Minnesota Sports Roundup: Heat stars turn it on in second half to defeat Minnesota

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Miami star LeBron James had 22 points with 11 assists and seven rebounds to help the Heat in a 103-92 win over the Timberwolves last night in Miami. Dwyane Wade added 24 points while Chris Bosh scored 15 points for Miami. Andrei Kirilenko had 22 points to lead Minnesota while Nikola Pekovic had 18 points with 12 rebounds. Kevin Love contributed 11 points and 18 boards for the Wolves, who have lost two in-a-row after a four-game winning streak to sit at 12-and-11. Minnesota hosts Oklahoma City tomorrow night at the Target Center. Oklahoma City plays in Atlanta tonight.

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Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been selected as the 2012 Ed Block Courage Award winner by his teammates. The award is given annually to a player who overcomes great adversity. Peterson is enjoying a career year following major knee surgery, rushing for 1,812 yards and 11 touchdowns while starting in all 14 games.

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Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been nominated for this week's FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Week Award. Houston's Arian Foster and Denver's Knowshon Moreno are the other finalists. Fans can vote on the NFL webpage for their favorite player. Peterson and Foster play against each other this Sunday in Houston.

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Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is on the cover of this week's "Sports Illustrated." The headline reads "A.D. 2012: The Year of Adrian Peterson." The cover photo shows A-P breaking off a long run during Sunday's win at Saint Louis. Peterson has 18-hundred-12 rushing yards and needs 294 in his final two games to break the N-F-L single-season record. This is Peterson's fifth appearance on S-I's cover.

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The Vikings will return to the practice field today at Winter Park. The team was off yesterday. Minnesota beat St. Louis 36-22 on Sunday and will be at Houston this week. Houston clinched its division with a win over Indianapolis last week. The Vikes are 8-and-6 and in the playoff hunt. The Texans are a league-best 12-and-2. Kickoff on Sunday is set for noon.

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The 16th-ranked Golden Gophers continue to prepare for Saturday's showdown with Lafayette at Williams Arena. Minnesota hasn't played since a 70-57 rout of North Dakota State on December 11th. The Gophers are 11-and-1 on the season. Lafayette is 5-and-8 after defeating Arcadia 86-62 last night in Easton, Pennsylvania. Saturday's game tips off at 6 p.m. at the Barn.

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