Beitrag Di 23. Apr 2019, 05:40

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma City Thunder showed Wednesday

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. 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. Boston Celtics Jerseys . The turf is scheduled to give way to actual grass that is bright green, so we dont have to complain any more—we just have to wait a few years. Instead, do feel free to complain if the roof is closed for any reason other than to allow a game to be played. Al Horford Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.celticssale.com/kids-greg-mo ... cs-jersey/. Summers has seen scant playing time with the Coyotes since being selected 29th overall by the club in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, having played in 47 career NHL games. Red Auerbach Jersey . Zimmermann became the National Leagues first 16-game winner, pitching seven solid innings to lead the Washington Nationals past the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Wednesday night. Dennis Johnson Jersey . Now, Sarah Burkes legacy will live on in Canadas Sports Hall of Fame. Burke, who tragically died at age 29 from a training accident in 2012, headlined the 2014 class named for induction Wednesday.(SportsNetwork.com) - Nail Yakupov faces former junior teammate Alex Galchenyuk as the Edmonton Oilers try for their second victory of the season in a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens. Viewers in the Canadiens region can watch the game on TSN Habs at 10:30pm at/9:30pm et. The game is also available on TSN Radio 690 in Montreal. Yakupov and Galchenyuk were teammates with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL for two seasons. Yakupov was drafted by the Oilers first overall in 2012 and Galchenyuk was selected two spots later by the Canadiens. Peter Budaj will make his first start of the season in net for the Candiens as Montreal plays the second contest of a four-game swing through western Canada. Budaj is 14-6-3 with a 2.92 GAA and .886 save percentage in 24 meetings with the Oilers, while Carey Price is 1-4-1 with a 3.65 GAA and .853 save percentage in six encounters. All but one of Budajs encounters with the Oilers came while he was with the Colorado Avalanche. He faced them as a member of the Habs on March 8, 2012 and made 24 saves in a win. That was the most recent meeting between these clubs, with the Canadiens snapped a three-game series losing streak with the 5-3 road victory. It was also their first victory in the past five trips to Edmonton. Devan Dubnyk got the start in Edmontons first two games of the season, losses to Winnipeg and Vancouver. The 27-year-old was tagged for 10 goals on 59 shots faced in the two games and was lifted early in favor of Jason LaBarbera in defeat versus the Canucks on Oct. 5. Dubnyk gave up three goals in the first period of that contest, including a pair in the final two minutes of the frame. "Its two games and I felt good for the majority of the first period last game, so Ill just build off that," Dubnyk said on Wednesday. "I know what Ive got to do to go play.dddddddddddd Ive done it lots before and Im just excited to go out there and do it again tomorrow." The six-year vet is 1-0-1 with a 3.29 goals against average and .892 save percentage in two meetings with the Canadiens and gets the call tonight despite LaBarbera helping backstop the Oilers to a 5-4 shootout win over New Jersey on Monday. LaBarbera made 21 saves on 25 shots faced through overtime, but turned aside both skaters he faced in the shootout, while Edmontons Jordan Eberle and David Perron converted their chances. It capped a furious comeback for the Oilers, who trailed by three goals entering the third period before getting four straight tallies from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Andrew Ference, Perron and Taylor Hall. The Devils did net a tying goal with 54 seconds left in regulation. "It was a fun game. Its not a situation we want to put ourselves in, but it was a great win. That final period was great," said Nugent-Hopkins, who made his season debut following shoulder surgery. The Canadiens have lost two of three to begin the season and dropped a 3-2 decision in Calgary last night. Montreal yielded a pair of goals in the first period and trailed by three before getting goals from P.K. Subban and Lars Eller. Subban also assisted on Ellers third-period tally, but took a late penalty to halt any chance of a comeback. "We didnt react well to the two mistakes we made in the first period, and its one of those things where we took some penalties in the third period and we shouldnt have taken those type of penalties," Montreal head coach Michel Therrien said. Andrei Markov picked up his 400th career point with an assist, while Eller has notched four goals and six points through the first three games. ' ' '