teams, there are many questions to be answered.At United: Will the

SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs turned to their most tenured veteran to fight off the youthful energy of the Boston Celtics.Tony Parker had 16 points, including 10 in the final period, and the Spurs played their second consecutive solid home game in beating the Celtics 108-101 on Wednesday night.Tony made it a point that he wanted to finish the game out, Boston guard Avery Bradley said. You could tell. You could see it in his eyes, you could see it in his play. Every time he got the ball he was aggressive. He was either making a play for himself or making a play for his teammates.After entering the NBA as an 18-year-old rookie in 2001, Parker is now in his 16th season, all with the Spurs. The 34-year-old point guard has slowed, but he showed flashes of his old self against the Celtics.Parker was 8 for 15 from the field, including a turn-back-the-clock, teardrop floater in the first quarter over a hard-charging Amir Johnson after crossing over Marcus Smart. Parker also hit an 18-foot fall-away jumper off his left heel that gave San Antonio a 96-85 lead.It was just one of those situations, Parker said. It was kind of like they were coming back, and (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) is the boss, I just try to do whatever he wants. Just put me in that situation. Im just happy they went in.Parkers second straight game in double figures backed up Kawhi Leonards 26 points.Pau Gasol added 17 points and 13 rebounds for San Antonio, which has won three straight at the AT&T Center after dropping three of its first four at home. The Spurs (20-5) are 7-4 at home after matching an NBA record with a 40-1 mark last season.I thought the ball movement was a little more aggressive tonight, Popovich said. We communicated pretty well defensively. The ball moved. The ball moved better than it has at home all year.After collecting a season-high 38 assists in Saturdays home win over Brooklyn, the Spurs had 33 assists on 44 field goals against the Celtics while shooting 55 percent from the field.Its too early to say that weve turned the corner, but its a good sign, said Manu Ginobili, who is in his 15th season with the Spurs.Ginobili finished with 12 points and four assists.Boston was without injured leading scorer Isaiah Thomas. San Antonio rested starting power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, and both teams showed off their depth.David Lee, who started in place of Aldridge, had eight points and 10 rebounds.Bradley had 25 points and 10 assists for the Celtics, and Boston got 34 points from its bench.The Celtics outscored San Antonio 18-4 to pull to 74-73 with a minute left in the third quarter, but San Antonio came out on top in a game of big runs to win its 11th straight over Boston.They are tremendous at maximizing every detail of the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. We have had our moments where we play really well, but were not as good as them at that.TIP-INSCeltics: Gerald Green was a late scratch after tweaking his left hip Tuesday in practice while playing 1-on-1. Greens status changed when he experienced soreness in the hip Wednesday morning. He went through all the practice, felt pretty good, didnt feel good this morning, Stevens said. ... Boston is 3-7 against the Western Conference this season, including 1-4 against the Southwest Division. ... Smart started his ninth game, including his third at point guard in place of Thomas. The Celtics are 4-5 with Smart starting at small forward or shooting guard.Spurs: Aldridge was rested for the second time this season, initially sitting out Oct. 30 in a 94-87 win at Dallas. Hes a little banged up, Popovich explained. A little back-to-back, a little bit of rest, a little bit of everything. ... Aldridge, Parker, Gasol and Ginobili have missed a combined eight games for rest this season. Ginobili has sat out three times. ... Lee is the 88th player in NBA history with 10,000 career points and 7,000 rebounds. ... San Antonio is 11-2 against Eastern Conference teams.DUNKING DUNCANSan Antonio will retire Tim Duncans jersey during a postgame ceremony Sunday, but Parker is already feeling nostalgic about his longtime teammate.After teaming with Dewayne Dedmon on an alley-oop, Parker couldnt help but recall all the times he did the same with Duncan. Or maybe Parker was getting an early dig in at Duncan.The last time I had a guy who could jump like that was Tim Duncan for the lobs. Weve been missing that, Parker said, attempting to stifle a laugh about Duncans lack of leaping ability. Missing the Timmy lobs, Dewayne is fulfilling the job.LOOKS GOODStevens expects Thomas to play Friday at home against Charlotte.I have not spoken to him directly, but via others and text, he feels really good and the goal is to play Friday, Stevens said.The 5-foot-9 guard has missed four straight games with a strained left groin he initially injured Dec. 5 at Houston. Boston is 1/3 without Thomas.UP NEXTMavericks: Host Charlotte on Friday.Spurs: At Phoenix on Thursday. Authentic Jerseys 2020 . Varlamov made 33 saves and Ryan OReilly had a goal and scored in the shootout as the Avalanche beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 on Thursday night. