News » at 51-23. The Ducks close out a three-game trip in

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Clippers begin a new era Thursday night, the Steve Ballmer ownership era, by hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder at Staples Center. Catch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 10:30pm et/7:30pm pt. Ballmer bought the Clippers for $2 billion after former owner Donald Sterling was caught on tape making racially-insensitive remarks. The Sterling saga took place during the Clippers playoff push last season, one that ended in the Western Conference semifinals to the Thunder. Neither team is the same as it was in the postseason. For the Thunder, reigning MVP Kevin Durant is shelved with a broken foot. Theyre not going to change completely who they are, and there were actually minutes where Durant wasnt on the floor, so you can kind of watch those, head coach Doc Rivers said. But theyll be a little different without him, obviously. Theyll play a little different. For the Clippers, the team now has solid support from ownership. The on-court product is solid with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, both of whom finished in the top five in MVP voting last season. The Clippers didnt have much to address in the offseason, but a backup big man was a huge priority. Spencer Hawes agreed to a four-year deal and he will open up the floor for, and spell, both Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, who led the NBA in rebounding last season. And, despite leading the league on the glass, the Clippers were badly out- rebounded in the offseason. Its an issue Rivers and Jordan have addressed with the team. Reboundings not purely athleticism, Griffin said. Its about really going and getting it. DJ does a great job. I need to do a better job of, especially when Im out on the perimeter guarding a stretch four or something like that, of coming back in and pursuing the ball and not leaking out. Thats something Ive been working on. The Thunder try to endure without Durant. Oklahoma City fell to fellow Northwest Division rivals, the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-89, in Wednesdays season opener. OKC built a two-point lead after three quarters, but fell apart totally in the fourth quarter. The Blazers outscored the Thunder, 31-12, over the final 12 minutes. Our guys played their hearts out, head coach Scott Brooks said. We played hard. Thats the only thing I can ask from the guys: to compete, play hard and play for each other. They did that tonight but we made too many mistakes at the end of the game. Russell Westbrook, who had 36 points through three, netted just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in the fourth. He posted 26 of his 36 points in the first half, ended 11-of-26 from the field and sunk 15-of-16 foul shots for the Thunder, who lost to San Antonio in the West Finals last season. Lance Thomas managed 14 for the second unit and Serge Ibaka chipped in 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. The Thunder didnt get much from the remaining three starters - Perry Jones, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson. They combined for 17 points, but were forced into duty thanks to injuries to Durant, Reggie Jackson, Anthony Morrow and Jeremy Lamb. The Thunder, who shot 2-for-16 from beyond the arc on Wednesday, have won five of the last seven regular-season meetings with the Clips. Oklahoma City has won three of its last four regular-season matchups as the visitor in this series. Lukasz Piszczek Dortmund Jersey . The Pope greeted Klose at his general audience Wednesday and the pair had a long chat. Klose is German like the pope, although he was born in Poland. In Sundays derby, Lazio took the lead in the seventh minute after Maarten Stekelenburg brought down Klose, resulting in the Roma goalkeeper being sent off and a penalty that Hernanes converted. Shinji Kagawa Jersey . The result means Atletico Madrid now tops the table, with Madrid level on points in second and Barcelona a point behind in third with nine games remaining as the title race shapes up to be the closest in years. http://www.footballdortmundpro.com/Kids-Raphael-Guerreiro-Jersey/ . The last team in the NBA that will have any sympathy for the Thunder is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are showing signs of putting everything together after two years of devastating injuries. Eric Oelschlagel Dortmund Jersey . -- Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer will be out three to six weeks with a stress fracture of the third finger of his right hand. Jeremy Toljan Dortmund Jersey . Future Hall of Famer Ricky Ray is in his prime and back for a third season in double blue. The 34-year old was magnificent in 2013, throwing for just under 2,900 yards despite missing eight games, tossing an impressive 21 touchdowns against just two interceptions, completing 66 per cent of his passes in the process.EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers might not be headed to another draft lottery if theyd had Ben Scrivens in net all season. Scrivens stopped 48 shots and captain Andrew Ference scored in overtime as the Oilers pulled off a 4-3 upset of the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. Ference intercepted the puck at centre ice with the teams playing three skaters aside in overtime and unleashed a bullet just across the blue-line that beat Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller. "Scrivens bailed