is race. Denny Hamlin had a speeding penalty before rallying

MIAMI -- Happy new NBA season.It starts Tuesday night in Cleveland, where the champion Cavaliers will raise a banner and the visiting New York Knicks will see if Derrick Rose can help them start rising back to the upper echelon of the league.Also this week: Dwyane Wade makes his official debut in Chicago after 13 seasons in Miami, life after the retirements of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan begins, and Golden State takes a team that won a record 73 games last season -- plus led Cleveland 3-1 in the NBA Finals before falling -- and adds Kevin Durant to the mix.So without further ado, to start off our weekly look at the NBA, three AP basketball writers offer up their predictions for the coming season:CHAMPIONJon Krawczynski : Golden State. I wish I had more guts, but there is just too much firepower there.Brian Mahoney : Golden State. Cant make a much better case for anyone else.Tim Reynolds : Cleveland. LeBron James chasedown block in Game 7 is yet another reminder that hes the best player alive.MVPKrawczynski: Chris Paul. Kevin Durant and Steph Curry will split the Warrior vote and LeBron will be all about playoffs, so the door is open for CP3.Mahoney: James Harden. Numbers will be sensational and Rockets will be improved.Reynolds: LeBron James. He averages 25, 7 and 7 and makes it look too easy. Besides, hes still owed a trophy from 2011.EAST RUNNER-UP (SINCE CLEVELAND WILL WIN, RIGHT?)Krawczynski: Boston. Al Horford and coach Brad Stevens are perfect together.Mahoney: Boston. Same as every year: whoever faces LeBron in the conference finals.Reynolds: Toronto. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan will be even better this year.WEST RUNNER-UP (SINCE GOLDEN STATE WILL WIN, RIGHT?)Krawczynski: Los Angeles Clippers. Theyre desperate for another run, enough to push past San Antonio.Mahoney: Clippers. Youth gets them past the Spurs for the right to lose to the Warriors.Reynolds: San Antonio. I thought about the Clippers, Utah and Portland here as well, but the Spurs still command respect.SURPRISE TEAMKrawczynski: Minnesota. Young legs plus coach Tom Thibodeaus intensity will fuel a playoff push.Mahoney: New York. Derrick Rose has to stay healthy sometime. And Olympic years seem to agree with Carmelo Anthony.Reynolds: Utah. Coach Quin Snyder is underrated, the Jazz are sneaky deep and can defend. Good combination.BREAKOUT PLAYERKrawczynski: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota. First Team All-NBA, here he comes.Mahoney: DAngelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers. Bryants final year in L.A. was wrong time, wrong place, wrong coach for the rookie. Now hell flourish.Reynolds: Damian Lillard, Portland. Disclaimer: Hes already broken out, but hes the pick here because people will finally notice this year.---THE WEEK AHEADHeres some of the games to keep an eye on this week:- New York at Cleveland, Tuesday: Ring night for the Cavaliers, the NBAs season opener, next door to Game 1 of the World Series.- San Antonio at Golden State, Tuesday: The Kevin Durant debut for the Warriors, and the only time these clubs will meet until March 11.- Miami at Orlando, Wednesday: The post-Dwyane Wade era starts for Miami, and the Magic will honor Pride nightclub victims and survivors.- Houston at L.A. Lakers, Wednesday: Luke Walton makes his sort-of debut as a head coach, as the Lakers begin anew without Kobe Bryant.- Minnesota at Sacramento, Saturday: A first-week big-man showdown -- the Wolves Karl-Anthony Towns and the Kings DeMarcus Cousins.---NUMBERS WATCH- Dirk Nowitzki enters 509 points shy of being the fifth 30,000-point scorer in NBA history.- If the Celtics win 15 more games than the Lakers, they would take over as the NBAs all-time wins leader. The Lakers have 3,235 wins coming into this season, the Celtics 3,221.- Stephen Curry has a chance to be the fourth back-to-back-to-back MVP in NBA history, joining Bill Russell (1961-63), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68) and Larry Bird (1984-86). Since Bird pulled off the three-peat, five other players -- Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash and LeBron James (twice in his case) -- have won two straight but saw their reigns end there.---STAT OF THE WEEKJust like when last season ended, the Spurs have the NBAs active career blocked-shot leader. In April, it was Tim Duncan (3,020). Now its Pau Gasol (1,777).---Follow AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds Max Scharping Womens Jersey . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Kahale Warring Womens Jersey . It says Pocklingtons lawyer filed the appeal Friday in a California court. CTV Edmonton also says Pocklington gave a $100,000 cash deposit as part of the conditions of his bail, and that he will be out on bail until his appeal is heard. http://www.officialhoustontexanspro.com/Customized/ . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead. Tytus Howard Womens Jersey . -- Jaye Marie Green shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to increase her lead to five strokes after the second round of the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament. Cullen Gillaspia Womens Jersey . