Der Fremde » Roughriders president Jim Hopson

OKLAHOMA CITY - Russell Westbrook finished off Oklahoma Citys stunning comeback. Vans Old Skool Pink . Clippers coach Doc Rivers believes he should never have had the chance. Westbrook scored 38 points and made three free throws with 6.4 seconds remaining, and the Thunder overcame a seven-point deficit in the final 50 seconds to beat Los Angeles 105-104 on Tuesday night and go up 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals. "I think when you get a win like this it brings everybody closer," Westbrook said. "It lets you know you cant mess around. You have to take every moment, every play and go out and win the game." The play that led to Westbrooks free throws is in dispute. Kevin Durant made a 3-pointer, then Los Angeles Jamal Crawford missed in close before Durant made a layup with 17 seconds left. Westbrook stole the ball, and in a scramble, the Thunder got possession with 11.3 seconds to play, setting up Westbrooks play. The Clippers believed the ball went off Oklahoma Citys Reggie Jackson, but the officials awarded the ball to the Thunder. After review, the play stood. "Everybody knows it was our ball," Rivers said. "The bottom line is they thought it was a foul and they made up for it. Lets take away the replay. We were robbed. It was our ball, whether it was a foul or not." NBA crew chief Tony Brothers explained the call after the game. "When the ball goes out of bounds, the ball was awarded to Oklahoma City," he said. "We go to review the play. We saw two replays. The two replays we saw were from the overhead camera showing down, and the one from under the basket showing the same angle but from a different view. And from those two replays, it was inconclusive as to who the ball went out of bounds off of. When its inconclusive, we have to go with the call that was on the floor." The Thunder were more focused on what they did after the call. They can clinch the series Thursday in Los Angeles. "Ive never seen a game like this with us," Durant said. "It just shows that you can never keep us down. Were going to fight until the end no matter what happens. We fought through it all and persevered through it all." After the Thunder got possession, Westbrook was fouled by Chris Paul while shooting a 3-pointer with the Thunder trailing by two. Westbrook, who had missed a 3-pointer that would have won Game 4 in the closing seconds, welcomed the chance for redemption. "Im still upset about that shot that I missed in L.A. for the game, so tonight, I just tried to take my time, take a deep breath and knock em down," he said. After the free throws, Paul drove to the hoop, but Jackson stole the ball from him, and time expired. "Probably the toughest thing Ive been through, basketball-wise," Paul said. "Everything that happened there at the end is on me. It was just bad basketball." Durant scored 10 of his 27 points in the final 3:23 after shooting 3 for 17 through three quarters. "Great players can have a bad shooting night, have a great three minutes and be the superstars that they are," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "He hung in there and there were times where he thought nothing would go right. They stuck together and fought through a lot of tough situations." Blake Griffin had 24 points and 17 rebounds, Crawford scored 19 points and Paul had 17 points and 14 assists for the Clippers. It was the latest in a string of spectacular games for Westbrook. He is averaging 29.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the series. "Hes fierce and hes fearless," Brooks said. "Hes a winner. The guy competes for his team every single night and he practices the way he plays. He makes basketball plays to put our team in a winning position." The Clippers took a 101-88 lead in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer by Crawford with 4:13 to play before Durant finally got involved. He hit a 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining on his first shot of the quarter, then drained two free throws to cut the Clippers lead to 101-95. A layup by Jackson cut Los Angeles lead to four. Griffin made the first of two free throws, and Glen Davis grabbed the rebound of the second. Pauls mid-range jumper on the extra possession gave the Clippers a 104-97 edge with 49 seconds to play. The Clippers appeared on their way to taking control of the series. Now, they are on the brink of elimination. "Weve been regrouping all year," Rivers said. "Well be ready to play when we get to L.A. This ones going to hurt. None of this would have happened if wed taken care of business. That didnt happen. Well be ready." Notes: Thunder F Serge Ibaka played after the league reviewed his punch to Griffins groin in Game 4. . ... Westbrook was called for a Flagrant 1 foul in the first quarter after trying to stop Griffin on a breakaway drive to the hoop. ... The Clippers were called for a clear path foul when Darren Collison barrelled into Jackson, who was passing to a wide-open Westbrook with 2.3 seconds left in the first quarter. Vans Shoes Sale . You can watch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Pineda won his second straight start last Wednesday against Chicago, as he held the Cubs to just four hits over six scoreless innings to run his record to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1. Vans Sk8 Hi Clearance . -- The Florida Gators are first yet again this season. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-old-skool-sale.html . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study.TORONTO - The clock continues to tick and there are only minutes now before the current collective bargaining agreement between the CFL and the Players Association expires - but still theres no deal. After almost two days of talks at a Toronto airport hotel, the CFL eventually did increase its financial offer and the union removed any revenue-sharing percentages from its own proposal, but talks between both sides broke down Thursday afternoon. The current CBA expired Thursday at midnight ET. Neither side knows when theyll meet again at the bargaining table, but the union wont stop players from reporting when training camps open Sunday and the league, too, wont stop any player from stepping onto the field. "No we wont [keep players away from the field]," commissioner Mark Cohon told TSN after both sides parted. "We want football to be played. We want them to vote on this best offer that we have for them." "Weve come to the table many times and theyve pushed away," union president Scott Flory told TSN before leaving the hotel to catch a flight. With so much on the line so late, its a frustrating and compelling moment in the immediate future of Canadian football. The sides met for over a 12-hour period Wednesday in the company of a third-party mediator and on the surface, everyone agreed those discussions were beneficial. "We thought we had good talks in the [Wednesday morning]," Flory, a former Montreal Alouettes offensive lineman said. "We had some [talks] without prejudice. We talked freely and we were allowed to discuss issues." "Great conversations [Wednesday] - some important issues that were important to the players - and we came back with some creative ideas," Cohon said. Cohon and his team - chief operating officer Michael Copeland, vice president of football operations Kevin McDonald, Calgary Stampeders president Ken King, Roughriders president Jim Hopson and CFL legal counsel Steve Shamie - presented the union with a base salary cap of $5 million in 2014, along with a clause that stipulated if in the third year of a new CBA (potentially 2016) the leagues aggregate revenues grew by $27 million compared to the previous year, the CFL would be open to renegotiating and possibly raising the salary cap. Cohon later called it the leagues "final offer." "In the discussions the players said to us Were really worried if you have some break-out revenues, some extraordinary opportunities - new TV deal, major, major sponsorship, all of a sudden all your stadiums are full - we want to participate," Cohon said. "We thought that was a major step forward for us." The players representatives at the table - union president Scott Flory, vice presidents Marwan Hage and Jeff Keeping, treasurer Brian Ramsay and CFLPA legal counsel Ed Molstad - tabled a counter proposal before 11:30am ET. It included a $5.8 million cap and $4.8 million minimum cap floor. The players also banished the revenue-sharing percentages from their previous offer, and in its place created a "Revenue Protection Clause." The clause offered the potential for a "fixed cap for a minimum of two years," and if league revenues in the third year - excluding money made from the Grey Cup - increased "more thhan $12 million," the league and union would reopen talks on the salary cap limit or the existing CBA would be void at the end of that season. Vans Sk8 Hi Reissue. "A system where the cap is tied to revenue," Flory said. "They are fixed on fixing the cost of the players. We came up with a system that we thought was incredibly reasonable, where there is a protection for guys. If revenues grow by a certain amount, we are just going to recalibrate the cap." The league met the players after 2pm ET, saying the unions proposal was unacceptable and walked out. "You get to a point in negotiations where you have to look holistically at whats important to our league - we have to protect and continue to try and thrive and build this league," Cohon said. "The reason [talks] broke down is the proposal from the players would set us back. We cant do that." "We tried to accommodate and make a deal because we want to be on the field," Flory said. "We want to play football. It is just clear to the other side that they are going to try and dictate terms to us. We arent willing to accept that." Cohon said the league couldnt accept the players math. "When we put our best offer on the table, which was a significant offer - and by the way we walked in and placed down all of our financials - we broke down each teams P&L (profit and loss) and based upon their proposal over two-thirds of our teams would be losing money," the commissioner said. The players offer also includes non-financial points - including one padded practice per week and the desire to have an independent neurologist on the sideline for every game - and a proposal to reduce contract option years. But differing methods to constructing, setting and growing the salary cap appears a wide gulf right now. The one thing both sides apparently agree on, however, is its up to the players to decide their next move. Union sources told TSN the players are awaiting all strike ballots and reviewing particular provincial labour laws before declaring to the league they have the will and right to strike at any time. Flory told TSN hes encouraging players to report to training camp. Ramsay (Edmonton Eskimos) and Keeping (Toronto Argonauts) are active players and both confirmed to TSN they will report to training camp Sunday. "We hear, we listen - you can see our proposal and the movement weve made...Were telling players to report to training camp. We want to play football," Flory said. Cohon wants the players to vote on the leagues offer. "Its really our final offer. Its what weve mentioned to the players; that is what weve said to the players," he said. "We want them to take this to a vote. We want to hear from the players. "Players are all coming to camp is what we hear - theyre reporting, the rookies are there, and the quarterbacks are there. Guys are flying in. We want them to take this to a vote and let the players speak." As members of both sides left the hotel, the third party mediator - who didnt offer his name or want to comment extensively on negotiations - smiled when asked if he could see some kind of conclusion. "These kind of negotiations usually get done," he said as he walked out the lobby door. ' ' '