Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are sticking together

By Helene Elliott

Teammates on the Ducks will be linemates on Team Canada.

Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry met at a selection camp for an under-18 team -- or so Perry recalls. Getzlaf thought it wasn't until after the 2003 draft, in which the Ducks chose him 19th and Perry 28th, that they began forming the bond that led to having their names engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2007 and on Team Canada's roster for the Vancouver Olympics.

After a moment's thought, Getzlaf decided Perry was right.

"He made that team and I didn't," the rangy center said, "so that's why he remembers it."

Since then they've rarely been separated on the ice by anything but an injury. Getzlaf's sprained left ankle gave them a momentary scare Monday, but he is still being counted on to anchor the second line in Vancouver. Their familiarity will be a big boost for Canada, which will have only one practice before its opener Tuesday against Norway.

Because there will be no time to develop chemistry, Canada chose some pairs and trios, such as the San Jose line of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley, and Chicago defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. In Getzlaf and right wing Perry, Canada got players who stand out individually but are a force together.

"One and one makes two, but sometimes one and one makes three too," said Mike Babcock, Team Canada's coach. "Perry's competitiveness and his net-front play and his reach, just his overall resume spoke for himself. And I think Getzlaf is a dominant player in the league."

Getzlaf was born six days before Perry, in May 1985. They were paired on the first day of their first Ducks rookie camp and made their NHL debuts on Oct. 5, 2005. Since that season they've been friends and at the core of a changing cast.

"I think our games kind of complemented each other," said Getzlaf, who has 15 goals and 57 points in 55 games. "He's a little more of a scorer than I am, and he's a guy who's gritty and goes to the net real hard.

"As we grew as a tandem, we learned where each other is going to be, and the fact that I can put the puck into those areas and know he's going to be there makes it work."

Perry says their friendship helps them on the ice.

"We've gone through a lot of things together," said the 6-foot-3, 206-pound right wing, who's about an inch shorter and 15 pounds lighter than Getzlaf. "It's kind of nice when you have somebody that's going through the same thing at the same time in your life that you can talk to and get ideas from."

Of the two, Perry was less sure of an Olympic berth. He hit career highs of 32 goals and 72 points last season, but Canada had a lot of options on the wing, while Getzlaf's size, strength and stats marked him as an early favorite.

Having watched Canada win gold at Salt Lake City in 2002 and eager to be an Olympian in his homeland, Perry worked like a demon to prepare for orientation camp in August.

"It wasn't a cakewalk, that's for sure. It was intense, it was high-speed," he said. "All the best players in Canada were there, and when you get them together it's going to be quick, it's going to be skilled, it's going to be very competitive.

"Practices were only an hour, but it felt like you were out there for three."

Afterward, he wasn't sure where he stood.

"I was probably one of the guys that had to have a good start to even be on the radar," said Perry, who has 21 goals and 56 points in 59 games. "You had to go out and prove yourself night in and night out, not just putting up numbers but playing strong defensively and playing an all-around, two-way game for 200 feet."

Which he did. "He knew he had to go out and make a mark, and that's the kind of player he is," Getzlaf said. "What makes him who he is is that he can play in the big games and big situations."

The same is true of Getzlaf, but his recovery from hernia surgery limited his activity at the orientation camp and he feared that might count against him.

"There was a little bit of doubt in my mind at times. I'd be lying if I said otherwise," he said. "It was tough for me, especially the first 10 games or so until I got going and got getting the points."

Players were told that if they made the team they would get a phone call early on Dec. 30. Getzlaf was out for breakfast with his girlfriend when Team Canada executive Ken Holland gave him the good news, but Holland wouldn't say if Perry had made it. Getzlaf wanted to know before he went to Perry's house to carpool to the airport.

"I ended up talking to one of the PR guys and he let me know before I got over there, thank God," Getzlaf said. "It was a pretty exciting morning for us."

