Prior and Kerry Wood.They delivered, and what we instantly come to understand is the necessity of the prior journey. It tastes sweeter after all this time; we now see fine wine in the bottle

LOS ANGELES -- The streaking Clippers are playing with purpose. Even after handling a quality opponent, they hardly sounded satisfied.Chris Paul had 26 points and 12 assists, Blake Griffin also scored 26 and Los Angeles beat the Toronto Raptors 123-115 on Monday night in a matchup of early-season division leaders.We got stops early in the beginning of the second half and got in transition and got buckets, Griffin said. We havent been as good in the last three games in my opinion, but its still great to start out like this.DeAndre Jordan added 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Clippers, who improved the NBAs best record to 13-2 with their 10th victory in 11 games.J.J. Redick scored 20 points as Los Angeles snapped a four-game losing streak to Toronto. Jamal Crawford had 12 and Luc Mbah a Moute chipped in with 10.We still have to be better. There was a lot of turnovers, fouls, and we gave up easy buckets for Toronto down the stretch, Paul said.The Clippers led by 17 in the second half but the Raptors cut the margin to 119-115 on a 3-pointer by Kyle Lowry with less than a minute to play.Redick made four free throws down the stretch to seal it.We scrapped and fought and didnt lay down even after what happened to us last night, Toronto coach Dwane Casey said, referring to a close loss at Sacramento that ended with a disputed call.We got enough offense but until we improve on defense and get stops, we arent going anywhere. It seems like every game we play lately is an offensive slugfest.Lowry led Toronto with 27 points and DeMar DeRozan, averaging 31.4 per game, added 25. Jonas Valanciunas scored 15 for the Raptors.The Clippers outrebounded Toronto 42-32.Blake is doing everything for us. The fact that he can bring the ball up and make decisions gives us another dimension offensively, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said.It was the second time this season Toronto (8-6) dropped both ends of back-to-back games. The Raptors, who played for the fifth time in seven nights, have lost four of five.The teams traded 10-0 runs late in the second quarter. Redicks three free throws with less than a second remaining gave the Clippers a 54-45 lead at halftime.TIP-INSRaptors: Lowry, DeRozan and Jordan were teammates on the 2016 USA Olympic Mens Basketball team that won the gold medal in Rio.Clippers: Entering the game, Los Angeles led the NBA with a plus-13.7 points per game differential over its opponents and was second in the league in scoring defense, giving up 95.4 points per game. ... F Wesley Johnson returned after missing the previous five games with an injured left heel. He played 12 minutes and had three rebounds. ... Jordan shot 9 of 14 on free throws and has made 1,007 in his career.CAMEROON CONNECTIONMbah a Moute and Raptors F Pascal Siakam are two of the three active NBA players from Cameroon. The game marked the first time in league history two players from Cameroon faced each other.CONTROVERSIAL CALLAt the end of Sunday nights Toronto-Sacramento game, Terrence Ross 3-pointer at the buzzer off an inbounds play would have sent the game to overtime, but after a replay review the basket was disallowed and the Raptors lost 102-99. The play was ruled a clock malfunction because the inbounds pass was deflected, and officials said the clock should have started once the ball was touched.I thought it was unfair. I think the game is human error. I dont think you should be able to go over and look at the clock and do that, Rivers said. I thought it was awful. I really do. I know they, meaning the league, came back and said it was the right call, but I still disagree. If they reviewed every play, our games would take 16 hours.Casey wasnt seeking any sympathy.Sometimes bad things happen in life to you. Its how you bounce back after a game like that that counts. There are 29 other teams that dont feel sorry for us, he said.UNMATCHED PRODUCTIONPaul is the only NBA player since 1983-84 with 120 assists, 42 steals and only 28 turnovers in the first 14 games of a season.UP NEXTRaptors: Toronto continues a five-game road trip, its second-longest of the season, on Wednesday at Houston. The Raptors are winless in their last nine visits to Houston.Clippers: Los Angeles embarks on a six-game road trip with its first stop in Dallas on Wednesday. The Clippers are 6-0 away from home, the longest road winning streak to start a season in franchise history.Nike Free Shoes Clearance . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. Nike Free Shoes Australia . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead. http://www.nikefreecheapaustralia.com/ . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Nike Free On Sale . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Nike Free Cheap Online . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil.The Cubs have carried a curse that would have made King Tut proud, the byproduct of which is a century-old, dust-filled trophy case that now may be filled with the work of this 2016 team.From spring training on, this team has been the favorite, a strange juxtaposition for an organization that for decades carried a suitcase full of preseason predictions that had it set for dead last. This year, grounded by the calm of manager Joe Maddon, the Cubs embraced history and expectations, fueling a chance to redefine the significance of the organizations dance with futility.I was on one team that flirted with legendary emptiness, when in 1997, we started the season 0-14. After loss No. 5, local Cubs media man Dave Kaplan declared he would eat, sleep and shower in McDonalds until the Cubs won. Nine days of his life were spent in fast food hell. The season was not a complete loss; few noticed that we actually played over-.500 ball the rest of the season. But because the season was over before it barely began, I didnt blame anyone for looking ahead to 1998.I was drafted by the Cubs in 1991, so by the time I arrived to Wrigley Field in 1996, I had ingested some of this ancient toxicity. I was not a lifelong Cubs fan, but my minor league tenure made me more than just a hired gun like I was when I returned in 2003. My first introduction to professional baseball life was through the lens of Cubs culture. The tone is