t — Ive never seen a hitter like him."

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. Marcus Stroman Jersey . -- Brad Gushue of St. Roger Clemens Jersey . 1. Did the Senators trade the wrong goalie? Lets make one thing clear: The Ottawa Senators acquired Ben Bishop from the St. Louis Blues for one reason and one reason alone. http://www.bluejaysonline.com/blue-jays-paul-molitor-jersey/ . To get things started, heres a little photo tour to get you acquainted with all the main characters. Jesse Barfield Jersey . The alleged sexual assault is believed to have happened over the weekend of Feb. 1, when the hockey team was in Thunder Bay for two games against Lakehead University. The criminal investigation branch of the Thunder Bay Police Service is leading the investigation with help from Ottawa police. Roberto Alomar Jersey . Villa has already confirmed his short-term deal and the Daily Mirror reported early Tuesday that Lampard will join him as both build up match fitness ahead of moves to the new Major League Soccer franchise New York City.DETROIT - Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez and Max Scherzer will all happily give Jim Leyland credit for improving their careers. Saturday, they got a chance to pay him back. On the day the Tigers honoured their former manager in a pregame ceremony, Cabrera and Martinez both hit three-run homers and Scherzer threw well enough to lead the Tigers over the Minnesota Twins 9-3. "We had a lot of great memories with Jim, so we wanted to give him one more," Cabrera said. "We wanted that for him, because of everything he did for us." Cabrera connected for his fifth homer, tagging Kyle Gibson (3-3), while Martinez hit his eighth of the season and fourth in the last six games. "It was great to see Jim today, because hes still a big part of our family," Martinez said. "You see him today, running around and hugging people, and you forget how old he is, because he doesnt have the attitude of an old man. He still seems young, and we all loved seeing him, because he has done so much for all of us." Scherzer (5-1) wasnt sharp yet still won, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks in six innings. He struck out six — his team-record streak of fanning at least seven in seven starts to begin a season ended. "I couldnt find my release point today, but I was able to get through it," he said. "I gave up one big shot, but the rest of the time, I was able to make enough pitches to get the outs I needed and get out of any jams. "And Leyland must have been proud. He always managed for Miggy and Victor to hit three-run homers for him," he said. After the 69-year-old Leyland threw out the first pitch, another of his favourite players made an immediate impact. Don Kelly, a utilityman who owes his major league career to Leylands patience and trust, reached over the left-field fence in the first inning to steal a homer from Kurt Suzuki. Kelly then scored the games first run as the Tigers took a 2-0 lead in the second on RBI singles by Alex Avila and Andrew Romine. Detroit added another run when second baseman Brian Dozier dropped shortstop Danny Santanas flip, then threw wildly to the plate as Avila scored. "Danny should have just thrown to first there, but he got himself into trouble by trying to get the out at second," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You cant make those kind of mistakes against that team." The error had major consequences, as Cabrera followed with his homer for a 6-0 lead.dddddddddddd "That was a huge mistake by the Twins, and we all knew it as soon as we saw the error," Scherzer said. "If you let us extend an inning and get Miggy to the plate, hes going to make you pay for it. Thats exactly what he did." The Twins closed the deficit on Doziers long, three-run shot in the third, but werent able to do anything else against Scherzer. Anthony Swarzak relieved Gibson and pitched four shutout innings, but the damage had already been done. "I just got behind too many guys, and then you have to come in over the plate," Gibson said. "You cant do that against a team like Detroit. They are a pretty good team when you have to throw the ball down the middle." Martinez broke open the game with a three-run homer off Michael Tonkin in the seventh. Martinez, who is hitting .328 at the age of 35, is on pace to easily surpass his career high of 25. "I knew Victor was a great hitter before I got here, but he has continued to surprise me all season," said Leylands successor as manager, Brad Ausmus. "I keep saying it — Ive never seen a hitter like him." Tigers reliever Phil Coke got into the game in his latest role as the mop-up man. He allowed a leadoff single, drawing boos from the crowd, but Cabrera helped him out with a 3-6-3 double play that led to a shutout inning. "We need to get Phil going in games like this so that we can work him in to tougher situations," Ausmus said. "Miggy helped him out today, and hopefully, this will get the ball rolling." NOTES: The Tigers honoured Leyland and had him throw out the first pitch to longtime friend and Tigers bench coach Gene Lamont. Leyland, the only manager to lead Detroit to four post-season appearances, was also presented with a framed painting by team president Dave Dombrowski, Justin Verlander and Cabrera. "It was a great run for eight years," Leyland said before the game. "I only wish we could have brought a World Series trophy to this city." ... A fan behind the Twins dugout got an ovation after catching a foul ball with his left hand while cradling his daughter in his right arm. ... Scherzers eight games with at least six strikeouts is the second-longest streak to start a season in franchise history, trailing his own 19-game run last year. 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