Perry heard from Holland about 7:45 a.m but didn't know about Getzlaf until his teammate drove by to pick him up.

"He walked in the door with a big smile on his face, then he asked if I made it and I said yes," Perry said. "We were two happy guys going to the airport. To go through that with him is going to be fun, and to have Scotty Niedermayer along too to lead our team is going to be a great experience."

Both know the pressure on Canada to win gold in the national sport will be like nothing they've known.

"It's going to be media-filled. It's going to be the talk of the Olympics. Fans are going to be crazy about it," Perry said. "You just have to stick to what you have to do. You try not to think, 'What if?' or 'What are these people saying?'

"You just go out on the ice and do your job and come off, and the next person comes out and does his. You just roll it over and continue to do what you do and what got you there. You don't want to change what got you there."

Getzlaf is taking the pressure as a challenge. "For us, and myself personally," he said.

A challenge he and Perry will handle better together.

helene.elliott@latimes.com

twitter.com/helenenothelen

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Bruins shooting straighter

A pair of goals by Paille spark second win in a row

By Fluto Shinzawa

BUFFALO - After Daniel Paille, one of the most snakebitten Bruins, tucked two first-period pucks behind Team USA’s presumed No. 1 netminder last night, it was almost certain that Ryan Miller would not allow such nonsense to continue.

“I know Ryan,’’ said Paille, the ex-Sabre. “He doesn’t like getting scored on, especially two in the first. He definitely wanted to do better for his team in the last two periods and in overtime.’’

Right on cue, after Paille’s second strike found the back of the net at 11:58 of the first period, Miller bricked up the cage. Through Periods 2 and 3, he turned aside all 19 Boston shots, then added four more saves in overtime, when the Bruins went on a four-on-three power play after Thomas Vanek was whistled for hooking.

But the Bruins, who saw their 2-0 lead blow up into a 2-2 tie by 18:35 of the second period, finally got some shootout luck to best one of the NHL’s sharpest netminders. Marco Sturm, Boston’s first shooter, beat Miller with a snap shot. Tuukka Rask, making his fourth straight start in the Boston net, brushed off a Jason Pominville leadoff goal and stopped Jochen Hecht, Tim Connolly, and Drew Stafford.

David Krejci, Boston’s No. 4 shooter, rewarded Rask by slipping a forehand shot between Miller’s pads to give the Bruins a 3-2 shootout victory before 18,690 atHSBC Arena. The Bruins have won back-to-back games and have recorded points in their last four outings.

“I thought we were going to see deja vu again in overtime with that four-on-three,’’ said coach Claude Julien, referring to last Thursday’s OT power play in a shootout loss to Montreal at TD Garden. “But at least we managed to find a way to win in the shootout.

“That’s a big extra point for us. We need those wins and we need those extra points. Sometimes they’re not always pretty. But they make up for the ones you think you should have had but never got.’’

One of the heroes was Paille, who found himself so far down on the Buffalo depth chart that he was traded to the Bruins for two picks (one conditional) last Oct. 20. Paille, skating with Marc Savard and Miroslav Satan, didn’t play that well in a 2-1 road loss to the Sabres Jan. 29. Yesterday morning, Julien pulled Paille aside to make sure he’d rebound.

“The last time we were in this building, he really had a tough night,’’ Julien said. “He was nervous coming back and playing here. Today, I told him, ‘You’ve just got to do what you do best.’ That’s skate and be on top of the puck all the time.’’

Prior to Paille’s first goal, he and his linemates worked the puck down low. Savard had the puck behind the net and left it for Paille. The left wing whirled around the net, scooped up the puck, curled around the net, and tucked a shot on goal that slipped by Miller at 4:51 of the first.

“No one was on me,’’ Paille said. “I saw an opportunity to go right at the net. I wrapped it and it went in.’’

Just over seven minutes later, Paille struck again. From the left point, after taking a pass from Derek Morris, Zdeno Chara hammered a slap shot on goal that deflected off Paille and beat Miller.

