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| ecause she was the better player today, for sure." Kvitova, th |
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| 2070 Beiträge - Forenlegende
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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. Camouflage Nike Roshe Run Mens Pattern Shoes . The Cincinnati Reds remain perfect with their speedy rookie outfielder in the starting lineup. Nike Roshe Run Womens Suede Black Red Shoes . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. The nine-time Big 12 champion Jayhawks are positioning themselves for another title, as they have run out to a flawless 6-0 mark in conference play thus far. http://www.2016rosherunsaleuk.com/Dark-Grey-Black-...05-16.h tml . Ivanovic was leading 7-5, 1-0 when Hantuchova withdrew after falling 0-40 behind in the second game. The match started slowly for Ivanovic, who surrendered her first two serves as Hantuchova took a 5-3 lead. Womens Fluorescent Green Nike Roshe Run Mesh Shoes . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Black Cyan Nike Roshe Run Mens Pattern Shoes . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Simona Halep says her dream is to someday become a top-10 tennis player, and she is doing her part this summer to help make that happen. Halep beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-5 on Friday night to reach the New Haven Open final. The 21-year-old Romanian will be seeking her fourth title after winning three times on the WTA Tour since June. "I have big confidence in me now," she said. She will face defending champion Petra Kvitova. The Czech star beat countrywoman Klara Zakopalova 6-0, 6-1 for her eighth consecutive match victory in New Haven. Halep, currently ranked 23rd, is now 28-5 in her last 33 matches (30-5 counting qualifying matches). It is a string that began in Rome in May when she was ranked 64th in the world and made the semifinals. She expects her rank to rise to 21 on Monday. "Ill try to do my best to get in top 20, because its first step," she said. "Its very hard, I know, but I have to keep going my hard work and to try to be in top 20 as soon as possible. "Its my dream." Halep got the first of her six services breaks in the first game of the match, and appeared to be in complete control when she broke the Danish star again to open the second set. But Wozniacki kept fighting. She broke back, and did it again after dropping her serve to Halep in the sets fifth game. Halep kept the pressure on and broke again to take a 6-5 lead, using a bit of luck. The 21-year-old mishit a return that floated high and into the middle of the court. But Wozniacki hit what appeared to be an easy overhead smash well wide. "I dont know how I missed that by like a mile," she said. "It was a pretty crucial point as well, so pretty disappointing there." Wozniacki saved two match points to get to deuce on Haleps final serve, but the Romanian put a backhand cross court for a wwinner to take the match.dddddddddddd The loss was just the second for Wozniacki in 25 career matches in New Haven, where she is a four-time champion. Her only other defeat came a year ago when she was forced to retire from the semifinals because of a knee injury. "Its a very like empty feeling in a way, because Ive been so used to winning here and I love winning," she said. Halep won her three titles in Europe, two on clay and another on grass. Her best previous showing in the U.S. Open series was in Cincinnati, where she was eliminated in the quarterfinals last week. "But now Im playing really good on hard (courts), too," she said. "So I dont know which one is my favourite. I like all the surfaces now." Kvitova, who had fought through three, three-set matches en route to her semifinal, dominated Zakopalova in a meeting that lasted only 50 minutes. "I played my game, finally today," she said. "I played aggressively. I can improve my serve. I had some double faults again, so I can still improve." That might be hard for Zakopalova to believe. Kvitova won 53 of the 76 points in the match. Zakopalova earned only three points in the second set before holding serve and closing to 5-1 with her only game win. She finished with 10 points in the set. Kvitova ended things on her serve, striking an ace on the final point. "She just played fantastic tennis today without any mistakes," Zakopalova said. "I think everything was working for her, so I have to just congratulate her, wish her good luck because she was the better player today, for sure." Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, has never won the same tournament in consecutive years. She would like to add that feat to an already impressive resume. "I have one more new motivation then," she said. Cheap China Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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