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NEW ORLEANS -- Tyreke Evans sore right knee -- and long-term contract -- gave him every reason to sit out the final two games of a losing season with the Pelicans. Yet even as coaches and trainers encouraged him to rest, Evans was having none of it. Instead, he played some of his most relentless, productive and crowd-pleasing basketball of the season. He capped it off with 25 points and 10 assists on Wednesday night, and New Orleans closed out a difficult, injury riddled season with a 105-100 victory over the playoff-bound Houston Rockets. "I just want to have fun, man," Evans said. "It was my last game this year. ... I was hurt. I could have easily sat out, taken the back seat, but coach talked to us about finishing strong and thats what I wanted to do." Two nights earlier, Evans scored a career-high 41 points in a stunning victory over Oklahoma City. Against Houston, he enlivened the crowd with end-to-end drives, high razzle-dazzle dribbles and an array of midair contortions in order to get off shots in traffic near the basket. "He drove me crazy with some of his uh-oh plays, but these last two games, I hope he gets player of the week," coach Monty Williams said. "We needed these two games to go into the summer. He stepped up big-time and carried the team." The Rockets, who had already locked up the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, rested James Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin. Still, the game was competitive as a number of role players sought to make the most of extended action. Troy Daniels, a rookie guard out of VCU whod scored only 20 points in 31 minutes all season, hit 6 3s and finished with a career-high 22 points. "I was ready to get out there," Daniels said. "It shows the coach has a lot of faith in me. Obviously I have a lot of work to do and a lot of progress to make, but it was a good start for me to get my confidence up." Evans gave New Orleans the lead for good with a driving layup with 2:35 left, then sealed it with a powerful move in which he wedged his way between Jordan Hamilton and Josh Powell for a running, right-handed hook from the lane. "It wasnt just about, We aint making the playoffs; lets pack it up," said guard Anthony Morrow, nodding at Evans. "When a guy who signs a long-term deal still plays the last two games of the season the way he did, it says a lot about him." Austin Rivers added 18 points and Morrow 15 for the Pelicans, who shot 52.4 per cent. Neither team led by more than single digits. New Orleans had the largest lead at 90-81, but Houston responded with a late 11-4 run that included 3s by Hamilton and Daniels, then took a brief 100-99 lead when Hamilton stole the ball and converted a fast-break lay-in with 2:51 left. Regular Houston starters Terrence Jones, who had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Patrick Beverly, who had 14 points, also played as if it mattered. Hamilton hit four 3s on his way to 14 points and Donatas Motiejunas had 11 points and 10 rebounds. "We werent going to change in the standings, so we played a bunch of guys that we hadnt played before," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Its time to get some guys comfortable." Dwight Howard was among a minority of players who looked like as if he was merely going through the motions. He was 1 of 5 shooting, including a missed 3 after which he allowed a smirk, and grabbed four rebounds while turning the ball over three times. But Howard had more important things to think about with the fourth-seeded Rockets, who won 54 games this season, starting a playoff series against Portland on Sunday. Notes: After missing the past two games with a left ankle injury, Pelicans guard Brian Roberts played 4 minutes, long enough to make three free throws. That got him to 125 made foul shots this season, qualifying him for the official NBA lead in free throw shooting percentage at 93.9 per cent. "To have that, thats something thats special and something Ill never forget," Roberts said. ... Pelicans rookie C Jeff Withey tied a career high with five blocks. ... The loss was Houstons first against the Pelicans in four meetings this season. Fake Jerseys Online . Although Olivetti, a qualifier, had 13 aces, he failed to force a single break-point chance on Gasquets serve and lost his own three times. Gasquet next plays third-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, who won had 18 aces in a 6-2, 6-4 win against seventh-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France. Fake Jerseys Free Shipping . Ghoulam has put pen to paper on a four and a half year deal, tying him to Napoli until 2018. The 22-year-old Algeria international, who played for France at Under 21 level, has made 87 league appearances in four seasons at