“The last couple games in this building, I didn’t really play very well,’’ said Paille. “Obviously I wanted to make a bit more of an impact today.

“Having the opportunity to play with Savvy and Miro is great. I’ve got to take advantage of that. I just took the puck to the net and went to the net. I just wanted to bury my chances.’’

It appeared, however, that Paille’s two-goal explosion wouldn’t stand up. After Milan Lucic (hooking) and Steve Begin (holding) were sent off within a 52-second span in the second period, the Sabres buried their five-on-three chance. With traffic in front, Derek Roy attacked from the slot and ripped a wrister over Rask’s glove at 4:35.

Late in the second, the Sabres tied the game with a kick-to-the-teeth goal. After Miller turned back an Andrew Ference scoring chance, the Sabres roared the other way, with first-year defenseman Tyler Myers leading the rush. The rookie cut into the slot, used Ference as a screen, and flung a wobbly wrister that Rask couldn’t glove, tying the game at 2-2 with 1:25 remaining.

“I saw it at the last second and didn’t make the save, so he just beat me,’’ Rask said.

But where the Bruins of last month might have caved, this time they stood tall in the third period and overtime. Rask turned back 12 shots in the third, including a last-minute wraparound by Pominville after Dennis Wideman coughed up the puck behind the net. By the end of overtime, Rask had stopped a career-high 43 shots.

“He’s enjoying his time right now,’’ said Chara. “He’s got a lot of confidence and making big saves.’’

© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

Loss erases Michigan State's Big Ten lead

BY GEORGE SIPPLE

FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

EAST LANSING -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said Tuesday’s crowd at the Breslin Center was one of the best in years. Unfortunately the crowd of 14,759 battled the winter elements to get to the arena for a 9 p.m. start only to see the Spartans suffer one of their worst home losses in years.

The 10th-ranked Spartans lost, 76-64, to the No.6-ranked Boilermakers, their largest margin of defeat at home since an 81-68 setback against Illinois in February 2005. It was also MSU’s third straight loss, while Purdue won their sixth straight game.

“I want to start out by saying if I motivated my players as well as the crowd – I have to do a better job,” Izzo said after watching some of his players jog back defensively while Purdue was completing lay-ups and dunks off fast breaks. The Boilermakers shot 65.2% in the first half and had a 47-33 halftime lead.

“I can’t tell you how appreciative I was – it was the best crowd we’ve had in a couple years, on a snowy night and we just didn’t bring it,” Izzo said. 

“We didn’t check anybody the first half. Not anybody. We start the game, we miss lay-ups and just got us going in a bad direction. For some reason, we haven’t checked (defensively) in three games and I really don’t have an answer for it right now.”

The Spartans battled back in the second half, cutting Purdue’s lead to three, 65-62, with 4:34 on a three-pointer by Chris Allen, who finished with a team-high 21 points. 

The Spartans never got closer, though.

E’Twaun Moore answered Allen’s trey with a triple of his own on the next possession.

“I’d say it was a gallant effort in the second half, brought on 90% by the crowd and they almost willed us to a win,” Izzo said. “We got it down to three and E’Twaun Moore hit a tough shot behind that ball screen and that’s what they do and that’s the way he plays and he played well. I don’t have any excuses. I thought that they just made more shots and we didn’t.”

After Moore’s triple, Robbie Hummel made a lay-up, and after a missed lay-up by MSU’s Raymar Morgan, Moore made another basket to put Purdue back up by 10 with 2:43 left.

Versteeg gives Blackhawks shootout win over Stars

Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas, left, battles Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson for a loose puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

By RICK GANO (AP)

CHICAGO — Kris Versteeg scored in the fifth round of a shootout, leading the Chicago Blackhawks past the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Dallas' Loui Eriksson tied it at 3 with 3:50 left in regulation, scoring from just outside the crease following a turnover by Chicago.

