OAKLAND, Calif. -- Kevin Durant took a moments break from his own shooting work and glimpsed over at the adjoining court as Stephen Curry ran around the 3-point arc launching long jumpers as part of his regular post-practice routine.Two of the brightest young faces of the NBA will team up for the first time together Tuesday night, when the Golden State Warriors begin another championship quest with huge expectations and Durant the new star in the middle of it all.KD knows its going to be a little strange -- and he is not talking about his new No. 35 uniform or debut with the Warriors this time -- when he looks to the opposite bench Tuesday night and Tim Duncan wont be there . Not for tipoff at midcourt, either.When the Lakers come to town, no Kobe. Kevin Garnett is long gone, too.Three of the leagues best over recent decades retired after last season, and now Durant, LeBron James, two-time reigning MVP Curry, Russell Westbrook, two-time defending Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard and others must continue to carry the NBA going forward.Leonard and San Antonio open the season without Duncan against the defending Western Conference champions at sold-out Oracle Arena.Its going to be weird not seeing him, KG, Kobe out there on the court -- pioneers of my era of basketball, I guess, Durant said after Tuesdays shootaround. His basketball spirit always looms over top of the Spurs. His DNA is always engrained in that culture. You can appreciate what hes done, but its definitely going to be weird not seeing 21 on the court for them.Durant, who will face his former Oklahoma City team next week, couldnt wait to finally get going in games that matter. He and the Thunder beat the Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals before squandering a 3-1 lead to the Warriors in the West Finals.This summer, Durant shined while playing at Oracle with the U.S. team ahead of the Rio Olympics. He did so again for his preseason home debut against the Clippers on Oct. 4.I dont really think of it as an opening moment, Durant said. Its just another game to me. Its easy for me to approach it that way if its just another chance to step between the lines and do what I love. Not put too much pressure on myself to go out there and be great. I put the work in, I prepared the right way. Ill let that stuff take over. Ive got to get out of my own mind and just play, and thats what Ive been doing.Golden State dealt with its own disappointment in giving up a 3-1 advantage in the Finals and losing Game 7 at home against the Cavaliers .Not that Curry is afraid to talk about that disappointment.In fact, on Tuesday morning he discussed his new Under Armour advertisement that faces head-on the missed championship -- thats fresh, Curry notes in the video.It goes on with: 73-9. ... Missed championship. ... Make That Old.The first unanimous MVP selection last season, Curry said he had a say in the theme focused on pushing on from defeat because theres no perfect journey in any situation, so you try to sweep stuff under the rug or try to paint a picture thats not 100 percent accurate, I think its doing whoevers following our journey a disservice.Theres a powerful story in it, a relevancy to it, whats going on right now, Curry said. A look into the mindset I have going into this year ... to see certain chapters weve gone through -- good and bad. With every opportunity you have to look forward about what youre going to do next. Its pretty empowering. Im excited about the opportunity thats in front of me individually and us as a team. Discount Basketball Shoes .Y. -- Injured Buffalo Sabres forward Marcus Foligno did not practice with the team Monday and head coach Ron Rolston said its unlikely hell play in Wednesdays season opener in Detroit. Basketball Shoes 2020 . Philadelphia is 2-0 against the Senators this season and scored five goals in each victory. The Flyers recorded a 5-0 win in Ottawa on Nov. 12 and then earned a 5-2 home decision on Nov. 19. The Flyers have claimed three straight and four of the last five encounters with the Sens overall and Philly has won two in a row and three of its past four tests in Canadas capital city. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/ . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Basketball Shoes From China . 10 VCU 85-67 on Thursday night at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The Seminoles (4-0) have scored at least 80 points in each of their games. Basketball Shoes Online Store . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Scott Dixon was the man to beat at Watkins Glen International when the IndyCar Series began racing again at the historic road course just over a decade ago. He still is.Fastest in all three practices, Dixon topped the Fast Six on Saturday with a track-record-smashing time of 1 minute, 22.5259 seconds at 147.008 mph to win the pole for the Grand Prix at The Glen. It was Dixons second pole of the season and 25th of his career, tying him with Paul Tracy for 11th all time, as he eclipsed Ryan Briscoes track record by more than five seconds in a penalty-filled affair.It was hairy, man, Dixon said. There was definitely a lot of chaos during qualifying with people getting pulled back out of the group that they had transferred into.Will Power, second in points to Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, will start second, followed by Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton.Pagenaud failed to make the final six for the first time this season and will start seventh. He leads Power by 28 points with two races left in the season.A year ago, Dixon captured his fourth IndyCar championship in stunning fashion. He won the season finale at Sonoma to snatch the title from Juan Pablo Montoya, overcoming a daunting 47-point deficit. That hes really not in the hunt this time -- Dixon is sixth in the standings, 132 points behind Pagenaud -- isnt so much fun.We had to have a lot of things go our way at Sonoma last year. You dont often see it transpire like that, Dixon said. They [Pagenaud and Power] are a lot closer. Wills starting five spots ahead of Simon, and Wills been a lot quicker all weekend. Its definitely going to go down to the wire. For us, its going to feel real strange.Other things to know about IndyCar qualifying at Watkins Glen International:Penalties, penaltiesGraham Rahal, the winner last week at Texas, was sitting comfortably inside the top six in the first of three rounds of qualifying but was penalized for impeding Jack Hawksworths time and did not advance. He pleaded his case with IndyCar officials on pit road, to no avail.Im very disappointed with the ruling, said Rahal, who will start 20th. We obviously have a fast race car, but were going to have to put our heads down and try to come from behind. There is a lot of work to be done. We will give it all we can to try to come up with good strategy to help us make our way to the front.ddddddddddddRussian?Mikhail Aleshin?suffered a similar fate. Comfortably in the final six, he was penalized for impeding Montoya and had his two fastest laps taken away, too, giving Power the break he needed to advance.I did all I could in that situation. I knew he was behind me, Aleshin said. I moved to the right side and then they give me the penalty. Whats going on? They took [the] two fastest laps, which were identical. I think thats not very fair, is it?James Hinchcliffe also was a victim. He initially advanced but lost his fastest lap because he spun and affected the progress of Power during the first session, allowing Aleshin to go on to the next round.Red or blackTeams struggled to find the right balance with both the red and black tires on the newly paved surface at The Glen. The red compound is softer, grippier and usually faster, but on this day the harder compound in the blacks proved the better choice.Bourdais proved it with his top qualifying result of the season, but fellow Frenchman Pagenaud did not.I dont know what happened, Pagenaud said. Im trying to understand how we can go faster. We just missed it. It happens. Weve been struggling with speed. Its a new track and youve got to get used to it. Theres a very, very high commitment. Im pretty happy with where we are now. I think we can go racing.Friendly reminderPower starts alongside Dixon on the front row, with Pagenaud three rows back, and starts at Watkins Glen can be disastrous as drivers get aggressive trying to make passes when the green flag waves. Jeff Gordon won the pole here in 2003 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, was wrecked on the first turn of the race by Greg Biffle and finished 33rd.Dixon said hed remind Power about whats at stake.Ill definitely remind Will before the race that hes got a lot more to lose than I have, Dixon said with a smile. You know, I think you can see that Will has evolved a lot, I think, as a driver, especially this championship.It was funny -- we chatted at Road America about the runaway championship that Simon was having, and I was like, You wait, man, its going to flip. One of us will be in the chase again to try and hunt him down. ' ' '