Oklahoma City wins at Dallas to tie NBA series

NBA playoffs: Kevin Durant scored 24 points and James Harden added 23, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 106-100 victory over the host Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night and knotting the Western Conference finals at one game each.

Harden and fellow reserves Eric Maynor, Nick Collison and Daequan Cook teamed with Durant to play nearly the entire fourth quarter. They outscored Dallas’ crew of closers by five.

The Thunder continued their streak of avoiding consecutive losses this postseason. The series shifts to their home court for Game 3 on Saturday night.

Dirk Nowitzki didn’t dominate nearly as much as he did in the opener, scoring 29 points, 16 in the fourth quarter. Dallas dropped to 6-1 at home in the playoffs.

Thomas gets shutout as Bruins take 2-1 lead

NHL playoffs: Tim Thomas made 31 saves for his first shutout this postseason, rookie Tyler Seguin scored his fourth goal in the last three games and the Boston Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals in Tampa, Fla.

Seguin made it 2-0 from in-close at 8:12 of the third as the puck trickled between the legs of Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson and into the net. David Krejci also scored for Boston.

Cavendish wins stage; Contador keeps lead

Cycling: British standout Mark Cavendish won his second Giro d’Italia stage in three days, while Alberto Contador retained the overall lead.

Cavendish won the 12th leg with another sprint victory. He rode the mostly flat 114-mile route from Castelfidardo to Ravenna in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 25 seconds. Italians Davide Appollonio and Alessandro Petacchi finished second and third, respectively, both with the same time.

Contador remained 59 seconds ahead of Belarus rider Kanstantsin Sivtsov, with his chief challenger Vincenzo Nibali of Italy 1:21 back in third.

Today’s 13th stage is a 104-mile leg from Spilimbergo, Italy, to Grossglockner, Austria, featuring four climbs, including an uphill finish.

• Sagan wins fifth stage of Tour of California: Slovakian Peter Sagan swung wide right in the final 100 yards and sped from fifth place to win the fifth stage of the Tour of California in Paso Robles, Calif., while Chris Horner remained the overall race leader.

Sagan, of the Liquiqas- Cannondale team, won the 135.1-mile road race from Seaside to Paso Robles in 5 hours, 16 minutes, 3 seconds.

Leigh Howard (HTC- Highroad) of Australia was second, and Ben Swift (Sky) of Britain finished third, both in the same time as Sagan.

Horner (RadioShack), from Bend, Ore., finished 11th in the main field and maintained his 1-minute, 15-second lead over teammate and fellow American Levi Leipheimer.

Westwood wins easily at World Match Play

Golf: Top-ranked Lee Westwood routed Anders Hansen 6 and 5 on the opening day of the Volvo World Match Play Championship at Casares, Spain.

Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer, who could move to the top of the rankings by winning the tournament, also eased to victories in the opening round-robin matches at Finca Cortesin.

Second-ranked Donald beat Ryan Moore 4 and 3, and Kaymer edged Y.E. Yang 2 and 1. Miguel Angel Jimenez topped Charl Schwartzel 6 and 5, and Graeme McDowell beat Louis Oosthuizen 3 and 1, and Rory McIlroy defeated Retief Goosen 1-up.

• Toms shares Colonial lead after 62: David Toms shot a bogey-free 8-under-par 62 to share the first-round lead at the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas.

Toms matched Chez Reavie for the lead with his lowest score since a career-best 61 at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2006, the last tournament he won.

Rickie Fowler shot a 63, but missed a chance to tie the Colonial record when he made a double bogey on his final hole.

Alex Prugh (Ferris, UW) shot a 2-over 74 to trail by 12 shots.

• Creamer set to play Webb in Match Play: Karrie Webb beat fellow Australian Sarah Kemp 3 and 2 to set up a second-round match with Paula Creamer in the Sybase Match Play Championship in Gladstone, N.J.

Creamer, the U.S. Women’s Open champion, topped Aree Song 5 and 4 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club as nine of the top 11 seeds advanced.

Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) defeated Brittany Lincicome 5 and 3 and will next face Angela Stanford in the second round.

Hamlin’s team wins pit crew title again

NASCAR: Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 team successfully defended its title in NASCAR’s Pit Crew Challenge, edging Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team in the final round in Charlotte, N.C.

Hamlin’s seven-member team changed four tires, put in gas and pushed the car 40 yards in 22.298 seconds without collecting a penalty to earn $70,675. The crew gets to select its pit stall for today’s All-Star race.

Johnson’s crew beat Tony Stewart’s No. 14 squad and Hamlin’s team edged Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 crew in the semifinals.