Chicago had taken a 3-2 lead early in the final period on a goal by Troy Brouwer, who scored from the right circle after Marian Hossa fired the puck off the boards behind the net.

Chicago Blackhawks right wing Patrick Kane, center, takes the puck from behind his own net as goalie Antti Niemi and Dallas Stars left wing Loui Eriksson watches during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Mike Ribeiro and James Neal also scored in regulation for the Stars.

Patrick Kane had two first-period goals for the Blackhawks, his team-high 23rd and 24th of the season.

In the shootout, neither team could connect until Versteeg skated in and beat Marty Turco.

Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi, the backup to Cristobal Huet, started for the second game in a row and finished with 24 saves.

Niemi had stops on Mike Modano and Brad Richards on the power play in overtime to preserve the tie. Brenden Morrow's long shot was deflected into the net about a second after the horn sounded and the game went to a shootout.

Turco had 37 saves for the Stars, who made a trade during the game in which they acquired goaltender Kari Lehtonen from Atlanta and sent defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round pick in the 2010 draft to the Thrashers.

Returning after missing 15 games with a throat injury, Ribeiro scored on a power play in the first. Fabian Brunnstrom dug the puck out from the boards, slid it to Neal in the right circle and he made a diagonal pass to a wide-open Ribeiro for the score.

Chicago tied it when Kane skated into the left circle and wristed a shot right past Turco. Dallas got the lead back with just under two minutes to go in the opening period when Neal scored his team-high 24th goal on a rebound.

But Kane answered quickly, circling from behind the net and ripping another shot from the right circle that eluded Turco to make it 2-2.

Turco preserved the tie in the second with a sprawling save of an attempt by Dustin Byfuglien on a breakaway with just over two minutes to go in the period.

NOTES: Ribeiro was accidentally struck in the throat by the stick of New York's Christopher Higgins in the Rangers' 5-2 victory on Jan. 6. He spent several days in a New York hospital after undergoing a tracheotomy. He was activated from injured reserve Monday ... Stars forward Steve Ott was scratched after an emergency appendectomy Monday. ... On a snowy night in Chicago, the crowd was announced at 21,446 — the Blackhawks 80th consecutive sellout at the United Center.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Who Dat? Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Demi, Dat Who

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

The Associated Press 

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The cry of "Who Dat" wasn't all about the New Orleans Saints at the Super Bowl - it was also said by onlookers as cameras flashed at the sight of A-list celebrities at the big game, including Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise with kids in tow.

Sometime New Orleans resident Pitt was escorted into the game on a golf cart with security moments before it began. The bearded Pitt was with son Maddox and shouted out his allegiance to "Who Dat" nation before the Saints big win over the Colts.

By contrast, Cruise just went into the stadium like other ticket holders, up an escalator with daughter Suri in his arms.

Demi More and Ashton Kutcher didn't have security, but may have wished they had opted for some after cameras chased them into the stadium. Later, they huddled together on the sidelines before kickoff, avoiding the cameras - even though they were inches from their face.

Other celebrity sightings included John Travolta, who was seen leaving before the Saints made their game-winning comeback.

Before the game, LL Cool J declared himself on the side of the team that ultimately lost, the Colts.

"I'm from New York: There's a Manning connection," he said, referring to Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning's little brother, New York Giants quarterback Eli.

But he knew the potential repercussions of announcing his pick as soon as he said it.

"They're gonna beat me up," he said of rabid Saints fans. "I feel like I've got five pounds of beads!"

Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio, part owners of the Miami Dolphins, proclaimed they weren't there to root for anybody in particular - they were just proud the Super Bowl was back in their town.

Krieger: Nuggets, to trade or not to trade

By Dave Krieger

Denver Post Columnist

With eight days to go until the NBA trading deadline, George Karl has mixed feelings about whether the Nuggets should make a deal.

