MINNEAPOLIS -- D. Calvin Ridley Falcons Jersey .J. Augustins career was swirling down the drain when the Toronto Raptors waived him in December, and the former No. 9 overall pick seemed destined to join the long list of promising prospects that just never made it in the NBA. Four days later, the Chicago Bulls signed him in an attempt to add some scoring punch to a defence-first team. Augustin has flourished in Chicago, one of the big reasons the surprising Bulls have been able to weather Derrick Roses injury and the trade of Luol Deng to stay in the hunt in the Eastern Conference. "We needed him," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said, "and he needed us." Augustin had another big game Wednesday night, scoring 21 points to lead Chicago to a 102-87 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Joakim Noah added 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double, moving into a tie with Indianas Lance Stephenson for the most in the NBA this season. Kirk Hinrich scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and the Bulls hit 11 of 21 3-pointers to stay right on Torontos heels for the third seed in the Eastern Conference. "We wouldnt be in this position without D.J.," Noah said. "His passing ability, his scoring ability, just the way he plays the game. ... I feel like I have really good chemistry with him and I think the rest of this team feels that way, too. Were going to need him down the stretch." Kevin Love had 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves. But he hyperextended his right elbow in the first half and only made 7 of 20 shots, including 2 of 8 3-pointers. Ricky Rubio added 15 points and six assists, but the Wolves were just 4 for 17 from long distance. "I shouldve made a lot of those open shots that I missed," said Love, who also had a large bloody scratch on his chest after getting tied up with Carlos Boozer. "Yeah it was bothering me a little bit. But thats no excuse for the poor shooting." The Bulls entered the night with the same record as Toronto, with the tiebreaker going to the Raptors and only five games to play before the playoffs begin. The schedule certainly favours the Raptors, who beat the 76ers on Wednesday night and finish the season with two games against the Knicks and one each against the Pistons and Bucks. Thanks to the raggedy East, the Bulls dont have it much tougher with the Pistons, Knicks and Magic coming up before the season finale at playoff-bound Charlotte. That made this game against short-handed Timberwolves a crucial one. The Timberwolves played without Nikola Pekovic (right foot), Chase Budinger (right ankle), Kevin Martin (right heel), Shabazz Muhammad (right knee) and J.J. Barea (back and neck), leaving them with only 10 healthy players, and without three of their better offensive players to go at the tenacious Bulls defence. But even though the Wolves have been eliminated from playoff contention, theyve put up quite a fight against some of the best teams in the league down the stretch. Last week Minnesota beat Memphis at home and won at Miami. The Wolves then throttled the Spurs at Target Center on Tuesday night and shot 52.6 per cent to take a 53-48 lead over the Bulls at halftime. Eventually that Bulls defence started squeezing the Wolves and grinding the game down. The Wolves missed eight of their first 10 shots of the second half and scored only 17 points in the third quarter. They shot 33 per cent and managed just 34 points in the second half. "It looked like we ran out of gas in the second half," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. On the other end, the 3s kept falling. Mike Dunleavy, who had 15 points, hit one to give the Bulls a 65-62 lead they would never relinquish. Augustin hit two more in the fourth to help the Bulls pull away. Even bigger were his 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the first half, when the Bulls were struggling to get their offence going. "Im just getting a chance to play, period," Augustin said. "Just getting an opportunity and trying to make the best of it." NOTES: Bulls F Taj Gibson finished with 13 points and five rebounds. He picked up a technical foul in the fourth quarter for gesturing angrily after not getting a foul call under the basket. ... Little-used PG Alexey Shved had nine points and a season-high five assists in 16 minutes for Minnesota. ... The Wolves host their former coach and GM Kevin McHale and the Houston Rockets on Friday night in their third home game of the week. Deadrin Senat Falcons Jersey . - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday. Atlanta Falcons Jerseys . Cincinnati has lost back-to-back games in overtime, wasting a chance to take a commanding lead in their division. FRISCO, Texas -- Landon Donovans fourth career MLS hat trick was not enough to give the Los Angeles Galaxy a victory. Blas Perez scored his second goal in the 86th minute to lift FC Dallas into a 3-3 tie with the Galaxy on Sunday night. Donovan scored twice within nine