ing, also emphasizing the need for more aggressiveness on the fore

MIAMI -- Down by 18 points midway through the opening quarter, Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder looked well on their way to witnessing a rout. Thats exactly what happened. And they enjoyed every moment. Durant remained sizzling with 33 points, Serge Ibaka added 22 and the Thunder roared back from an abysmal start -- they trailed 22-4 early -- to embarrass the Miami Heat 112-95 on Wednesday night, erasing that big deficit out of the gate by outscoring the two-time defending champions by 43 points over a 33-minute span. "They were ready for us to come in and play," Durant said. "They hit some tough shots early on, a few 3s, and we didnt panic. We just tried to stay together and thats what we did. Our bench was great in getting us back in that game." The Thunder led by as many as 25, and shot 16 for 27 from 3-point range. Miami was 3 for 19 from beyond the arc. Durant has now scored at least 30 points in 12 straight games, matching the leagues longest such streak since Tracy McGrady did it in 14 consecutive outings in the 2002-03 season. The Thunder extended their winning streak to nine, inching them closer to Indiana in the race for the leagues best record. And the Oklahoma City bench outscored Miamis reserves 39-21, with Jeremy Lamb scoring 18 and Derek Fisher going 5 for 5 from 3-point range for his 15 points. "Theres no running away from it," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Other than the first eight minutes of the game they outclassed us tonight. They absolutely deserved this win." LeBron James scored 34 points for Miami, his 1-on-1 duel with Durant not really amounting to much on a night where the Heat allowed 25 points off turnovers and blew an 18-point lead for just the fourth time since he, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh became teammates nearly four years ago. Bosh scored 18 points and Wade added 15 for Miami. "We played well to start the game," James said. "We played well all the way until like the second quarter. From that point on they did what they want to do." Much of the buzz going into the night was about the MVP race, and how this might be the season that Durant finally catches James for the leagues top individual award. Head-to-head, they werent separated by much. But for just the fourth time in 17 meetings between their teams, Durant came out on top. "It would have been fun to clear the court and watch them go 1-on-1," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. Ibaka opened the scoring with a jumper, and the Heat answered with an immediate 18-0 run, not even needing 5 minutes to get what appeared to be complete control. With 6:20 left in the opening quarter, Bosh made a pair of free throws to make it 22-4. That pretty much ended the Heat highlights for the evening. By the end of the first, the Thunder were within nine. Lamb scored 13 in the second quarter alone, helping Oklahoma City take a 55-50 lead into the break, with the Thunder already having scored 19 points off turnovers. The third quarter, Durant and the Thunder put it away. Durant and James seemed to be playing a little game of Can you top this? in that period, both finishing with 12 points in the 12 minutes. The difference was, Durant was getting plenty of help, and James wasnt getting much. "Rucker Park, thats what was going through my head," Durant said, referring to the New York basketball landmark where he scored 66 points in a game during the summer of 2011. "It was fun. ... Im sure the fans got what they wanted to see with that one." Said James: "Its fun competition. Its been a while since I was able to do something like that." Fisher connected on a 3-pointer to end the quarter, pushing Oklahoma Citys margin to 16, and the Heat had no answers in the fourth. "We have some work to do," Spoelstra said. "Were like everybody else in the league. Nobody is infallible. We have some things to improve on. We know the things we have to improve on. Were not there yet." NOTES: Fisher made five 3-pointers, total, when the Heat faced the Thunder in the 2012 NBA Finals. ... Shug McGaughey, who trained last years Kentucky Derby winner Orb, was part of the sellout crowd, along with Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera. ... Oklahoma City shot 14 free throws in the third quarter, the most by any Heat opponent in that period all season. ... The Heat fell to 7-12 this season when allowing more than 100 points. Theyre 25-1 when holding teams under 100. ... The Thunder are 8-0 on the road against Eastern Conference opponents. Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys . Lauzon rushed for 42 yards on 15 carries for the Vert et Or (2-3) while quarterback Jeremi Roch completed 19-of-32 passes for 251 yards and one interception. Alexandre Aube scored the other touchdown for Sherbrooke. Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Authentic . Left-handed reliever Boone Logan agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. http://www.cheapbuccaneersjerseysauthentic.com/ . -- Catriona Matthew remained atop the Airbus LPGA Classic leaderboard Friday, birdieing four of the last seven holes to take a one-stroke advantage over Charley Hull into the weekend. