Bewerbungen » dwell on opinions outside their building

The Chicago Bulls will have, perhaps, the most fitting opponent of any team in the NBA for a season-opening game Thursday night at the United Center.Chicago will debut its retooled roster against the Boston Celtics, with the Bulls Three Alphas -- otherwise known as guards Jimmy Butler, Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo -- leading the way.It is a familiar structural concept to Rondo, the veteran point guard who signed with the Bulls in the offseason. In the early stages of his career, Rondo was a member of the Celtics when the Big Three, of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce led Boston to the 2008 NBA title.Rondo and Wade are both aging, but feel they can help Butler bring the Bulls back to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference -- if not achieve loftier goals.Outside of the Bulls and their Three Alphas, expectations are low. Butler, however, said he isnt paying attention to prognostications.I dont think (criticism) motivates us to do anything, Butler told the Chicago Sun-Times. Theyre going to say and do whatever theyre going to say and do whatever they want to do and say anyways. So ... motivation? Nah. Motivation is we get to go out and compete and put on for this organization every day.Wade and Rondo werent the lone additions to the Bulls roster, however.After trading former point guard Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks, the Bulls blew up last seasons roster with a significant overhaul for coach Fred Hoibergs second season. They will start out with 14 players, one short of the NBA maximum, and will have eight faces making their Bulls regular-season debut.Along with Rondo and Wade, Chicago will unveil center Robin Lopez, recently acquired backup guard Michael Carter-Williams, rookie guard Denzel Valentine, guard Jerian Grant, guard Isaiah Canaan and German rookie forward Paul Zipser.Wade, Rondo and Butler will start, along with Lopez and power forward Taj Gibson -- who earned a starting role over Nikola Mirotic. That starting five is geared more for slugging it out in the paint than spreading the floor and draining 3-pointers.We feel like (Gibson) has played excellent basketball throughout the preseason, Hoiberg said this week. Hes been good in practices. Weve talked to our guys about that. Niko has had a couple good practices in a row now. You try to get him in a good rhythm coming out of the gate, but thats the way were going to start.The Celtics will be a good test for Chicago, after opening their season Wednesday night with a 122-117 win over against the Brooklyn Nets -- to whom they traded Garnett and Pierce in a deal that is paying dividends for Boston in a bevy of draft picks that were acquired.Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 25 points and nine assists against Brooklyn, and Jae Crowder added 21 points.The Celtics are coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, and they added four-time NBA All-Star Al Horford, who signed a four-year free agent contract worth $113 million. Horfords veteran experience up front is expected to mesh nicely with Bostons young core group.He contributed 11 points, six assists and five rebounds Wednesday as Boston held on to top the Nets. Brooklyn trailed by 21 with 5 1/2 minutes left yet had two chances to tie in the late going.Thats the NBA for you, Horford said. I think it will humble you sometimes. We had a comfortable lead and we thought it was fine, but this is a good learning experience for our group.Role players Marcus Smart (ankle) and Kelly Olynyk (shoulder) are injured to start the season, but the Celtics are confident their replacements can grant enough rest to the starters.In the opener, the Celtics chalked up 36 assists on 48 baskets -- the most assists by a team in an NBA opener since 2001. They also committed 19 turnovers.We could have even had more assists if we knocked down our open shots, Thomas said. NFL Jerseys From China . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. 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Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn dismissed Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Leodis McKelvins description of the Falcons as a front-runner on Monday.We are for damn sure not going to allow anyone else to determine our team identity, Quinn told reporters. Weve got a tough outfit. We know what we stand for as a club, and well leave it at that.After the Eagles?24-15 victory?over the Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field, McKelvin said Philadelphias defense saw a weakness to exploit against Atlanta, which boasted the NFLs top offense.I was telling the defense, this is the type of team, they are a front-runner. They are a front-running team, McKelvin said. If you go out there and make some stops, they eventually are going to be dying down.Falcons free safety Ricardo Allen echoed Quinns thoughts that the Falcons dont dwell on opinions outside their building in comments to ESPNs Vaughn McClure.Everybodys got thheir opinion, man.dddddddddddd Theres always going to be someone who comes out and says something to try and challenge another team, Allen told ESPN. We dont worry about people on the outside. We dont worry about nobody else. We just worry about ourselves. We worry about who we are as a team because we know who we are. And we know when were playing really good ball, were one of the best around.We stay in our locker room. We dont worry about when anybody else talks about us. We dont even bring that stuff up. I didnt even hear about [McKelvins comments], so I dont even really care about that stuff. You can talk all you want to. Have fun with that. I aint with the talking. I play ball. I just want to play ball, man.The NFC South-leading Falcons (6-4) have a bye this week. ' ' '