minutes to give Los Angeles a 3-2 lead in the 82nd minute, but Perez notched his team-leading eighth goal of the season four minutes later. Dallas nearly won it in stoppage time when Jackson launched a 40-yard shot that went off the right post. "I really feel like the ball was going in," said Jackson through a translator. "I was really confident I took a really good shot that I thought was going in." The draw lifted the Galaxy (10-9-4) into a fifth-place tie with Seattle in the Western Conference. Dallas (8-6-9), which had its winless streak extended to 10 matches (0-4-6), remains one point behind. "We felt good about ourselves but we got lazy, gave up a real easy, careless free kick and then they score a goal," said Donovan whose hat trick was his first in an MLS game since 2008. "At the end of the day, its good we fought back, but when you have the lead with five minutes to go, you should win the game." All three Dallas goals originated off set pieces (one from a corner kick and two via free kicks), marking a league-leading 10 such goals the Galaxy have allowed this season. "Its been the story of the whole year with our set pieces, where we fall asleep and they end up getting a goal," Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez said. "Its just a matter of putting everything you have into that 15-30 second play. It just has to be better. Our fight has to be better, more than the guy were going up against and tonight it just wasnt there. The Galaxy also felt that Perezs tying goal, and perhaps his first one, should have been called offside. "Terrible officiating, no question about it," LA coach Bruce Arena said. "However, we were still in position to win the game. What more can you say? Its a shame that we cant get better officiating in these games. Were the team that should have won this game. Its a shame, it really is." Matt Hedges scored Dallas other goal in the 15th minute, snapping a club-record goalless streak at 464 minutes, the seventh-longest drought in MLS history. "Its important that the goals were scored and that bad run is finished," Dallas midfielder David Ferreira said through an iinterpreter. Justin Bethel Falcons Jersey. "But at the same time, there is sadness and the feeling in the locker room is that this was a game that the team could have taken the three points. That didnt happen, so the feeling is kind of mixed." Chris Seitz made five saves for FC Dallas in just his third appearance this season. He filled in for starter Raul Fernandez, who is with the Peru national team. "It was an exciting game with two teams that played really hard," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said. "I thought it was a good performance on our part in regards to team energy, hard work, we battled for balls. When we were down, we continued to fight, showed a lot of character playing against a very good team. I just wish the wind would have blown that ball in when it hit the post. That was a great shot by Jackson." With Dallas ahead 2-1, Donovan received a short pass from Marcelo Sarvas and stepped into a right-footed shot from 18 yards that beat the diving Seitz just inside the right goal post in the 73rd minute. Nine minutes later, a throw-in by Robbie Keane bounced to Donovan about 8 yards out and the U.S. national team star spun and drilled a right-footed shot past Dallas defender George John. The ball initially appeared to be going wide, but it curled just inside the far post and in. Perez tied the score off a free kick by Michel from 25 yards. The ball sailed into the middle of the penalty area, where Gonzalez headed it out, but it went right to Perez, who fired a 15-yard shot that beat Galaxy goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini just inside the left post. Perez snapped a 1-1 tie in the 48th minute on another play that was set up by a free kick from Michel, who had entered the match to start the second half. His looping free kick from 30 yards curled toward the left post, where Perez lunged with his left foot to re-direct it home. Hedges scored his second goal of the season, and FC Dallas first in six games, to give his side a 1-0 lead just 15 minutes in. Ferreira delivered a corner kick into the middle, where George John headed it down. The ball bounced past several players to Hedges, who headed it just inside the left post. Donovans first of the game tied it during first-half stoppage time, when he got past Hedges to chase down a nice lead ball from Keane and head it over the charging Seitz. Keane, L.A.s leading scorer and captain, was back in the lineup after missing three league games with a hip flexor injury. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Hockey Jerseys China Nike Baseball Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys China Cheap Football Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys CanadaWholesale Nike MLB Jerseys Canada Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic Canada Stitched Soccer Jerseys Canada Cheap Jerseys Canada NFL ' ' '