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys China . The win puts the final playoff berth in Group A in question. If the Czechs beat Slovakia on Tuesday, they will go through. If they lose, Germany will get the last quarter-final berth. Jamel Dean Jersey . On Wednesday, Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas hit back. In a passionate defence of himself and the London clubs medical staff, the Portuguese coach rebuked the "incompetent people" who have attacked Tottenham for allowing Lloris to continue playing after being briefly knocked unconscious against Everton on Sunday.TORONTO – They didnt draw it up exactly like that, but it was a victory no less. In beating Mike Smith in the final round of the shootout, Joffrey Lupul gave the Maple Leafs two points they so desperately needed. With five losses in the previous six games (and 11 in the previous 15), the ship in Toronto was (and still remains) in danger of veering noisily off track, but with a victory on Thursday night, the positive vibes certainly perked up. "It starts with one," said Lupul, following the 2-1 win over Phoenix. "We had a pretty good effort tonight. Maybe we werent our sharpest, but we fought hard and we battled and we got two points. Now you take some positives from it, come to the rink tomorrow feeling a little bit better about ourselves than we did today. We just start building positively." What they would like and certainly need to build toward is some level of consistency. The Leafs have dotted a good effort here with a good effort there, only to have subpar, dispiriting performances in the middle. A strong performance against the Kings was followed with a dud in St. Louis. A mesmerizing upset of the Blackhawks was followed by two disappointing efforts against the Penguins and Panthers. "Weve had various challenges and the latest challenge is winning hockey games," Randy Carlyle said before Thursdays victory. "But weve done some good things in there so lets not just focus on the negatives and the biggest negative is we havent played well enough to win and thats going to have to change. Were going to have to continue to find a way to develop more consistency and make less mistakes than the opposition or the team were playing against." Buoyed by a rare goal from their fourth line – Troy Bodie – the Leafs were level, if not ahead of the Coyotes for the opening half of Thursdays game. They kept the action mostly to the perimeter in the defensive zone, limited chances in the so-called critical areas and demonstrated the workmanlike effort that was missing two nights earlier. Phoenix rallied late in the second and into the third and may have snatched victory entirely – tying the score in the final five minutes on a goal from Martin Hanzal – if not for the 34 saves of James Reimer. It was the kind of effort, amid an increasingly worrying slump, that the Leafs needed. "Youre always looking for somebody to step up for you and obviously our goaltending has been one of our strongest suits," said Carlyle. "Both guys have really given us A-level quality goaltending all year and tonight was just another example of James Reimer stepping up. Were very, very fortunate to have him." Reimer was blunt after Tuesdays 3-1 loss to Florida, stating that the Leafs "either have half a team or a full team that dont show up at parts", while noting that injuries and fatigue were "excuses and theyre useless". Making a surprise start (more in Five Points), he backed up those comments with a sturdy performance. "I wanted to come in here and have a good game," said Reimer. "When you stand up and say stuff you want to back it up with an honest, solid effort." Five Points 1. Surprise Start It appeared that Jonathan Bernier would start against the Coyotes when Thursdays morning skate kicked off, but that changed quickly when the 25-year-old disclosed that he was not at an optimal level physically. "When Bernier said he wasnt 110 per cent, we said okay thats fine well go with Reimer," Carlyle said. Nursing a minor ailment, according to Carlyle, Bernier hadnt been on the ice on either Tuesday or Wednesday (an off-day for the team, as detailed above) and thus the team felt it unwise to force him in against Phoenix at less than 100 per cent. Reimer, who allowed three goals on 23 shots in his last start against the Panthers, hadnt made back-to-back starts since late November. He improved to 3-0 in shootouts this season. "We did a good job of keeping shots to the outside, but he did a really good job of fighting through some screens and battling in there," said Lupul. "Thats the one thing we know we can count on Reims for is compete level and battle." 