In brief: Thunder take series lead over Clippers
NBA: Kevin Durant scored 36 points, Russell Westbrook added 23 and the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder outplayed the Los Angeles Clippers in the fourth quarter for a 118-112 victory Friday night and a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal.
Blake Griffin scored 34 points, and Chris Paul added 21 points and 16 assists for the Clippers, who saw their four-point lead disappear for good early in the fourth quarter. Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford added 20 points.
• George leads Pacers over Wizards: Paul George had his best game of the series with 23 points and eight rebounds, Roy Hibbert was again a factor by scoring 14 points, and the visiting Indiana Pacers held the Washington Wizards to a franchise-low playoff total in an 85-63 victory.
The Pacers lead the Eastern Conference semifinal 2-1.
Washington made only 24 field goals, another team postseason worst, on 73 attempts, 32.9 percent. That included 4 of 16 on 3s, and it didn’t get much better on free throws, where the Wizards were 11 of 21.
• Portland’s Williams unlikely for Game 3 vs. Spurs: Portland reserve point guard Mo Williams is unlikely to play in Game 3 against San Antonio tonight because of a groin injury.
Wild even series with Blackhawks
Hockey: Jason Pominville scored for host Minnesota in the second period off the back of Chicago goalie Corey Crawford’s skate and the Wild beat the Blackhawks 4-2 to even the Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.
Matt Cooke returned from his seven-game kneeing suspension to give the Wild a jolt, assisting on Justin Fontaine’s opening goal. Nino Niederreiter and Jared Spurgeon also scored. Crawford made 27 saves, but he gave up four goals for the second straight game.
Patrick Sharp snapped out of his slump by scoring for the Blackhawks and Michal Handzus had a goal, but the defending Stanley Cup champions again found themselves unable to establish a consistent attack against the Wild’s stifling defense.
• Rangers fend off elimination: Derick Brassard scored twice, including New York’s first power-play goal in 10 games, and the Rangers avoided elimination with a 5-1 victory over the host Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Brassard ended New York’s 0-for-36 slide with the man advantage by beating Marc-Andre Fleury late in the first period. Ryan McDonagh added another power-play goal in the second to help the Rangers force Game 6 in New York on Sunday.
Evgeni Malkin had his third goal of the series for Pittsburgh. Fleury made 30 saves but lacked the crispness that allowed the Penguins to sweep Games 3 and 4 in New York.
• France upsets Canada at ice hockey worlds: France stunned Canada in their first game of the ice hockey world championships in Minsk, Belarus, winning 3-2 in a shootout.
The other favorites avoided similar stumbles, as the United States and Russia both began their campaigns with wins and the Czech Republic earned an overtime victory.
In Group B, the Americans used two assists from Tyler Johnson to brush aside host Belarus 6-1 and Russia showed off its attacking power in a 5-0 win over last year’s runner-up, Switzerland. The Czechs edged Slovakia 3-2 in their Group A game.
Spieth trails Kaymer by one at TPC
Miscellany: One month after the 20-year-old Texan Jordan Spieth tied for second at Augusta National, Spieth had another bogey-free round at The Players Championship and shot a 6-under 66 at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to trail Martin Kaymer by one shot going into the weekend.
Kaymer opened with a course record-tying 63 and followed with a solid round of 69. He was at 12-under 132.
Spieth was swinging so well he had a tap-in birdie on the 14th, the hardest hole at Sawgrass on Friday. He had a chance to catch Kaymer until a three-putt par from just off the green on the par-5 16th.
Russell Henley had a 71 and was four shots behind. Jim Furyk was part of a large group at 6-under 138.
• Orica wins time trial on opening day of Giro: Canadian Svein Tuft powered Orica Green-Edge to victory in the team time trial in Belfast in the opening stage of the Giro d’Italia, taking the overall leader’s pink jersey on his 37th birthday.
Orica, which was the overwhelming stage favorite, clocked a time of 24 minutes, 42 seconds along the 21.7-kilometer (13.5-mile) course, which was lined by more than 140,000 fans.