PRETORIA, South Africa -- A South African police officer swung a cricket bat at Oscar Pistorius bullet-marked bathroom door during his murder trial on Wednesday, using two key pieces of evidence to re-enact the night he killed his girlfriend. Sheldon Brookbank Blackhawks Jersey . Police Col. J.G. Vermeulen faced tough questioning from Pistorius defence lawyer, who tried to discredit the police investigation of the shooting and alleged that Vermeulen, a forensic expert, made glaring missteps in his analysis. Pistorius lawyers secured bail for him last year after contending that police contaminated or tampered with evidence from the home where he fatally shot Reeva Steenkamp, firing through the bathroom door as she cowered inside during the pre-dawn hours of Valentines Day 2013. Pistorius says the killing was a mistake; the prosecution alleges the 27-year-old double-amputee intentionally shot Steenkamp after an argument. The actual door that Pistorius shot through a year ago was erected in the Pretoria courtroom Wednesday, and the bat he used that night was used in the demonstrations. There was even a toilet cubicle behind the door, recreated to the exact specifications of the small area of Pistorius bathroom where the 29-year-old model was fatally shot, Vermeulen said. Below the doors handle, four bullet holes were clearly visible. Steenkamp was hit three times in the hip, arm and head. One shot missed, the court has heard. Pistorius says he used the bat to break down the door after realizing he shot Steenkamp, mistaking her for an intruder. Kneeling, Vermeulen swung the bat to show how he believed Pistorius struck the door from a low angle, indicating he was on his stumps at the time. Defence lawyer Barry Roux insisted Pistorius was wearing his prosthetic legs, saying the bat marks on the door were low because he swung with a bent back. The back-and-forth over whether Pistorius, the first amputee to run at the Olympics, was on his prosthetic limbs or not is important because it could match parts of his story that he accidentally shot Steenkamp, or expose inconsistencies in it. Last year, prosecutors maintained Pistorius was on his prostheses when he fired through the door, arguing the runner planned the killing while putting on his artificial limbs. But in a reversal, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said in court Wednesday that he did not dispute the defences contention that the runner was on his stumps when he opened fire. The athlete has said he fearfully approached the bathroom on his stumps and shot Steenkamp by mistake, thinking she was an intruder hiding behind the door. According to his account, he then put on his prostheses and tried to kick down the locked door, striking it with a cricket bat in a panicked attempt to reach his girlfriend. Roux turned up the pressure on Vermeulen, saying the police investigator failed to properly look at another mark on the door the defence says was made by Pistorius prosthetic leg as he tried to kick it down, leaving a piece of sock fabric lodged in the wood. The defence lawyer also indicated that police investigators might have left a shoe print on the door, the door itself might have been kept in a policemans office and not in proper evidence storage, and missing fragments from the door werent examined. Vermeulen said the door was kept in a "body bag." In an evidence photo, a faint footmark on one of the door panels could be seen. "It looks like a police shoe print," Vermeulen said. "How did that come about?" Roux asked. Vermeulen said he did not know. Earlier, Vermeulen also said a metal panel on the wall of the main bathroom in Pistorius home had been damaged by being hit with a "hard" object. The panel was new evidence. A photo of the damaged plate was shown. Pistorius faces a possible life sentence if convicted of murder for killing Steenkamp. The judge, who watched the demonstrations Wednesday, will ultimately decide on the verdict. There is no trial by jury in South Africa. Pistorius was born without fibula bones because of a congenital defect, and his legs were amputated when he was 11 months old. He ran on carbon-fiber blades and is a multiple Paralympic medallist . He also competed at the London Olympics but didnt win a medal. Sheldon Brookbank Authentic Jersey .C. -- Cam Newton wasnt flawless on Sunday. Antti Raanta Blackhawks Jersey . - The Washington Wizards are in a great position to make the playoffs for the first time in six years, and John Wall has a lot to do with it.TORONTO - If Tuesdays date with the two-time defending NBA champions was in fact an early-season litmus test, the results were mostly inconclusive. In the eight months that have elapsed since Miamis last visit to the Air Canada Centre the Heat have been busy. They flirted with NBA history, winning 27 straight games. They clawed their way past worthy postseason adversaries. They went on to claim their second title in as many years and LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all added to their growing collection of rings. Even as they tinker and bide their time early in a season where they hope to three-peat, we know who they are. The Raptors are a different story, the opposite end of the spectrum. Very little has changed for them since mid-March - the last meeting between the two teams - yet their identity and future is clouded with more questions than answers. "We put ourselves in a position to beat the best team in the league," Coach Dwane Casey said after his teams fourth-quarter collapse did them in, falling 104-95 to the Heat. "Now the next step for our team is to be able to bust through that." "Are we there yet?" he asked rhetorically. "Were not there yet. But I see us getting better and improving. Were getting there." Its too early to tell where they are or who they are as a team, now 2-2 on the young season. Theyve stolen a pair of ugly wins - akin to the gritty, defensive-oriented team they aspire to become - and theyve suffered a couple of disappointing losses, looking eerily similar to the Jekyll and Hyde version of the club that fooled observers a year ago. They were not expected to beat the Heat on Tuesday but they themselves expected to show progression and to learn something about where they are as a team, four games into a long season. Their hot start - getting off to a 17-8 lead on the champs - and their resiliency, clawing back after Miami appeared to have taken control, were positives to be taken out of their first real test of the campaign. But these are qualities