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(SportsNetwork.com) - One team will be getting a superstar back and another will still be without one Friday night when the New York Knicks visit Chesapeake Energy Arena to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder will get at least one integral part back on Friday. All-Star guard Russell Westbrook will return to play versus the Knicks. He practiced all week after a broken hand has sidelined him for close to a month. It feels great. I am rested, happy to be back and to go out and try to get a win, said Westbrook. Reigning MVP Kevin Durant also participated in practice this week, although hes not expected back until next week. This week, I dont know what day, theyll get evaluated and well go from there, head coach Scott Brooks told the Oklahoman. Theyll continue to go through this process and when theyre ready -- 100 percent ready -- theyll play. The third superstar surrounding these two teams is most likely out on Friday. Carmelo Anthony injured his back Monday night and missed Wednesdays overtime loss to the Dallas Mavericks. I dont think it will be too long, Anthony told the New York Post. I think the spasms will go away. But Im not going to play with spasms. Against Dallas, New Yorks J.R. Smith hit a jumper with less than a second remaining in regulation to force overtime. The Mavs won the extra session, 14-7, and earned a 109-102 victory. Dallas used a 9-0 run and forced six Knicks turnovers to pull away in the extra session. We made some mistakes down the stretch you cant make on the road, Knicks coach Derek Fisher said. Jose Calderon tallied 21 points, 10 boards and four assists for New York, which has dropped four of its last five games. Samuel Dalembert registered a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Smith finished with 15, Pablo Prigioni netted 12 and Amare Stoudemire chipped in 10. Fisher played 125 games with the Thunder, including all of last season. The Knicks return home Sunday to face the Miami Heat and will play three straight in Madison Square Garden. Reggie Jackson poured in 22 points and Jeremy Lamb scored 21 off the bench in Oklahoma Citys 97-82 home rout of the Utah Jazz Wednesday night. Serge Ibaka registered 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Thunder, who snapped a six-game losing streak and gained just their fourth win in 16 tries this season. It was a good team win, said Brooks. Weve been close so many times and I told the guys we have a lot of things to be thankful for this week. Anthony Morrow was the only other Thunder player in double figures with 12. The OKC bench outscored Utahs second unit, 44-3. The Thunder head out on a three-game road trip, starting Tuesday in New Orleans. The Thunder swept both meetings last season and are 11-3 in their last 14 against the Knicks. OKC has taken six of the last seven home matchups with New York. Cheap Soccer Jerseys China . The St. Louis Cardinals were scheduled to arrive in Boston in time for a workout on Tuesday afternoon. Much of Mondays discussion focused on Bostons lineup considerations as the series progresses, specifically when the venue shifts to St. Custom Soccer Jerseys . Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Buddy Robinson scored 43 seconds apart in the second period to lead the Binghamton Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Bulldogs in American Hockey League action Friday night at the Bell Centre. https://www.fakesoccerjerseys.com/ . The 17-year-old had four goals and four assists in 38 games for Liberec in the Czech pro league this past season. Zacha had three goals and two assists in seven games at the world mens under-18 championship in April when the Czech Republic took the silver medal. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Authentic . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota (5): He was calm, poised, and looked comfortable all game. Authentic Soccer Jerseys . The NFL announced Friday that the Texans sixth-year veteran offensive lineman will replace Philadelphia Eagles tackle Jason Peters in the Jan.PHILADELPHIA -- Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon kept everyone guessing right up to his announcement to open Fridays NHL draft. "We proudly select, with the first pick overall of the 2014 NHL draft from the Ontario Hockey League," Tallon told a feisty full house at Wells Fargo Arena. And then he paused for dramatic effect. "Aaron Ekblad," Tallon finally pronounced. "I did not know. I was freaking out there for a second when he stopped," said Ekblad, a normally unflappable 18-year-old defenceman from Belle River, Ont., seen as perhaps the most NHL-ready player in the draft pool. "It was breath-taking to say the least." Said a straight-faced Tallon: "I thought we were in show-business. This is entertainment isnt it?" "I made Ekblad sweat a little," he added. With Kingston Frontenacs forward Sam Bennett ranked No. 1 ahead of Ekblad among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, there was Ontario competition for the top pick. Bennett eventually went fourth to the Calgary Flames. Kootenay Ice centre Sam Reinhart went second to the Buffalo Sabres and Prince Albert Raiders forward Leon Draisaitl was selected third by the Edmonton Oilers. Draisaitl becomes the highest-drafted German-born player in NHL history. Previously