Thorntons forward momentum from

[jinshuiqian0713]

(SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Durant will continue his campaign for MVP Thursday, when the Oklahoma City Thunder welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to Chesapeake Energy Arena. Watch the Lakers vs. Thunder live tonight on TSN2 starting at 9:30pm et/6:30pm pt. Durant is the NBAs leading scorer with 31.9 points per game and is averaging 35.7 ppg in his last 12. He helped the Thunder to a 106-98 win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday with a 42-point performance on 12-of-22 shooting. He also made 13-of-16 from the foul line. Russell Westbrook scored 24 points and Serge Ibaka chipped in 12 to go with 16 rebounds, as the Thunder ended a two-game losing streak and won for the fourth time in the last six tries. Oklahoma City held the high-scoring Rockets to 41.8 percent shooting and used a 30-17 advantage in the second quarter to build a sizeable lead. "Defensively I thought we did a great job of locking in for four quarters," said Westbrook. The Thunder will close out their three-game homestand Sunday versus Dallas and have won four in a row in the OKC. They are 27-6 as the host, including a 17-2 mark against visiting Western foes. Oklahoma City, which is headed toward another playoff berth, also sits one game behind San Antonio for the Wests top seed. Now that Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is officially done for the season with a balky knee, the team can move on. The team made the announcement Wednesday. "With Kobes injury still not healed, the amount of time hed need to rehab and be ready to play, and the amount of time remaining in the season, weve simply run out of time for him to return," Lakers trainer Gary Vitti said. "However, Kobe will have the entire offseason to heal, rehab and prepare, and we look forward to him being 100 percent for the start of next season." Bryant also made a statement. "Obviously this has been a frustrating and disappointing season, but I appreciate all the support Ive received from the Lakers and the fans, and look forward to being back and ready for the start of training camp." The Lakers will play two in a row on the road against Oklahoma City and San Antonio, and have an 11-22 record as the visitor this season. The well-rested Lakers won the last time out in a 114-110 victory over the Thunder on Sunday and were led by Jodie Meeks career-high 42 points. Meeks sank 6-of-11 3-pointers and scored 20 points in the third quarter, while Pau Gasol ended with 20 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles, which ended a three-game slide and won for just the fourth time in the past 14 tries. "Jodie Meeks has been our most consistent performer all year," said Lakers head coach Mike DAntoni. In milestone news, Gasol will play in his 900th career game. L.A. snapped a three-game losing streak to the Thunder last weekend, but has lost eight of the past 11 meetings between the teams. The Lakers have lost four in a row at Oklahoma City. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . According to a report from ESPN, sources said Manuels college coach Jimbo Fisher told teams he didnt think Manuel had the tools to be an NFL starter. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Henrik Samuelsson and Luke Bertolucci also scored for the Oil Kings, who are now 9-0 on home ice in the playoffs to cut Portlands series lead to 2-1. Chase De Leo and Mathew Dumba responded for the Winterhawks, who suffered just their fourth loss in their last 46 games, a string of success running all the way back to Jan. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку!. The day began ominously for the Rangers when star pitcher Yu Darvish was scratched from his scheduled start with stiffness in his neck. Fill-in Scott Baker gave up three hits over six innings and Chris Gimenez hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the sixth off Phil Hughes. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! .Y. -- First, Ryan Miller. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . -- D.A. Points was disqualified Friday from the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for using a training device while waiting to play the 18th hole at Pebble Beach.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, "Goalie interference, no goal" Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! Devils defenceman bumps/trips Flyer towards the net, both touch goalie. "Good goal" Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! (the Burns goal) The goalie was being held on the ice by an attacking player - isnt that textbook goaltender interference? Brian Hi Kerry, I have a question about the Sharks 2nd goal tonite. The ref blew his whistle and waived off the goal, seemingly indicating there was a reason why it wasnt a goal. If he only believed the puck had not entered the net, wouldnt the play go on as the puck was still live? Seems to me that was a give-back for the blown call minutes earlier where San Jose was robbed of a goal by the refs quick whistle. Love to hear your perspective. ThanksDavid Brian and David: Thank you very much for submitting your questions as to why contact with the goalkeeper in Philadelphia resulted in a crucial disallowed goal, yet in San Jose the Sharks second goal was allowed to stand. This is not an example of inconsistency, as some might suggest, but the referees correct decision on both plays is supported in the language and interpretation found in Rule 69. With the Flyers net empty for an extra attacker, the puck was kicked out of a high scrum of players and thrown across ice by Kimmo Timonen to Jacub Voracek. Scott Hartnell broke for the net with Anton Volchenchov in close pursuit from behind. There was some minor contact exerted by Volchenkov on Hartnell as the Flyer extended to redirect Voraceks pass at Martin Brodeur from outside the crease. Brodeur made the initial save but offered up a rebound as Volchenkov lost his balance and fell to the ice with a slide toward the goal. There was no push, shove or check delivered by Volchenkov on Hartnell and their contact was incidental in nature. Scott Hartnell remained on his skates in a path that took him into the goal crease. Hartnell repositioned his body and began to throw snow in a stopping motion. It appears at this point that Scotts skate contacted the puck and directed it back into Brodeurs stacked pads. Scott Hartnells forward momentum then took him deep into the goal crease. Hartnell initiated a hip bump at the point of contact with Martin Brodeur that knocked both the goalie and the puck into the net. Referee Tom Kowal, with very good position to see the contact, utilized Rule 69.6 to immediately wave off the potential goal. (69.6: In the event that a goalkeeper has been pushed into the net together with the puck after making a stop, the goal will be disallowed.) Kowal correctly ruled that the contact by Hartnell was "incidental" as opposed to deliberate thereby resulting in no goal and no penalty on the play. This is not a reviewable play. The deciision made by the Toronto Situation Room to initiate a review and the subsequent announcement the referee was forced to make did not bring clarity or support the decision made on the ice by referee Kowal.dddddddddddd The delay in getting the game resumed quickly, in addition to the announcement, "Following video review its confirmed its not a good hockey goal. Its no goal" further infuriated Flyers fans in the building for no useful purpose since video review could not overturn the referees decision. Bottom line is that in the judgment of the referee, Martin Brodeur and the puck were knocked into the net through incidental contact exerted by Scott Hartnell. The call made on the ice by the referee was both correct and courageous - end of story! In San Jose, Joe Thornton was positioned to the side and above the goal crease when Tim Gleason of the Leafs checked Thornton from behind with solid contact. The hit caused Thornton to lurch forward into Dion Phaneuf positioned at the top, middle of the crease. Phaneuf pushed back on Thornton, causing Jumbo Joe to enter the blue paint. Thornton was conscious of avoiding contact with Leafs goalkeeper James Reimer, as demonstrated by his effort to straddle Reimer with a wide stance. Thorntons forward momentum from the Phaneuf push, combined with Joes wide stance, caused his upper body to veer forward with a loss of balance. In an effort to regain his balance, Joe had no alternative but to place his hands on the back of James Reimer. Thornton quickly pushed himself up and off Reimer and then immediately exited the goal crease prior to the shot entering the net. The referees decision is supported by Rule 69.1; (If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.) Joe Thornton made more than a reasonable attempt to avoid James Reimer after being body checked by two Leaf players at the edge of the goal crease. The speed with which Thornton exited the crease is also of significance. Had he delayed his departure and remained in contact with the goalkeeper a different decision by the referee would most likely have been rendered. The referee waved the goal off because he thought the puck hit the crossbar on the shot by Brent Burns. Video review subsequently confirmed that the puck did enter the net on the shot. The refs initial decision on this play had nothing to do with the previously disallowed goal when he ruled the puck was covered and play dead prior to Scott Hannan jamming the puck from under James Reimer. In Philadelphia and San Jose, two distinctly different plays involved contact with the goalkeeper and resulted in the correct decision being rendered by both refs based on two separate rule applications contained in Rule 69. ' ' '