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OKLAHOMA CITY -- While accepting the award for himself, Kevin Durant called Russell Westbrook an MVP-calibre player. And on Tuesday, Westbrook delivered a championship-calibre effort that got the Oklahoma City Thunder back to even in the Western Conference finals. He had 40 points, 10 assists and five steals in a 105-92 victory over the San Antonio Spurs 105-92 that tied the series at two games apiece. "Coach told us he needed maximum effort from us tonight, and it starts with me at point guard," Westbrook said. "My job is to play both sides of the ball. If you want to win a championship, those are things you have to do." It matched the second-highest playoff point total of Westbrooks career, falling short of the 43 he scored in the 2012 NBA Finals. "Just his focus on every possession on the defensive end and his poise on the offensive end, I think thats whats fun to watch," Durant said. "People outside of our team dont really look at that type of stuff, but thats something we can definitely build on as a group, is watching him wreak havoc on the defensive end and offensively, playing with such patience." At times, Westbrook has been a maddening player for Thunder fans to watch. His dynamic athletic ability gives him a supreme confidence level that sometimes leads to ill-advised shots and a tendency to hold the ball at the expense of offensive flow. But in this game, Westbrook did just about everything right. He shot 50 per cent from the field and took just five 3-pointers. He made 14 of 14 free throws. "Sometimes hes going to go off," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. "Hes capable of doing that. If he makes a lot of jumpers, it gets really tough." In the midst of posting a monster game, Westbrook allowed Durant to still score 31 points. It was Durants highest-scoring game of the series after the NBAs leading scorer was held to a 22.7-point average in the first three games. Serge Ibaka added nine points and eight rebounds for the Thunder, who have turned around the series since he returned from an injury that was expected to keep him out for the rest of the post-season. "We just play well with Serge," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "We can do things with Serge in the lineup that we cant do with other guys." Boris Diaw had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 14 points for the Spurs, who blew a 2-0 lead against the Thunder in this round two years ago and are in danger of doing it again. San Antonio will host Game 5 on Thursday and wont be worried about the past. "I think we shouldnt think like that," Parker said. "Each game is different. Each series. Each year. We worked hard all year to have home court advantage, and now, its our job to protect home court." Oklahoma City dominated for the second consecutive game after getting blown out in the first two. The Thunder committed just seven turnovers and shot 49 per cent from the field. The Spurs scored the first eight points of the game, but things went downhill from there. A steal and dunk by Westbrook gave the Thunder a 42-32 lead with just under five minutes left in the first half. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Durant pushed Oklahoma Citys lead to 50-36. The Thunder led 58-43 at halftime. Durant scored 22 points and Westbrook added 17 points, eight assists and four steals before the break. Parker shot 6 of 9 in the first half, but the rest of the Spurs made just 11 of 32 before the break. A lob from Reggie Jackson to Durant for a two-handed slam bumped Oklahoma Citys lead to 60-43. A steal and jam by Ibaka made it 66-49, and a dunk by Westbrook made it 76-49. The Spurs closed the quarter on an 18-7 run and cut their deficit to 83-67. San Antonios Matt Bonner made a 3-pointer with 3:31 remaining to trim Oklahoma Citys edge to 12, but the Thunder maintained control. "We were just not focused coming out," Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard said. "Were not playing consistently throughout the whole game. Were playing in spurts or increments. Weve just got to play the whole game." The Thunder still need to win on the road to win the series. "Were just trying to look forward," Durant said. "We know how tough it is to go in there and get a W. We have to go on the road an handle our business. We feel better, but were not satisfied." Notes: Jackson started for the second straight game. He sprained his right ankle on a drive to the hoop and left the game with 8:25 left in the first quarter. He returned to start the second quarter. ... Thunder C Kendrick Perkins had 10 rebounds. ... The Thunder improved to 5-1 in the playoffs when Westbrook has at least 10 assists. ... Spurs G Manu Ginobili played just 11 minutes and scored five points. ... Thunder G Thabo Sefolosha did not play for the second consecutive game. He started the first two games of the series. Jack Ham Jersey .The Ottawa Senators winger was relegated to a corner seat in the locker-room to allow Daniel Alfredsson to return to his regular stall one last time. Roosevelt Nix Jersey . Which is to say, the top of this years draft class is not as dynamic or exciting as the 2013 class of Nate MacKinnon, Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Drouin and Seth Jones and its not as strikingly promising as the highly-anticipated 2015 slate of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin. http://www.officialpittsburghsteelersfoo...u-jersey-womens. This is Lowry’s third time winning the award in his career. He won the award last season and as a member of the Houston Rockets in 2011. Custom Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys . Johnson shared an update after his surgery Tuesday on Twitter. He also wrote, "now lets get on the grind." The running back told The Tennessean he was having surgery in Pensacola, Fla. James Harrison Jersey .com) - The Denver Nuggets snapped a losing streak last time out and will try to carry that momentum Saturday night when they welcome the Indiana Pacers to the Pepsi Center.To figure out two things NHL general managers will be discussing at their annual March meeting, look no further than the controversial game the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings played in mid-January. First, the Red Wings scored the tying goal after officials missed the puck hitting the protective netting, then the Kings wound up losing in a shootout. That could affect playoff positioning in the Eastern and Western Conferences, and thats a concern for everyone. No different than many fans, GMs hate to see a game end on an incorrect call and generally dont like to see one end in a shootout. So its only natural that altering or extending overtime and expanding video review will be hot topics on the agenda for meetings Monday through Wednesday in Boca Raton, Fla. When it comes to overtime, the hope is to have fewer games even reach the shootout, which was instituted after the 2004-05 lockout as a way of eliminating ties. Since then, 13.3 per cent of all regular-season games have gone to one, and thats seen as too much. "I would prefer for our game to be decided by playing hockey instead of the skill part of the game, which is the shootout," Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars said. "Its really tough. You can play a great game, play a great overtime and then you go to a shootout and just because you lose a shootout it feels like youve lost the game -- and you have, and it hurts because you played such a good game. I would rather lose a game by playing the game." Through Saturday, 121 of 962 games this season have gone to a shootout (12.57 per cent). Each team has participated in at least four, while the Washington Capitals lead the league with 15 of them through 64 games. A handful of general managers said in recent weeks that there was an appetite to reduce the number of shootouts by making some changes to overtime. Detroit GM Ken Holland has long sought adding time or a three-on-three element to overtime, and it has come time that Don Maloney of the Phoenix Coyotes figures more members of the group are "open-minded to reviewing it and discussing it." "In the past, it was generally touched on but deferred," Maloney said. "And I think as you go on with the parity of the league, I think we all have to take a harder look." Jim Rutherford of the Carolina Hurricanes usually sits near Holland at these meetings and is in favour of his proposals to change overtime. After plenty of talk over the years, perhaps more will get on board. "I think were heading that way," Rutherford said. "Its been talked about a long time, this is not something new. I dont know how many minutes itll end up being -- the total minutes in overtime. Thats really where the big discussion will come. But I think the fact that this has been discussed for a few years now, I think its gaining some momentum going into this meeting." What that momentum will turn into remains to be seen. Rutherford and Holland would like five minutes of the already-established four-on-four followed by five minutes of three-on-three, while Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues voiced support for simply making four-on-four overtime longer. But, as Doug Wilson of the San Jose Sharks knows, change in the NHL tends to go in "phases." So its possible that the first change to overtime is a very subtle one: teams changing ends like they do in the second period so that theres a longer way to go for players to get off the ice for line changes. "I would be a hundred per cent in support," Maloney said. "If you look at the second period and the (long) line changes how often mistakes are made, and bad line changes lead to rushes. All of a sudden you do that in overtime with four people and the tiredness of the game, I think thats a natural evolution, myself. I think thats the first step." Red Wings coach Mike Babcock brought that up in Sochi after seeing overtime in the womens gold-medal game between Canada and the United States. Mistakes led to three penalties and then a power-play goal 8:10 into overtime. "The NHL looks at that right there, we want overtime to be over in a hurry, all you do is flip ends, make it as hard as you can," Babcock said while at the Olympics. "Its harder on the long change." Another subject that will get plenty of discussion is video review, which is currently limited to the situation room in Toronto determining if a goal was good or not.ddddddddddddEven though it was just one instance, that Jan. 18 game between the Red Wings and Kings is example A for expanding review. "You can count on one hand how many times they miss a puck hitting the net, but that specific case and it ended up as a goal, yeah, it probably shouldve been (reviewed) -- maybe if the video department had that authority, it wouldve been used," Maloney said. "And I think we all agree that in that case that was just wrong, and we need to correct that." Several general managers cautioned that too much replay can be a bad thing. Just as its being debated in baseball and football, the biggest pitfall to more video reviews is the time they can take. "Our game is part of momentum and keeping the game going," Rutherford said. "But at the same time, the league has always said that they want to get goals right. We saw an example (in Detroit) where it had nothing to do with the guidelines of how the league proceeds, but we didnt get one right. "So thats something that well discuss, Im sure. But theres a fine line there: How many times can you review things in a game without slowing it down to change the time of a game another 15 minutes." In that same vein, Nill would like to see "tweaks" to video review in important cases but doesnt want the NHL to become a "robotic" game with frequent calls to the situation room. Still, theres a ground swell to at least add replay in isolated cases, like on plays goals are scored on. That may not mean instituting a challenge system for coaches right away but perhaps something more simple. "It would be nice to just have a monitor in the penalty box for the official to gather as much information to make the right call because theyre closest to the action like they have in other leagues," Wilson said, pointing to the model used in the NFL and NBA. Some things, like goaltender interference, would require a stricter interpretation to be subject to video review. Penalties, like players putting the puck over the glass or getting a double-minor called for high-sticking, would fall into another category to be considered. "I think everything thats critical to the outcome of the game, if its conveniently available, we should review," Columbus GM Jarkko Kekalainen said. "Not to disturb the flow of the game and the time of each game as a whole -- we dont want games to last four hours or anything like that. But with the technology these days I think that there should be some kind of a system where all the critical plays can be reviewed so that we dont see the (wrong) outcomes." With three days of meetings scheduled on Floridas east coast, general managers are expected to delve into a host of other topics, including the regulation -- or elimination -- of goaltender fights and the impact of the falling Canadian dollar on next years salary cap. At Decembers board of governors meeting, the 2014-15 cap was estimated at just above US$71 million, rising from the $64.3 million ceiling for this season. Kings GM Dean Lombardi told the Los Angeles Times that he and his colleagues were advised it could be as low as $US68 million as the Canadian dollar continues to fall. As of Saturday, the loonie was worth roughly 90 cents U.S., after being above 95 cents midway through 2013. Goalie fighting is expected to at least be touched on after it was broached at Novembers meeting in Toronto that followed the infamous incident between Ray Emery of the Philadelphia Flyers and Braden Holtby of the Capitals. Rutherford and Maloney indicated they believed the issue was a bit overblown at the time. "Really theyre so rare, arent they? That was an isolated (incident)," Maloney said. "If we start to see goalie fights every other game, yeah, OK, maybe theres a problem. I dont see it being a problem. That was a one-time incident that nobody liked, but I think our officials and the people that review the games, they do a pretty good job of cleaning up anything thats outside the rules. So I dont see a real mandate to start over-regulating the game in that area." 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