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LOS ANGELES -- Consistent and timely perimeter shooting by Blake Griffin and Jared Dudley, along with a season-high 36 assists, helped the Los Angeles Clippers to a satisfying start to 2014 following their most lopsided defeat of the season. Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. Every time I see him shoot it, I think its going in, so were going to keep feeding him like that," Clippers point guard Chris Paul said. "Its all about confidence. We also have the utmost confidence in Blake. He works so hard, and it was great to see it all come together for him tonight. That was unreal. They didnt know what to do." Dudley faced his second former team in two games, making seven of 10 shots against the club that selected him with their first pick in 2007 and traded him to Phoenix after one season. He had nine points against the Suns on Monday in the Clippers 107-88 loss. "For me, to see the ball go in once or twice, it breeds confidence," said Dudley, who came in shooting a career-worst 44 per cent from the field. "Ive just got to be aggressive, and obviously make shots. I know when I play well, our team usually plays well. When you move the ball from side to side, it opens things up more. Sometimes when I do score, it just gives the other guys the confidence to do other things. But when Im not shooting the ball well, I have to do all the little things." Paul had 17 points and 14 assists, helping the Clippers beat the Bobcats for the sixth straight time and send them to their 17th straight road loss against Western Conference opponents. "We had 36 assists tonight, and you could see what we worked on yesterday at practice with ball movement," coach Doc Rivers said. "It was quick. The ball was flying around the floor, and that makes us really good. It makes it harder to guard Chris and Blake because you cant key on those guys. I think we got away from that a little bit, so its good that that came back tonight." Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker each scored 14 points for the Bobcats, whose previous six losses all were decided by five points or fewer. "Those guys played really well," Walker said. "They picked up their defence, made us take tough shots, and we werent able to make them. On the offensive end, they moved the ball really well, shared the ball and made shots. We just couldnt get over the hump in the second half." Dudley jump-started the Clippers in the third quarter with a 3-pointer and a 22-footer, and they pulled away to a 75-62 lead on DeAndre Jordans tip-in with 6:19 left in the third quarter. Dudley opened the fourth with another 3 to give Los Angeles an 84-69 cushion. But as hot as he was at the time, Dudley passed up a 3-point shot and drove the lane before dishing off to Ryan Hollins for a layup that resulted in a three-point play and an 87-71 advantage with 10:05 left. Griffin, who began the final quarter on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 5.2 seconds left in the third, reported back in with 7:56 remaining and made four perimeter jumpers during a 1:33 span -- the first two from 21 feet and the next two from 18 feet -- to give the Clippers a 97-78 cushion with 5:32 left. "You never want to give anybody anything, especially a very good player like him. But thats the toughest shot in the NBA -- the long 2," Bobcats forward Josh McRoberts said. "Defensively, maybe we could have done a bit better job." For good measure, Griffin added his seventh 3-pointer of the season with 1:50 on the clock for a 102-83 lead. The Bobcats didnt make a field goal after Jeffersons 16-footer with 4:04 remaining. Charlotte shot 38.2 per cent from the field, making the Clippers 40-1 since the start of last season when holding an opponent under 42 per cent. "It was all about our defence and energy, and moving the ball," Paul said. "We had a great practice yesterday where we competed and just talked about moving the ball. We did tonight, and things came a little bit easier." Paul had 17 points and seven assists during a seesaw first half that included 18 lead changes, and both teams shot over 50 per cent before leaving the court at intermission tied at 56. Neither club led by more than four points until Chris Douglas-Roberts converted an offensive rebound into a layup to give the Bobcats a 43-37 margin with 6:41 left in the second quarter. The Bobcats came in having allowed the second-fewest points in the paint (35.8) and second-fewest fast-break points (9.9). The Clippers ended up with 38 and 15, respectively, after averaging 40.2 and 16.3 in both categories. NOTES: The Clippers are 4-2 on New Years Day since the franchise relocated to Los Angeles in 1984-85, and 6-5 including the years in Buffalo and San Diego. ... Charlottes Steve Clifford is one of nine rookie coaches in the NBA this season. The only ones with a winning record are Phoenixs Jeff Hornacek and Atlantas Mike Budenholzer. ... Griffin has committed 43 turnovers in his last 12 games, including a career-worst eight last Saturday against Utah. ... Walker has scored in double figures in 22 straight games, the longest such streak of his career. ... Charlotte came in having allowed an average of 93.8 points, third-lowest in the league. Last season the Bobcats had the second-most porous defence, giving up 102.7 per game. ... The Bobcats have gotten double-digit scoring from both Walker and Jefferson in each of the last 20 games. The club record for a tandem is 28 games, by Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace in 2007-08. Terry Porter Jersey .Connor Graham, Alex Lintuniemi and Sam Studnicka also scored for Ottawa (11-8-2). Liam Herbst made 21 saves for the win.Brendan Lemieux had both of Barries (10-10-2) goals. Brandon Roy Blazers Jersey . Masahiro Tanaka has touched down in the United States and the courting of the Rakuten Golden Eagles stud pitcher has begun in earnest by a bevy of MLB teams interested in the Japanese ace. http://www.blazersteamofficial.com/Gary-...Blazers-Jersey/. Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. Lakers, spoke as a representative of current NBA players at a press conference assembled by Sacramento mayor and National Basketball Players Association adviser Kevin Johnson. Clyde Drexler Jersey . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. Bill Walton Jersey .J. -- New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is going to start the off-season training program with a surgically repaired left ankle.LONDON -- For English football, it has long seemed unthinkable: a league season starting without the finger-jabbing, combative colossus of management on the touchlines. Alex Ferguson will be a bystander for the first time since 1986, watching from afar as Manchester United starts its pursuit of a record-extending 21st English title. David Moyes now carries that responsibility. Widely admired during 11 years at Everton despite failing to collect a major honour, Moyes was hand-picked by Ferguson in the biggest decision -- gamble, perhaps -- taken by the owning Glazer family. "People are asking whether we can win the trophy again. Can we still be champions?" captain Nemanja Vidic acknowledged. Although he openly flirted with United in the months before Fergusons retirement was publicly disclosed, Jose Mourinho -- one of the most talented but temperamental managers of his generation -- wasnt approached for the job. The charismatic Portuguese is back in the Premier League, though, after six years collecting trophies with Inter Milan and Real Madrid. Claiming to have mellowed since leaving Chelsea after a fall-out, Mourinho is widely expected to return to his combustible self once the season begins and produce the touchline tantrums Ferguson can no longer provide. Just a week into the season, the 50-year-old managers will get a chance to size each other up in a match that could set the tone for the opening weeks, with United hosting Chelsea. "That game will not decide who is going to be champions," Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said. "But it will decide a lot of things about the confidence." By then, the Blues may have gained an edge by having played an extra game. United will only have played once -- its title defence begins Saturday at Swansea, following last weekends 2-0 win over Wigan in the Community Shield. Ill-feeling between the sides has been inflamed by Chelseas hostile pursuit of United striker Wayne Rooney. Mourinho insists hes not engaging in "mind games" with Moyes, but has still offered a few pointed words of advice. "One of the most difficult things in the club is to create a victory culture, where you walk through the door and you smell the success, you smell confidence, you smell self-esteem," said Mourinho, who has won league titles in England, Spain, Italy and Portugal. "David is in a big club and that is a big help -- everybody knows how to win. Of course, it is up to him now." And he knows just how daunting the task is. "There has to be an element of fear that comes with managing a club like Manchester United," Moyes said. With the spotlight on Mourinho and Moyes, Manuel Pellegrini has been able to make a quiet start to his first job in English management. The 59-year-old Chilean left Malaga for Manchester City after Roberto Mancini was fired for failing to follow up the 2011-12 Premier League title with a single trophy last season, finishing 11 points behind United in second. Talk of dressing room disharmony has melted away as Pellegrini started to re-shape the squad, spending more than $130 million on strikers Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo, midfielder Fernandinho and winger Jesus Navas. Such a lavish outlay was easily affordable for the oil-rich AAbu Dhabi ownership, but the spending could pose a challenge in complying with UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, a requirement of playing in the Champions League.dddddddddddd By contrast, United failed in its pursuit of Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas, and even more ambitious thoughts of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford from Madrid. Chelsea might have missed out on Rooney, but around $40 million has still been spent on signing striker Andre Schuerrle and midfielder Marco van Ginkel. As for Arsenal, which finished behind Chelsea in fourth, not a penny has been spent. Thats despite chief executive Ivan Gazidis raising the hopes of fans in June by pledging to "escalate" spending. Moves to entice Luis Suarez from Liverpool for more than $60 million have been rebuffed by Liverpool, which is insisting that the Uruguay striker honour his contract after the club backed him through racism and biting controversies. The Gunners have seen north London rival Tottenham invest $65 million in the squad, although manager Andre Villa-Boas could still be faced with losing arguably the leagues most potent player in Gareth Bale before the transfer window closes Sept. 2. Real Madrids pursuit of the Wales forward threatens to destabilize Tottenham in the opening weeks of the season unless quickly resolved. Bale would be leaving a Premier League that will feature two Welsh teams for the first time after Cardiff gained promotion to join Swansea, which will find it hard to repeat last seasons 11th-place finish and League Cup success. The Cardiff-Swansea derby is shaping up to be one of the fieriest fixtures of the season. The manager to watch out for, though, will be Paolo Di Canio, the confrontational and divisive Italian who succeeded in keeping Sunderland in the top flight after being hired in the closing stages of the season. Sunderland is one of the six Premier League clubs under American ownership. Alongside Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa, Fulham is the latest, with Shad Khan buying out Mohamed Al Fayed last month. The attraction of teams to foreign businessmen is underscored by the new riches being injected into the Premier League, notably from the United States, where NBC has captured the TV rights and covered New York subway trains with its advertising. New rights TV deals will generate around $8.5 billion over the next three years, with a record share of $90 million per season guaranteed for even the bottom team -- and it is newcomers Crystal Palace, Cardiff and Hull who are tipped to go straight back down. Another landmark, highlighting the global allure, will be when Southamptons Victor Wanyama becomes the first player in the Premier League from Kenya, making the African nation the 100th country from outside Britain to be represented in a game. Yet for all the new arrivals and the dramas that unfold in the 20 grounds in the coming months, the absence of one man is still likely to be felt most. Moyes job is to ensure United fans dont hanker after the 71-year-old Ferguson and plead for his return. "It has to be a new era," Moyes said. "My job now is to make my history ... make sure now that my history and my time is something which the fans and people in the future talk about." ' ' '