Saint-Etienne. https://www.fakejersey.com/ . -- Jane Kish stopped all 25 shots she faced as the Weyburn Gold Wings blanked the Sudbury Lady Wolves 3-0 on Friday to advance to the gold-medal game at the Esso Cup. Fake Jerseys 2019 . LaQuinton Ross scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, hitting his first four 3-pointers, to send No. Fake Jerseys . The appointment of Boullier continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring at McLaren, who recently brought back former team principal Ron Dennis as its new chief executive.CLEVELAND - For LeBron James, the journey begins anew.Right back where it began.Clevelands been waiting.Nearly four months since proclaiming Im coming home and shifting the NBAs balance of power, James will play Thursday night in front of family, friends and the Cleveland fans who had their hearts broken when he left four years ago.This is a homecoming like no other.None of us should take this moment for granted, a relaxed James said following Clevelands morning shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena. This is probably one of the biggest sporting events ever. I dont feel it, but I know it is.A crowd of 20,000-plus fans — with some paying as much as $5,000 for a ticket — will be inside the Q, which was updated during the off-season with a gigantic, fire-spewing scoreboard to welcome home James. The Akron native came back to his hoops roots hoping to deliver a title to Cleveland, a city that has known mostly sports misery the past 50 years.When James is introduced after new teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love as Clevelands final starter before the Cavs tip off against the New York Knicks, Cleveland fans will be able to put four painful years without him behind them.This a fresh start for everyone.James, who has won NBA titles and Olympic gold medals, knows this season opener is a little more special.I understand how much I mean to this team to this franchise, to this city and to this state, he said. Its a different feeling, but Im still as calm and excited at the same time because its the first game of the season.In the hours leading up to tip-off, thousands of fans gathered in the streets outside the arena. This was a party four years in the making.Across the street from the Q, a 10-story-tall banner of James was unveiled in the same spot where one hung during his first seven seasons with the Cavs. The spot became a symbol of civic pride until that night in July 2010 when James announced he was leaving for Miami. In the hours after his decision, some angry fans burned his jersey and others hurled rocks at a banner that would be removed a few days later.On Thursday, the new banner — showing James with his arms outstretched wearing a jersey with Cleveland where his name would normally be stitched — drew fans who posed for photos the same way they did when James was here last.ddddddddddddChrissy Pavlik of Wadsworth, Ohio, and her brother, Brad, were among the fans who didnt have a ticket for the game but wanted to be downtown to celebrate.I grew up playing basketball and LeBron was always one of my role models, so when he left I was devastated, crying, throwing fits, she said. To see the banner back, we drove into the city and I was like, Check it out, dude. Its so cool. Were very, very happy.Along East 4th Street, fans wearing James jerseys and broad smiles mixed with patrons lined up to get into overflowing restaurants and bars and a free concert featuring hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar and the rock band Imagine Dragons.As they filed past, Barry Harris, 55, of Cleveland, was filled with pride. A lifelong Clevelander, he had never seen his city acting quite like this.Its amazing, Harris said as his twin brother, Larry, snapped pictures of ESPNs SportsCenter set. Ive been waiting 55 years for this. We got LeBron. We got Johnny (Manziel) Football. We got the Republican National convention coming in two years. We got casinos. Its huge. We deserve this.James planned to take a nap during the afternoon — a pregame ritual for 12 years — and then check his Twitter account. On Wednesday night, he went on the social media site asking fans if he should bring back his signature pregame chalk toss.The 29-year-old said he has considered what the charged atmosphere expected to greet him when he takes the court for the first time.Ive had thoughts of how it might be, how loud it might be, how great it is to be back on this floor, he said.James return has Cleveland fans believing their tortured run of sports misery, which includes a series of close calls with nicknames like The Drive, The Fumble and The Shot, could be over.James is the one to end the curse.Its got to be him, Harris said. Its got to be LeBron. It was his destiny to come back and finish his career off here. No place else. ' ' '