us out a lot tonight, it wasnt a complete game by us," Ference said. "They had some really good chances, but theyre a good team and they drove us back, especially that top line. Thats what we have a good goalie for, so its nice to see him come up big. The penalty kill at the end was huge. Were not going to get picky about having some positive feelings in here." Sam Gagner, Jordan Eberle and Oscar Klefbom also scored for the second-last place Oilers (26-39-9), who snapped a three-game losing skid. Scrivens, who set a record for most saves in a shutout with 59 against San Jose earlier this season, was all smiles after the game. "Its always fun to win in overtime," he said. "Im really happy for Oscar to get his first NHL goal, he should be very proud of that and for our captain to step up and bring it home, it was huge." Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins said his team seemed to wake up late in the game after being "extraordinarily cautious" for the first two periods. "I thought we played much better in the third, but for two periods I didnt love how we were playing," he said. "Our goalie was keeping us in it and we had the ability to finish when we did have a chance." Nick Bonino, Patrick Maroon and Mathieu Perreault responded for the Ducks (47-18-8), who had a two-game winning streak come to an end and missed out on an opportunity to move into a tie for first in the Pacific Division with the idle San Jose Sharks. The Ducks remain one win short of tying their franchise record of 48 wins in a season, set in 2006-07 when they won their only Stanley Cup. "We let them hang around," Maroon said. "We couldnt find a way to keep going at them and they get that goal in overtime. We have to play hard for 60 minutes every night. We cant just play 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off. We had them. It was there." Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau agreed that his team squandered what should have been a win. "We pissed away a point," he said. "We had opportunities to win it and put it away and we didnt. When you let a team back into a game, that happens and you are not going to get what you want. We certainly had our chances. We had pucks lying around in the crease, we were hitting posts and crossbars. "(Scrivens) was pretty good tonight. Anytime you get over 50 shots on goal and you lose, you have to tip your hat a little bit to the goalie." It didnt take Anaheim long to take a lead in the game,, scoring just 35 seconds in, as Bonino converted a nice give-and-go with Ryan Getzlaf for his 19th goal of the season on the games first shot.dddddddddddd The Oilers tied the game up on their first shot of the contest just shy of five minutes into the first period as Gagner took a pass on a two-on-one from David Perron and beat Hiller with a backhand shot. It was Gagners 100th career NHL goal. Edmonton caught a bit of a break a minute later as a deflected shot that Scrivens simply did not see clanged off the crossbar. Anaheim out-shot the Oilers 12-5 in the opening period. Edmonton had a bit more luck on their side four minutes into the second period as a shot got past Scrivens and was rolling into the net before Taylor Hall swooped in and fished it to safety just before it crossed the goal-line. Scrivens helped his own cause a couple minutes later with a huge diving save in tight on Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg. The Oilers took a 2-1 lead midway through the second on an odd-man rush with a delayed penalty on the way as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shrugged off a defender and fed the puck to Eberle, who beat Hiller with a high shot for his 24th goal of the season. Anaheim tied the game with just under five minutes left in the second as they were given several cracks at a loose puck in front of the Oilers net before Maroon batted it in. The shots favoured the Ducks 28-12 after 40 minutes of play. Edmonton regained the lead eight-and-a-half minutes into the third period as Klefbom scored on a shot through traffic from the slot. It was the first career NHL goal for the rookie defenceman, playing in his ninth game. Anaheim knotted the game back up with four-and-a-half minutes to play in the third as a Perreault shot hit Halls stick in front and deflected into the top corner before Scrivens could react, eventually sending the game to extra time. The shots were 42-20 for Anaheim at the end of regulation and ended up at 51-23. The Ducks close out a three-game trip in Vancouver on Saturday. Edmonton finishes off a six-game homestand on Sunday against the New York Rangers. Notes: It was the third of five games between the two teams this season, with the Ducks winning both of the previous match-ups in Anaheima Ducks forward Teemu Selanne has made a career of burning the Oilers. Selanne came into the game with an impressive 49 goals and 91 career points in 82 games against Edmontona Former Ducks goalie Viktor Fasth remained out of the Edmonton lineup after a collision in practice left him with a neck injury. AHL call-up Laurent Brossoit served as the Oilers backupa Edmonton defenceman Anton Belov returned to the lineup, playing his first game since Feb. 27a Remaining out with injuries for the Oilers were forwards Nail Yakupov (ankle) and Jesse Joensuu (ankle)a Anaheim defenceman Cam Fowler (knee) is still on the shelf and may be out until the start of the playoffsa Former Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph was honoured at the game. ' ' '