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 Posté le 22/03/2019 04:10 |  | | Weve seen the effect |
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder showed Wednesday night that they dont always need to have Kevin Durant score in the fourth quarter to win a close game. Air Max 270 Cheap Online . Durant scored just two of his 26 points in the final 12 minutes and his teammates -- including Derek Fisher, Jeremy Lamb and Reggie Jackson -- stood in the gap, helping Oklahoma City pull away for a 106-97 win over a Minnesota Timberwolves team without Kevin Love and two other starters. Jackson added 20 points (seven in the fourth quarter) and nine assists for the Thunder, who won for the 12th time in their last 13 games and became the NBAs first team this season to 40 wins. The Thunder won for the ninth straight time at home against Minnesota, which entered the game 3 1/2 games behind Dallas in the race for the eighth and final playoff spot from the Western Conference. The Thunder have won eight straight home games and are 15-1 this season against Western Conference foes at Chesapeake Energy Arena. "We just focus on doing our job every night and living with the results and theyve been pretty good for a while now," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said. "We have expectations to a standard that we want to play at and I think weve done a good job with that going into the All-Star break. "This is funky time for a lot of teams because a lot of players are probably thinking about the break and what theyre doing, getting their plans together. Weve never been a team that has done that and I dont anticipate that happening this year." Love, an All-Star forward, sat out with a stiff neck after taking a hard fall Tuesday in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Center Nikola Pecovic (ankle injury) and forward Corey Brewer (family leave) also didnt play for the Timberwolves. Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said he was proud of the way his undermanned team fought. "I think it shows that these guys compete," Adelman said. "They werent afraid to go play them with three starters out. It gave the other guys an opportunity to play. I couldnt be prouder of the way they competed. We just ran a little bit out of gas at the end." With Minnesota devoting its defensive energies to stopping Durant, other Thunder players made the key plays in the final minutes. The score was tied in the closing seconds of the third quarter when Fisher attempted a 3-pointer from the corner that appeared to be long, but Minnesotas Gorgui Dieng accidentally tapped it into the basket to give the Thunder an 80-77 lead. Fisher finished with 13 points, his second-best offensive outing of the season. "Ive never seen that before," Durant said of the goaltending call on Dieng. "That guy is a rookie . so Im sure hes going to learn from that one. But that gave us a boost and at the start of the fourth those guys came out and played extremely hard and thats what we needed." Lamb opened the fourth quarter with another 3-pointer to push Oklahoma Citys lead to six points. The Thunder finished off the 16-4 run with a dunk by Lamb with 7:17 left that made it 93-81, but Oklahoma City suddenly went cold from the field. Durant was called for a technical foul with 4:39 left after protesting a no-call, but Ricky Rubio missed the ensuing free throw, leaving the score at 93-86. Minnesota pulled within 95-89 after a 3-pointer by Robbie Hummel with 3:45 left, but the Timberwolves came no closer. "We came into the game aggressive and we fought all the way through, but in the last five minutes, I think we missed too many free throws and easy shots while they made shots at the end," said Rubio, who had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Thabo Sefolosha, who missed his first seven 3-point attempts, made one from the corner with 1:43 left to extend the Thunders lead to 100-90 and Minnesota came no closer than nine points the rest of the way. "Theyre NBA players, too," Durant said of his teammates. "Its not like Ive been scoring every point in the fourth. We play off each other. Guys hit big shots and we got stops. . We play a team game here." Durant, who also had nine rebounds and seven assists, continued his strong play against the Timberwolves. He had a triple-double in a home win over the Timberwolves on Dec. 1 and scored 48 points in a win at Minnesota on Jan. 4 before his outburst Wednesday. The Timberwolves led by as many as six points in the second quarter, but Oklahoma City took a 56-54 lead after Durant swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Durant had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists by halftime. Dante Cunningham added 18 points on 9-of-13 shooting for Minnesota. Serge Ibaka had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Thunder. NOTES: Brewer didnt travel with the team following the birth of his son on Tuesday. The Timberwolves say hes expected to return for Fridays game at New Orleans. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute replaced Brewer in the starting lineup. ... Durant was the Western Conference player of the month for January. He averaged 35.9 points per game while shooting 54.9 per cent during the month, leading Oklahoma City to a 10-game winning streak. He scored 30 or more points in 12 straight games. ... Olympic gold-medal winning gymnasts Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, who live in nearby Norman, attended the game. ... Hummel saw his first action since Jan. 6 at Philadelphia. He played 17 minutes and scored five points. .. Oklahoma City C Kendrick Perkins matched his season high with 12 rebounds. Air Max 270 Clearance Australia . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal. Cheap Air Max 270 Australia . Sure, Josh Browns 45-yard field goal on the third drive of overtime lifted the New York Giants to a 23-20 win over Detroit on Sunday. But the Lions (7- dropped themselves out of the NFC North race by losing five of their last six games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in each setback. http://www.cheapaustraliaairmax270.com/ . Howard hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.The 2014 FIFA World Cup is nearly behind us, a tournament thats been repeatedly called the best of all time. And Canadians have bought in, consuming the games on radio and television, mounting flags to their cars and following the news from Brazil with great anticipation throughout. Theres only been one thing missing for fans in this country – Canada. No matter how big a soccer fan you are, theres just no doubt the tournament would take on a different kind of appeal if Canada had a stake in the game. The diversity of teams being followed across the country over the past month is a reflection of the mosaic that is Canada, which is fine. But wouldnt it be a heck of a lot more fun if we all had a common rallying point, from one coast to another? Our struggles in mens soccer are well documented, with just one World Cup appearance in 1986, despite the fact that participation levels for soccer players in Canada surpassed hockey during the late stages of the last century. The national mens team is currently tied with Bahrain for 110th in the world. Fortunately, the state of things in the womens game couldnt be more different. Which is why there will be a much different dynamic surrounding the 2015 FIFA Womens World Cup which will take place next summer in Canada. For while this will be a tournament about hosting the world in a global game at venues in Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal, Moncton, Winnipeg and Edmonton next June and July, it will also be about showcasing and getting behind Canadians in the sport of soccer. Team sports tend to get overshadowed at the Olympics. But there is no doubt the most compelling story of the 2012 Summer Games in London was Canada winning bronze in womens soccer. The Canadian women losing in dramatic -- and controversial -- fashion against the United States, and subsequently defeating France to win a medal were two of the most memorable international sporting moments in recent Canadian history. Throw in the fact Canada possesses a world-class star player in Christine Sinclair and you have the kind of dynamics behind which an entire country can rally. Canada currently ranks seventh in womenss soccer worldwide, ahead of such traditional soccer nations as England, Italy and the Netherlands, countries our men couldnt touch on their best days. Buy Nike Air Max 270 Australia. So the optimism about what Canada might accomplish is based on more than just the 2012 Olympic result and the fact that the tournament will be played here. At the top of the heap in womens soccer is the United States which, besides being the tournament favourite, also represents Canadas greatest rival. What will it be like when Canada and the U.S. play next summer? What kind of television audience will it draw? Well consider the factors that could make this one of the marquee events on the Canadian sporting calendar next season. First, the proximity of the U.S.to Canada means the U.S. will have a strong contingent of supporters along with them. Then there is the recent history, the bitterness of the Canadians and the raw feelings over the manner in which they were defeated by the U.S in London. Throw in the fact that the Canadian team is comprised almost exclusively of players who got their training in the U.S. and you can understand why the familiarity of this rivalry makes it so intense. But the real payoff to having the Womens World Cup is what it may mean to the sport of womens soccer in Canada in general. Weve seen the effect that the womens national hockey team has had on the growth of the sport among young girls and women. By its very nature, soccer is a more accessible sport than hockey, which means the potential to seed future generations of womens soccer players is immense. Its one thing to present the worlds game to Canadians and tell them to pick a country to get behind. Its something completely different, and far, far more compelling to tell them they can get behind their own. Soccer isnt a new game in Canada, and from widespread participation to the emergence of Major League Soccer in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to the technology that allows fans to follow it around the globe, its become a significant part of the sporting fabric of Canada. But safe to say we have never experienced the sport like we will next summer. ' ' '
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