in NBA Basketball history to register one thousand wins during tenure within a single franchise. He has led Utah Jazz to a record of 30-22 in this season. They are the seventh best in the Western Conference.
Why is such longevity rare in NBA Basketball? The culture of transfers and big money has meant that there is really little incentive for managers and coaches to show team loyalty. They are called upon to look for the best possible deals and then attack to the teams that offer those deals. The notions of customer loyalty are almost always thrown out of the window. There are various methodologies through which coaches are paid but the single most important factor is that money is increasing. Wages and expenses can attract any coach from a team even where they have spent years building up that team.
The other consideration is the effectiveness of the coach. If you have an effective team leader such as Sloan, there is no reason to look for other coaches. It can turn out to be a game of trial and error. Therefore the best course of action is to follow through with the coaches that are well respected in NBA Basketball. This reputation might be the reason why Sloan has been able to last that long on a single team. Of course if the team started to lose too many games, then the circumstances would be reviewed. The coach is as good as their last win.

The draw in horse racing can and does have a huge impact on the outcome of races. This is especially the case with sprint events of 5f up to and including a mile. But the draw on 6f and 7f races where the race also incorporates a bend leading into the home straight can and does impart certain advantages and disadvantages to certain horses. To better highlight what I am talking about here then an analogy with athletics will show what I mean. If you can imagine for a minute how athletics sprint events turn out then you will start to see what I am talking about here.

If you have ever watched sprint events then you will be aware of how important the draw actually is. Even in straight sprints like in the 100m then the draw can have a big affect. Historically in 100m sprint events, the best lanes to be drawn in have been lanes 3 through 6. There are numerous reasons for this but the main one is to do with the athletes in these lanes being able to see what is going off around them. The draw also has a huge impact on the overall result in events like the 200m and 400m as well.

In these races then the bends start to come into effect and lanes 1,2,7 and 8 are bad lanes to be drawn in a similar way to the 100m. This is very similar to horse racing. A horse that gets into a bad position in a 6f race does not have an awful lot of time to extract itself from the situation. This is where jockey tactics can and do have a huge impact. For instance the favourite may be drawn badly and getting a bad draw can often lead to being in a bad position for several furlongs.

But you can be rest assured that the other jockeys in the race will certainly not make it easy on the favourite in these instances. This is not collusion by the other jockeys against the favourite or cheating in any way shape or form. It is simply acceptable racing tactics. Other jockeys will instinctively know when a favourite is placed badly and will do everything in their power to make life as difficult as possible for the favourite.

So this is yet another reason as to why the draw is so important in sprint events in horse racing. The effect of the draw has different impacts on various courses depending on the severity of the particular course. As a rule the effect of the draw is often factored into the odds before the race begins. But it is often worth doing some homework about the effect of the draw before you place a bet in sprint events as you really do not want to be handicapping yourself before the race even starts. Many favourites have been beaten down the years simply because they were drawn badly.