Dein erstes Forum » nts and hasnt won a true road game

NEW YORK -- Its a Sunday morning in Brooklyn, NY and as cars zoom through Atlantic Avenue outside, theres as much if not more commotion inside Barclays Center. At ESL One New York, Counter-Strike fans are preparing for an unexpected semifinal showdown between Commonwealth of Independent States team Natus Vincere (Na`Vi) and North American squad Team Liquid. American flags wave in the crowd as Liquid jerseys are plentiful around the arena -- the last remaining North American team inspires more fanfare than any other squad among the 8,500 spectators in attendance.Liquid hasnt had stellar results recently, save for a second place finish at ESL One Cologne in July, and star Spencer HiKo Martin says hes just happy that they made it out of the Swiss groups and into the semifinals of the event.Semifinals were our goal. If we made semifinals we would be happy, HiKo tells ESPN. If we made it out of groups, it would be a good thing for us. Things went our way, things didnt go our way. Things were stacked against us; [at] every possible chance we had to [play] a worse team or better schedule, we never had the chance. We had to play Fnatic twice. Im happy we made it out of groups.Liquid has struggled to find their footing over the past few months since picking up Jacob Pimp Winneche in place of former star AWPer Oleksandr s1mple Kostyliev, who moved on to Na`Vi. Since the change, Liquid has been off its stride and has floundered repeatedly online, most recently failing to qualify for ELeague Season 2.HiKo says that integrating Pimp has been a challenge and that no longer playing with s1mple has drastically changed their playstyle.With s1mple, the team was about setting s1mple up, making sure he was happy, making sure he had the gun he wanted, and making sure everything was going his way, he explains. Now its more about [Nicholas nitr0 Cannella], [Jonathan EliGE Jablonowski] and [Josh jdm64 Marzano, with] me and Pimp supporting them. The team looks different, it feels different, and were just trying to adapt to it.He also says that unlike its peers OpTic Gaming and Cloud9, Liquid didnt practice during the month of downtime after ELeague Season 1 ended in July. During that break, Pimp was moving to the United States from his home in Denmark, which also affected the teams ability to practice.Not only with us losing s1mple but also with taking a month and a half off, when Pimp was in the transition from moving from Denmark to the US, we all just took time off, had a vacation, and coming back not everyone was really into it, everyone was rusty, no one had really practiced hard during that break, he says. [Were] not using that as an excuse, [its] just taking a little bit of time for us to gather our thoughts and gather our momentum and keep pushing it and moving forward.But despite the obstacles, HiKo seems happy with their team. In April 2015, HiKo had expressed his interest in building a super team with rumored ties to AWPer Tyler Skadoodle Latham, who is now on Cloud9. Although that effort didnt work out, he was the architect for the addition of s1mple, Pimp and AWPer jdm64 to Liquid.I would say [this is what I wanted in a super team], HiKo reflected. What my team looks like moving forward can always change, but for right now, I think Im happy with where were headed, with how our preparations went. We have to be doing something right [since we were the last] American team left in this tournament. Were consistently making it out of groups, making deep runs at these European events or American events with primarily European teams. Theres nothing sad about it, Im happy with it and we will keep moving forward.Now, with the Avengers assembled, HiKo and team will need to get their act together if they want to perform at a high level at the recently announced ELeague major in Atlanta in January. They have Legends status from their second place finish at ESL One Cologne, the previous major, meaning they will not have to go through a qualifier to get a spot and a high seed at the ELeague major.I think well be in a pretty good spot [for the ELeague major in January], he says hopefully. Im expecting big things at least. Im always expecting to make it out of groups. Its unfortunate that we didnt qualify for the [regular] ELeague [tournament] and its not looking very good for the ESL Pro League in Brazil, but again, were just looking to the future. Were using what were learning at this event, our map pool and personality stuff, using it as a learning experience and refine ourselves moving forward.As we interview, HiKos family -- his mother, father, and sister -- listen and watch anxiously. Its their first esports event, and HiKos mother tells me it wont be their last. Both his mom and dad say they werent initially supportive of their sons video game hobby, but theyre proud of the career hes built for himself over time.Obviously, we were not happy, his mother says. There was lots of yelling and screaming, Get off the computer, do your homework, go out and play outside. But thats what every mother says and thats what every kid on the computer says -- Ok, no problem. We were wrong and he did what he had to do and were proud of him, so it worked out well. Its a strange world with this whole gaming thing, as far as Im concerned. But hes done well and were very proud of him.His father echoes the sentiment and his sister, who says she played video games with HiKo as children, says she didnt quite understand Counter-Strike but is also proud.I