theyve flashed before, even facing a challenge of this magnitude. The Raptors have now lost 12 straight meetings with the Heat, including all 11 since the Big Three joined forces in 2010. However, their two meetings with Miami at home last season followed a similar storyline. In both games, both towards the end of the season, the Raptors played competitive basketball for three quarters, hanging in with the champs until the final frame. Combined, the Heat outscored Toronto 147-140 in the first three quarters of both games. They obliterated them in the fourth to the tune of a 61-36 advantage. Toronto ceded momentum to their more accomplished rivals at the end of each quarter and in familiar fashion they fell apart when Miami opened the final period on a 12-0 run. Nine turnovers and 38 per cent shooting did them in during the quarter, the final nail in the coffin they buried themselves in. The Raptors believed they could compete in this game, whereas the Heat never had a doubt. They were poised and they were dominant when they needed to be. Like the season itself, they were just biding their time. "I thought we put ourselves back in a position to win," Casey said. "In those situations you have to be able to execute. But youre not talking about chopped liver, [the Heat] had something to do with that. They did a good job of getting into our guys [and] taking us out of plan A." "It just showed us where were at and how much we have to work on," said Rudy Gay, who finished with his second straight double-double - 13 points and 10 rebounds - despite another poor shooting night. "Were still a good team," he continued. "We lost to a good team. We lost to the two-time defending champs but I still think we can grow. We played them pretty solid through three quarters, weve just got to learn how to finish games out." Late-game rotation Searching for answers to stop James and the Heats quicker lineup, Casey cycled through his rotation in the fourth and landed on a variation of the small lineup hes used to close games this season. Instead of Amir Johnson, who was mysteriously absent from the floor in the final quarter, Casey used Jonas Valanciunas at the five and alternated between Gay and Landry Fields to counter James at the four. Johnson played the entire third quarter, going to the bench when the Raptors trailed 78-74, but never returned. Teuvo Teravainen Authentic Jersey. Casey confirmed that Johnson was fully healthy and said he wanted to stick with Tyler Hansbrough, who started the fourth, and go back to Valanciunas, who checked in for Hanbrough with 3:58 remaining. "They were small also," Casey pointed out after the game. "I dont think the small lineup had anything [to do with the loss]." "I thought Tyler was doing a good job [and] Jonas was doing a good job. They stayed with LeBron at the four so we stayed with Landry at the four." Valanciunas played 27 minutes after logging fewer than 18 in each of the last two games, with Johnson anchoring the small unit down the stretch. The sophomore centre got off to a quick start, scoring 10 of his 18 points in the opening quarter as the Raptors took advantage of their superior size with Bosh out of Miamis lineup (he missed the game following the birth of his daughter). Did the Raptors squander their biggest advantage when they matched up with the smaller Heat? Did they wait too long to bring their starters back in? Would it have made a difference? Would Johnson have made a difference? These are all fair questions. The best there is As the Heat eased their way in to the game, playing without a third of their all-star trio, James was superb from start to finish. The four-time MVP scored 35 on 13-of-20 shooting, adding eight rebounds and eight assists in his 500th straight game with 10 or more points (becoming the fifth player in NBA history to accomplish that feat). Primarily using Gay and Fields to check James, the Raptors had no answer for the leagues best player as he dominated in every facet of the game on Tuesday. Although Gay has matched up well with him in the past - as well as anyone can match-up with him - James had him beat in every way this go around. "Its LeBron James. Hes good. He had a good game," Gay said, frustrated with the question regarding their matchup but mostly frustrated in general after shooting 3-of-10 and committing four turnovers. Quest for three Its hard to believe after Tuesdays comeback victory that resembled so many theyve pulled off in the recent past, but the Heat are still evolving. Even after back-to-back titles and three consecutive NBA Finals appearances, the Heat - like the Raptors, or any other team - are in the process of getting their footing in the new season. "Theyre trying to find themselves [and] were trying to find ourselves," Lowry pointed out after practice on Monday. Miami almost certainly has a head start given the Big Threes experience together and the success theyve had since coming together in 2010. However, this is a new year and another, potentially more challenging test for the defending champs as they pursue the illustrious three-peat. "We dont use the word defence," veteran Shane Battier said when asked about defending their title. "Were trying to win one. Thats all were trying do, just like last year we were just trying to win one in a row." They retooled in the offseason, bringing back Chris Anderson for his first full season with the team and signing low risk, high upside players in Greg Oden and Michael Beasley but playing in an improved Eastern Conference, theyll have their work cut out for them. The target on their back has never been bigger. "What we have to do this year is the same thing we last year, we have to reinvent ourselves," Battier said. "We cant assume that what worked last year is going to work this year. Thats the fun part of the journey." Since falling to Casey - then an assistant in Dallas - and the Mavs in the 2011 Finals, the Heat have had to evolve each season as the competition zeroes in, trying to figure them out. "That was a long, long time ago but certainly we remember the zone [defence]," Coach Spoelstra said, looking back at the loss and his first season coaching the Big Three in Miami. "Weve had to work on that extensively in the years past to the extent now that we feel comfortable with it." "That was a very painful experience for us," the Heats coach admitted. "Sometimes the ultimate pain makes you have to change and adapt. That was only the first of many things we had to work on." cheap nfl jerseyscheap jerseys ' ' '
