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OKLAHOMA CITY -- LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 14 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 98-94 in a showdown of Western Conference heavyweights on Tuesday night. Lawrence Timmons Youth Jersey . Damian Lillard added 21 points and 11 assists and hit a pair of clinching free throws with 2.1 seconds left for Portland, which beat Oklahoma City for the second time in December. Portland (25-7) snapped a two-game losing streak but still trails Oklahoma City (25-6) by a half-game in the Northwest Division standings. Kevin Durant had 37 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder, which had won 12 of its last 13 and 20 of its last 22 games before Tuesday. But Durant managed only one point in the fourth quarter and missed an 11-foot jumper that would have tied the game in the final seconds. The Thunder, who scored only 16 fourth-quarter points, lost for the first time in six New Years Eve home games since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City led by 13 points midway through the third quarter, but Portland chipped away at that lead and took its first lead since the first quarter at 87-86 on two free throws by Aldridge with 3:58 left. Reggie Jackson answered with a jumper to put Oklahoma City back ahead, but Nicolas Batums 3-pointer gave Portland a 90-88 lead and the Blazers never trailed again. Portland led 94-90 after Robin Lopez hit two free throws with 59.1 seconds left. Jackson, who entered the game as the third-best free-throw shooter in the NBA, went 1 of 2 from the line at the other end. Portlands Wesley Matthews missed a 3-point attempt and Lillard rebounded, but Thabo Sefolosha stole the ball from him and Lillard fouled him. Sefolosha hit both free throws to pull Oklahoma City within 94-93 with 23.6 seconds left. Portlands Mo Williams missed two free throws with 15.8 seconds left and Serge Ibaka rebounded for the Thundeer, but Lopez swatted the ball away and it went to Matthews, who was fouled by Durant and made two free throws with 9.2 seconds left. Durant went to the line with 8.2 seconds left and made the first free throw, but missed the second. The rebound was tipped to him, though, and he had an open look but left the shot short. Sefolosha fouled Lillard, who made both free throws to clinch the win. Portland 16-game streak of 100-point offensive outings ended, though, as the Blazers shot an uncharacteristic 39.6 per cent from the field (36 of 91) and 24.2 from 3-point range (8 of 33). Before Tuesday, the Trail Blazers had lost consecutive games for the first time all season, having fallen to Miami on Saturday and at New Orleans on Monday. Portland ended a three-game losing streak to the Thunder in Oklahoma City. The Thunder is 2-1 since All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook underwent his third surgery since injuring his knee during the playoffs in April. This season, Oklahoma City is 4-2 without Westbrook, who the team has said will be out until after the All-Star break. There were 10 lead changes in the games first eight minutes, but the Thunder used a 12-2 run to build a 34-24 lead early in the second quarter. Portland rallied within 40-36 at the 5:30 mark but went more than four minutes without scoring. Portland coach Terry Stotts burned two timeouts while trying to stop a 12-0 run by Oklahoma City and the Thunder led 54-42 at halftime. Matthews finished with 16 points and Batum added 15 for Portland. Serge Ibaka had 17 points and Reggie Jackson added 12 points and six assists for Oklahoma City. Notes: Four days removed from his most recent surgery, Westbrook made an appearance in the Thunders locker room before the game and was using a crutch . Ibaka picked up a quick technical foul from official Joey Crawford after Ibaka complained being called for a personal foul with 5 minutes left in the first quarter . Portland is 6-2 this season against the other 20-win teams in the NBA . Mark King, a Guymon native and the guitarist for rock band Hinder, performed the national anthem. Michael Palmer Womens Jersey . - Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade had 23 points apiece, and the Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Lakers 101-95 on Wednesday for their sixth straight win. Kevin Greene Womens Jersey . The Richmond, B.C., native added eight rebounds and was named the tournaments most valuable player as the top-seeded Ravens defended their 2011 championship. "The biggest thing is to win the whole thing as a team," said Scrubb.As we head into the final 10 days of the Blue Jays stay in Florida, there a couple of areas of concern. For one, the Jays havent scored more than five runs in 13-straight games. Of course, in the spring, the full everyday line-up is rarely together for more than a couple of games a week and even then, only a few innings at a time. Ryan Goins, for all he is capable of doing with the glove at second base, is only hitting .168 at last glance. Brandon Morrow, counted on so heavily this season, has had trouble commanding his four-seam fastball and has seemingly been dropped to the number-five slot in the rotatioon. On the flip side of