Savage » absence of Gay, his high usage rates and his inefficiency c

He shouted, he chewed, he spat but in the end, he couldnt do what he truly wanted. There was nowhere for him to hide. With much going on around him, it is hard to imagine a coach on the sidelines being lonely but in reality, it can be one of the loneliest places in the game. Standing on the side of the field in Houston on Thursday night, Montreal Impact boss Marco Schallibaum was a show in himself. Fortunately, as sideline reporter for TSNs broadcast, I had a front row seat. With the unscripted drama playing out on the pitch, Schallibaum stood powerless, at times, to the events unfolding in front of him. He told me in our morning meeting at the team hotel about that feeling he gets when he needs some of his players to be extensions of himself during the game. When the speed intensifies, he wanted calmness, some authority from his senior players. The decisions to play Nelson Rivas in his first game for 13 months and hand Matteo Ferrari the captains armband were attempts from the coach to bring the leadership from the side and on to the pitch. The attempts turned out to be nothing more than just that. When Ferrari got dragged out of position, lost his footing and left a gap for Houston to exploit for the first goal, Schallibaum turned in disgust and threw his gum to the ground. Fifteen minutes later, the ball was inches from him on the right side when his right back, Hassoun Camara couldnt find an outlet and gave the ball away. Seconds later, a foul in their own box, a penalty and a second goal left Schallibaum in tatters. He looked desperately for a replay of the Hernan Bernadellos foul and when he realised the stadiums video board wouldnt give it to him, I pointed to TSNs screen I had next to me for the replay. He waved me off. In a split second, the former player had gathered himself and knew full well it was a foul. He talked briefly with his assistants about the issue of the lack of outlets for Camara in the buildup and, down 2-0, now, more than ever, his players were looking at him. Constant misplaced passes were met by hand gestures and regular walks towards me with his back to goal. I got the feeling if there wasnt a stand behind me with fans in it, he might have kept walking. Back on the touchline, the coach gave RDS an interview on 30 minutes, as he does for all games, and one he needed to be commended for, considering what was evolving on the stage in front of him. At half-time in my interview, he tried to maintain some positivity but was unable to filter himself. A minute earlier, he was the conductor of an orchestra without instruments inside a drained dressing room of professionals who needed to be lifted. Time was running out and at such moments, he decided to react on impulse. There were no spreadsheet scenarios thought out ahead of time. This was on gut feeling, based around individual errors. When Andrea Pisanu cut inside and gave away another ball with a poor pass, Schallibaum signaled to his staff to call for Andres Romero. Soon after, still down 2-0, Andrew Wenger again lost the ball to centre-back Eric Brunner. Another signal came and this time, it was a double change. Schallibaum turned around again. He looked at me and, feeling the need to justify the changes, just said we need to get a goal! He was all-in at a card table with a terrible hand. It would get worse. Much worse. A red card for Rivas, a third goal for Houston, and a leg injury to Ferrari with all the subs used. There was still 20 minutes left and if he had a white flag, he would have raised it. Montreal were deflated, distraught and defeated. Schallibaum had nowhere to go. Fans behind us mocked him. "Doctor Phil says its okay to cry," shouted one. "Start the plane - time to get home to Canada," mocked another. Sport is a great theatre, one that brings out a whole range of emotions. The often emotional Schallibaum used this time to observe his silence. His players were not as reserved and a melee at the end saw two more sent off, leaving the Impact with eight men to finish the game. Eight men knocked out of the playoffs at their first attempt. It certainly was a nightmare Halloween for the coach and his team, and as Montreal traipsed off the field for the final time in 2013, their coach finally got to express his emotions behind closed doors. It isnt always easy to be yourself on the sidelines," he told me earlier in the day. Win, draw or lose, even like this; he still wouldnt want to be anywhere else. Air Jordan 5 Retro NZ . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. Cheap Jordan 5 NZ . Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane wanted to stay in Chicago and the Blackhawks wanted to keep the high-scoring forwards in the only NHL uniform they have ever known. http://www.cheapairjordan5nz.com/ . Johansen scored twice and Derek MacKenzie, Brandon Dubinsky and Cam Atkinson also had goals to lead the Blue Jackets to a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night, ending a three-game losing skid. Air Jordan 5 NZ . On a hot, sweaty day, the Hall of Famer looked cool and comfortable. Cheap Air Jordan 5 For Sale . -- Those impatient for the Stanley Cup to return to Canada will have just one team to root for in the NHL playoffs -- the Montreal Canadiens.TORONTO - Masai Ujiri has officially taken the next step, a rather bold one at that, in the inevitable rebuild of his Toronto Raptors. The Raptors announced the completion of a seven-player swap Monday, officially sending rental star Rudy Gay to Sacramento along with the seldom used Aaron Gray and Quincy Acy in exchange for guard Greivis Vasquez, swingman John Salmons and forwards Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes, a deal first reported by Yahoo Sports Sunday evening. In just over six months on the job, the Raptors general manager has quickly made his presence felt, as expected after he inherited Bryan Colangelos roster back in May. It didnt take him long to jettison maligned forward Andrea Bargnani - the face of the Colangelo era - to New York and with Mondays transaction he bid farewell to Gay, his predecessors second marquee mistake. Ujiri has made his statement. This team is now his to build as he sees fit. How he plans to do that still remains unclear, despite adding a pair of necessary, albeit significant transactions to his already impressive resume. "I couldnt tell you where the team is going to go from here," Ujiri said, addressing the local media at the Air Canada Centre for the first time since the trade was made official late Monday afternoon. "Sometimes you have to make a change." "I know people speculate different things on the direction," he said, referring to the elephant in the room; the T-word (tank) that has been hovering over this team like a black cloud long before he accepted the gig in Toronto. "We made a move that creates certainty." Looking at Ujiris resume - his early returns at the helm of the Raptors and his time spent in Denver - theres an obvious trend that has defined his brief, yet mostly successful career as a lead NBA executive. The Raptors GM leaves as little to chance as humanly possible. Time and time again he has taken his teams fate out of the collective hands of his players and into his own. More than anything else he values flexibility. When it appeared Carmelo Anthony was destined to hold the Nuggets hostage in free agency Ujiri flipped the script, waiting patiently and parlaying Denvers best player into more manageable assets. On Sunday he did the same with Gay, a player attached to a contract - like Bargnani - that many believed could not be moved. Although Gay can opt out of the final year of his deal at the end of the season, it seems impossible to imagine him walking away from the $19.3 million hes owed in his option year while hes mired in the worst statistical campaign of his career. Naturally, the Raptors front office had safely just assumed the forward would be on ttheir books next year, eating up a sizeable portion of their payroll, hampering their ability to plan ahead.dddddddddddd "That option was tough on our part," Ujiri admitted, citing the uncertainty of Gays contract as a motivating factor behind the deal, it left them in limbo he said. "That option really put us in a tough position to plan." Therein lies Ujiris fundamental goal as he continues to dismantle a disjointed unit; attaining the roster and financial flexibility necessary to build on the fly. He executed it to perfection in Denver, remaining competitive and even improving as a team after the Anthony trade when many believed the Nuggets were poised to bottom out. Ujiri wont use the T-word. He detests the word and what it represents. But he also insists the organization wont "be stuck in no-mans land." He cant have it both ways, not unless he can pull off something remarkable and duplicate the award-winning magic he performed in Denver. Barring a complete tear down - which remains possible but still seems unlikely - the Raptors are still too good to bottom out, as many expect they will. Exchanging Gay and his contract for the Kings quartet was a stroke of genius. Toronto can save roughly $12 million next season if Salmons is bought out for $1 million and the team renounces its rights to Vasquez and Patterson. Still, the move gives us little-to-no indication on the direction Ujiri intends to take. Both trades - Gay and Bargnani - were about ridding the team of expendable pieces that just didnt fit, not dumping star players in an outward attempt to be bad. On the contrary. The absence of Gay, his high usage rates and his inefficiency could and likely will make them a better team. "It just didnt work out," Ujiri said of Gays 10-month tenure in Toronto. "I think it was just a chemistry [issue] with the team. I think everybody saw there was no sync there." So now we wait. We wait for Ujiris next move and the consensus around the team, around the league, is that it wont be long. Gay will not be the last domino to fall and the GMs subsequent moves should, in theory, tip his hand. Everyone on this roster is available, at the right price. Would Ujiri be willing to listen to offers for Jonas Valanciunas? Is DeMar DeRozan safe now that the similar Gay has been dealt, or do you sell high on what appears to be an emerging star at his position? Is Kyle Lowry the next to go, as most expect? And what of Amir Johnson, who should be a valuable trade chip as the deadline approaches? In moving Gay, and Bargnani, Ujiri has already done most of the heavy lifting. Now the Raptors GM has options, and he wouldnt have it any other way. ' ' '