MADRID, Spain -- Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late equalizer as Real Madrid avoided a bruising derby defeat at Spanish title rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-2 draw on Sunday. Ronaldo pounced on a loose ball inside the area to net the 82nd-minute equalizer -- his 23rd goal of the season for the league leaders. Karim Benzema put Madrid ahead at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after three minutes but, instead of wilting, Atletico hit back with two goals to take the lead by halftime. Koke smashed a low shot beyond Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who then watched Gabi Fernandezs swerving effort from 30 metres (yards) fly past him just before the break. Madrid stayed three points ahead of Atletico, but Barcelona was able to cut its deficit to Madrid to one point after a laboured 4-1 win against Almeria at the Camp Nou. Barcelona led 2-0 by the 24th after Alexis Sanchez tapped a rebound into the empty goal before Lionel Messi curled an exquisite left-foot free kick around the defensive wall and into the top of the goal for his 15th league strike of the season. A rout looked in the cards until Angel Trujillo got free to head home a corner in the 27th, and the relegation-threatened club made Barcelona work for its points. Carles Puyol, who had made a rare start, scored an even rarer goal after Messis header came off the bar straight to him in the 83rd minute. Xavi Hernandez scored moments later as the Catalans bounced back from a 3-1 loss to Real Sociedad last weekend. Madrid leads with 64 points, Barcelona has 63, and Atletico is on 61 points. The fifth meeting between crosstown rivals Atletico and Madrid since last Mays Copa del Rey final kept its trademark liveliness and aggression, with Atletico knowing defeat would likely end its dreams of a first title since 1996. "Atletico tried to make the game violent," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We dont play that way, however. But they tried right to the end." Atleticos defence played Benzema onside for the France striker to score his 15th of the season, leaving him alone to guide Angel Di Marias cross into the box past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Ugly confrontations followed as both teams used gamesmanship to try and gain an edge, with Arda Turan booked for protesting in the 11th after Sergio Ramos tripped Diego Costa inside the area with no penalty awarded. But Atleticos pressure paid off in the 28th when Turan spotted Koke inside the area to smash past Lopez. Diego Costa, who will play at the Calderon for Spain on Wednesday, was a physical presence and troubled Madrid throughout. Atletico took the lead in first-half stoppage time when Gabis powerful drive beat the slow-footed Lopez for a deserved lead. In the second half, Lopez kept it close as Atletico found space on the counter with Madrid pressing for an equalizer. Despite being outplayed, Madrids attack finally connected when Gareth Bale failed to control a cross but the ball fell to Ronaldo to extend Madrids unbeaten run in all competitions to 28 games. "Atletico played a bruising style right to the end, when we finally got a chance to play and create opportunities," Ancelotti said. Madrid is unbeaten at the Calderon for 15 games, dating to June 1999. "The result is what it is," Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. "We had chances to win it. At least we showed we are still alive in the title race." Ruben Castros late goal gave bottom side Real Betis a 1-1 draw at 10-man Villarreal, which slipped six points from fourth and the final Champions League spot. Betis was left 11 points from safety. Real Sociedad fell seven points behind fourth-place Athletic Bilbao after Kevin Gameiro skipped through a pair of defenders and netted the rebound from his initial shot to lead Sevilla to a 1-0 victory. Joaquin Larrivey scored as Rayo Vallecano climbed within three points of 17th-place Almeria -- and safety from the drop -- with a 1-0 win over Valencia, which played the last 15 minutes with 10 men. Cheap Air Max 95 Wholesale .Derrick Rose scored 23 points, and the Bulls pulled away from the Nets for a 105-80 victory on Wednesday night. Chicago held Brooklyn to 29 points on 26. Nike Air Max Plus Wholesale . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study. http://www.wholesalenikeshoesclearance.c...rant-shoes.html. "Win basketball games," Collins said. He will get at least a few more chances. Collins played the final minutes of a winning home debut with the Brooklyn Nets, who cooled off the Chicago Bulls with a 96-80 victory Monday night. Cheap Kd Shoes China .5 million contract, according to a person familiar with the deal. Hatcher agreed to terms Thursday, according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract had not been signed. Cheap Air Max 270 China .com) - Marian Gaborik scored his sixth goal in the last four games to help the Los Angeles Kings top the Arizona Coyotes, 4-2, Saturday at Staples Center.ATLANTA -- When Andrelton Simmons botched a grounder, the St. Louis Cardinals seized their opportunity. For the Atlanta Braves, it was another night of missed chances. Matt Carpenters two-run double that helped carry St. Louis past the slumping Braves, who shook up their lineup but still lost their seventh in a row, 4-3 on Monday. The Cardinals scored three runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of shaky defence by Atlantas Gold Glove shortstop. In fact, Simmons had a couple of plays that couldve been scored errors but were initially ruled hits. The second one was changed to an E-6 and turned out to be especially costly, leading to a pair of unearned runs. St. Louis built a 4-0 lead and barely held on to win the series opener. "It was big," Carpenter said. "Especially when we got out to a big lead, to be able to hold them off, that was big for us." Desperate for more offence, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez batted pitcher Aaron Harang eighth and put second baseman Ramiro Pena in the ninth spot. Pena had two hits, including a seventh-inning homer that brought the Braves within a run, but they couldnt overcome a 4-0 deficit. Juston Upton took a called third strike from Trevor Rosenthal to end the game with the potential tying run at second base -- Uptons fourth strikeout of the night and extending Atlantas woes with runners in scoring position. The Braves were 1 for 12 in those situations and are 6 of 51 during their losing streak, though Freddie Freeman saw some encouraging signs. "We hit some balls hard with runners on," he said. "We were in the game the whole game. We couldnt say that the past week." The last time the Braves had such a lengthy skid was May 21-28, 2012, when they dropped eight in a row. Their longest losing streak last season was four straight. Shelby Miller (4-2) got a shaky win, giving up six hits and two runs in five-plus innings. Trevor Rosenthal pitched out of trouble for his ninth save, giving up a leadoff single to Simmons. Jordan Schafer bunted the runner to second, but Pena flied out to right before Upton whiffed. Harang (3-3) took the loss, though he pitched much betteer than his previous start, when he was pounded for nine runs by the Marlins.ddddddddddddThis time, he gave up four runs in six innings but only two were earned. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Peter Bourjos led off with a single before Mark Ellis grounded one off Simmons glove. The shortstop, looking to make a force at second, appeared to take his eyes off the ball as it skipped past him. After Miller bunted the runners to second and third, Carpenter doubled to right-centre to bring them both in. Matt Holiday followed with a hard liner past third baseman Chris Johnson to make it 3-0. "Those things happen," Harang said of Simmons error. "I told him not to be too hard on himself. Hes probably going to save my butt plenty of times this year." St. Louis added another run in the fifth on Bourjos RBI single, but Gonzalez challenged a call at third base that had seemingly given the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. Yadier Molinas bases-loaded grounder ricocheted off Harangs leg, right to Johnson at third. He caught it and blindly stepped back in search of the bag and managed to barely nick it, as the replay showed. The called was quickly overturned after a review of only 37 seconds. The Braves knocked out Miller in the bottom half of the sixth, the first three hitters reaching safely. The Cardinals went to the bullpen after Evan Gattis RBI single, and B.J. Upton followed with a sacrifice fly off Pat Neshek. Neshek escaped the jam by striking out Simmons. NOTES: The Cardinals sent pitcher RHP Joe Kelly back to St. Louis to continue his rehab from a strained left hamstring. "Joe just wasnt to the point where they thought they could push him, so keeping him around the rest of this road trip didnt make any sense," general manager John Mozeliak said. "I dont know Id call it a setback as much as he just wasnt progressing as quickly as we wanted." ... Atlanta RHP Gavin Floyd will make his season debut when he starts Tuesday against LHP Tyler Lyons (0-2) of the Cardinals. Floyd is coming back from Tommy John surgery and will start in place of Ervin Santana, who has a bruised right thumb. ' ' '