that honour was held by Marcel Goc, taken 20th overall by San Jose in 2001. Tallon had two "really substantial" offers for his pick, but elected to stick with the big Barrie Colts blue-liner. "We decided at noon we were going to go this way," he said. Ekblad, who spent three seasons with the Colts, is seen as a potential franchise defenceman who is ahead of many of his fellow juniors in terms of size, strength and maturity. The teenager with Hollywood good looks feels he can help the Panthers in the fall. "Ive said that from the very beginning that I believe in myself and Im confident," he said. "I think if you dont believe in yourself and youre not confident, youre putting yourself behind the eight-ball right off the bat. I believe that if I work hard this summer, I can really step into the NHL next year. Obviously Im going to need a lot of help and its going to be a learning curve, but again Im confident in myself." The six-foot-three 216-pound Ekblad, granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada to enter the OHL at just 15, had 23 goals, 30 assists and 91 penalty minutes in 58 games last season. Ekblad says he plays "strong responsible defence" while trying to contribute on offence. He is the 13th defenceman to go first overall in the draft and the first since 2006 when St. Louis took Erik Johnson. The Panthers (29-45-8) won the draft lottery ahead of Buffalo (21-51-10) to kick off the draft for the first time since 1994 when they selected defenceman Ed Jovanovski, now 38 and on his second stint in south Florida. Florida also won the draft lottery in 2002 and 2003, but traded away the pick both years. There was a run on blue-liners in the 90s with Roman Hamrlik (1992, Tampa Bay), Jovanovski (1994, Florida), Bryan Berard (1995, Ottawa) and Chris Phillips (1996, Ottawa) all going first overall. The Panthers will be hoping to repeat the success of Colorado last year with the first pick. Centre Nathan MacKinnon jumped directly to the NHL from the Halifax Mooseheads, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as top rookie along the way.dddddddddddd After Bennett, Oshawa Generals winger Michael Dal Colle went to the New York Islanders and Calgary Hitmen winger Jake Virtanen became a Vancouver Canuck. Red Deer defenceman Haydn Fleury was chosen seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes, ahead of Modo forward William Nylander (Toronto), Halifax winger Nikolaj Ehlers (Winnipeg) and Peterborough winger Nick Ritchie (Anaheim in a pick obtained earlier from Ottawa). Ehlers becomes the second-highest drafted Danish-born player in NHL history after Mikkel Boedker, picked eighth overall by Phoenix in 2008. The Canucks selected Sault Ste. Marie centre Jared McCann with the 24th overall pick and the Montreal Canadiens took Russian winger Nikita Scherbak of the Saskatoon Blades with the 26th selection. Ottawa did not have a first-round pick, having traded it to Anaheim in the Bobby Ryan deal. After Fridays first round, there will be six more rounds Saturday. Apart from Tallons cheeky delay at the mic, there were few other surprises. The top names all went high. Ekblad was ranked second among draft prospects by the International Scouting Services, which had Reinhart No. 1. Reinhart, an 18-year-old from North Vancouver, is seen as an elite playmaker with good skating and puck skills. The six-foot-one 185-pounder, named WHL player of the year in 2013-14, has true hockey bloodlines. Brother Max was selected by the Calgary Flames in the third round (63rd overall) in the 2010 draft, while brother Griffin was chosen fourth overall by the Islanders in 2012. Father Paul, a 12th-round draft pick of the Atlanta Flames in 1979, played 11 NHL seasons with the Flames and Canucks. The crowd at Wells Fargo Center started a "Lets Go Flyers" chant before the opening roll call of teams. Every other team was greeted with the word "Sucks" as their name was announced -- with the exception of Pittsburgh and Boston, who drew deafening boos. Comcast president Dave Scott, head of the company that owns the Flyers, congratulated the Los Angeles Kings on winning the Stanley Cup -- and defeating the rival Rangers in the final. The feisty crowd loved the kicker. Commissioner Gary Bettman was booed long and loud when he took the stage. "I love your passion," said the unflappable commissioner. The crowd kept booing and Bettman kept up the one-liners as the evening wore on. The Canucks stole much of the pre-draft thunder earlier Friday, sending centre Ryan Kesler to Anaheim and defenceman Jason Garrison to Tampa Bay while acquiring forward Derek Dorsett from the Rangers. For Ekblad, it was "by far the longest day of my entire life." But it ended well. He is the sixth OHL player drafted No. 1 overall in the last eight years, following in the footsteps of Patrick Kane, Steve Stamkos, John Tavares, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov. NOTES: The 30 players selected in the first round were born in 10 different countries: Canada (14), United States (five), Czech Republic (two), Finland (two), Russia (two), Denmark (one), England (one), Germany (one), Sweden (one) and Switzerland (one) ... Eight of the first 10 overall picks, including all of the first seven, came from the Ontario Hockey League or Western Hockey League. Ehlers (ninth overall) was the only one from the QMJHL. ' ' '