"I'm 50-50," the Nuggets coach said Tuesday, just before his team blew out the Mavericks to improve to 35-17, the second-best record in the West.

"Fifty percent says I don't think anything's going to happen and that's not bad. And there's 50 percent of me every once in a while, after a loss, that goes, 'I wish I had another half a body.'

"I'm sure our phones will be a part of the participation but I'm not sure anything will get done."

The way they've been playing lately, it is tempting to think the Nuggets don't need to make a move. Tuesday was the first time in four tries that they won without Kenyon Martin, their toughest big man.

"I think it's like losing your middle linebacker in football," Karl said. "He's key in your blitzes, he's key in your coverages, he's a guy at the end who's going to take the one-on-one responsibility of being a stopper. And his efficiency offensively has been very impressive this year."

Still, with Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups back in the lineup, the Nuggets romped, improving to 1-3 without Martin. Even seldom-used reserve big men Malik Allen and Johan Petro contributed.

So no worries, right?

Well, let's not get carried away.

The Nuggets' nightmare scenario is that they stand pat at the Feb. 18 trade deadline and then Martin, Nene or Chris Andersen — the three big men who play regularly — goes down with an injury.

Even with all three of them healthy, the Nuggets arguably need a fourth competent big man to get past the Lakers, who knocked them out of the playoffs a year ago and have the NBA's most imposing front line. That's why various reports continue to suggest the Nuggets are pursuing disgruntled Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas and veteran Clippers big man Marcus Camby.

But making either of those deals happen is easier said than done. If the Nuggets are not willing to trade mercurial scorer J.R. Smith, and it doesn't look like they are, they don't have much value to offer.

The Clippers can get salary cap relief just by letting Camby's contract expire, which means the Nuggets would have to offer something of value to make a trade attractive. Likewise, Chicago will want something in exchange for Thomas, the fourth overall pick of the 2006 draft, even if his relationship with Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro is a little like Smith's relationship with Karl.

It is tempting, particularly off of Tuesday's domination of the Mavericks, to think the Nuggets' need for more size has been exaggerated. Nene, Andersen, Allen and Petro all made it look as if they are plenty deep up front, even with their best big man in street clothes on the bench.

But there were at least two good reasons not to put too much weight on Tuesday's performances. For one thing, the Mavericks played the entire game in slow motion, like most teams that arrive in Denver sometime between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. following a game on the West Coast the night before. Nuggets opponents in that situation are now 0-5 on the season.

"It's definitely tough," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "It's something I'm sure the league has looked at as an aspect of Western Conference play to try to eliminate. But from studying scheduling for a lot of years, I know it's extremely difficult to get it perfect."

For another thing, Dallas was missing starting center Erick Dampier, out with a bad knee. In his place, Carlisle started 6-8 forward Eduardo Najera in the middle, then brought in forward Drew Gooden behind him. No wonder Nene looked like Hakeem Olajuwon.

Afterward, Karl said the Nuggets' roster might be adequate if they don't suffer any injuries down the stretch. If they do, it is likely to be a different story.

"If something comes available, I think we should evaluate it," he said.

In the 34 years since they joined the NBA, the Nuggets have never had a better opportunity to compete for a championship. The front office has eight more days in which to try to improve the odds.

Dave Krieger: 303-954-5297, dkrieger@denverpost.com or twitter.com/DaveKrieger

Warm weather has Olympics organizers scrambling

By Elliott Almond

ealmond@mercurynews.com

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — It's supposed to be "Snowtime" for the Winter Olympians gathered on Canada's western seashore awaiting Friday's start to the Games. But springlike conditions have left organizers scrambling to complete courses for freestyle skiing and snowboarding events at Cypress Mountain, where the white stuff is being delivered by truck and helicopter this week rather than clouds.

The mother's milk of outdoor sports has bypassed the 3,000-foot mountain, which will host the women's moguls Saturday and the rest of the freestyle and snowboard events throughout the Games. But organizers are committed to staying the course.

