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ATLANTA -- Kevin Durant scored 30 points. Game Spencer Long Washington Redskins Womens Home Jersey Nike NFL Burgundy Red . As usual, there was so much more to his performance. Dominating at both ends of the court, Durant led the Oklahoma City Thunder to their 11th win in 12 games, holding off the Atlanta Hawks 101-92 Tuesday night. Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 17 points off the bench to lead an Atlanta comeback that had the sparse crowd roaring. The Thunder closed it out at the end, "They revved up their intensity on the defensive end, their physicality," Durant said. "We matched their intensity and were able to take that punch and give a bigger punch back on the defensive end." Durant knocked down 9 of 21 from the field and 11 of 15 free throws. He also had 10 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal, helping limit Atlanta to just 36 per cent shooting. "We finally got a couple stops in a row at the end," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "Any time you hold an NBA team in the 30s per cent-wise in field goals, then youre doing a good job defensively." Coming off an impressive 118-94 home victory over Indiana, the Thunder had more trouble on the road against the Hawks. But the result was the same: another Oklahoma City win, despite a tough shooting night for Russell Westbrook. He was held to 14 points on a 6-of-21 effort, though he did sink an impressive reverse layup with 1:41 remaining to help finish off Atlanta. Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 23 points. Al Horford was held to seven, unable to get anything going against the Thunders stifling defence. Oklahoma City appeared in control after a 10-0 run finished off by a spectacular play. Jeff Teague turned it over near midcourt, Westbrook took off the other way on what looked to be a layup, only to flip the ball back over his head to Durant streaking down the court for a thunderous dunk that stretched the lead to 88-75 with 6:47 remaining. "You have nights when you dont make shots, but you cant have nights when you dont play defence," said Westbrook, who had 11 assists. "I take pride in defending every single night and trying to help my team win games." Led by Mack, who went 3 of 5 from 3-point range, the Hawks closed to 95-92 with just over 2 minutes remaining. The home team didnt score again, missing its final four shots. "Shelvin Mack gave us a great lift. He made some big shots," Teague said. "We just didnt have enough at the end." Reggie Jackson hit two difficult shots in the final minute of the third quarter after the Hawks sliced into Oklahoma Citys 15-point lead -- first with the shot clock running down, then a fadeaway just ahead of the buzzer to end the period. The Thunder went to the fourth up 76-68. Jackson finished with 13 points. Serge Ibaka chipped in with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Atlantas Kyle Korver missed three shots beyond the arc in the first half, but knocked down a 3-pointer early on in the third quarter to extend his record streak with at least one trey to 91 games in a row. In the previous game, Korver broke the mark set by Dana Barros from 1994-96. "There were a couple of stretches where we just couldnt get good shots," Korver said. "We all know we have room to grow. Weve got to get better, but we can get better." NOTES: Thunder G Thabo Sefolosha did not play after spraining his right knee in Sundays victory over the Pacers. Andre Roberson made his second start of the season and had two points and five rebounds. ... The Hawks biggest lead was two points. ... Oklahoma Citys Kendrick Perkins was called for a flagrant foul in the third quarter when he whacked Teague across the chin and neck as the Hawks guard drove for the basket. ... Millsap had 12 rebounds, while Horford added 10. ... The announced attendance was 12,503, but the upper deck behind each basket was largely empty. Burgundy Red Brian Orakpo Limited Jersey Youth Nike NFL Washington Redskins Home . The 33-year-old right-hander was 14-7 with a career-low 3.64 ERA in 28 starts for his hometown San Diego Padres last season. He joins a rotation that includes NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly and fellow newcomer Chris Capuano, who signed a $10-million, two-year deal last week. Mens Clinton Portis Washington Redskins NFL Throwback Jersey White Reebok Authentic Road . The World Group first round series will now continue Monday with Spain leading 1-0. Earlier Sunday, Czech Klara Zakopalova led the second singles match against Maria Torro-Flor 6-3, 2-0.Throughout the NHL playoffs, I have forecasted each round simply by using shots on goal and goaltender save percentage to come up with a baseline for the series. Its not intended to be some magical formula and doesnt apply any context, like, for example, taking injuries into account. This remedial statistical method has gone 9-5 in picks through the first three rounds. Heres a quick look at the five series that went