been dangerous.Mercedes eventually retracted the protest -- so

Hawks center Dwight Howard was ejected late in the fourth quarter of a key early-season Eastern Conference game in Charlotte?after throwing an elbow at the head of Hornets center Cody Zeller.Friday nights game, a 100-96 Hawks loss, turned with 5:38 remaining when Howard delivered an intentional elbow to Zellers face and received a flagrant foul 2.Howard, who had 10 points and 18 rebounds after missing the previous game due to a quad injury, had been a key factor up until that point, but the Hawks seemed to collapse without him. Atlanta led by three at the time of Howards ejection. The Hornets scored the next nine points and went on to snap Atlantas six-game winning streak.Before the possession that ended with the hit on Zeller, Howard appeared to get frustrated with him at the other end of the court when he got boxed out on a free throw.It wasnt like I tried to hit him in the face, Howard said after the game, but my job is to protect my house at all costs. I am making no apologies for it. I cant do nothing but live with it.Asked if he thought the foul was flagrant, Howard responded, Its basketball.Zeller said after the game he didnt think Howards elbow to the face was a dirty play.I have taken a lot of hard hits with two older brothers, Zeller said. I knew it was going to be a physical game. But it was a huge play in the game because they couldnt go to him late in the game and we went on a run.Paul Millsap, who led the Hawks with 22 points and 13 rebounds, said the ejection fueled the home crowd.Plays like that are momentum shifts, Millsap said. It kind of sparked them. They took that and added fuel to the fire.Information from The Associated Press was included in this report. Custom Buccaneers Jersey China . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. Devin White Jersey Large .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. http://www.custombuccaneersjersey.com/ . JOHNS, N. Buccaneers Jerseys China . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. Custom Buccaneers T-shirts . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Max Verstappen says Red Bull must stay awake in its battle for second with Ferrari despite holding a healthy lead over the Italian team in the championship.Red Bull is 50 points clear of Ferrari having outscored them in four of the five races since the summer break. However, despite failing to score a podium in Japan Ferrari looked to have made a step forward in pace, something Verstappen says Red Bull must be wary of.I think we have to stay awake, we have a good points advantage compared to them, Verstappen said. Of course they will be strong, the last few races theyve always been strong and maybe sometimes a bit unlucky. Im not too worried, we still have a great car as well, and as you could see in the race we had very good pace, lets see what happens on this track.Verstappen turned in one of his best drives of the season in Japan, splitting the Mercedes drivers to finish second. That result came after a stern defensive move on Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap, something which led to Mercedes launching a protest that Verstappen had been dangerous.Mercedes eventually retracted the protest -- sommething even Hamilton said the team should not have pursued -- but Verstappen is unmoved by another criticism about his aggressive tactics.dddddddddddd.When asked about the protest, Verstappen said: I dont think about it. I just do my race and from there on Im just fighting for position so I think a lot of people would do the same.Verstappen believes his Suzuka race was one of the best of his career.I think its one of my best ones, I got a clean start and from there you can do your own race. Lately I havent had that so I think it was definitely in the top three of my best races, of course, my best one for the moment will always be Barcelona because of the victory. I felt very happy with the performance in general over the whole weekend as well, we were always up there and Im very happy with the ending.On Thursday in Austin Kimi Raikkonen, one of the critics of Verstappens aggressive style earlier this year, said the teenager has been doing a good job at Red Bull this year. ' ' '