ee her. ...Theyve got to feel the game and read the game, an

LOS ANGELES -- Nick Youngs thievery prevented Russell Westbrook from pulling an even bigger heist during the Los Angeles Lakers latest win.Young hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5 seconds to play, and the Lakers blew a 14-point lead in the final minutes before snatching a 111-109 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.With the dramatic flair and boundless confidence that have characterized his entire unique career, Young improvised one of his biggest moments in a Lakers uniform.The play was designed to ... someone else, Young said with a sheepish grin. Yeah, I think they should have given me a steal for that.Lou Williams had just come free on the perimeter and set up to catch Brandon Ingrams pass so he could take the Lakers final shot, but Young slipped in front of him, swiped the ball and drained a 3-pointer in one fluid move.I told him, `If youre going to steal a pass, you better make the shot, Lakers coach Luke Walton said. It was a pretty incredible shot by him. Obviously one of the reasons we like Nick on the court at the end of the game is because he is not afraid of the moment. He loves the moment.Young finished with 17 points and Jordan Clarkson had 18 as the Lakers (8-7) somehow withstood a monster performance by Westbrook, who scored 17 of his 34 points in a 5-minute span of the fourth quarter to trim the Lakers big lead to one point.Steven Adams scored on a go-ahead putback of Westbrooks miss with 13.9 seconds to play to put Oklahoma City up 109-108, setting the stage for Williams to get upstaged.If he missed the shot, the narrative would have been different, said a smiling Williams, who had 13 points. Hes never serious, but he made a big shot, apologized, and were going to move on.BIG RUSSWhile taking over the NBAs scoring lead with his sixth consecutive 30-point game, Westbrook also had 13 assists and eight rebounds. He barely missed the sixth triple-double of his amazing season, but he also missed five of his final six shots while attempting to drag the Thunder to another win.Westbrook missed a long shot right before the buzzer, and the Los Angeles native sat motionless at his locker for a long time after the game.We get down by 14 points, and we get two quick scores and cut it to 10 and all of a sudden he goes crazy and gives us a chance to win the game, Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan said. We were a little bit dead there, and his 3s gave us a chance.Adams had 20 points, including two baskets in the final minute, for the Thunder, who have lost six of eight.TEAMWORKTimofey Mozgov scored 16 points for the Lakers, who ended a two-game skid with their seventh win in 11 games overall.Jose Calderon hit four 3-pointers and scored a season-high 12 points while filling in for DAngelo Russell, who will miss at least two games to rest his sore knee.D-LO SIDELINEDRussell sat out for the second time in three games to rest his knee, which prevents him from playing at full speed. He wont play Wednesday, and the Lakers arent sure whether hell return Friday or Sunday or later. Calderon has played sparingly in his first season with Los Angeles, but the Spanish guard excelled in this spot start.TIP-INSThunder: G Semaj Christon missed his second straight game with a concussion. ... Westbrook committed a flagrant-1 foul in the second quarter, hitting Luol Deng around the head and neck. The veterans exchanged words and had to be separated.Lakers: Young also hit a long 3 at the halftime buzzer. ... Julius Randle had three points in 21 minutes while playing with a hip bruise that nearly kept him out of the lineup. ... Williams converted a four-point play in the first quarter.UP NEXTThunder: The road trip continues at Sacramento on Wednesday.Lakers: At Warriors on Wednesday to begin a home-and-home miniseries around Thanksgiving.Maxx Crosby Youth Jersey . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. Derek Carr Womens Jersey . Colin Wilson had two goals and an assist, and Mike Fisher scored a goal and helped set up two others in the Predators 6-4 victory over the Red Wings on Monday night. http://www.footballraidersmall.com/Youth-Lyle-Alzado-Elite-Jersey/ . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Maxx Crosby Jersey .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Jim Plunkett Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected.BRASILIA, Brazil -- There was annoyance. Maybe a touch of frustration. But in the aftermath of a surprising draw against Colombia in Tuesdays Group G finale, there was no worry in the words or faces of American players. If such feelings lurked beneath, they hid them masterfully.U.S. womens national team co-captain Becky Sauerbrunn said only a loss would have been reason to worry because only a loss would have changed the calculus on a quarterfinal opponent and destination.As in, where do we go from here?Logistically, the answer didnt change after the draw against Colombia. All the United States needed to clinch first place in the group was a draw, and it got that point -- while at the same time getting plenty of rest for players who needed it and minutes for players who hadnt had many of those to this point in the tournament. It was a surprising result but not calamitous.The Americans still woke up the next day and headed to Brasilia, the preferred plan all along.But where do they go from here?Less literally, after the charter flight to Brazils capital, its the question still to be answered as the United States prepares to face Sweden in Fridays Olympic quarterfinal (noon ET). Will the unsatisfying result in Manaus versus Colombia end up a footnote, like the scoreless draw against Sweden in last years World Cup group stage? Or was it a harbinger of something more, a team not peaking at the right moment or short some necessary ingredient?It is often the captains to whom we turn for answers.I wouldnt want a perfect journey to the top, said co-captain Carli Lloyd. Theres really no such thing. ... The [Golden State] Warriors, take for example, who were on a perfect run and then ended up not winning -- thats happened over and over with teams. And I think everyone just needs to take a deep breath and relax. We tied against Colombia, but its all good.The captains a year ago were givens; the limited minutes Abby