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. [url=http://www.arsenalsoccerpro.com/Authentic-Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain-A rsenal-Jersey/]Alex Oxlade-Chambe

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. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Jersey .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. Santi Cazorla Jersey . -- Kurt Buschs Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, in some ways, was like his career wrapped into one afternoon. Olivier Giroud Jersey .Cullen scored the go-ahead goal at 13:47 of the third period and Nashville beat the slumping Dallas Stars 3-2 on Thursday in a game that wasnt decided until the last shot of the night. http://www.arsenalsoccerpro.com/Authentic-Calum-Chambers-Arsenal-Jersey/ . This weeks topics include his take on the Kevin Pillar incident, All-Star snubs, the firing of Padres general manager Josh Byrnes and more.KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia -- The final womens World Cup giant slalom before the Sochi Olympics was called off Saturday because of rain and fog, following a day of heavy snowfall. A decision on whether to go ahead with a slalom scheduled for Sunday on the same Podkoren course will be made shortly before that race. Organizers first delayed the start of the GS by half an hour but conditions failed to improve. "The race line was quite good but we had a lot of loose snow on the outside," FIS race director Atle Skaardal said. "And then in connection with the freezing rain and the bad visibility, the complete situation was not acceptable." FIS says 200 course workers had been working all morning to clear over a meter of fresh snow, but rain and fog were limiting visibility for the racers on the softened course. "I am convinced it was the right decision," Skaardal said. "The organizing committee have done a tremendous job over the last days and hours to even bring us in the position this morning to consider to start a race because you saw how extreme everything was." Despite rain being forecast for the rest of the day, Skaardal judgedd the chances for Sundays slalom as "quite good. Mikel Arteta Jersey. quot; "Its a shorter event. We need only 550 metres length which is less than 50 per cent of the giant slalom," he said. "This makes it easier as we have more people to work on a smaller area." The 50th edition of the annual Zlata Lisica event was moved from another Slovenian resort, Maribor, because of a lack of snow there. The GS will likely be rescheduled after the Olympics, though the tight schedule doesnt leave FIS many options, according to Skaardal. Jessica Lindell-Vikarby leads the GS World Cup standings with 332 points, 120 clear of Swedish teammate Maria Pietilae-Holmner. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, Austrian pair Anna Fenninger and Kathrin Zettel, and American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin are all within 10 points of Pietilae-Holmner. Austria womens head coach Jurgen Kriechbaum said that "coaches were unanimous, the weather is just too bad." "The course is not good enough to stage a race with these conditions," Kriechbaum said. "The organizers wanted to stage the race at all costs but its useless under these circumstances." Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '