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ATLANTA -- The short-handed Atlanta Hawks signed centre Mike Muscala, a 2013 second-round draft pick, on Thursday after completing the buyout of his Spanish League contract. Muscala (6-11, 230) averaged 14.6 points and led the ACB League in Spain with 7.8 rebounds per game. The Hawks have lost 10 of 11 games to sink from third to eighth in the Eastern Conference standings. Injuries on the front line have been a major factor. General manager Danny Ferry said Muscala, 22, can provide help for the remainder of the season. The Hawks also will have a chance to determine if Muscala can have a role with the team in the future. "We are really excited that Mike was available to join our team," Ferry said. "Weve closely monitored Mike and his progress throughout the ACB season." Ferry said the ACBs Blusens Monbus Obradoiro team "did an excellent job with his continued development." "Due to our current injuries, Mikes representatives presented the concept of Mike joining us for the remainder of the season," Ferry said. "With our roster situation and his strong play, we felt now was a good time to add Mike to our program." The Hawks lost All-Star centre Al Horford to a season-ending surgery for his torn right pectoral muscle in December. Horfords replacement, Pero Antic, has missed 16 games with a stress fracture in his right ankle. Gustavo Ayon, who took over for Antic, has missed five games with a right shoulder injury. Also, All-Star forward Paul Millsap has missed three games with a right knee contusion. Muscala is Bucknells all-time scoring leader with 2,036 points from 2009-13. The native of St. Louis Park, Minn., finished second on the schools career lists in rebounds and blocked shots. The Hawks held NBA rights to Muscala as he played in the ACB League. Details of the buyout agreement were not released. The Hawks released centre Dexter Pittman, who signed a 10-day contract on Saturday, to open a roster spot for Muscala. Wholesale Shoes Australia . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night. Shoes Australia From China . Second-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States made lighter work of her day as she beat 2009 champion and Swiss wild card Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3. Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/ . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. Buy Shoes Australia .B. -- Canadian pairs skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford went from elated to frustrated in the span of a few minutes. Cheap Nike Shoes Australia . Rookie Marek Mazanec made 39 saves for his first NHL victory and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 7-2 Saturday night. BORMIO, Italy -- Aiming for back-to-back victories, Canadas Erik Guay simply wants to maintain his form for Sundays World Cup downhill on the physically demanding Stelvio course. The Bode Miller-led U.S. speed team, by contrast, is still looking for its first podium finish of the season -- with the Sochi Olympics only 41 days away. And if the final training session in Bormio was any indication, things havent changed much since last weekend, when Guay won the Val Gardena downhill and Miller finished fifth. Guay, from Mont-Tremblant, Que., also led training Saturday and Miller was fifth again. "I feel like my racing is in a really good spot -- better than its ever been," Guay said. "And I know the reason as well, so thats pretty exciting." Guay won the Val Gardena downhill last weekend but has never finished better than fourth in Bormio. "Some years I come here and Im intimidated by the course and I dont feel quite up to it," he said. "This year Im excited about it and Im looking forward to the challenge tomorrow." While Guay would not reveal the "reason" for his speed, he did attribute some of his success to his personal coach, his younger brother Stefan Guay, a former World Cup racer. "To start working well with a coach typically takes two years, sometimes three," Guay said. "Stef now in his second season, I find hes getting confident and better every time. So that instills a lot of confidence in myself." The Stelvio is known for its knee-jarring bumps and shadows, making it a serious physical test. And this year, theres an added wrinkle with recent snowfall providing changing conditions all the way down. "Up top its quite soft and then toward the middle it gets a little bit firmer and more choppy and then toward the bottom its standard Bormio -- rock hard, fast, rattly," Guay said. "So its got a little bit of everything and it takes a fine touch to adjust on the way down. But its a fun course." Miller is still working on his downhill form after a year off to recover from left knee microfracture surgery, but hes comforted by top 10 results in both super-G and downhill last weekend, plus past success in Bormio.dddddddddddd He swept the gold medals in super-G and downhill at the 2005 world championships here and also won the World Cup downhill in 2007. "It hasnt been the season that I had hoped but Ive been making progress all year," Miller said. "I look forward to hills that are a little bit tougher and a little more challenging and this one definitely is that." While Miller finished second to Ted Ligety in a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, this month, no U.S. man has reached the podium in a speed race this season. "Its definitely been a bit of a slow start but weve definitely been building -- slowly," said Marco Sullivan, the veteran skier from Squaw Valley, California. "We have four or five guys who are consistently in the points, its just a matter of moving into that top 10." Its been a sharp change from this point last season, when Sullivan had finished third in the season-opening downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta; Steven Nyman had won the Val Gardena downhill; and Ligety had placed fourth in two super-Gs. Could it be that the Americans are pacing themselves to peak in Sochi? "I dont think thats it," Sullivan said. "I dont really know what to attribute it to but no one is going slow on purpose. Were all trying to go fast each week." One of the problems has been the race conditions. "The first couple of races were cold and icy and we hadnt trained on that," U.S. mens head coach Sasha Rearick said. "Now weve had the chance to do that." Errors have also played a role, with both Ligety and Nyman failing to finish races in Val Gardena. But there are signs of a turnaround, with Miller, Sullivan and Travis Ganong -- another Squaw Valley native -- combining to set the fastest time in every section in Fridays opening training session, when Miller was second. "Its kind of a cool stat," Nyman said. "But its just putting it all together and I think thats kind of the big thing right now." ' ' '