Wambach and Christie Rampone played in the World Cup were less important than their résumés. Their very presence pushed the team to a World Cup title that had become an almost Ahab-like quest.That team was a reflection of them. New to the role, Sauerbrunn and Lloyd are reflections of the team they lead. A quietly confident team that believes it understands what is required to win a tournament like this, a team that wasnt going to sweat a draw on a sweltering night in Manaus.The culture of the team is so entrenched that probably as they came through it, they took on qualities of the program, U.S. coach Jill Ellis said of her two co-captains (although Lloyd wears the armband). They were selected because they represent those traits so well.Sweden coach Pia Sundhage -- who is familiar to American fans after leading the national team to two Olympic gold medals and nearly ending its World Cup drought -- said Thursday she was not surprised to see either Lloyd or Sauerbrunn as a captain. She affirmed this despite bumps in the road in her relationships with both players, including a frank assessment of Lloyds temperament as recently as the eve of last years World Cup (the coach chose only to praise Lloyds skills this time around) and the long wait Sauerbrunn endured to crack Sundhages roster.Sauerbrunn is quietly contemplative, while Lloyd so often plays with what seems a silent fury. Both paid their dues to get where they are in ways that some of their younger teammates will never experience but need to understand.We [still] have a certain culture thats ingrained within our team, defender Meghan Klingenberg said. Thats to be fighters, to have an awesome mentality, to never give up. Its to practice when were ... not together. So we have a really great culture to begin with. But I think that the captains that we have do a good job of bringing everybody together, making sure were on the same page when were playing, making sure that we have everything we need to be the best team we can be.When asked where the teams ability to finish challenges comes, Megan Rapinoe suggests its an identity learned through older players providing, shall we say, pointedly worded encouragement to never relent.It is by design and necessity a cutthroat environment, like almost anyy that produces the best in the world at something.dddddddddddd. Yet it is different now, different because of the youth on the roster and the peace of mind a World Cup title gives the veterans -- not just the captains, but players in leadership roles like Tobin Heath, Alex Morgan and Hope Solo.I think even from last year, the World Cup, I feel like we were way more tense, Heath said. Not to say that we dont have the same focus and the same intentions that we did last World Cup, but I think there was just so much built around ... winning that because we hadnt won [in 16 years], that there was this great pressure that not only I felt like we put on ourselves, but we had from the outside world as well.When we accomplished what we set out to do in the World Cup, I feel like that almost took the pressure off of us and allowed us to then grow as a team this year and push and progress in the ways that we want to and in our style. Now come the Olympics; we still have the same intentions and the same goals, but the feeling is a little more free in that way.Which is why we wait to see how this team will respond.The United States has plenty of tangible challenges ahead, first on Friday but also beyond if the team advances. That begins with a field in Brasilia that looked Thursday much the worse for wear on the eve of its ninth game in nine days. Olympic organizers didnt immediately respond to queries on who oversees the playing surface, but one end of the field had sizable swaths that were barren of grass.Conditions that could keep the ball from playing true will affect another of the challenges awaiting the Americans, a Swedish team that isnt likely to let itself be drawn into an end-to-end game, just as it measured its steps in the scoreless draw a year ago in Winnipeg.They will park the bus, Ellis said of Sweden. They will play as low as they possibly can, sit as low as they possibly can, and then look to transition. Theyre going to try and kill the game that way and make it very, very hard, not give up space.That makes a U.S. midfield that has produced goals, directly from the foot of Lloyd or off a pair of Morgan Brian assists, all the more important in finding space. Tangibly and tactically, the United States needs the midfield, particularly Brian, to play to its full potential and with greater abandon.Theres going to be 6 yards between their back line and their midfield line, Ellis said. So for our midfield, its going to be really important about how we find spaces to play. ... As we start to get to this point, it is more about letting them express themselves. I think were going to have a lot of the ball in our opponents half, and weve got to play. Morgan Brian is one of our most creative players; Im really excited to see her. ...Theyve got to feel the game and read the game, and I think Mo, especially, does that exceptionally well.That has everything to do with talent and tactics, but it comes from players in the right mindset to make use of those skills. After a win against France in March this year, Lloyd voiced frustration with a lack of service sent her way. The sentiments were honest and not even particularly damning, even if they conflicted with her coachs assessment minutes earlier of a team beginning to understand a new style. Perhaps a few words were spoken between coach and player, a reminder of how a captains words carry. But whatever the source, Lloyd has been a consistent voice of calm belief ever since. If she leads, others will follow.Thats the beauty about leadership, I think, is you get something different with Abby and Pearcie [Rampone] than you do with Becky and Carli, Brian said. Ive always looked up to Becky as a leader on this team, from day one since Ive been here. Shes a quiet leader. She does everything correctly, on the field and off the field. She leads in that way. And Carli has always been someone, especially me playing in the midfield with her when I first got on the team, she leads by playing on the field. She brings it every single day.Friday well find out where their team goes from here. ' ' '