MANCHESTER, England -- A superstar in the United States, Kevin Durant has enjoyed being just a "regular person" during his time in Britain this week. On Tuesday, Durant was back to being the centre of attention. The Oklahoma City Thunder was behind 51-48 at halftime against Philadelphia 76ers in an NBA pre-season match in Manchester when Durant came alive, scoring 14 points in the third quarter to turn the game on its head and put his team 83-74 up. Durant stayed on the bench for the final quarter, giving him 21 points for the match, and although the Sixers pulled level at 85-85 with 8.43 minutes left, guard Reggie Jackson (29 points) led the Thunder home to a 103-99 victory. "I like what he has been doing in pre-season," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said of a player who has led the NBA in scoring in three separate seasons. "He has come back even better." Durant scored a game-high 24 points in the Thunders 95-82 victory over Fenerbahce Ulker of Turkey on Saturday but started slowly three days later, making just 3 from 10 from the field before halftime. If the Sixers thought he was off colour at that stage, they were to be mistaken. It wasnt just Durants third-quarter scoring, it was also his quick passing, his leadership. Barking orders from the bench during the fourth quarter, he could easily have been the Oklahoma City coach. "We demand a level of play and he is as coachable as any player I have seen in this league," Brooks said. "He is going to continue to get better. He has the talent, the skill, the body, the touch, the gifted game. But he also has an unmatched work ethic." Manchester can hardly be called the hotbed of basketball in Britain -- there were plenty of empty seats in the 21,000-capacity Phones 4u Arena -- but a sign of the sports growing appeal in the country is the staging of a regular-season NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks in London in January. And a slew of Premier League footballers, including Manchester United players Rio Ferdinand and David de Gea, were courtside to see the Thunder and the Sixers step up their preparations for the new NBA season. After missing out on the playoffs last season, the Sixers are in a rebuilding phase under new coach Brett Brown and have lost All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, who was traded to New Orleans on draft night. However, they held their own against one of the NBAs standout team for three quarters. It was Durants brilliance in the third quarter, which the Thunder won 35-23, that was the difference, along with 20 turnovers. "I am really proud of our guys," said Brown, who had 20 points from Tony Wroten. "I see carry-over (from training)," he added. "Thats the Holy Grail." Like the Thunder, Philadelphia has been on a week-long tour of Europe as the NBA looks to promote the sport around the world, and beat Bilbao Basket 106-104 in Spain on Sunday. The NBA season starts in three weeks time, but the league hasnt seen the back of Britain. "Its a great atmosphere here, the fans are unbelievable," said Durant, who won gold with the U.S. team at last years London Olympics. "I think they deserve basketball, especially regular-season basketball. Im sure well see that in the future." Cheap NFL Jerseys Cyber Monday . Ryan Garbutt had a goal and two assists as Dallas snapped a six-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Cheap MLB Jerseys Cyber Monday . -- If this was Aaron Gordons final home game at Arizona, and it almost certainly was, then he went out in style. http://www.cheapjerseysfine.us.com/ . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Cheap NHL Jerseys Cyber Monday .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Cheap Jerseys Black Friday . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie.Guelph, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Despite having a losing record, the Montreal Alouettes find themselves in the 101st Grey Cup Playoffs, pitted against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the East Division Semifinal at Alumni Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Catch the action on TSN starting at noon et/9am pt. This time last year, the Alouettes were the cream of the crop in the division, sporting an 11-7 mark, but plenty has happened to Montreal in 2013 to keep the squad from reprising their role as the best in the East. In addition to firing first-year head coach Dan Hawkins after only a few weeks, the Als also lost the services of one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history in Anthony Calvillo. There were several other injuries and hurdles to overcome in order for Montreal to get at least this far, not the least of which was winning four of the last six games on the schedule. Granted, the team did benefit from Winnipeg being simply awful in its own division, as well as Edmonton fumbling along over in the West. In 2012, this division had only two representatives in Montreal and Toronto, the latter being the eventual champion, with both the Blue Bombers and Tiger- Cats sitting at home with 6-12 records. But this time around Hamilton, which was a dismal 1-8 on the road a year ago, returned to respectability with four wins in nine away outings and an overall mark of 10-8. However, the start to the new campaign was not entirely encouraging, as the Cats won just one of five games coming out of the gate. A three-game win streak brought the group back around, as did four wins in the last five games of the regular season While he may not have been around to finish every game for the Tiger-Cats this season, the good news for the offense is that Henry Burris was one of only two quarterbacks in the league to start all 19 games for their respective clubs, and the other (Mike Reilly) failed to make the Edmonton Eskimos very good. Burris came up just 73 passing yards short of 5,000 on the season as he led the CFL in that category. He managed to complete 65.8 percent of his attempts and tie for the second-most aerial majors with 24, but at the same time hee was guilty of throwing the most interceptions (19), something the Montreal defense will have to focus on.dddddddddddd As luck would have it, the Alouettes have one of the top pass defenders in the league this year in Geoff Tisdale who led the CFL in interceptions with seven, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Not that far behind Tisdale was Jerald Brown who had five picks of his own. Montreal matched Saskatchewan for the most interceptions with 24 this year, yet the Als still ended up with a minus-three in turnover margin. Unlike the Cats who had the luxury of fielding the same signal caller one week to the next, Montreal had a total of four different starters at the position, the most in the league. As it stands, it appears as though the job has been handed over to former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith who has been the starter in each of the last three outings. The Ohio State product has had marginal success lately with nine passing touchdowns and a pair of majors on the ground, but at the same time he has tossed five INTs and averaged a mere 2.5 yards per rushing attempt. While Hamilton was watching from afar last season, Montreal hosted the Argonauts in the division finals and ended up on the wrong side of a 27-20 decision, allowing Toronto to move on to the Grey Cup where it shocked Calgary, 35-22, at Rogers Centre. These teams faced each other a total of three times during the regular season, with Hamilton posting two victories, including a narrow 27-24 final in the most recent encounter two weeks ago at home. The winner this time around will be back in action next weekend, clashing with Toronto for the right to compete in the championship game against a representative from the West Division on Nov. 24 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. From a historical standpoint, both of these teams have appeared in the Grey Cup title tilt a total of 18 times, with Hamilton taking the honors on eight occasions and Montreal raising the trophy seven times. The Als last won it all in 2010 with a 21-18 triumph over Saskatchewan, the teams second straight championship and the third appearance in as many years in the final game. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap soccer jerseys wholesale jerseys wholesale jerseys cheap nfl jerseys china ' ' '