think it just speaks volumes to where Spencers at, his dad says. Hes a player [whos] got a lot of talent. This was his own idea. He put it in motion and nobody helped him, except for maybe a little advice here or there. But its his baby. Its great.His mother interjects and says that theyll most likely go to another event, maybe even the ELeague major in January.But like many Counter-Strike players, HiKo, 26, is older than the average esports athlete. While many havent thought of their careers post-competing, HiKo has created a brand around himself through themed clothing, livestreaming and interacting with fans and companies. He says when its time to hang up the mouse, he has no intention to leave esports.Theres no doubting that Im definitely on the older end of the scale, he explains. I dont have any illusions that Ill eventually be phased out and Ill have to retire. Long-term in my life, I can see myself being involved in esports and involved in this whole community. Sure I love the competition, sure I love the aspect of being a professional player, but Ive kind of seen this whole community grow from the ground up. I feel like Ive been in enough situations, Ive been involved in enough disputes [in] just all aspects of this community that I feel like Ill be an asset in one way or another. Mark Stone Golden Knights Jersey . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Shea Theodore Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. http://www.goldenknightssale.com/authentic-nate-schmidt-golden-knights-jersey/ . Defenceman Yannick Weber scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Canucks breathed a sigh of relief with a 2-1 win on Saturday night. Jonathan Marchessault Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. Malcolm Subban Jersey . 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. MORAGA, Calif. -- Randy Bennett has a long list of scorers on Saint Marys, so thats the least of his worries. When his Gaels get big leads and the bench comes in, now the challenge is sustaining a defensive tempo that this group had last season in regularly holding teams to 40 percent shooting and below.Saint Marys is making strides on both ends, even gaining some good practice against a zone defense Wednesday night.Jock Landale had 15 points and 13 rebounds and the 20th-ranked Gaels jumped to a quick lead they never relinquished to beat Western Kentucky 73-51.The defense is coming along.As a team, its something we practice every day. Coach, as he said, harps on it quite a lot, Emmett Naar said. If we can just improve a bit each day, hopefully toward the end of the season well be pretty good.Evan Fitzner scored eight of his teams first 12 points as the Gaels took control from the tip. He finished with 11 points and three 3-pointers, while Naar had 14 points and six assists.Landale went 7 for 13 from the field and is shooting 65 of 99 -- 65.6 percent -- on the season for the Gaels (8-1), who used a late 13-2 run in the first half for a 38-24 lead.Justin Johnson and Que Johnson each scored 11 points to lead Western Kentucky (4-6).The one thing this team hasnt been very good at, when we get hit in the mouth or get behind were not very good in those situations, WKU coach Rick Stansbury said. We got ahead at Indiana State and played with a lead, but this was a different animal here.Bennett has challenged his team recently to play with more defensive fire, and the Gaels shut down Pancake Thomas. A graduate transfer in his first season with the Hilltoppers, Thomas shot 2 of 8 for four points and missed his three tries from 3-point range after getting a season-best 22 points in a win over Indiana State on Sunday.The Hilltoppers shot 37.5 percent and 5 of 17 from 3-point range to lose for the fifth timee in six games.ddddddddddddThe last couple games weve been able to play our bench and getting those guys to get some reps and try and be as good defensively and as consistent as the first six or seven guys is a challenge. Weve got to get better, Bennett said. Sometimes we sub, we take a dip down defensively. That cant happen.Saint Marys guard Joe Rahon limped off with a right leg injury with 4:37 left before halftime then returned just before intermission and wound up matching his career high with 10 assists.In the first meeting between the programs, Saint Marys jumped to a 7-0 lead in the opening 2:27 and 12-2 then never looked back.BIG PICTUREWestern Kentucky: The Hilltoppers 24 first-half points matched their season low. ... WKU dropped to 35-97 all-time against ranked opponents and hasnt won a true road game against a Top 25 team since stunning No. 4 Kentucky on Nov. 15, 2001. ... Stansbury still needs three wins for 300 career victories. ... The Hilltoppers will have gone 29 days between home games.Saint Marys: The Hilltoppers were Saint Marys second Conference USA opponent after a win over UAB late last month. ... Top Warriors assistant Mike Brown sat courtside on an off day before Golden State hosts the Knicks on Thursday. Brown played at San Diego for 16th-year Gaels coach Bennett. He got some good seats, took care of him, Bennett said.UP NEXTWestern Kentucky: At Detroit Mercy on Saturday to conclude a stretch of seven games on the road or at neutral sites over nearly a months time covering more than 10,000 miles and hitting six states.Saint Marys: Host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Sunday in the fourth game of a five-game home stand before the start of conference play.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. ' ' '