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MINNEAPOLIS -- Shawn Marion was getting to the rim at will, knocking down 3-pointers and playing tough defence. cheap nfl jerseys . Even if the Minnesota Timberwolves think his defence was a little too tough on the last shot of the game, there was no disputing that "The Matrix" was back for Dallas on Monday night. Marion scored 32 points, hit two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and swatted away Kevin Loves 21-foot jumper at the buzzer to help the Mavericks outlast the Timberwolves in a 100-98 victory. The Mavs led by 19 late in the first half and seven with 3 minutes to play, but the Wolves had the ball down two in the closing seconds. Love got the ball in the corner and rose up for a 3-pointer, but Marion swooped in and swatted it away as Love looked for a foul. None was called. "Heh, heh. It was not a foul," Marion said. The Timberwolves disagreed. "He got fouled," Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. "I wonder what that would have been if (Dirk) Nowitzki, LeBron James, all the top players in the league -- a guy reaches on a last-second shot like that, instead of challenging it. Maybe they dont understand that Kevin is one of the top five players in this league. You make that call. But they didnt." Love, who had 36 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, stood watching the scoreboard in disbelief, and the Mavericks walked off the court winners against the Wolves for the first time in three tries this season. "Im the type of person that if you see a foul, an obvious foul, you call it," Love said. "And I thought that was pretty, pretty obvious. ... You look at the replay and it was obvious he got arm." Nowitzki had 16 points for the Mavericks, who led by 19 late in the first half before the Wolves came back. But this win was all Marion. He topped 30 points in a game for the first time since the 2008-09 season, and made 14 of 19 shots to go with six rebounds and three assists. "Im all about winning games, man," Marion said. "Whatever it takes." After the Timberwolves were down 19 at halftime, Love shot 6 of 8 in the third quarter and the Wolves outscored Dallas 38-21 to tie the game heading into the fourth. Adelman, however, might have stuck with a struggling J.J. Barea too long in the final period. Rather than going back to Ricky Rubio during a timeout with just more than 5:30 to play, Adelman kept Barea, who had five turnovers in 17 minutes, on the floor. Thats when Marion hit two of his four 3s for a 97-90 lead with 3:04 to play. "Shawn was the key to the game, no question about it," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "If were giving out game balls, itd be two game balls in a row for him. Activity was great. Played both ends of the floor. Didnt run one play for him. He just produced." Nowitzki finished the run with a baseline jumper, the original "Stretch 4" finding a way to best the newest version in Love. The Wolves had beaten the Mavericks soundly in the first two meetings of the season, so Dallas came in with some extra motivation. And the Wolves woeful defence did little to deter the Mavericks. Dallas shot 60 per cent in the first half and scored 34 of its 62 points in the paint, with Love, Nikola Pekovic and the rest of the Wolves defence just letting the Mavericks parade to the rim. Marion scored 21 points and hit 10 of his 12 shots -- most from within 5 feet -- in the first half. Nowitzki threw down a rare dunk to get his teammates off the bench and give the Mavs a 60-41 lead late in the second quarter. The loss followed a pattern for the Wolves, who were trying to climb over .500 for the fifth time in December. They were 0-4 in their previous four tries, having shot 39 per cent while allowing their opponents to shoot 52 per cent. Pekovic had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Rubio had four points, 13 assists, nine rebounds and three steals for Minnesota. NOTES: Brandan Wright had 14 points off the bench for Dallas. ... Injured Wolves Fs Chase Budinger (knee) and Ronny Turiaf (elbow) played 3-on-3 at the morning shootaround. There is still no timetable for their return. ... Rubio picked up his 1,000th career assist in the first quarter. wholesale jerseys . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. jerseys from china . -- Keegan Iverson scored the eventual winner as the Portland Winterhawks extended their win streak to 18 games by doubling up the visiting Kamloops Blazers 4-2 on Friday in Western Hockey League action.DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings were in desperate need of a win and two veteran stars helped delivered it. Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals, including a power-play score at 1:03 of overtime and the Red Wings earned a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. The win snapped Detroits six-game losing streak (0-4-2) and five-game home losing streak. "We were hanging in, playing some good hockey, and then all of a sudden were having some lapses where we give the other team way too many chances," Alfredsson said. "We did that some today, too, but overall we grinded." Alfredsson also had an assist and was set up for the winner by Pavel Datsyuk, who had three assists. Datsyuk threaded a cross-ice pass to Alfredsson, who rifled in a one-time slap shot from the inside edge of the left circle for his ninth goal of the season. Datsyuk drew the penalty on T.J. Brodie, who hooked Datsyuk as he tried to split the defence deep in the Calgary zone with 42 seconds left. Alfredsson also got his 700th assist earlier in the game. Detroit is without eight regulars due to injury. Joakim Andersson also scored for Detroit, defenceman Niklas Kronwall added two assists and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves. Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano scored for Calgary. Mike Cammalleri had two assists and goalie Karri Ramo stopped 35 shots. "They had a little desperaation and hunger in their game down the stretch," Cammalleri said. nfl jerseys china. Calgary coach Bob Hartley disagreed with the penalty call on Brodie. "I didnt think it was a call," Hartley said. "I thought it was a hockey play. It was stick to stick." Alfredsson opened the scoring just 26 seconds into the game when he put in a loose puck from the slot. Backlund tied it at 5:11 with his fifth goal. He flipped in the puck after it caromed off the end boards. Andersson gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 11:38 of the second when Alfredssons shot deflected in off his skate. It was Anderssons fifth goal. It was Alfredssons 700th career assist. Giordanos power-play goal tied it at 2 with 4:27 left in the second period. He beat Gustavsson with a shot from the high slot just after a two-man Flames advantage ended. NOTE: Calgary C Mike Cammalleri returned after missing the previous game due to an illness. Cammalleri also played at the University of Michigan. ... Red Wings captain and C Henrik Zetterberg, who is on the long-term injured reserve due to a herniated disc, skated with his teammates Thursday morning for the first time since his previous game, which was Dec. 4. ... Flames C Jiri Hudler is a former Red Wing. ... Detroit RW Jordin Tootoo was in the lineup after being recalled from Grand Rapids of the AHL. The veteran enforcer was sent down to the team earlier in the season. ' ' ' |