"Come hell or rain water, we'll be at Cypress," Peter Judge, the chief executive officer for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, told reporters this week.

Mounds of snow were dumped on the mogul course Tuesday morning under brilliant sunshine.

"We're stuck in an extraordinary period of super-warm weather that just will not quit," meteorologist David Jones of Environment Canada lamented.

Weather has become the story on the eve of the opening ceremonies in the largest, wettest, warmest metro area to play host to a Winter Games.

"When you have an Olympics four miles from the Pacific Ocean, things will happen," said Weather Channel personality Jim Cantore.

Or, in this case, not happen.

Cypress Mountain's barren slopes can be seen from downtown Vancouver, 30 minutes away. As seagulls swooped in along Burrard Inlet this week, images of quaint Alpine villages of Olympics past seemed a distant memory.

Officials of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, or VANOC, took the extraordinary steps of barring media from watching training Monday for mogul skiing at Cypress. Tim Gayda, vice president of sports for the organizers, said they took the action to ensure the safety of workers at the site but also to allow "us to focus on getting the field of play as best we can for the athletes' first day of training."

Ski racing in the Whistler/Vancouver region always has been an iffy proposition.

In 2008, event organizers canceled World Cup freestyle competition at Cypress because of blinding fog, rain and warm temperatures.

While Whistler — two hours and another several hundred feet of elevation farther up the Sea to Sky Highway — has ample snow for Alpine, biathlon, cross-country and Nordic combined events, fears of what is known as the "Pineapple Express" affecting conditions there also can't be dismissed.

Such a condition blankets an area with warm, wet weather from the South Pacific. That, meteorologist Jones said, would be a worst-case scenario.

While forecasters aren't expecting to get hit by heavy rains, all computer model projections suggest the warm trend that started in late December to continue throughout much of the Games.

"This has just been a mild persistent storm track that won't go away," Jones said.

Weather or not, Vancouver organizers say they're ready.

Starting in November they began stockpiling snow. They converted 21 million gallons of water at higher elevations and have brought it to Cypress by truck and helicopter to create courses for mogul, half pipe and parallel giant slalom snowboarding.

Environment Canada, the country's national weather service, has contributed some of its top meteorologists, as well as modern weather tracking equipment.

But all the expertise in the world can't outfox Mother Nature. The warmest January on record because of an El Niño condition has left Olympic officials reeling. While work continued on the Cypress courses this week, the spectators' area remained an unsightly mix of dirt and mud.

"In Italy we skied on a pile of dirt," U.S. mogul skier Hannah Kearney said Monday. "This is already an improvement over that. We've skied in rain, we've skied in snow. Hot weather, cold weather. So, we're ready for it."

Three-time Olympian Shannon Bahrke of Tahoe City added: "We're not basketball players, where it is 72 degrees all the time and the floors are swept. We're outdoor athletes."

Vancouver isn't the first Olympic city to face such a situation. In 1964 at Innsbruck, Austrian soldiers carved 20,000 blocks of ice from the mountains and carted them to the luge/bobsled track. They also carried 52,000 cubic yards of snow to the Alpine ski courses. Then the Tyrolean capital got hit by a downpour 10 days before the Games, so the army packed down the slopes by hand and foot.

Weather has vexed humanity since at least 650 B.C., when the Babylonians initiated rudimentary climate forecasting.

"It's the one thing that we can't control," said Cantore, who arrived in Vancouver this week to report on conditions from various Olympic sites. But he said he remains optimistic the weather won't pose an impossible challenge.

"The Winter Olympics aren't meant to be perfect." he said.

Daily Dime Live Recap

1. Thunder Turn To Bench In Win Against Blazers

By John Hollinger

ESPN.com

PORTLAND -- Forget about their youth, their inexperience, and the difficulty of the Western Conference. Forget all that, and just know this: The Thunder are going to the playoffs. Tuesday's 89-77 win over the Blazers showed a good example why, as Oklahoma City demonstrated how its defense and newfound depth could carry it on a night when the starters couldn't deliver.

