oure toast.We got only two looks at the Helix Hang,

The Philadelphia 76ers entered a new phase of their years-long rebuilding process when coach Brett Brown elected for the first time to start two of the teams young big men, Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor, in Wednesday nights loss to the Toronto Raptors.The experiment is expected to continue Friday night, when the Sixers (6-19) host the Los Angeles Lakers (10-18). Nerlens Noel, a third highly drafted center-forward, is also expected to be available after missing all but one game this season due to injury. If he does in fact suit up, it would be the first time all three will be active for the same game.Okafor started at center and scored 17 points in the 123-114 loss to Toronto, but Embiid, who leads the Sixers and all NBA rookies in scoring (17.6), rebounding (7.5) and blocked shots (2.5), was limited to a season-low nine points while starting at power forward. He attempted just six shots from the floor, making three. They were both season lows as well.Afterward he said that for the first time this season he didnt trust the process, a pet phrase he likes to insert into every interview, and one a segment of the Philadelphia fan base has adopted ever since former general manager Sam Hinkie tore down the franchise in an attempt to build it back up again.Embiids larger point was that he wasnt active enough on either end of the floor. He and Okafor shared the court for approximately 17 minutes, and Okafor, for his part, thought it was a promising arrangement.Theres a lot for us to figure out, he said, but overall it was a positive thing, us playing together.Hinkie used the third-overall pick in 2014 to take Embiid, who then missed two seasons while recovering from a pair of foot surgeries. He is regarded as the frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award, while there continues to be speculation that the Sixers will trade Noel, the sixth-overall pick in 2013, or Okafor, the third-overall choice in 2015.Noel missed the first 23 games this season following knee surgery in late October. He played 10 minutes Sunday in Detroit against the Pistons, then sprained his left ankle and sat out the Toronto Raptors game, Philadelphias seventh straight home loss.After a promising start the Lakers have dropped eight straight games, including Wednesdays 107-97 defeat at the Brooklyn Nets. Former Sixer Lou Williams scored 16 points off the bench for Los Angeles in that one, and leads the team with a career-best 19.2 average.Second-year guard DAngelo Russell, who missed 11 straight games after getting platelet-rich plasma therapy on his ailing right knee, has struggled since returning three games ago, averaging 10.3 points on 32.1-percent shooting.The Lakers will be without Jose Calderon (hamstring). It is unclear whether Tarik Black will be available. He has missed the last five games with a sprained right ankle.A sidelight to this game is that due to a prior trade the Sixers receive the Lakers first-round pick next June, should Los Angeles finish outside the top three in the draft lottery. Dedryck Boyata Belgium Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Adnan Januzaj Jersey . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. http://www.soccerbelgiumteamonline.com/Mousa-Dembele-UEFA-European-Belgium-Jersey/ . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. Toby Alderweireld Belgium Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Thibaut Courtois Belgium Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. City finals have begun, and Jessie Graff continues to dominate on this season of American Ninja Warrior.Graff made history (herstory?) once again, punching her own ticket to the Las Vegas finals for the second consecutive season by getting to the ninth obstacle in Los Angeles. (Only one ninja, Josh Levin, finished the course.) Whats more impressive is that Graff finished second in the entire region, breaking her own record for the highest finish by a woman in a city competition. (She finished sixth in the Venice finals last year.)Graff finished better than elite ninjas Kevin Bull, Flip Rodriguez and Grant McCartney. She is crushing her competition, men and women.The test of the night became the Wedge, the courses eighth obstacle, which took out many elite ninjas.Before my run, I honestly didnt think I could do the Wedge, Graff said via email.? Based on how pumped my forearms were after the Ring Jump and I-Beam Crossing during qualifiers, I figured that my grip would be drained by the time I got there. I just knew that, to even stand a chance at getting through the Wedge, I would have to do everything faster and more efficiently than at qualifiers.I never let my own perception of whats possible or impossible stop me from attacking the course with everything I have. By staying grounded in the reality of how difficult this challenge is, I am able to come up with the best possible strategy for success, and maintain maximum focus and alertness throughout the duration.After she got through the Wedge, however, Graff was pumped out, as the ninjas say; she had taxed her grip strength from the jerky movements of the Ring Jump, I-Beam Crossing and then the Wedge. As her grip slipped from the Helix Hang, she tried one last move to make a dismount possible, but her grip gave out.Graff has been training her grip strength through rock climbing for only a couple of years. Ive known from the beginning that it would take years to build the grip strength of an elite rock climber, Graff said. Im not there yet, but Im really proud of how far Ive come in such a short period of time.On a night with only one finisher, second place is a pretty sweet way to end the qualifying portion of the season. Graff is heading back to Vegas with an extra confidence boost knowing she can definitively beat the boys.The impact of being first or making history never really hits me until after the show airs and I start seeing how its impacted the audience, Graff said. I push my limits, and try to keep up with people who are stronger than me every day. Most of the timme, Im humbled with reminders of how much more work I have to do, and some days, I surprise myself.dddddddddddd Deep down, I think Ive always felt like I should be able to beat the boys, if I just worked hard enough and smart enough. Its an amazing feeling to see it actually happen.Los Angeles city finals specs:Finishers: 1Female finishers: 0Women moving on: 1New or modified obstacles on second half of course: 1 out of 4The course:Were into city finals episodes, where the first six obstacles remain the same as in each city of qualifying (except for a couple of tweaks). In Los Angeles, a grip was added to the I-Beam Crossing to make the obstacle just a bit easier, while the steps were loosened on The Elevator to make it a bit harder. In city finals, the course builders added four obstacles on the second portion of the course (which well review below), bringing the total number of obstacles to 10.?The first obstacle on the second part of each city finals course will be the Salmon Ladder unless theres a huge surprise. Ninjas hang from a bar and must propel jump their upward to jump the bar up the rungs and reach for the next bar.The eighth obstacle is most certainly a ninja killer. The Wedge took out many great competitors all night because of how tricky it was. Ninjas grip a bar thats placed between two Plexiglas walls and must hop it to the other side of the obstacle. One wrong move, and youre toast.We got only two looks at the Helix Hang, as only Graff and Levin reached the ninth obstacle, but its a brutal test of grip and upper-body strength. Ninjas hold on to spikes attached to a horizontal pole. Trick is, the momentum of pulling on each spike will spin them, and not all of them rotate the same way. Using only their upper body, competitors must move across these rotating spikes to the other side. Watch Graff on the Helix Hang, starting at 4:30:The Invisible Ladder returned as the 10th obstacle. This will remain the same on each city finals course. Ninjas grab rings suspended from a hole in a platform and pull. When their movement stops, the ring catches their weight so that it looks like they are pulling themselves up a ladder, through the hole at the top of the finishing platform.Looking forward:Next week, we head back to Atlanta for the second city finals course. No women qualified for the finals in that region, but ninja great Drew Drechsel will be running, which is always exciting to watch. ' ' '