2. Reset Carlyle gave his team two options following another off-kilter performance against Florida on Tuesday night. "Either you do the workout [that night] or well have a practice [Wednesday] and they chose that theyd rather do the half-hour workout after the game and take the day off and then get themselves ready for today," said Carlyle. Wednesday was no off-day for the coaching staff though. They huddled together for a full-scale evaluation, wanting to determine positives that werent being accentuated while eliminating some of the negatives simmering amid an increasingly concerning stretch. They presented that plan to the group on Thursday morning, also emphasizing the need for more aggressiveness on the forecheck and in the defensive zone. "We willl eventually find ways to have success," Carlyle said.dddddddddddd "Weve got to push [out] everything that is happening outside. That white noise that we talk about has to become more of a reality – its on the outside of our circle." 3. Team Game Carlyles message on Thursday morning also included a pledge for the group to remain aligned with the team structure. "You cant have success in the National Hockey League without having a team thats going to play a system and play a strong team game," he said. Pointing to the five games that preceded Thursdays effort against Phoenix, Carlyle believed his team had improved on the forecheck, cut down on defensive miscues and allowed far fewer shots against (28 per game). It was the mistakes of individuals outside the system, he deemed, that were the problem. Case in point, Nazem Kadris offensive zone turnover which led to the Panthers first goal, Jake Gardiners indecisiveness with the puck which preceded the second, and Dion Phaneufs blunder which opened the door on the third. "And its cost us," said Carlyle. "You cant have mistakes that are going to continually be committed out there that are going to cost you goals." 4. Methods of Leadership Lupul, an alternate captain with the Leafs, said the team needed its leadership to set an example during a "really tough stretch of games" and in doing so, play within the aforementioned system. The tendency, he said, was to try to do more and in doing so, actually hurt the team by doing less. "You want to step up, but you want to make sure that youre staying with the team structure," said Lupul prior to Thursdays game. "Sometimes its easy to try and do too much and get off on your own page. You see that often when teams are struggling; guys really want to make an impact and theyre doing things that arent what usually makes them successful. Its a fine line between doing that and going out and just executing a good team game." 5. Fourth Line Troy Bodie was the only Leaf to beat Smith in regulation. Scoring his first as a Leaf, Bodie squeezed a rebound between the pads of the Phoenix netminder. The 28-year-old saw exactly one shift after that as Carlyle shortened his bench. "I didnt reward them much after that," said Carlyle. "They didnt play their fourth line and so do we play ours? We just made the decision we were going to stay with the lines that we had and went with it." Bodies marker was a rare contribution from the Toronto fourth line. "Any time you can get a contribution from your fourth line, its a huge bonus for the rest of your group," Carlyle said. "It elevates their value in the room, their self-worth, and they feel a lot better about themselves and they should be commended." Bonus Point I – Clarkson Assigned shutdown duties alongside Jay McClement and Nik Kulemin, David Clarkson played a season-high of nearly 22 minutes against the Coyotes. Though the line often had difficulty with the size of Phoenixs top grouping, which includes Martin Hanzal, Radim Vrbata and Tim Kennedy, Carlyle felt Clarkson made an impact on the game. "Much more involved," he said. Bonus Point II – Gardiner Carlyle met with Jake Gardiner on Thursday morning to address his recent benching against the Panthers. Gardiner remained on the bench for nearly 20 minutes of game action between the second and third periods. "Its not that hes been playing poorly," said Carlyle of the 23-year-old. "He had five or six good, strong games, but in two games, he makes mistakes and the puck ends up in our net – its hard to ignore as a coach. And I told him that. He feels that the mistakes he made are very easily improved [upon]... nd we agree. Hes a talented young player." Gardiner played 23 minutes against the Coyotes. Stats Pack 3-0 – Record for James Reimer in shootouts this season. 2 – Combined points in the past four games for the top line of Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri and James van Riemsdyk. 12 – Combined shots for Kessel, Kadri and van Riemsdyk against the Coyotes. 1 – Regulation wins for the Leafs since Nov. 19. 21:31 – Ice-time for David Clarkson on Thursday, a season-high. 7 – Points in the last seven games for Peter Holland, who added an assist against the Coyotes. 1 – Goal for Troy Bodie with the Leafs, the 28-year-old scoring his first on Thursday night. 17 – Points for Cody Franson this season, first on the Leafs defence. Special Teams Capsule PP: 0-3Season: 23.1% (4th) PK: 2-2Season: 77.6% (27th) Quote of the Night "Thats why I stayed around the net to take a peek." - James van Riemsdyk, on the shootout goal nearly disallowed on account of an ambiguous replay. Up Next The Leafs host the Red Wings for the first time this season during a Saturday night clash at the ACC. 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