NEWS » ODI runs, the 11th-highest tally in history.Sri Lankas other b

MINNEAPOLIS -- Charlotte coach Steve Cliffords fiery halftime speech got his team going in the right direction.Minnesota Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau saved his hollering for after the game because his team is headed in the wrong one.Kemba Walker scored 30 points and the Hornets blitzed the Timberwolves in the third quarter on their way to a 115-108 victory on Tuesday night.Frank Kaminsky scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for the Hornets (7-3), who snapped a two-game skid. Nicolas Batum had 16 points and seven assists, and Charlotte outscored Minnesota 36-17 in the third quarter to wipe out a 12-point halftime deficit.It was perfect timing, and we needed it, Walker said of Cliffords speech. We just (werent) ourselves, and he got into us a little bit. It worked out for us, because we needed to pick our energy up.Andrew Wiggins scored 29 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, who fell to 1-2 on their four-game homestand. Minnesota turned the ball over 18 times, which led to 20 points for Charlotte.The teams entered the game on opposite ends of the spectrum in the third quarter this season. Charlotte leads the league in scoring differential coming out of the break, while Minnesota is dead last.The Timberwolves have built double-digit leads in the first half in eight of their first 10 games, but have lost six of them thanks to the failings in the third. That trend continued on Tuesday, with Charlotte opening the third with a 15-2 run and closing it with a 21-4 surge.Very concerned, Thibodeau said. It tells you were not learning. That bothers me.Wiggins rallied the Wolves in the fourth, giving them a 92-91 lead with a 3-pointer. But Kaminsky responded with a 3 and a three-point play, and Clifford got the best of his longtime friend.Weve got guys who have been in the league for a while now, Thibodeau said. Were making mistakes that never should be made.WALKERS BACKA scary moment happened at the end of the first quarter when Walker, who scored 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the period, went to the locker room. The team said his back tightened up and he went back to get stretched out.Walker was able to return to the game midway through the second quarter and played the rest of the game with no visible issues.My training staff, theyre the best, Walker said. They did a great job at looking out for me when I came out the game with the heat pack, good massages, things like that. But Im feeling good though.BADGERING TOWNSKaminsky was on the Wisconsin team that stunned Towns and previously undefeated Kentucky in the Final Four two years ago. After ruining Towns shot at history in college, Kaminsky helped spoil the reigning Rookie of the Years 21st birthday on Tuesday.I dont have anything against him. Hes a great player, Kaminsky said. I just want to go out there and compete.LAVINE RETURNSTimberwolves shooting guard Zach LaVine missed the win over the Lakers on Sunday with a sore right knee, something he said hes been dealing with for more than a week. He looked just fine on Tuesday, hitting his first four 3s and finishing with 19 points in 33 minutes.TIP-INSHornets: They shot 53.8 percent from the field and made 11 of 24 3s, including eight of their last 14. ... Clifford said G Jeremy Lamb, who has missed the last seven games with a strained left hamstring, practiced on Monday and will work out on Wednesday and Thursday back in Charlotte with the possibility of playing on Friday night against Atlanta.Timberwolves: F Shabazz Muhammad (right knee) and G/F Brandon Rush (right big toe) both were out. Rush said he hopes to be ready to play on Thursday. ... After shooting 22 free throws on Sunday, Wiggins was just 6 for 9 on Tuesday.UP NEXTHornets: Head home to host Atlanta, Marvin Williams former team, on Friday.Timberwolves: Wrap up a four-game homestand by hosting Philadelphia on Thursday in a game to be televised on TNT. Asics Shoes Outlet Australia . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Asics Wholesale Australia . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. http://www.asicsaustraliawholesale.com/ . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Discount Asics Shoes Australia . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Asics Shoes Wholesale . