Stars und Sternchen! » at the hands of Svitolina

PORTLAND, Ore. -- LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the Trail Blazers lineup, happy to know that things didnt go awry without him. Portlands All-Star forward had 16 points and the Blazers won their fifth straight game with a 102-96 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Aldridge was averaging 23.9 points and 11.4 rebounds before a left groin injury caused him to miss five games. "Im not going to call guys out but I thought that they just played great," Aldridge said about the team in his absence. "I thought everybody did more, whether it was rebounding or whatever. Everybody just played better." The win moved the Blazers (41-18) a season-high 23-games over .500. After failing to make the playoffs last season, Portland sits in third place in the Western Conference. Robin Lopez led the Blazers in scoring for the first time this season with 18 points, while Nicolas Batum had a career-high 16 rebounds. "That was a solid win for us," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "We did a lot of good things. I felt like we were in control for the most part." Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and Evan Fournier scored 16 points apiece, but Denver (25-33) lost its fifth straight. Faried, who also had 10 rebounds, took a hard fall with less than two minutes left and appeared to injure his right knee, but finished out the game. Portland won all four meetings this season against Denver, its first sweep of the series since the 1999 season, when the Blazers won all three games against the Nuggets. Damian Lillards driving layup gave Portland a 100-87 lead with 4:09 left in the game and the Nuggets never really challenged. Lillard finished with 17 points. The Blazers had a bit of a rest after a 124-80 rout of Brooklyn on Wednesday night. The Nets played in Denver the next night, routing the Nuggets 112-89. "The effort was there and it was something to build off of because everybody -- the whole city of Denver -- after that loss to Brooklyn had a sour taste in our mouth," Foye said. "We just wanted to get back out there and try to give the fans something to cheer about." The Nuggets have won just one of their last 11 games. Aldridge was greeted with a roar from the crowd at the Moda Center when he was announced as a starter. "It felt good," Aldridge said. "My timing was a little off but it felt good to be back out there playing with the guys." Second-year centre Meyers Leonard also returned after a five-game absence because of a sprained right ankle. But the Blazers did not have forwards Thomas Robinson, who has a left knee injury, and Joel Freeland, with a right knee sprain. The Nuggets were hurting, too. Top scorer Ty Lawson missed his ninth straight game with a left rib fracture. But guard Aaron Brooks, acquired before the trade deadline from Houston, played despite a sore ankle, and Wilson Chandler returned after missing a game because of a right knee sprain. Denver closed within 52-47 late in the half after a pair of free throws from Faried, but Lopezs dunk and Lillards layup helped push Portlands lead to 56-48 at the break. Lopez led all players with 12 points. Lillard, Batum and Leonard had consecutive dunks to give the Blazers an early 22-12 lead. The Blazers stretched the lead to 73-60 in the third quarter on Batums finger-roll layup. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said he liked the effort after the loss to Brooklyn, but pointed to missed free throws. Denver was 23 of 35 from the line. "You lose the game by six points and you miss 12 free throws, that can be the difference in the game," Shaw said. "I thought the team played a lot better and responded after the embarrassing game we had the other night at home against Brooklyn. So we got better tonight and Im happy with our effort." Notes: Brooks played at the University of Oregon and got warm applause during pregame game introductions. .... Batum becomes the fourth Trail Blazer this season with 16 or more rebounds in a game, joining Aldridge, Lopez and Robinson. ... It was the first time this season that no player for the Blazers or their opponent had a player with at least 20 points. Air Max 1 Wholesale . - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked spry enough in pregame warmups Sunday for Green Bays divisional playoff game against Dallas. Nike Air Max 1 Discount . Erik Cole scored on a breakaway with 4:49 to play, and the Stars rallied to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Saturday night. http://www.wholesaleairmax1.com/ . Bouchard went down to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Svitolina in her opening match at the Sony Open on Friday. Bouchard got the rivalry going two years ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title over Svitolina. Air Max 1 Outlet Sale . Calgary finished atop the CFL standings with a 14-4 record and earned the right to host the West Division final at McMahon Stadium on Nov. Air Max 1 Sale Cheap .The Los Angeles