the wrong way: In the first round, Columbus came in ahead of Pittsburgh, though that required Sergei Bobrovsky to perform better than Marc-Andre Fleury (not an impossibility given Fleurys playoff track record), but Fleury and Bobrovsky each had a .908 save percentage in Round One and Pittsburgh dominated puck possession to an extent that they did not during the regular season. Minnesota upended Colorado, in Game Seven overtime, which wasnt altogether surprising. I would have easily been able to talk myself into the upset had the Wild not gone into the series with Ilya Bryzgalov as their starting goaltender, because the Wild were a superior possession team. Darcy Kuemper returned for four games and helped tilt the series back in Minnesotas favour and Semyon Varlamov, whose regular-season play fueled the Avalanches top seed finish, was only okay in the postseason, posting a .913 save percentage in seven games. The touchiest series for this years playoffs was the San Jose-Los Angeles matchup in Round One. The forecast had the Sharks favoured by the slimmest of margins (18.15 expected goals to 18.09 expected goals) and, when they had a 3-0 series lead, that coin flip looked to be falling the right way. We know how that has turned out since that point. In the second round, the Boston Bruins were favoured over the Montreal Canadiens, and while the Bruins controlled large portions of the series, they couldnt solve Carey Price, who had a .936 save percentage in the seven-game upset. Then, in the Conference Finals, the forecast put the Chicago Blackhawks over the Los Angeles Kings, due to a goaltending advantage, because Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick hasnt been great in this years playoffs. After what was a sensational series, it was safe to say that neither team held a goaltending advantage -- both Quick and Corey Crawford struggled -- and the Kings took Game Seven in OT. So, those misses are on the record as we head into the Stanley Cup Final. The expected goals for each team in the series are determined by taking each teams shots for and against over the course of the season, as well as through the first round of the playoffs, and splitting the difference. So, for example, the New York Rangers, over the regular season and playoffs have averaged 32.4 shots on goal per game and the Los Angeles Kings have allowed 27.0 shots on goal per game; the average of those two numbers, 29.70 shots, is the number that is thenn multiplied by (1 - the opposing goaltenders save percentage) to determine an expected goals per game for the Rangers. Womens Bashaud Breeland Burgundy Red Jersey Game 80th Anniversary Nike NFL Washington Redskins. Finally, the number is multiplied by seven to indicate an expected goal total for a seven-game series. Theres no guarantee that scoring more goals in a series will result in winning four games first, but the odds certainly favour the team that scores more. So, lets see how the numbers shake out for the Final: Team SF SA Goaltender SV% Expected GF/Series Los Angeles 31.5 27.0 Jonathan Quick 0.912 16.54 N.Y. Rangers 32.4 29.1 Henrik Lundqvist 0.922 18.30 Verdict: While the Kings and Rangers are very similar in their playoff puck possession rates, the Kings were tops in the league during the regular season and ran through a more difficult gauntlet in the Western Conference to reach the Cup Final. The difference in shot rates during the regular season is pretty small, however, with the Kings earning 54.7% of the shots as the Rangers earned 53.0% of the total shots. Over the course of a game, that amounts to about one extra shot on goal; hardly the kind of difference that couldnt be overcome by better goaltending. Which brings us to the advantage to which the Rangers will cling. Lundqvist has been one of the games top goaltenders since coming into the league in 2005-2006, and is performing at a high level in this years playoffs as well, so couldnt he stop an extra shot or two per game? At the other end, Jonathan Quick has traditionally been a very good playoff goaltender in his own right, but his .906 save percentage this year has dropped Quicks all-time playoff save percentage to .922, falling fractionally behind Lundqvist. Certainly, some of the blame for this seasons save percentage can be attributed to the calibre of teams that the Kings have faced on their way to the Cup Final, with San Jose (sixth), Anaheim (first) and Chicago (second) all among the top-scoring teams in the league this season. By comparison, the Rangers got through Philadelphia (eighth), Pittsburgh (fifth) and Montreal (21st), so there is some quality of competition favouring Quick. It would be an upset if the Rangers won the series but a seven-game series, if otherwise close, can easily be decided by goaltending and, right now, its not unreasonable to hold higher expectations for Lundqvist. Lets see if King Henrik can get the job done. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy Sports on Facebook. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
