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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kevin Durant drained three 3-pointers in 75 seconds. And when the crowd wanted even more, the NBAs leading scorer responded. Durant poured in a career-high 54 points in an incredibly efficient performance, helping the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Golden State Warriors 127-121 on Friday night. The 6-foot-9 forward had 11 points during one two-minute stretch in the fourth quarter, powering the Thunder to a 17-point lead. With the crowd of 18,203 chanting "MVP! MVP!" he made two foul shots with 2:45 remaining to establish a new career-best scoring total. "When youve got it going, I look at the bench and see how my teammates are reacting, and that just gives me an extra push," Durant said. "Then, I hear the fans." Durant made 19 of 28 field goals and 11 of 13 free throws in his third straight game with at least 36 points. "As a leader, my main objective is to serve my teammates, help them out," he said. "Some nights, Ive got to put it up, Ive got to score. Some nights, Ive got to do other things. Tonight, they found me and I was able to hit a few shots. I just tried to do as best as I can to lead the team and lead us to victory." It was the kind of performance that gets fans fired up about post-season awards in mid-January. "Its premature," Durant said. "Its way too early in the season. I try not to think about that type of stuff. Of course, as a player, youd love to win an MVP award, but I cant take my focus off the team. Every day, Ive just got to keep chipping away, keep enjoying the process, and well see what happens." Serge Ibaka had 21 points and eight rebounds, Reggie Jackson scored 14 points and Kendrick Perkins added 12 rebounds for the Thunder (30-10), who won for the third time in four games. Oklahoma City shot 58 per cent from the field and scored a season-high point total. Stephen Curry had 37 points and 11 assists, and Klay Thompson added 26 points for the Warriors (25-16), who shot 52 per cent but simply couldnt match up with Durant. "We battled him for the most part, and he got hot in the fourth and knocked down some big shots for them," Warriors centre Andrew Bogut said. "Theres a reason why hes a perennial All-Star and future Hall of Famer, and possibly MVP this year." Golden State coach Mark Jackson was disappointed with his teams defence. "Were a good enough defensive team to give a little better effort, fight a little bit harder," Jackson said. Oklahoma City led 39-32 at the end of the first quarter after shooting 78.3 per cent from the field. It had a 71-65 advantage at the break after a season high for points in a half for the Thunder. Curry had 22 points and eight assists in the first half and Thompson scored 21 points before the break. The Warriors made 10 of 16 3-pointers in the first half to stay in the game. Andre Iguodala scored his first points of the game on a steal and dunk that cut Oklahoma Citys lead to 82-79 midway through the third, but the Thunder steadily pulled away the rest of the period. A mid-range jumper by Durant pushed Oklahoma Citys advantage to 96-86, and the Thunder led 101-91 heading into the final quarter. Durant then closed by scoring 15 points in the fourth. "You let a guy like KD, he leads the league in scoring, start off the game as hot as he did . It was tough to start off the game like that and then try to get stops against a dynamic scorer like that, especially when hes hitting everything," Curry said. Durant gave his teammates credit. "Its the small things that go into a game to help us win, and everybody did them tonight," he said. NOTES: The previous two meetings between the Thunder and Warriors were decided by last-second shots. In the first game on Nov. 14, Iguodala hit a fallaway game-winning jumper for Golden State. In the second game, on Nov. 29, Russell Westbrook hit the game-winner in overtime. ... Golden State G Jordan Crawford played for the first time since being acquired from Boston in a three-team trade. He finished with eight points in 15 minutes. ... Former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture attended the game. ---- . This is an exercise I have undertaken a few times, starting in 2009, and hope that Ive refined my approach a little bit in that time to help paint a better picture. .Y. -- Nothing seems to phase No. http://www.hydroflaskbouteille.fr/bouch ... utlet.html. Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep. . Jurrjens signed a minor league contract with Cincinnati in May, and was 2-3 with a 4.46 ERA at Triple-A Louisville. He has a 53-37 record with a 3.63 ERA in seven major league seasons, including five with Atlanta. . - Mark Sanchez found out the New York Jets had acquired Tim Tebow on a conference call with team management. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Matt Carpenter had a career-high five hits for St. Louis on Wednesday night. The last of them was arguably the most important. Carpenter delivered a go-ahead double in the 11th inning, and the Cardinals added two more runs on a single by Allen Craig, sending them to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals and ending a frustrating three-game losing streak. "Sometimes it takes an emotional victory like this to kind of jumpstart a team," said Carpenter, who also reached base on a walk. "Maybe this one will be the one for us." The Royals rallied with two runs in the ninth, and the game remained tied until the 11th, when Peter Bourjos worked a one-out walk off Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera (1-2). Carpenter then rapped his double to centre field, drawing a roar from a crowd comprised mostly of Cardinals fans. Craig added his single off Tim Collins later in the inning, and Pat Neshek breezed through the bottom half to end the Royals six-game winning streak against National League clubs. Sam Freeman (1-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th inning. "It was just one of those gut-check games," Craig said. "Were not going to stop competing." Carpenter became the first Cardinal to record five hits in a game since Ryan Ludwick on Sept. 4, 2009. He had a part in his clubs first three runs, driving in Mark Ellis in the second inning and scoring on Matt Hollidays groundout in the seventh After St. Louis dropped the first two games of the four-game, two-city set at Busch Stadium, the NL champs rebounded to win for the eighth straight time at Kauffman Stadium. The Cardinals persevered after Adam Wainwright blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning. He struck out Eric Hosmer to start it, but the ball squirted away from catcher Yadier Molina, allowing Hosmer to reach first base. Billy Butler followed with a crisp single up the middle. Trevor Rosenthal, who took the loss Tuesday night, entered in relief and walked Alex Gordon on a full count to load the bases. Salvador Perez followwed with a broken-bat groundout to score a run, and Lorenzo Cains single up the middle knotted the game 2-all.dddddddddddd "You lose the lead and a start like that from Waino, theres a lot of teams that will roll over in that situation," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, "but the guys stepped up." The ninth-inning rally still soured a dazzling outing by Wainwright, who was trying to become the NLs first nine-game winner. The two-time All-Star did not allow a hit until the sixth inning, stranded three runners on third base and struck out eight while walking just two. "Wainwright pitched a great game. Hes an unbelievable pitcher," Cain said. "When we tied the game, I thought we had them. We tried to spoil it for him at the end." Wainwright wasnt the only Cardinal to get on track, though. Molina had hits in his first two at-bats, snapping an 0-for-16 streak. Ellis ended an 0-for-8 stretch with his single in the second that led to the games first run. Jason Vargas kept Kansas City in it most of the night. After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, he went on strand 10 in a season-high eight innings. The left-hander allowed nine hits and walked two while allowing two runs or fewer for the fifth time in six starts. "Carpenter was pretty hot," Vargas said. "It was just one of those games where youve got to grind, make pitches and kind of think your way through things." NOTES: Vargas threw a season-high 117 pitches. ... Royals RHP Greg Holland pitched a scoreless 10th, his 11th straight appearance without allowing a run. ... LHP Bruce Chen (bulging disc) said he will need at least two more rehab starts before rejoining the Royals. He allowed eight hits in three innings for Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night. ... Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong was out of the lineup with a sore right shoulder. He pinch hit for Ellis in the 10th inning and remained in the game. ... RHP Michael Wacha starts for St. Louis in Thursdays series finale. RHP Yordano Ventura is on the mound for Kansas City. ' ' '