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MINNEAPOLIS - Hours before Phoenix completed its biggest comeback of the season, coach Jeff Hornacek said the Suns needed to approach each remaining game as their last if they wanted to make the playoffs. cheap nfl jerseys china . The Suns played more desperately than Minnesota on Sunday and inched closer to the Western Conferences final playoff spot. They also delivered a serious blow to the Timberwolves fading post-season hopes. Markieff Morris scored 25 points as the Suns overcame a 22-point deficit and a near triple-double by Kevin Love to beat the Wolves 127-120 and move within a half game of eighth-place Memphis. "Weve had a few of those, havent we?" Hornacek said. "Im always proud of the way they come back at the end of games, they never give up. We were playing horribly for a half, maybe partway into the third quarter and somehow they ended up pulling that game out." While Hornacek lamented his teams tendencies to start slow, the Suns were fortunate the Wolves — who fell six games behind Phoenix — have a habit of starting strong before fading. Now the Suns are hoping the Wolves psyche can recover in time to put up big points again when they play at Memphis on Monday. Phoenix, meanwhile, continues its road trip in Atlanta. "If we want to be contenders and be in the playoffs, we got to start showing it by winning these kind of games," P.J. Tucker said. "We came out and played in the second half." Phoenixs bench outscored Minnesotas 61-20, and the Suns shot a season-high 57 per cent from the floor to overcome Loves 36 points and 14 rebounds. The Wolves All-Star forward fell an assist short of a triple double and committed a crucial turnover in the final minute. With the game tied at 118, Love lost the ball in the paint and Eric Bledsoe made a fast-break layup. Gerald Green, Bledsoe and Tucker each hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds. "If we start out the game like that wed probably be up 20," Bledsoe said. The Suns tied a season high by allowing 41 points in the first quarter and trailed 103-93 heading in the final period, but they outscored the Wolves 34-17 in the fourth. Minnesota, meanwhile, blew its largest lead of the season. "That was our playoffs right there, and we lost. So this one hurts a lot more than the others," a visibly frustrated Love said. The Wolves scored a season-high 73 first-half points — they needed every one of them because the Suns shot 61 per cent and still found themselves trailing by 11 at halftime. Minnesota built its early lead thanks to a 14-0 first-quarter run fueled by a balanced offence. Every Wolves player who checked in scored. But Morris shot Phoenix back into the game with 15 points in the second quarter on 6 for 8 shooting. "We shouldve won that game, plain and simple," Love said. Phoenix has won five of its last six. Bledsoe had 21 points for the Suns, Tucker had 19 and Goran Dragic 18. The Suns won for only the fifth time when trailing after three quarters. "Im so tired of doing that," Tucker said. "We get 20-25 down and its like, lets play. Its unreal." Notes: Kevin Martin had 25 points for the Wolves. . The officials hit Phoenix with four technical fouls, including one on assistant coach Mike Longabardi. . Crews scrambled to prepare the court after Target Center hosted the National Collegiate Hockey Conference championship game Saturday night. They didnt have enough time to remove the ice, so they constructed the court above it for Sundays game. . Wolves G J.J. Barea scored two points in his first game since spraining his left foot in Thursdays loss to Houston. Barea was questionable heading into the game but told coach Rick Adelman he felt better after warming up Sunday. . The Wolves have scored 30 points in the first quarter five straight games. cheap nfl jerseys . The IceHogs scored three unanswered goals, capped by Jeremy Morins third-period goal, to beat the Marlies 3-2 in American Hockey League play Wednesday. cheap china jerseys . Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, president of the EOM (Municipal Olympic Company), will be leaving her post but will remain as an advisor, a city hall statement said Tuesday.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Edmonton Oilers will seek to cool off the red-hot New York Rangers on Thursday night when they visit Madison Square Garden. The Oilers, who currently are in last place in the West, have won four of their last five games and recently posted a 3-2 regulation decision in Buffalo. After losing 4-0 in Boston on Saturday to begin its four-game road trip, a swing that will carry the club into the Olympic break, the Oilers bounced back with Mondays win over the Sabres. Matt Hendricks scored the winner in the third period to help Edmonton edge Buffalo at First Niagara Center. Jeff Petry and Justin Schultz also scored for the Oilers, while Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 42 shots in the win. "He played great because we put him behind the eight ball a lot with all the penalties we took and shots we gave up," said Schultz of Bryzgalov. "He really came up big several times tonight." The Oilers went 0-for-5 on the power play, but killed off five of Buffalos six chances with the extra man. Ben Scrivens is expected to be back between the pipes for the Oilers on Thursday. Scrivens is 2-3-0 with a 2.21 goals against average and .944 save percentage in five games with Edmonton since coming over last month in a trade with Los Angeles. The 27-year-old netminder set an NHL record for saves in a regular-season shutout with 59 stops in a 3-0 win over San Jose on Jan. 29, but he yielded four goals on 41 shots in Saturdays setback in Boston. Edmonton improved to 9-19-4 as the visiting team this season. The Oilers will close their pre-Olympic schedule with Fridays game in New Jersey. The Oilers have won three of the last five meetings in the series with the Rangers overall, but New York has taken two of three and six of the last eight encounters in the Big Apple. The last time Edmonton visited MSG was on Nov. 14, 2010, when the Rangers picked up a victory with an 8-2 rout. The Rangers have earned four straight victories and the current winning streak gives New York wins in seven of nine and 10 of its past 13 games. cheap jerseys. The Blueshirts have won three of the four tilts during their recent hot streak by three or more goals and are outscoring the opposition by an 18-6 margin during that span. New York hasnt won five in a row since the 2011-12 season when it went 5-0 from Dec. 30-Jan. 10 of that campaign. Despite their recent hot play, the second-place Rangers still find themselves 17 points behind Pittsburgh for the Metropolitan Division lead. New York is three points in front of Columbus for the divisions second spot and also three clear of the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Ryan Callahan played a standout role for the Rangers in their most recent win, as the team captain shook off recent trade rumors to score a pair of first- period goals that set the tone in Tuesdays 5-1 home rout of the Colorado Avalanche. Callahan, mentioned as a possible candidate to be moved prior to the upcoming trade deadline due to his unrestricted free agent status at seasons end, also added an assist on Brad Richards late tally to help the Rangers record their longest win streak of the season. Richards and Derick Brassard each posted a goal and assist and Anton Stralman also lit the lamp for New York. Henrik Lundqvist did his part as well between the pipes, turning back 27-of-28 shots in the triumph. "We had a real strong start," Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault remarked. "Obviously we were meeting a team that was tired and we were fresh. It was their third game in four nights, but we came out the way I thought we needed to come out and that was a determining factor tonight." The Rangers, who are 14-13-3 at MSG this season, will try to complete a three- game homestand tonight with a perfect record. New York will play its final tilt before the Olympic break Friday night in Pittsburgh. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
