PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Defence is the primary focus of everything the Miami Heat does, and its been that way since Pat Riley arrived. It might be more than a mantra this year. Miami started the season playing defence at a level that made no one in the organization happy last season, allowing 100.6 points per game, ranking only 23rd-best league-wide after 17 games. In the 65 games that followed, they gave up just 93.6 points per game, the fourth-best rate in the NBA over that span. Playing defence better from the start of the season has emerged as a top priority for the Heat, who left the Bahamas on Friday after wrapping up six practices of training camp that were devoted almost entirely to that end of the floor. "We knew we didnt start off the season like we wanted to defensively," said Heat forward LeBron James, the leagues two-time reigning MVP and a four-time winner of the award overall. "But we knew. I think when you have a problem and you face it, its very correctable, and we knew that. So one thing we talked about was defending and finishing." Training camp officially ended just before 1 p.m. Friday, though the way James sees it, camp actually lasts until Oct. 28, the day before Miami hoists its second straight championship banner and opens a new season against the Chicago Bulls. Theres a ton of things for the team to do in the next 3 1/2 weeks, including play eight preseason games, but continuing to hone that defence-first approach will remain paramount. They remember how frustrating it was to have an almost porous-looking defence for the first few weeks of last season, a year where the Heat wound up winning 66 regular-season games, 27 straight in one stretch. "Sharpen. Sharpen the sword," Heat forward Shane Battier said. "We won games early last year and didnt look good. We dropped a few that, looking back at it, we should have won. We know the Eastern Conference is highly competitive. Not that we cant afford to get off to a slow start ... but we cant afford to get off to a slow start." Chicago will be better, with Derrick Rose healthy again. Indiana figures to be better. Brooklyn has eyes on a title. Its clear that Miami will not have an easy time in the East, and the Heat remember how vital getting that No. 1 seed was a year ago. It gave them the right to play Game 7 in the conference finals against Indiana at home, along with Game 7 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio. "We know the competition got better," Battier said. "We scraped by to get out of the Eastern Conference last year. Obviously, we want to play our best basketball at the end. That doesnt mean we cant start at a higher level and build toward that." Even though the background was paradise -- sun, sand, tropical music and water slides -- the ballroom where the Heat did the bulk of their work on this trip was hardly a vacation destination. James posted a photo of himself, grimacing in a chest-deep ice bath, to his social media accounts. Ray Allen said he dealt with some mild foot soreness while waking up muscles that had not been used since last June. Michael Beasley described camp as exhausting. Udonis Haslem said he was originally excited to spend some free time in the casino, then quickly realized that he would better serve himself by getting off his feet. Point guard Mario Chalmers said this was a camp unlike any of his first five with the Heat, mainly because he didnt recall a camp where everyone arrived in such good shape. "Last year I think we had a little hangover coming off that first championship," Chalmers said. "Maybe we celebrated a little bit too much. We didnt come into camp as focused and ready as we did last year. You can tell right now, everybodys hungry for that threepeat." Which, the Heat know, will start at the defensive end. "I would probably say 70 per cent of our camp was defence, other than player development," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "That makes me a little bit uneasy. While we have corporate knowledge of our offence, we will need to spend a lot more time on it next week. And we will. Well address that." Site De Chaussure Pas Cher . -- Brendan Leipsic had two goals and an assist and Nicolas Petan extended his point streak to 11 games as the Portland Winterhawks slipped past the Red Deer Rebels 5-4 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Air Max 270 Pas Cher . Alen, 28, hit .315 with five home runs, 59 RBI and a career-high nine stolen bases for the Goldeyes last season. He is the longest serving catcher in Goldeyes history, having already spent five seasons with the organization. https://www.grossistechaussurepascher.fr/ . Alvarez hit his first career home run, pitched six innings and hurt his right hamstring while running the bases in the Miami Marlins 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs. Air Max 270 France Pas Cher . He had even more fun Friday. Coming off a sensational rookie season, Spieth opened the new year by never coming close to bogey and making a 12-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 7-under 66. Air Max 720 Pas Cher Homme . Terrance Broadway threw for 227 yards and Hunter Stover kicked three field goals as the Ragin Cajuns won an unprecedented fourth straight New Orleans Bowl with a 16-3 triumph over Nevada. DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche keep losing players and winning games. Tyson Barrie scored in the final minute of regulation, and then scored again in the shootout, leading Colorado to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Semyon Varlamov had 29 saves for Colorado, which has won five in a row. Varlamov also stopped each of New Yorks attempts in the shootout. Four of Colorados wins during the streak have come in overtime or a shootout. On Tuesday in Columbus, the Avalanche scored twice in the final 11 minutes to send the game to overtime, where they won it on Gabriel Landeskogs goal. "What I like about it is were playing with a lot of confidence right now," coach Patrick Roy said. "The most important thing is, no matter what happens to us we believe in ourselves." The Avalanche maintained a three-point lead on the Chicago Blackhawks for second place in the Central Division. The Blackhawks beat Minnesota in a shootout but still lag behind Colorado with 10 days left in the season. "Thats big for us," said Paul Stasnty, who assisted on Barries tying goal. "For us, home ice is pretty important." Henrik Lundqvist had 35 saves for the Rangers, who gained a point on Philadelphia despite the loss. Derek Stepan and John Moore scored for New York. The Rangers lead the Flyers by four points for second in the Metropolitan Division. Philadelphia lost to Columbus on Thursday. "Its a big point but its still extremely disappointing to lose, especially in this way," Lundqvist said. "We worked really hard to try to get the two points tonight." New York had won seven of eight. Six of those wins were on the road, where the Rangers are 25-14-1 this season. Already playing without leading scorer Matt Duchene, the Avalanche lost forward Cody McLeod to a left ankle injury late in the second period. He had to be helped off the ice. "Hes a tough guy and he wants to play in the next game," Roy said of McLeod. &quoot;For now hes day to day and well see tomorrow.dddddddddddd" Duchene is out with a left knee injury that will keep him out through the end of the regular season and possibly the first round of the playoffs. That hasnt slowed down Colorados late-season push. "Our guys have been resilient," Roy said. "They want to have that home-ice advantage against Chicago." Stepans goal late in the second period gave New York a 2-1 lead. It looked as if it would stand up until the final minute of the game. With Varlamov off for an extra attacker, Barrie sent a low shot from the slot past Lundqvist with 51.4 seconds left. "I was coming in and the puck was kind of shot behind me. I tried to grab it," Barrie said. "I didnt try to shoot it at first, I just tried to corral it and I thought I lost it and it was still right there. I was lucky to shoot it and it went along the ice. I dont think you beat Lundqvist too often like that." He scored the lone goal in the shootout on the first shot. "They had a really strong push in the third," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "A couple of our guys logged a little bit of minutes, this was our fourth game on the trip so Give them credit, they had a real strong push in the third." Moore, who returned to the lineup after missing six games with a concussion, scored his fourth goal of the season at 2:10 of the first period. He beat Varlamov with a snapshot from the point. In the second period, Andre Benoit scored on a 2-on-1 rush off a pass from John Mitchell, tying it at 1. NOTES: Varlamov tied Roy for most home wins by an Avalanche goalie with 24. ... Colorados 49 wins are tied for second most in franchise history. The Avalanche won 52 games in 2000-01. ... Rangers D Ryan McDonagh was scratched with a shoulder injury suffered in Vancouver on Tuesday. Its not expected to be a long-term injury. ... Avalanche F P.A. Parenteau (knee injury) took part in Thursdays morning skate. He has been out since March 10. ' ' '