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Australia 227 for 8 (Bailey 70, Wade 42) beat Sri Lanka 226 (Chandimal 102, Zampa 3-38) by 2 wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsThere were reasons for Sri Lankan fans to cheer at the third ODI in Dambulla. But the result wasnt one of them. On a day when Tillakaratne Dilshan was farewelled from one-day international cricket, and Dinesh Chandimal scored his fourth ODI hundred, Australia held on for a tense victory that gave them a 2-1 series lead with two to play - and gave David Warner a 100% success rate as an international captain.Not that it was all smooth sailing. Chasing 227, Australia relatively cruised most of the way. At 187 for 4 they needed only 40 more runs, with George Bailey and Matthew Wade both well set, but suddenly Sri Lankas spinners came into the game. Four wickets fell in quick time and it was beginning to look like Australia might find a way to throw it away. It was Adam Zampa who struck the winning runs, a boundary behind point off Amila Aponso, and a single five balls later.It wasnt any old single - it was cut in the air towards extra cover, where Dilruwan Perera hurled himself into the air to try for a one-handed catch. The ball didnt stick, and the result was sealed: a two-wicket win, though with four overs remaining. That Sri Lanka came that close to pulling the rug out from under Australia was a fine effort, given the solid way the chase unfolded through two key partnerships.In the absence of captain Steven Smith, who had flown home for a rest, Australia needed a leader to steer the chase. It would not be Warner, who fell in the fifth over to a terrific diving catch from Dilshan at point off Mathews. Nor would it be Aaron Finch, lbw to Aponso for a brisk 30, nor Shaun Marsh, caught by a diving Chandimal at mid-off off Mathews for 1.The man was Bailey, the most experienced ODI player in the side. He set about building a 62-run partnership with Travis Head, and then an 81-run stand with Wade that took Australia to within sight of their victory. It wasnt always easy; Sri Lankas spinners were always a threat, but they needed more runs to defend, their own batting having been disappointing earlier in the day.Head played a mature innings of 36 that ended when he went back to cut Dilruwan, only to see the ball skid on to his stumps. And Wade, a consistent performer this series, contributed 42 before he missed a sweep and was stumped off the same bowler. That was the wicket that precipitated Australias collapse, though as it happened they were by then just close enough to get over the line.The Sri Lankan crowd came alive as the spinners crowded Australias batsmen. Bailey simply missed a legbreak from Seekkuge Prasanna and was bowled for 70, then in the next over James Faulkner holed out to deep square leg off Aponso. The Finisher was finished, but Australia werent quite yet. Mitchell Starc sent Prasanna over long-on for six but was caught in the next over trying forr another off Dhananjaya de Silva.dddddddddddd Zampa walked to the crease with five runs still needed, and he got them, with John Hastings unbeaten at the other end.Sri Lankas own innings - all out for 226 in the 50th over - never quite looked like enough. Wickets fell regularly throughout the innings, the only half-century partnership a 73-run combination between Chandimal and Dilshan. Zampa was again a key weapon, collecting 3 for 38 from his 10 overs, and there were two victims each for Starc, Faulkner and Hastings.The innings was built around Chandimals fourth ODI hundred. Of late in one-day cricket, Chandimal has been batting like hes Keanu Reeves in Speed, afraid something terrible will happen if he drops below 50. He did so, marginally, in the second ODI in Colombo, where his 48 ended his hopes of becoming the first Sri Lankan to make six consecutive one-day international fifties. But in Dambulla he was back. His last seven ODI innings now read: 52, 62, 63, 53, 80*, 48 and 102.Chandimals approach was simple: push the ball into the gaps and rotate the strike. Repeat, and repeat. That method brought him 56 singles, although he managed seven boundaries as well, driving when the fast men overpitched or punishing them for bowling too straight. His half-century came up with a deft dab for four wide of the wicketkeeper off Hastings from his 66th ball.His primary support came from Dilshan, the retiring hero who struck five fours on his way to an enterprising 42. But the dream of a big farewell innings ended when Dilshan whacked a Zampa full toss to midwicket and was well caught by Bailey. To the applause of players and fans, Dilshan walked off with a bow fitting for the entertainer that he was, the owner of 10,290 ODI runs, the 11th-highest tally in history.Sri Lankas other batsmen were disappointing. For the second time in the series Starc struck in the first over of the innings, bowling Danushka Gunathilaka, and the total wobbled to 23 for 2 when Kusal Mendis edged Josh Hazlewood to slip for 4. The wickets fell with regularity again after Dilshan departed.Mathews was lbw for 2 to Zampa, who had pitched the ball on leg and straightened it just enough. Marsh ran and jumped to his left at mid-on to snare de Silva for 12 off Faulkner, and also held one in the deep when Thisara Perera holed out off Hastings for 9. In between those takes, Starcs brutal inswinging yorker accounted for Kusal Perera, who kept one out but could not manage two and saw his stumps rattled on 11.Prasanna picked out deep midwicket off Zampa and Dilruwan added 17 before chipping a catch to midwicket off Hastings, which left Chandimal nervously hoping the No.11 Aponso could help him reach triple figures. He did so, and the Sri Lankan fans roared. The final result was not so pleasing for them. ' ' '