MINNEAPOLIS -- Rudy Gay had 33 points, five rebounds and six assists, and Isaiah Thomas had 26 points and seven assists to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 111-108 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Gay hit 12 of 19 shots and Derrick Williams had 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting in his first game at Target Center since the Timberwolves traded him to the Kings in November. DeMarcus Cousins had 20 points and 11 boards, and the Kings shot 55 per cent to win for the fourth time in five games. Kevin Love had 27 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota. But Ricky Rubio committed five of Minnesotas 12 turnovers and the Wolves fell to 0-11 in games decided by four points or less. The Kings seemed to have the game well in hand with a nine-point lead and under two minutes to play. But Nikola Pekovic scored on a layup, J.J. Barea hit two free throws and Alexey Shved converted on a fast break to make it 102-99 with 61 seconds to play. Love hit two 3-pointers and Barea converted a three-point play that cut the deficit to 109-108 with 4.6 seconds remaining, but Bareas heave at the buzzer fell short. The Kings had a three-game winning streak come to a crashing halt the previous night when they were drubbed by the Indiana Pacers. But they showed more energy, aggressiveness and spark from the opening tip against a team that had the previous two days off and is scratching and clawing to stay in the playoff conversation in the powerful Western Conference. The Timberwolves most damaging loss this season was delivered thanks in large part to an old friend. Williams spent a little more than two underwhelming seasons in Minnesota to start his career. The former No. 2 overall pick just never fit in with the Rick Adelmans corner offence, getting stuck behind Love and veteran Dante Cunningham on the depth chart. Before he was traded to Sacramento at the end of November, Williams was averaging a paltry 14.7 minutes per game and was a healthy scratch four times. On Wednesday night, he resembled much more closely the player that the Wolves thought they were getting in 2011. He shot 5 of 6 in the first half, and four of those were soaring dunks that flashed the kind of athleticism that was on display too little while he was here. When Wolves shooting guard Shved was caught on him on a switch, Williams backed him down forcefully and threw down a two-handed slam. Williams stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a layup and also threw down a lob pass in transition from Jimmer Fredette in transition that drew a big gasp from fans who wanted to see that in a Timberwolves uniform. Williams electricity and Gays shot-making helped the Kings overcome a quiet start from Cousins, who picked up two fouls in the first quarter and missed his first four shots before getting on the board late in the second quarter. Gay started 8 for 11 and the Kings led by 11 at halftime. Cousins got going in the second half, scoring all but two of his points to help the Kings grind out their fifth road win of the season in 15 games. NOTES: Kings G Ben McLemore left the game in the second quarter with a sprained left ankle. ... Gay has scored 20 or more 7 of last 10 and 11 times in 17 games since he was acquired in a trade from Toronto. Don Mattingly Yankees Jersey . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany. Brett Gardner Jersey . "After consultation with the Team USA medical staff and officials, it was determined that he should return to Winnipeg as a precaution due to his previous injury history," Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said Wednesday in a statement. https://www.cheapyankees.com/1611g-roger...ey-yankees.html. PAUL, Minn. Joe DiMaggio Jersey . -- Lindsey Vonn squeezed in a little freeskiing on Thanksgiving morning, a step in the right direction for a return to racing after reinjuring her right knee in a recent training crash. Stitched Yankees Jerseys . - The Detroit Lions have 13 takeaways this season — three less than all of last season — and the defence isnt the only unit pleased with the performance.CHICAGO - All those talented forwards are back. Same for Duncan Keith and the bulk of Chicagos solid defence. There is even a group of intriguing prospects waiting in the wings.The Blackhawks are one confident bunch of the eve of a new NHL season.We feel were deep in a lot of areas, coach Joel Quenneville said. Our guys are at a relatively young age and they should be getting better in their individual games and collectively we should be looking to be better than we were.And they have been really good for years.Led by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup in 2010 and again in 2013. They made it all the way to the Western Conference final a year ago, where they dropped a classic seven-game series to the eventual champion Los Angeles Kings.The price of that success reached a new level in July, when Toews and Kane each finalized an $84 million, eight-year contract extension that kicks in for the 2015-16 season. The twin deals could force general manager Stan Bowman to make some difficult decisions down the road, adding to the pressure on the current group of Blackhawks for this year.Bowman still has to make at least one more move to pare about $2 million from this years payroll before the Oct. 9 season opener at Dallas.Even with the sticky salary-cap situation, the Blackhawks did manage to sign veteran Brad Richards to a $2 million, one-year contract over the summer. The team is hoping Richards can centre the second line a€” a longtime issue for Chicago a€” and the combination of Richards, Kane and Brandon Saad looked good in the preseason.Here are other things to watch this year for the Blackhawks:THAT THIRD LINE: The top two lines should be among the best in the league, but its the third line that really could separate the Blackhawks from the rest of the NHL. Bryan Bickell was noticeably lighter when he showed up to training camp this year. The bruising winger is hoping for a better start than last season, when he had just one assist in his first seven games and finished with 11 goals and four assists for the year. Kris Versteeg also looked sharp in the preseason, and pesky centre Andrew Shaw set career highs with 20 goals and 19 assists last season. Versteeg prepared himsself for this year to get back on track where hes a top forward, Quenneville said.dddddddddddd Hes been good for us.THAT POWER PLAY: Chicago converted 19.5 per cent of its power-play opportunities last season, an improvement from 16.7 per cent for the shortened 2012-13 campaign and good enough for 10th in the NHL. New assistant coach Kevin Dineen, who played with Quenneville on the Hartford Whalers and was hired to replace Jamie Kompon in July, is expected to play a prominent role in this years power play. Richards also could help the efficiency of the unit, where any increase in scoring for the already potent Blackhawks could pay huge dividends.FORK IN THE ROAD: Its a pivotal year for defenceman Nick Leddy, who begins the season with 258 regular-season games and another 54 post-season appearances a€” at just 23 years old. Leddy is one of the fastest skating defencemen on the team, but hes also an occasional visitor to Quennevilles doghouse. He was benched for a playoff game last season against Minnesota. The Kings winning goal in Game 7 in June went off Leddys upper body and then past goaltender Corey Crawford. Leddy could blossom into one of the teams top defencemen, or the Blackhawks could decide to trade him away for salary-cap space.BOSS HOSS: Marian Hossa shows no signs of slowing down heading into his 17th NHL season. The rugged winger had 30 goals and 30 assists in 72 games last season, in addition to his terrific defence. But Hossa missed a couple weeks in March with an upper-body injury and turns 36 in January. Any significant injury for the forward could hurt the Blackhawks in the competitive Central Division.ANTTI MATTERS: Backup goaltender Antti Raanta is heading into his first full NHL season. He made his debut last November and went 13-5 with a 2.71 goals-against average in 25 games, including 22 starts. Raanta played sparingly in the last part of the season, and Crawford figures to get the lions share of the action once again. How Quenneville divides the time in goal will provide an indication of how he feels about the 25-year-old Raantas development.___AP freelancer Matt Carlson contributed to this report.___Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '