with two strikeouts and a line drive for the Tig

HOUSTON - James Harden wouldnt admit he was thinking about last season in Houstons first game against Portland since the Trail Blazers eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs in the first round.Dwight Howard was certain he was.I know its kind of like a weight off his back because of what happened in the playoffs against Portland, Howard said. And (Monday) he just destroyed them.Harden scored a season-high 44 points to help the Rockets cruise to a 110-95 victory and snap a two-game skid.Last year, nah. What happened the last two games, Harden said when asked if he had a chip on his shoulder from the early playoff exit. Two losses at home is unacceptable, so we wanted to come out here and not make it a third.The Trail Blazers were without leading scorer and rebounder LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with an upper-respiratory illness, and had their five-game winning streak snapped.Defensively we didnt give much resistance in the first half and they took advantage of that, coach Terry Stotts said. Offensively we turned the ball over too much and really werent able to mount any kind of legitimate comeback.Harden had 31 in the first half to help the Rockets erase an early eight-point deficit and take a 20-point halftime lead. The Blazers didnt threaten after that and Harden went to the bench for good with about 4 minutes left and Houston up 107-86.It was Hardens NBA-leading third 40-point game this season, with all of them coming this month. Harden, who leads the NBA in scoring, has had 11 games with at least 30 points this season, which also leads the league.He played really well, coach Kevin McHale said. That was about as much juice and energy that weve played with in a long time.Damian Lillard led Portland with 18 points and CJ McCollum added 17.Harden came just two points shy of his career high, set against Oklahoma City last season. He also had seven assists and five steals, while Howard added 16 points and 13 rebounds.The Trail Blazers scored eight straight points, with five coming from Lillard, to cut the lead to 84-70 midway through the third quarter. But Houston used a 9-2 run to push it to 93-72 with 2 minutes left in the period.Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer to become the third player in NBA history to make 2,000 3-pointers and push Houstons lead to 96-76 entering the fourth quarter. Ray Allen and Reggie Miller are the other players to reach the plateau.The Rockets, who lead the league in 3-pointers, made 13 on Monday night.Wesley Matthews received a flagrant foul when he knocked Donatas Motiejunas to the ground when the two were fighting for a loose ball early in the third quarter.A highlight for Harden came in the second quarter, when he drove into the lane and threw up an off-balance shot that swished through the net as he was fouled by Matthews. Harden high-fived several fans in courtside seats as Matthews jawed with officials to draw a technical foul.Harden made both free throws to leave Houston up 57-45. He had eight points in the quarter after that, including a layup at the buzzer with two defenders on him to make it 73-53 at halftime.TIP-INS:Trail Blazers: Aldridge didnt come to the arena, instead staying at the team hotel to rest. Stotts said before the game that he wasnt sure if Aldridge would be able to play on Tuesday night. ... Monday was the first time this season that Portland has allowed 10 or more 3-pointers in a game.Rockets: Terrence Jones (left leg nerve inflammation) remains out for Houston. ... Houstons 73 points were a season high a first half.NEW FACESCorey Brewer and Alexey Shved made their debuts for the Rockets after being acquired in a three-team trade on Friday. Brewer came to Houston from the Timberwolves and Shved was playing for the 76ers. Brewer had 12 points, five steals and four assists, and Shved had three points and a rebound.UP NEXTTrail Blazers: Visit Oklahoma City on Tuesday.Rockets: Visit Memphis on Friday. NBA Jerseys Authentic Cheap . The Jays responded to the three-spot Detroit placed on Casey Janssen the evening before with an attack on the Tigers Achilles Heel, its bullpen, tying the game in the ninth and winning the game in the 10th. The result absolved Marcus Stroman, brilliant once again, of a tough luck loss while at the same time robbing Max Scherzer, brilliant once again, of a deserved win. Cheap NBA Jerseys China . As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. http://www.cheapnbaauthenticjerseys.com/ . The Maple Leafs will play on the road for the first time this season after dropping home contests to Montreal and Pittsburgh to begin the campaign. After losing a one-goal decision to the Canadiens on Wednesday, they were bested 5-2 on Saturday by the Penguins. Discount NBA Jerseys . Felton pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm. He admitted he knowingly had a large-capacity ammunition magazine and a semi-automatic pistol without a license. NBA Jerseys China .com) - The Dallas Mavericks had a five-game winning streak snapped last time out, but theyll try to get back into the winners circle Sunday evening when the Milwaukee Bucks pay a visit to American Airlines Center.(SportsNetwork.com) - Detroit right-hander Justin Verlander endured one of the worst years of his career this past season. But on Thursday, Verlander can put a seasons worth of frustration behind him, as he takes the ball for the Tigers in the decisive fifth game of the American League Division Series against the Oakland Athletics. "Its not just another game," Verlander said. "The season is on the line. The whole season, the way we battled and played as a team, comes down to one game. May the best team win. You cant treat it like another game, you know. Its a little bit different. There is more to it. Its going to be fun. Its what you play the game for. Its exciting. This is what you dream of as a kid, to be on the mound in a clinching game." Of course, Verlander was in this exact same position last year and responded by striking out 11 in a four-hit shutout to propel the Tigers to the ALCS. He was equally as dominant against the As in Game 2 of this series, but did not get a decision, despite tossing seven scoreless innings in his teams 1-0 loss. Verlander, though, was 13-12 during the season and finished the year with his highest ERA (3.46), lowest strikeout rate (23.5 percent) and lowest innings total (218 1/3) since 2008 and battled through reduced velocity. However, the 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner started to show signs of the pitcher he has been down the stretch and pitched to a 2.27 ERA in his final six starts of the regular season. "I think its just some of the adjustments I made, one of the maybe a thousand that I tried to make this year," he said. "It was definitely a grind all year. Then it reached a point where I realized it was going to take awhile, that it wasnt going to be one thing I had to fix." Oakland, meanwhile, has relied on a lot of young arms this season. If they want to play another game theyll need to lean on another, as for the seventh time in their last 10 postseason games the As will hand the ball to a rookie hurler. Sonny Gray takes the ball as he did in Game 2 versus Verlander and the Tigers and will try to duplicate that performance which saw him strike out nine batters over eight scoreless innings. A 23-year-old righty, Gray has just 11 big league starts under his belt. Yet, Oakland manager Bob Melvin chose him rather than 40-year-old Bartolo Colon, who won 18 games this season and was second in the AL with a 2.dddddddddddd5 ERA. "Obviously, we had two great options there with Bartolo," As manager Bob Melvin said during a late-afternoon conference call Wednesday. "We looked at it at a bunch of different angles. We have a lot of smart people in our front office and in our baseball operations and the short of it is it came down to Sonny and the last game he pitched in similar conditions in our ballpark. So thats the route were going to go." Including the Game 2 assignment, Gray pitched to a 1.66 ERA in seven home starts. Hes also struck out 47 batters over 48 2/3 innings of those outings. "Hes got a power arm and lot of talent, but its hard to know -- like in Game 2 -- how a young guy is going to react," As shortstop Jed Lowrie said about Gray. "But he went out there with all the confidence in the world and performed pretty well." Detroit staved off elimination on Tuesday, as it rallied twice and held on to beat the Athletics, 8-6. Victor Martinez homered in the win, while Game 1 winner Max Scherzer, who relieved starter Doug Fister in the seventh, escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth with two strikeouts and a line drive for the Tigers, who are trying to get back to the ALCS for the second straight year. "To be able to get out of that jam, I mean, thats something Ill never forget," said Scherzer. "Thats something Im not really asked to do, and tonight I was." Lowrie hit a two-run homer and knocked in Oaklands first three runs as the As built a 3-0 lead through the first 4 1/2 innings. Oakland will be trying to buck a trend of Game 5 failures on Thursday. The As have lost all five Game 5s they have played in the ALDS and are a miserable 1-11 in potential clinching games since losing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds back in 1990. Detroit, which lost four of seven games against the As during the season, has beaten Oakland the last two times these teams have met in the postseason. The As only win against the Tigers in the playoffs came in the 1972 ALCS, which started a run of three consecutive world titles for Oakland. The winner of tonights contest will play Game 1 of the ALCS in Boston on Saturday. ' ' '