often set by the organization that drafts and signs you. Yet in any organization, no matter what has happened or how bad the current team may be playing, the future is just that: the future, a true opportunity to change the narrative with fresh blood and the optimism of youth.Then it got real. Minor league life, at the lower levels, was light-years away from the big leagues. For a while, I didnt understand the enduring pain, the sciatica of devastating defeat that shot down the legs of Cubs fans. But I did understand well that I could be part of the antidote, by looking toward a future of success, albeit hypothetical, since I was not in a major league uniform at the time. I was developing, not producing, which gave me enough Teflon-coated na?veté to dismiss curses. Especially since I was always nice to goats.Then, when I was put on the major league roster, it became real, palpable. Expectations, history, future, it slaps you in the face when you walk in the major league locker room in spring training for the first time (or as a September call-up). As longtime Cubs front-office man Larry Himes would say, You can see and feel the swagger in these locker rooms, it drips off of players. I walked into spring training and saw my jersey hanging next to Ryne Sandbergs, and no matter what the history, no matter how many Strat-O-Matic baseball games I played with Ryno hitting triples for my team, I was here now, imperatively unaware enough to believe I would write my own future as the decade-long center fielder for my Chicago Cubs. After all, as a minor leaguer with a great passion for baseball history, I looked around the room and saw great players, not a cemetery of the damned. Mark Grace (.300 hitter), Shawon Dunston (rocket arm), Randy Myers (lockdown closer), Sandberg (future Hall of Famer). Everyone was awesome, so why not us? Like any other major league team, we had All-Stars, we had first-rounders, we had guys like the late Jessie Hollins who could light up the radar gun. Who could beat these guys? They were the best I had ever seen in one room.So it was a good thing that I, or any young player, didnt have the burden of the past to cloud what my optimism told me about my future and this organizations future. This is the gift of youth, something the 2016 team has despite its ability to play like veterans. As Theo Epstein shared with me before a game last season, If you can find that balance of superior talent and maturity beyond his years, you have a star and winning player, for a long time. He found it in?Kris Bryant, Anthony Riizzo, Addison Russell, Javier Baez?.dddddddddddd..In 1996, I was called up, a center fielder set to play left field in my debut at Wrigley Field. I was playing a position that was foreign to me to fill a void. A team lesson: Play where you can help this team the most. Bryant?went into 2016 being a super-utility player, not just a third baseman, and he may win MVP because of it. My being out of position did not secure me a long-term future as a Cub because I was a speedy defender who was not going to hit 30 home runs as a corner outfielder. But at least, I was in the lineup.By 1997, I was correct about running into career-development issues, as Cubs GM Ed Lynch would eventually say to me at the end of my .300-hitting first full season. We tried to give the starting job to everyone else but you, and to your credit, you rose above.I would get traded that offseason, interrupting my tenure as a Cub. I learned other team cultures -- the Phillies, the Rangers, even the Yankees in 2004 spring training. All had their own issues and challenges, with various levels of success.By the time I came back in 2003, I had seen a lot; I had experienced different baseball languages and societies. The attention to detail under Buck Showalter in Texas; the lax, full-loving, chill-fest of Terry Francona in Philadelphia; the high-octane, frenetic emotion off the rails under Larry Bowa, also in Philadelphia; the slithering life of the party and confidence-evoking wisdom of Dusty Baker in Chicago; all after Jim Riggleman in Chicago.I was back, but I was a different player, a different person. I had lost my father at the end of 2002; I was down a hamstring tendon from surgery earlier in the year; the evidence was in of what kind of player I was. The future was visible, no longer a dream. Even though it was the same Cubs uniform, 12 years after my first-round draft-pick status from 1991.Yet I had a lot left to play for. Things I didnt understand as a young prospect during my rookie campaign in 1996. Family, my fathers memory, debunking mythology, a second chance at what could have been if I played my entire career as a Cub. Bartman? Curse? No, what we all experience, life and loss, yet still with a chance at rebirth, redemption, honor.My graying in the game forced me to intake more than just the final score of a game. There was too much at stake at that point, and when we lost, I lay motionless in my apartment for 24 hours, trying to reconcile the level of exhaustion with taking the next step into tomorrow. Tired for the city, tired for the organization, tired from sitting on every pitch since I was traded over at the trade deadline in July.Maybe the 2016 Cubs dont know those stories. Player to player. Man to man. And maybe they shouldnt. They have overcome the invisible hurdle that eluded my 2003 team. Closing out a 3-2 lead, playing at home with the rotation set as well as it could be set. Something we could not accomplish behind the elite arms of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.They delivered, and what we instantly come to understand is the necessity of the prior journey. It tastes sweeter after all this time; we now see fine wine in the bottle instead of rat poison adorned with skull and crossbones. It has aged appropriately and better yet, they will celebrate with their teammates and with generations of fans, players and staff who were part of the process that Joe Maddon so often talks about. As Maddon told me when asked if his team were a wine, what kind it would be:A blend. Robust and full-bodied. Complex flavors, well-rounded, with a strong finish.I could never take credit for the success of the 2016 Cubs in any direct sense, but our pain from 2003 has ripened, helping us all reinterpret the events that led to this point. History has been rewritten, or maybe weve just been patient enough to let history become our present. ' ' '