OAKLAND, Calif. - Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant sat out the second half of a 114-109 loss at the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night after spraining his right ankle.Durant said the sprain was mild and X-rays were negative. The reigning NBA MVP said he hopes to play at the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night but will see how he feels.I wanted to play. I wanted go back out there, but we wanted to be cautious, Durant said.Durant grabbed his ankle after stepping on Marreese Speights left foot while going hard to the basket late in the second quarter. Durant was called for a charge on the play.Durant lay on the ground in pain before walking to the bench with the help of teammates Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka. Durant limped to the locker room at halftime under his own power.I was a little nervous, but I knew that when I got up and started walking that it felt good, he said. I just wanted to make sure with the X-ray that everything was good.Durant came back Dec. 2 after missing the teams first 17 games with a broken right foot, and his latest injury ended his best performance yet this season.Durant scored 30 points on 10-for-13 shooting, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. It was his highest-scoring game this season and the highest-scoring first half of his career.Oklahoma City started the season 3-12 with Durant and Westbrook dealing with injuries but had been rediscovering its championship-contender form with both healthy again.The Thunder had won seven straight entering the game, which was the longest active streak in the league after Memphis snapped Golden States 16-game winning streak Tuesday night. Oklahoma City is 7-2 since Durant came back and 8-2 since the return of Westbrook, who sat out 13 games with a broken bone in his right hand. . Behind the talents of rookie Johnny Gaudreau, the Flames will look to keep pace Thursday night when they face the Minnesota Wild in the second of a six-game homestand. . Wayne and Cindy Tuck of Ilderton, Ont., closed out round-robin play earlier in the day with a 7-3 win over Finland but needed a win over Austria to reach the final eight.
http://www.cheapindiansjerseysauthentic ... era-jersey. -- The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round pick Nik Stauskas to his rookie contract. . However, after review it became clear Kadri kicked the puck in. .Y. - Referee Ed Hochuli referred to replay official Tom Sifferman by his nickname Jungle Boy, which was heard on the in-stadium microphone during the Arizona Cardinals-Carolina Panthers NFC wild-card game Saturday.LAHAINA, Hawaii -- The Maui Invitational is built on celebrating upsets. No. 8 Syracuse avoided one against Minnesota on Monday with a gritty early-season finish. A frenzied sequence that included three blocks and a missed dunk ended with less than two minutes left when C.J. Fair calmly hit a pull-up jumper, giving the Orange a four-point lead. That led to a 75-67 win and an inside track to the early-season tournaments title as the favourite among eight teams playing in Hawaii. Fair scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds Syracuse held off Minnesota. The reward: A game against California on Tuesday, then either No. 11 Gonzaga or No. 18 Baylor on Wednesday if both teams win later Monday. "The danger is when you get pressed for 40 minutes, its difficult to bounce back," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "Well be ready. Well bounce back." The Orange (5-0) pushed through a late run by the Golden Gophers, who pulled within 67-65 with little more than two minutes left.But Minnesota (5-1) committed four turnovers in the final two minutes, scoring only once more when Austin Hollins hit a meaningless layup in the games final moments. Trevor Cooney scores 15 points all on 3-pointers, while Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant scored 12 points each. "It was a good test. Going forward we can still keep getting better." Fair said. Malik Smmith had 16 points for Minnesota.dddddddddddd Andre Hollins had 14 points while Austin Hollins had 11 points. Elliott Eliason led the Golden Gophers with nine rebounds. Syracuse -- which moved up one spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll earlier in the day -- led by only three points at halftime. But the Orange started the second half with a 13-2 run mostly led by Fair, who hit two jumpers, two free throws and a tip-in as Syracuse tallied 10 straight points. Minnesota stopped short of fully coming back from the 14-point hole, though it cut the lead to 5 points in less than four minutes and got even closer on two free throws each from Austin Hollins and Andre Hollins. "When you are building a program and you are at the early, early stages you want to show that you can compete on every single possession. Our guys did that tonight," Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. The game was filled with big runs by both teams. Syracuse had two 7-0 runs and a 5-0 run in the first half, while Minnesota had a 12-0 run and a 7-0 run to take the lead 34-33 with just over two minutes remaining before halftime. Syracuse will play California in the winners bracket of the Maui tournament, while Minnesota will play Arkansas in the consolation bracket. The tournament began Monday with eight teams, including No. 11 Gonzaga and No. 18 Baylor. ' ' '
