MANCHESTER, England -- A superstar in the United States, Kevin Durant has enjoyed being just a "regular person" during his time in Britain this week. On Tuesday, Durant was back to being the centre of attention. The Oklahoma City Thunder was behind 51-48 at halftime against Philadelphia 76ers in an NBA pre-season match in Manchester when Durant came alive, scoring 14 points in the third quarter to turn the game on its head and put his team 83-74 up. Durant stayed on the bench for the final quarter, giving him 21 points for the match, and although the Sixers pulled level at 85-85 with 8.43 minutes left, guard Reggie Jackson (29 points) led the Thunder home to a 103-99 victory. "I like what he has been doing in pre-season," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said of a player who has led the NBA in scoring in three separate seasons. "He has come back even better." Durant scored a game-high 24 points in the Thunders 95-82 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker of Turkey on Saturday but started slowly three days later, making just 3 from 10 from the field before halftime. If the Sixers thought he was off colour at that stage, they were to be mistaken. It wasnt just Durants third-quarter scoring, it was also his quick passing, his leadership. Barking orders from the bench during the fourth quarter, he could easily have been the Oklahoma City coach. "We demand a level of play and he is as coachable as any player I have seen in this league," Brooks said. "He is going to continue to get better. He has the talent, the skill, the body, the touch, the gifted game. But he also has an unmatched work ethic." Manchester can hardly be called the hotbed of basketball in Britain -- there were plenty of empty seats in the 21,000-capacity Phones 4u Arena -- but a sign of the sports growing appeal in the country is the staging of a regular-season NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks in London in January. And a slew of Premier League footballers, including Manchester United players Rio Ferdinand and David de Gea, were courtside to see the Thunder and the Sixers step up their preparations for the new NBA season. After missing out on the playoffs last season, the Sixers are in a rebuilding phase under new coach Brett Brown and have lost All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, who was traded to New Orleans on draft night. However, they held their own against one of the NBAs standout team for three quarters. It was Durants brilliance in the third quarter, which the Thunder won 35-23, that was the difference, along with 20 turnovers. "I am really proud of our guys," said Brown, who had 20 points from Tony Wroten. "I see carry-over (from training)," he added. "Thats the Holy Grail." Like the Thunder, Philadelphia has been on a week-long tour of Europe as the NBA looks to promote the sport around the world, and beat Bilbao Basket 106-104 in Spain on Sunday. The NBA season starts in three weeks time, but the league hasnt seen the back of Britain. "Its a great atmosphere here, the fans are unbelievable," said Durant, who won gold with the U.S. team at last years London Olympics. "I think they deserve basketball, especially regular-season basketball. Im sure well see that in the future."
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Andre Smith Jersey . None of them are Finlands Pekka Rinne, who stands as Canadas biggest challenge in Thursdays quarter-final round. Even while a young Finnish team has struggled with penalties, turnovers and a lack of offensive depth, Rinne has been a rock with a 1.TORONTO - Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach Kevin Seitzer usually stands right behind the cage during batting practice while the players take their cuts. From time to time, hell move over to the side and will weigh in with a quick tip or two. Its a comfortable approach that has paid dividends for the American League East division leaders, who boast an offence that is among the best in Major League Baseball. "I think hes hands on when he needs to and he sits back and he watches when he needs to too," said Blue Jays catcher Erik Kratz. "We have a lot of good hitters here and with good hitters comes success and some streakiness. "He does a good job of limiting the bad streaks and extending the good streaks." The teams offensive statistics over the first two months of the campaign have been eye-opening. Entering Wednesdays games, the Blue Jays led the major leagues in home runs (83) and were second in runs scored (296), RBIs (281), slugging percentage (.451), hits (534) and OPS (on-base plus slugging — .784). Toronto was also tied for second in on-base percentage (.333) and sat fifth in team batting average (.264). Seitzer keeps a close eye on all the numbers but values some statistical categories more than others. "Runs scored is the one Im most concerned about," he said. "If youre scoring runs, whether you do it by home runs, situational hitting, youve got to be able to get on base, draw walks, be able to move runners and get big hits when guys are in scoring position. "It kind of encompasses everything really." The 52-year-old native of Springfield, Ill., was hired by the Blue Jays last fall after spending parts of five seasons as a hitting coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Kansas City Royals. He succeeded Chad Mottola, who spent one year in the position. Seitzer, a two-time all-star as a player, had a .295 career average over 12 seasons with the Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians. As a coach, he has preached the importance of preparation and making hard, consistent contact in the box. "Have an idea of what the pitcher has got and what hess going to try to do, and then what each guy needs to do in order to have the best chance to succeed," he said of his approach.dddddddddddd "I like to keep things simple. I dont like it complicated, they dont want it complicated. "Theyve made really good adjustments so far." The power portion of the Toronto lineup has delivered so far with sluggers Edwin Encarnacion (.272 average, 19 homers, 50 RBIs) and Jose Bautista (.310, 14 homers, 41 RBIs) on pace for big seasons. Among the other notable performances, first baseman Adam Lind is batting .347 while Melky Cabrera has a .303 average. Juan Francisco is hitting .276 with nine homers and 24 RBIs in just 36 games. As for that important runs scored category, three Toronto players are in the top 15 in the major leagues: Bautista (44 - tied for fourth), Encarnacion (41 - tied for seventh) and Cabrera (37 - tied for 14th). Those numbers are a big reason why Toronto took a 35-24 record — the second-best mark in the American League — into Wednesdays game at Detroit. Its a big step up from this time last year, when the Blue Jays were last in the East at 24-34. "Its been phenomenal," Seitzer said of the teams effort. "If youre in first place after the first third, then the second third and the third one, then youre right where you need to be. So I couldnt ask for more right now." The 2013 Blue Jays posted decent offensive numbers despite their poor 74-88 record. The team was ninth in runs scored (712), fourth in homers (185), 11th in RBIs (669), eighth in slugging percentage (.411) and 15th in batting average (.252). While Seitzer deserves his share of the credit for the improvement, hes quick to praise the players for their professional approach and effort. He has been very impressed with what hes seen so far. "Probably the most (impressive thing) is the talent level and then secondly, their work ethic and preparation going in," he said. "When you have that combination and the ability to make adjustments along the way, youve got a chance to do some damage every night. Theyve been doing great."
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gửi bởi lw789 » Thứ 3 13/03/18 13:45 
