established a pool of eligible Russian athletes and is awaiting IOC approval.Individual sports federations were given the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in Rio by the Internatio

ATLANTA -- Elfrid Payton had the best night of his career.Even better, he did it on a night when the entire Orlando roster met coach Frank Vogels mandate.Coach has been on us over the past month or so about making the extra pass, making plays for others, Payton said. We did a good job of that.Serge Ibaka scored 29 points, Payton reached career highs with 26 points and 14 assists and the Orlando Magic snapped a three-game losing streak with a 131-120 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.Orlando began the night ranked 29th in scoring and played without center Nikola Vucevic, but it got big production from the bench. Payton, Jodie Meeks and Jeff Green combined for 62 points, while starting guard Evan Fournier scored 23.Dwight Howard had 20 points and 16 rebounds and Dennis Schroder had 19 points and 13 assists for the Hawks, who thought they were on a good trajectory after rallying from 20 points down in last Fridays win at Milwaukee.Atlanta began the night having won two straight since a 1-10 stretch dropped them out of the top eight spots in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks were 9-2 and tied for the East lead before the slump.Its just a tough pill to swallow right now, guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said. Defensively, they made a lot of tough shots. It was just that type of night. Give them credit, man. They were knocking down their open shots, knocking down their tough shots.Thabo Sefoloshas 18-footer at the 4:18 mark of the third quarter gave the Hawks their first lead since the first quarter, but Payton answered with a 3 and Orlando never trailed again.We tightened the screws on the defensive end during that stretch, Vogel said. We forced a lot of misses, held them to one shot and we were able to get the offense back under control.The Magic set season highs in points, assists with 36 and 3-pointers with 15. They had 21 assists and zero turnovers until committing two miscues in the final 44 seconds of the second quarter.Orlando took charge with a 20-9 run in the second quarter that ended with Fourniers short turnaround jumper to make it 72-60.Payton combined with Fournier and Ibaka to score 46 points on 20-for-27 shooting in the first half.You can always find things you can do better, but a lot of those guys had pretty special nights, Hawks guard Kyle Korver said.MAYBE TOMORROWVucevic, Orlandos leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, missed his second straight game with a sore lower back. He hopes to be back in Wednesdays home game against the Los Angeles Clippers.It depends, he said. At the moment when the pain happens, it bothers me a lot.TIP-INSMagic: The last time they scored over 131 on the road was Jan. 13, 2009 at Sacramento. ... With 72 points in the first half, Orlando was six points shy of the team record set Nov. 3, 2010 at home against Minnesota. ... The Magic tied the team road mark set Dec. 5, 2009 at Golden State.Hawks: Had won 17 of the last 22 games in the series. ... Their bench was outscored by Orlandos 62-35. ... Atlantas previous season-high in first-half points allowed was 66 in a home loss Nov. 22 to New Orleans. ... G Kent Bazemore returned in a reserve role after missing the last two games with a sore right knee. He had five points and three rebounds in 15 minutes.UP NEXTMagic: Host the Clippers on Wednesday night.Hawks: Visit Toronto on Friday night.Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Penguins Jerseys 2019 . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. https://www.cheappenguinsjersey.com/ . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Pittsburgh Penguins Gear . By having more great seasons. Manning was the only unanimous choice for the 2013 Associated Press NFL All-Pro team Friday. Cheap Penguins Jerseys . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans.MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin hit out at discrimination against the countrys banned track and field athletes at a Kremlin send-off ceremony Wednesday for its depleted Olympic team.Fencers, triathletes and table tennis players became the latest team of Russians to be cleared to compete in the Olympics by the governing bodies of their sports ahead of the Moscow ceremony, but the IAAF rejected a bid by the bulk of the track and field team to be reinstated.More than 100 Russians from the 387-strong Olympic team have been banned so far from going to Rio de Janeiro.We cant accept indiscriminate disqualification of our athletes with an absolutely clean doping history, Putin said. We cannot and will not accept what in fact is pure discrimination.Putin said the athletes banned from the Olympics were victims of a campaign to present Russian sports in a bad light. He spoke with two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion Yelena Isinbayeva, the most high-profile of the 67 track and field athletes banned from the games, standing beside him.Fighting back tears, Isinbayeva told Rio-bound Russian athletes: Show them what youre able to do -- for yourself and for us too.As the athletes walked across Red Square to meet Putin, some posed for selfies with Vitaly Mutko, whose sports ministry was accused by the World Anti-Doping Agency of orchestrating the doping cover-up. The sports minister has been blocked by the International Olympic Committee from attending the games next month but he remains in Putins government.The IAAF is the only sport to impose a near-blanket ban on Russians, only deeming one -- long jumper Darya Klishina -- eligible for Rio.The situation went beyond the legal field as well as common sense, Putin told the audience, which included many of the banned athletes. Its a well-planned campaign which targeted our athletes, which included double-standards and the concept of collective punishment which has nothing to do with justice or even basic legal norms.Not only have our athletes who never faced any specific accusations been hurt -- this is a blow to the entire global sports and the Olympic Games. Clearly, the absence of Russian athletes who were leaders in some of the sports will affect the competition.There was positive news, however, from Putins ally, Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is president of the Intternational Fencing Federation.ddddddddddddThe governing body said it would allow the 16 Russian fencers who have qualified for the Rio Games to compete and it approved four reserves. The decision came after the FIE said it had re-examined 197 tests taken from Russian fencers in 35 countries over the last two years which all came back negative.The FIE said the fencers heading to Rio were not implicated in the latest report by WADA investigator Richard McLaren, who found that four positive doping tests in Russian fencing disappeared in recent years.Four positive results in Russian triathlon were also covered up, according to McLaren. The International Triathlon Union said the three men and three women who qualified for Rio are not mentioned in the McLaren report and have not served past doping suspensions.They have all been tested outside of Russia, the ITU said in a statement. Therefore, ITU will recommend to the IOC that these six athletes be permitted to compete in Rio next month.The Table Tennis Federation also announced that the three Russians who qualified for Rio should be allowed to compete because they were not implicated in the McLaren report, which classified one doping case in their sport as a disappearing positive.Russian entries to the Olympics must still be examined and upheld by an expert from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.The International Gymnastics Federation said it has established a pool of eligible Russian athletes and is awaiting IOC approval.Individual sports federations were given the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in Rio by the International Olympic Committee on Sunday. In his native Germany, IOC President Thomas Bach is facing increasing criticism for failing to impose a complete ban on Russias team.Germanys national anti-doping agency chief Andrea Gotzmann said the decision does not follow the IOCs declared zero tolerance policy, saying Bach has missed a huge chance.Olympic discuss champion Robert Harting said he was ashamed of Thomas Bach.---This story has been corrected to show that Isinbayevas first name is Yelena, not Irina.---Harris reported from London. AP Sports Writer Nesha Starcevic in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this report. ' ' '