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. https://www.cheapjerseysfromchinareview.com/ . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Wholesale Jerseys China . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Wholesale Authentic Jerseys . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. MANCHESTER, England -- Theyve hired the two most coveted coaches in world football. Their spending on new players this offseason has almost reached the $400-million barrier. Their stated aim is to win the English Premier League.Make no mistake: The Manchester clubs mean business.It was clearly an affront to United and City that they ended up fighting it out for fourth place in the Premier League last season. Standards slipped, rivals stole a march, a big reaction was needed.So United hired Jose Mourinho as coach, made a statement signing in Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and has just broken the world-record transfer fee to lure France midfielder Paul Pogba for around 105 million euros ($116 million). Forget being satisfied just making the top four: Mourinho, a win-at-all-costs coach, is demanding the title.I want to win, Mourinho said on being hired. I think we can really, yes.By the time Mourinho was confirmed at United in May, City had already secured the signature of Pep Guardiola. It renews a coaching rivalry in Spain that sparked and occasionally got nasty when Mourinho was in charge of Real Madrid and Guardiola at Barcelona.And Guardiola has set about bringing more youth, pace and intensity into Citys squad by signing seven players -- including Leroy Sane, Nolito, teenage Brazilian prodigy Gabriel Jesus, Ilkay Gundogan and most recently John Stones -- for around $200 million.This is the biggest test of Guardiolas coaching career after his trophy-laden spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.Our objective, City chief executive Ferran Soriano said, is to get to the end of the season with chances to win everything.For the hotbed not just of English football but the world game, look no further than Manchester.In 2012, City and United were the central figures in the most exciting end ever to a Premier League season, with the blue half winning the title on goal difference. They also finished as the top two teams the following season, this time United winning the league.Since then, United hasnt finished higher than fourth place in a post-Alex Ferguson era characteerized by questionable managerial appointments and haphazard player recruitment.dddddddddddd City has won the league once more (in 2014), which is widely considered a poor return given the wealth and players at the disposal of a club owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family.Mourinho and Guardiola will shake things up. They have each captured 22 major trophies and have coached the biggest names in the sport. They have an intense work ethic and are among the most ruthless managers around. They are winners, pure and simple.Its no wonder, then, that theres often fireworks when they meet. For the moment, theres a truce -- at his official presentation at City, Guardiola said Mourinho had helped him reach another level as a coach -- but there will be as much focus on the dugouts and technical area as on the field during the first Manchester derby of the season on Sept. 10 at Old Trafford.As for their new teams, there are many questions to be answered.At United: Will the one-paced strike partnership of Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney be a success? Will Pogba be weighed down by the record price tag? How long will it take for Mourinho to change United players mindset from the Louis van Gaal era?At City: Can Guardiola adapt to the grueling, competitive nature of the Premier League where almost every win is hard-fought? Does the team still rely too much on injury-prone stars Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany? What role does Yaya Toure have under Guardiola, the man who sold him at Barcelona? Is Citys defense good enough to win the league, even after the purchase of the highly-rated Stones?At least one of these two superpowers will come up short in the Premier League this season. Maybe even both, considering Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and even Liverpool are live contenders for the title, not forgetting defending champion Leicester.Reputations are on the line, but United and City couldnt have done much more to get their teams in the right shape for the new season. ' ' '