e first two wickets very early and then Shahidi and Rahmat Shah started a good partnership. This was our plan as well, that we should

Shooting guard?J.R. Smith will not attend the Cleveland Cavaliers minicamp this week in California as he and the team remain at an impasse in contract talks, sources told ESPN.com.Cavs players and coaches are gathering for workouts for several days this week in Santa Barbara ahead of the start of training camp next week. The session is meant to create camaraderie ahead of the season. Last year, the team gathered in Miami for a camp that helped launch their eventual championship season.Smiths agent, Rich Paul, and the Cavs have been in a standoff since July, when Smith opted out of his contract. No recent progress has been made in the talks, sources said. Smith, who played a significant role at both ends of the court, is seeking a multiyear deal.Smith averaged 12.4 points per game last season, shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line.Smith is focused on returning to the Cavs -- and the team wants him back -- but Smith likely wont hesitate to miss part of training camp to see if his leverage changes. Other teams currently have cap space, and events in the preseason can change the situation. Last season, the Cavs were at an impasse with Paul and?free agent Tristan Thompson that saw Thompson miss all of the preseason before coming to terms.The Cavs have had free agents miss the entire preseason in contract stalemates three times since 2007 --Thompson, Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic -- while Dan Gilbert has owned the team.One of the reasons Smiths talks have failed to find common ground is the wide variety of contracts shooting guards signed during the offseason. Comparable shooting guards include Kent Bazemore (four years, $70 million), Eric Gordon (four years, $53 million) Jamal Crawford (three years, $42 million), Courtney Lee (four years, $48 million) and Joe Johnson (two years, $22 million).Over the past two summers, the Cavs have locked up nearly every player on the roster to rich, multiyear deals -- including four-time MVP?LeBron James, who signed a three-year, $100 million deal this summer. Last September, Smith bet on himself by agreeing to a deal that was only fully guaranteed for one season at $5 million. LeSean McCoy Jersey . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. Will Shields Jersey . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. http://www.customchiefsjersey.com/custom-damien-wilson-jersey-large-1696n.html . -- If Henry Burris has his way, he will be the starting quarterback to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back to the Grey Cup next year. Gary Spani 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. Harrison Butker Jersey . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. Afghanistan may have been celebrating loudly in front of a quiet crowd at the Shere Bangla National Stadium had they not panicked at the wrong moment. Instead it was Bangladesh who walked off with a seven-run win, thankful for their bowlers delivering some really good overs at the end.The moment that first changed the momentum of the chase came in the 41st over, when the settled Rahmat Shah came down the pitch in search of a bit shot but was stumped easily off Shakib Al Hasan. Afghanistan were still very much in the game but the 144-run third-wicket stand was broken, offering the hosts an opening. The other set batsman, Hashmatullah Shahidi, then holed out in the 44th over, and it felt like it was up to Mohammad Nabi to finish off the game. But he was deceived by Taskin Ahmeds slower ball with Afghanistan still needing 23 off 14 balls.Bangladesh closed it out very well, with Rubel and Taskin bowling fast yorkers that left the batsmen with little room to swing. Najibullah Zadran, who was the fifth wicket to fall in the 46th over, said that the match was in Afghanistans control but the batsmen failed to execute in the final ten overs.I think that the match was in our hands, Zadran said. It was just 70 or 72 runs in the last ten overs with five to six wickets in hand [Afghanistan needed 77 runs off the final ten with eight wickets in hand]. It was easily chaseable. Unfortunately we didnt bat properly and we didnt bat according to the plan and we plaayed some shots which were unnecessary at that time.ddddddddddddWe were near to the victory. In the end four-five batsmen didnt play well and we lost the match. We had some of our main players who could hit the ball towards the end. But we didnt need to hit those shots in the end, we just needed to get ones or twos. Thats why we couldnt get it.Zadran was all praise for the third wicket stand between Shahidi and Rahmat. Both batsmen scored fifties after they had lost the openers, Mohammad Shahzad and Shabir Noori, in the first 7.3 overs.It was a really good partnership. We lost the first two wickets very early and then Shahidi and Rahmat Shah started a good partnership. This was our plan as well, that we should play out overs but unfortunately we were not able to reach the target.Towards the end, as Bangladesh fought back, it seemed that Afghanistan might be getting overawed by the reactions of the large crowd. But Zadran said they are now getting accustomed to playing in front of a lot of people, and the pressure may have actually been on the home side. [Crowd pressure] wasnt that much [on us] but I think pressure was on Bangladesh as this was their home conditions. The big crowd was just for them. They [had to] try to go for win and if they lost, it was big pressure. We are also getting familiar with the big crowds. ' ' '