that, Drew Hutchison has looked so good that he has been elavated to the number-two position in the rotation between R.A Dickey and lefty Mark Buehrle. Closer Casey Janssen started camp with should soreness, but he apppears to be doing well, throwing on the side and assures everyone he will be ready for opening day, despite not having seen any game action yet. J.A. Happs sore back seems to be coming around and hes been slotted in again as the number-four starter. The Jays Grapefruit Circuit record is only 7-10, but those records are rarely an indication of how a team is going to do in the regular season. A year ago, the Jays were 16-17 in Florida, yet only won 74 games for the 2013 campaign. St. Louis won the National League pennant after going just 16-15 in the spring. The Boston Red Sox played .500 ball in the sunny south at 17-17 in its first year under skipper John Farrell and then went on to beat the Cardinals in the World Series. In 2012, their final year with Farrell as manager, the Blue Jays went a scorching 24-7 in Dunedin, tops in the Majors, with a run differential of plus-79, yet they went on to stumble to just 73 wins during the season. The Detroit Tigers, though, werent too far behind the Jays at 20-8 and they made it to the World Series against San Francisco. The Giants had been 18-15 that spring and went on to win their second Fall Classic in three years. In 2011, the Kansas City Royals went 25-7, while the Seattle Mariners were 22-11. The Royals still havent made the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985 and the Mariners havent made the playoffs in a dozen years. The most exciting aspect of spring training is watching the breakout performances of young players, as is with the case of the Jays Drew Hutchison this spring. The rest of it is just about hoping your team can open the season healthy and can come close to living up to expectations. - Injuries could play a part in the American League West race and, in turn, the Wild Card. Two of the Oakland As starters are down with arm troubles. Jarrod Parker has forearm stiffness, which can be a precursor to ellow trouble, and the 25-year-old righty already had one Tommy John surgery in 2009. A.J. Griffin has elbow issues as well, and will find out shorttly if he needs Tommy John. Merril Hoge Jersey. Meanwhile, Seattles number-two starter Hisashi Iwakuma is recovering from a sprained ligament in the middle finger of his pitching hand and is iffy, at best, for the start of season. The Ms top pitching prospect, Taijuan Walker, has bursitis in his shoulder and will likely start the season in the minors on rehab. - Some of the National Leagues better clubs havent escaped the injury bug, either. Atlanta Braves starter Kris Medlen likely needs his seond Tommy John and Brandon Beachy could also be on track for his second. The Braves are also keeping a close watch on Mike Minors shoulder. Arizona Diamondbacks ace lefty Patrick Corbin is currently seeking a second opinion on whether or not he needs Tommy John. If that isnt bad enough for the D-Backs, the recently signed Bronson Arroyo, an iron man with the Cincinnati Reds, is out indefinately with a disc problem in his back. The Philadelphia Phllies, of course, lost Roy Halladay to retirement. Now their number-one starter, Cole Hamels, is dealing with left shoulder fatigue. Though hes starting to feel better throwing on the side, there is no guarantee Hamels will be ready for Opening Day. - I guess you could call it a Panama "Root Canal" for the New York Yankees over the weekend. While on their special goodwill tour of Panama, the home of their now retired future Hall of Fame closer, Mariano Rivera, the Yanks were no-hit by the Miami Marlins. It happened on Saturday at a jam-packed Rod Carew Stadium. The Marlins Brad Hand started off by throwing five perfect innings and striking out six. Steve Cishek came in for a scorless sixth-inning before A.J. Ramos blanked the Yankees in the next two innings and then Arquimedes Caminero finished off the no-no in the ninth. - We talked about a lot of the pitching injuries, but this one appears to be both serious and mysterious. Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, a key pick-up from Boston in a three-way deal last season, has a severe case of shin splints in both legs caused by a problem with his feet. He could miss a large chunk of this season, maybe even the entire season, leaving Detroit without a legit number-one shortstop. - Its not exactly a Babe Ruth-ian differential, but the Baltimore Orioles Chris Davis had indeed a special season in the home run department last year. Daviss MLB-best 53 homers was nine better than American League runner-up Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and 17 up on the National League co-leaders Pedro Alvarez of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the D-Backs Paul Goldschmidt at 36. The last time that happened was 2010, when the Blue Jays Jose Bautista slugged 54 homers, 15 more than AL runner-up Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox at 39 and 12 more than NL leader Albert Pujols, then of the Cardinals, at 42. wholesale nfl jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' ' |