Lakers star passed Michael Jordan for third on the NBAs career scoring list Sunday night in a 100-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun have the latest on the coaching vacancies in Pittsburgh and Vancouver, the trade market for the top three centres reportedly available and if P.K. Subban will receive an offer sheet in free agency. With Bill Peters being named the head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes, three coaching vacancies remain in the NHL. What is the latest news on the Pittsburgh Penguins opening? Dreger: Were looking at Willie Desjardins as potentially the next head coach of the Penguins. Now, Desjardins is a hot commodity, given his American Hockey League championship with the Texas Stars of the Dallas Stars organization. We know he was a hot commodity with the Vancouver Canucks, but I expect the Pittsburgh Penguins are the team that will land Desjardins. McKenzie: If Desjardins ends up with the Pittsburgh Penguins, some might consider that to be a blow to the Vancouver Canucks, where hes long been considered a candidate for their head coaching position. Keep in mind that John Stevens, who recently re-upped with the Los Angeles Kings, was another candidate in Vancouver. However, there are still lots of guys who general manager Jim Benning and president Trevor Linden have interviewed and are interested in. Mike Johnston, the general manager and head coach of the Portland Winterhawks, is amongst those who is considered to be a strong candidate for this job. LeBrun: Stevens would have had an interview - at very least - with the Hurricanes, Penguins and Canucks but he decided to stay put in Los Angeles, where he was promoted from assistant head coach to associate head coach. I spoke to Stevens and the one thing thats out there that he claims is absolutely false is that this promotion is not about a succession plan. There have been rumours that hes in line to replace Darryl Sutter as coach at some point in the next couple of years. Those are not true, according to Stevens. He stayed because he wants to be there and one day if he wants to be head coach, it will probably happen somewhere else. On the trade front, three centres are drawing a lot of attention. Amongst them is Joe Thornton, who has a no-movement clause. Would he willing to waive it? LeBrun: Joe Thornton has yet to tell the San Jose Sharks he wants to be moved somewhere. Right now, Thornton wants to stayy in San Jose.dddddddddddd Could that change by the end of the summer? I suppose it could before the end of the summer. In the meantime, teams who are intrigued are calling San Jose. Amongst those teams are the Detroit Red Wings. Thornton is from St. Thomas, not too far from Detroit but, again, none of that talk means anything until Thornton decides to tell the Sharks he does not want to be a part of the rebuilding plan, and that has not happened at this point. A lot of talk surrounding Ryan Keslers availability and the availability of Jason Spezza, who after Bryan Murray spoke at the general managers meeting, sounds like its a fait accompli hes moving. LeBrun: Once we get to the draft in Philadelphia it looks like things will really heat up on the Spezza trade front and on the Ryan Kesler trade front, obviously with first-round picks being involved next Friday night. The Anaheim Ducks are real wild card in all of this. We know they want another centre and they tried to get Kesler at the trade deadline in March but failed. The Ducks have talked to Ottawa about Spezza and have talked to the Canucks, again, about Kesler but the price is too high. I think the Senators would love to get their first round pick back from Anaheim, which they traded for Bobby Ryan, but I dont think Anaheim is willing to make that deal. McKenzie: Keep on eye on the Boston Bruins; they have surplus of defencemen. Obviously, Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton wont be moved but Johnny Boychuk, Dennis Seidenberg, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller, Torey Krug and Matt Bartkowski, who are all NHL-caliber defencemen. Dont be surprised if they move one of those players for a forward. The Bruins are still looking to sign Jerome Iginla and whether that deal gets done or not will dictate their needs this off-season. Could restricted free agent P.K. Subban draw an offer sheet this summer? Dreger: Hell definitely be a prime target but it is hard to say that it is likely to happen. However, the longer the negotiation - or lack thereof - between Newport Sports and the Montreal Canadiens drags on will create a target for Subban from an offer sheet perspective. However, in saying that, there is no chance the Canadiens would not match and it sounds like the Canadiens are prepared in case of that situation. China NFL Jerseys Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Online Stitched Hockey Jerseys Wholesale Baseball Jerseys Football Jerseys Outlet College Jerseys For Sale Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys For Sale Wholesale NFL Jerseys ' ' '