The Thunder wrested a tough road win from Portland by going on a 15-2 run in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter with just one starter on the floor. Instead of the Kevin Durantand Russell Westbrook show, it was the likes of Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Eric Maynor who turned this one around for the Okies.

More on them in a minute. In the meantime, take note of today's standings. The Thunder are 30-21, good for sixth in the conference and a full three games ahead of No. 9 Houston in the Western playoff race. They're closer to third than they are to ninth, and looking ahead they have one of the league's most favorable remaining schedules. Barring injury, they're going to make it, and they might even be hosting a first-round playoff series.

The reason they'll make it is the same reason they won their sixth straight game Tuesday: They've become much more than just the Durant show. Yes, there were the usual doses of Durant, who finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds and shook up Andre Miller so badly on a first-quarter crossover move that it left the Rose Garden crowed gasping.

"I just thought I ran past him and thought he was behind me a little bit so I had an advantage," said Durant. "I didn't really hear the crowd, I was just trying to make a play."

Durant also finished off the night with a pair of jumpers off crossovers over Nic Batum -- one of the few opponents Batum has faced that can shoot over him with such ease. However, Durant had an uneven night by his lofty standards, with only one assist and several defensive lapses that harkened back to his first two seasons. Point guard Westbrook was off his game too, finishing 2-of-9 with four turnovers.

Instead, it was a suffocating defensive effort from a young team that surprisingly ranks fifth in the league in defensive efficiency that got the Thunder out with a win. Although the Blazers are admittedly an easier foe minus Brandon Roy, the Thunder also forced Portland completely out of its game offensively.

Oklahoma City frustrated Portland all night by fronting LaMarcus Aldridge in the post, with many of Portland's 24 turnovers coming on botched entry passes that were stolen by rotating weak-side defenders. Aldridge made life easier for the Thunder by inexplicably passing out of 1-on-1 matchups on the block, but some of that may have been because of how hard he had to work to get the rock in the first place. He was held to 15 points and committed four turnovers.

"The main reason why we won was Jeff Green did a great job denying the ball to Aldridge," said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. "That's been our strategy, to take the ball out of the post, don't let the guy have an easy catch, and if he does make him go out to 15 feet and then we can shrink the floor."

Despite that effort, Oklahoma City trailed 61-59 entering the fourth quarter until the second unit came in to spark a game-changing rally. Ibaka, a rising defensive force who blocked four shots, swallowed Aldridge whole in the fourth -- he held Portland's top weapon without a single shot attempt.

"That was about as good as we can possibly play [defense]," said Brooks. "Jeff did a great job and then Serge came in the fourth quarter and was just as good."

Joining Ibaka and Green on the court in that fourth-quarter run were Nick Collison, Maynor and Harden. So the Thunder were playing three rookies and sitting two of their three meal-tickets, yet they held the Blazers to a mere two points in the first six minutes of the fourth.

Yes, Roy's absence helped. "Let's face it, Roy's out, it's a completely different team," admitted Brooks. "We got them on a good night."

But it was symbolic of the Thunder's progress that they were so confident they could shut down a Portland team that still had significant offensive weapons on the floor even in Roy's absence.

"As long as we got back and didn't give up offensive rebounds," said Collison, "We felt like they couldn't score against our halfcourt defense.

The shockingly rapid progress of Oklahoma City's young players is the primary cause of their sudden defensive prowess, but Collison showed that old dogs can learn new tricks too. He made a huge play at the five-minute mark with the Blazers down eight and trying to ride their home crowd back into the game. Andre Miller caught the ball in the wing on transition and sliced toward the basket when Collison unveiled his newfound specialty, taking a charge, to thwart his drive.

"I just ran back and saw he was going to go to the hoop," said Collison, who sprinted back to pick up Aldridge and then quickly pivoted into position when Miller angled from the right wing toward the basket. "I knew it was going to be a close play because I was running, [and] he was running. It was one of those plays where you're probably going to either foul him because he's coming into you, or you try to take a charge, and I got set in time. Or at least I made it look that way."

Harden, meanwhile, had two key deflections and scored all 13 points in the run, supplying all but two of the Thunder points in that stretch.

Add it all up, and it's another milepost for the Thunder in their rapid ascension from doormat to dominance. They already have more wins at the All-Star break than they did all of last season, and if they just win half their remaining games they'll double last year's win total.

"It's something we didn't think about early in the season," said Durant. "We just wanted to take it one day at a time and get better, and I think we've done that."

So much better, in fact, that they're well on their way to a playoff berth that, a few months ago, seemed unlikely in such a packed Western Conference field.

John Hollinger covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

2. Knicks' Ineptitude Gives Kings Rare Win

By Chris Sheridan 

ESPN.com

Duhon

NEW YORK -- In a perverse sort of way, the fun thing about covering the New York Knicks the past decade is that night-in, night-out, there is a possibility of witnessing a new low for a team that has experienced about 328 new lows over the past 10 years.

But submitted for your approval (or disapproval, depending on your rooting interest) are the following details of the Knicks' latest loss, an abomination in which they blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead and allowed Sacramento to snap a six-game losing streak with a 118-114 overtime victory.

With the game tied and 22 seconds remaining in regulation, Chris Duhon got the ball and dribbled. Then he dribbled some more, then some more, dribbling through the lane and back out to the 3-point line, where he pulled up from two feet behind the line as the clock was about to expire and let fly.

Airball.

And it was an airball that wasn't even close to grazing the rim. It didn't even graze the air four inches from the rim.

"I thought if we moved the ball three or four times we'd get a good shot," coach Mike D'Antoni said afterward, mixing in some of his most disgusted comments of the year.

"For whatever reason, the spirit has gone out of this dog," D'Antoni said. "Our spirit is all messed up, our aura is all messed up."

We proceed now to the end of overtime, when Sacramento was holding a 116-114 lead but the Knicks had the ball after Omri Casspi inexplicably failed to reach out to receive Tyreke Evans' pass, leading to an out-of-bounds turnover that gave the ball back to New York with 30 seconds left.

Duhon was gone by then, but Nate Robinson didn't do much better in the decision-making process. He dribbled into traffic, found himself double-teamed in the lane and kicked it out to Jared Jeffries for a 3-pointer.

Now, if you've never heard 15,000 people groan in unison, this was the moment your ears needed to witness.

"He threw it back out to Jared for whatever reason," D'Antoni said, mystified.

Those groans began before the ball even left Jeffries' hand, the shot missed, and Sacramento rebounded. The Kings then clinched the win -- only the Kings' second in their last 15 games, and the third in their past 22 -- by then grabbing an offensive rebound that was deflected out to Kevin Martin with seven seconds left. He passed to Evans, who sank both free throws to complete his 27-point night.

Wilson Chandler provided a fitting ending on a night he scored a career-high 35 points, firing up an airball on the last shot attempt of the game.

We'd tell you that boos filled the building, but in actuality there was more noise voiced in support of the Kings. Casspi had drawn a vocal contingent of Israeli fans, and they serenaded him by loudly chanting his name as the Knicks slouched off the court.

The lowest of lows? Certainly not.

But it was a strikingly discouraging night nonetheless for the Knicks, who enter the All-Star break 19-32.

Even worse, their coach is now using canine comparisons to describe them. Ouch.

Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

3. Daily Dime Live Recap

ESPN.com writers and TrueHoop Network bloggers chatted with fans and gave their in-game opinions throughout Tuesday's games -- all in Daily Dime Live.