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kevin Harvick won the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway that wasnt.He won a race that had four rain delays, including one of 17 hours, 42 minutes, that stretched from the race being suspended overnight Saturday into Sunday, making it the first night race in Bristol history not actually completed at night.The weirdness didnt end there. He won a Bristol race that was nothing really like Bristol had ever seen. Two distinct grooves existed, one upper groove and one lower groove that had improved grip thanks to a resin applied to an 18-inch-wide lane.It created a Bristol that didnt feature any classic bump-and-runs, the kind that generated excitement back in what many view as the good ol days. But it did allow drivers choices of lanes, and that resin was also blamed for a wreck that took out several contenders.So Harvick, who led the final 71 laps, didnt necessarily win in typical Bristol fashion. He didnt celebrate in typical fashion, either. Harvicks car owner and good friend Tony Stewart joined him for a two-car burnout celebration as part of Stewarts final trip to Bristol before hanging up his Sprint Cup drivers suit.That is part of what made the win special to Harvick. He had not won at Bristol since 2005 and will now go home with a 300-pound trophy that sits on wheels.I just won a trophy, Harvick said. I dont care where it came from, what the situation is.That is not the typical night race winning quotes, because this place has such a cool factor. But amid all the differences of Bristol past, Harvicks message was a familiar one: He took advantage of having the best car late in the race and the opportunity for the win. Its something he hasnt done much this year -- he had not won in the previous 18 races -- and something any driver and team have to do if they want to put themselves in position to win a championship.Harvicks second win of the season gave Chevrolet just its sixth of 2016. The Fords have six and the Toyotas have 11.So theres the reason Harvick gets mentioned among title contenders ... but not as the definitive one.Its us against us, Harvick said. Thats how were going to treat it, and if thats not good enough, then well go back to the drawing board next year.That might sound a little cocky, but Harvick typically carries that swagger only when he truly feels that way. He ranked third coming into Bristol in laps and miles led this year. The victory put him back atop the series points standings.I think we have a good plan, Harvick said. I think we have great cars, and weve made a lot of adjustments. ... Hopefully this win and everything getting ready to start with the Chase is going to put all the pieces together, and I think everybody has been working hard to do that.The weekend didnt start out all that grannd.dddddddddddd With rain forecast for Friday, the team did not do a mock qualifying run and missed the setup, resulting in Harvick rolling off 24th Saturday night.Qualifying in the back kind of motivates me. ... Its kind of exciting, Harvick said. I like to pass cars. [My crew chief] doesnt really like to do it that way, but I think its fun to pass cars.The feel when he rolled off Saturday night did have the Bristol night race aura. The crowd was much larger than it was for the April day race and the buzz generated from a great Xfinity Series race the night before added an extra pulse.For Harvick, it was a great sight. It was through the suggestions of the NASCAR Drivers Council from meetings in May with Bristol track ownership that the idea of using some sort of sealer was pushed.It gave everybody an option to do something different, and as a driver, thats what you want, you want options, Harvick said. You dont want to get stuck behind a car thats four- or five-tenths [a second per lap] slower than you after youve just run them down from a half a lap and cant pass him.Kurt Busch blamed hitting the sealer for his wreck. He didnt get into it the right way, causing him to crash in front of the field and taking some strong drivers -- Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth -- with him. Ironically, Busch was about to be black-flagged by NASCAR for jumping the restart but NASCAR didnt make the ruling before Busch lost it.It was just one of many ways where drivers lost this race. Denny Hamlin had a speeding penalty before rallying to finish third.Harvick had no such miscues.Im happy for these guys, Stewart said. This is a hard place to win at. There are so many things that can go wrong. All it takes is one thing.Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon had hoped to mount challenges in seeking their first wins, but they didnt have enough for Harvick and finished second and fourth, respectively. Chris Buescher finished fifth and vaulted to 30th in the standings, 13 points ahead of David Ragan and in position to use his Pocono win to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup with just three races left in the regular season.Weve been confident in our cars, just not confident in closing everything out, from myself, to is it ever really going to happen again, and I think that goes away tonight, Harvick said. You get back into that [groove].We know we have fast cars, knowing that you can win again, and it kind of happened that way for us in 2014 at Charlotte when we won [and then won the title], and it just kind of re-instilled that confidence of everything we know we can do, and it finally all just came together. ' ' '