HOUSTON - The Houston Rockets needed one win in their last two games or a loss by Portland on Wednesday to secure home-court advantage in their first-round
playoff series against the Trail Blazers.
Jacob Tamme Falcons Jersey . They were certainly happy to wrap it up Monday night instead of waiting until Wednesday to
learn their fate. Chandler Parsons scored 21 points and Dwight Howard and
Terrence Jones added 20 apiece to lift the Rockets to a 104-98 win over the San
Antonio Spurs. The victory gave No. 4 seed Houston home-court advantage in their
first-round playoff series with Portland. "We fought hard for it," coach Kevin
McHale said. "It took a little longer than I hoped, but we knew we had to get 54
wins and we got there with one to spare. Im glad we didnt have to wait until
Wednesday to try and get it." James Harden agreed. "We wanted to come out here
and take care of business and not rely on our last game on the road," Harden
said. San Antonio used a big run at the beginning of the fourth quarter to go on
top and was up by three later in the period when Houston scored eight straight
to regain the lead at 95-90. A layup by Jeff Ayres got the Spurs within four
points before Harden knocked down a long 2-pointer with less than a minute left
to make it 100-94. Marco Belinelli had 17 points to lead the Spurs, who limited
the minutes of stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili with their top
seed in the Western Conference playoffs already secure. Duncan had 12 points in
less than 30 minutes, Parker scored 10 in about 25 and Ginobili had 10 in about
22. "We definitely did what we wanted to do," Parker said. "We were able to play
everybody — no injuries — and we got a good sweat out of it. We did some good
stuff and Houston got the win at the end." Harden added 16 points with seven
assists for the Rockets, who swept the four-game series this season with San
Antonio. Howard had 17 rebounds and Jones pulled down 11 for Houston. It was the
second game back for Howard after he sat out the previous eight because of a
left ankle strain. "I feel like I was in a better rhythm, but Im going to
continue to get in shape, continue to do whatever I can to get my wind back so I
can do more things on the floor." The Spurs opened the fourth quarter with a
14-4 run to go on top 82-80 for their first lead since the first quarter.
Belinelli got that run going with a 3-pointer and finished it with a jump shot.
Houston missed five shots, including two layups as San Antonio took the lead. A
layup by Parker cut Houstons lead to three points with about eight minutes left
in the third quarter. The Rockets then used a 7-2 run to push their advantage to
64-56. Parsons started the run with a 3-pointer and Jones did the rest, starting
with a tip-in before capping it with a soaring, one-handed alley-oop dunk on a
pass from Harden. The Rockets scored seven straight points later in the quarter
to push its lead to 14, but San Antonio scored the last six points of the
quarter with four from Ginobili to cut the lead to 76-68 entering the fourth
quarter. Houston led by nine after the first quarter and scored the first five
points of the second quarter to extend its lead to 35-21. The Spurs had cut into
the lead midway through the quarter and got within 41-36 with about five minutes
left in the half after four quick points by Duncan. An alley-oop dunk by Duncan
about three minutes later cut Houstons lead to 48-40 late in the second quarter.
Harden got miffed at Ginobilis physical defence after that and put his left
shoulder into him and knocked him to the ground as he drove down the court. That
play was initially ruled a flagrant foul on Harden, causing him to yell and
curse at the officials as Patrick Beverley held him back. The play was reviewed
and knocked down to a personal foul, but Harden received a technical for his
behaviour after the call. Ginobili made the free throw and Boris Diaws hook shot
got San Antonio within five, but Howard reverse layup left the Rockets ahead
50-43 at halftime. NOTES: Duncan received a technical in the first quarter when
he knocked Beverley down after the guard was called for a foul on Duncan. ...
Howard got a technical midway through the third quarter when he seemingly
inadvertently slapped Ginobili in the face at the end of a play. ... San
Antonios Matt Bonner missed the game because of food poisoning. ...
Francisco Garcia (sore back) and Parsons (sore wrist and hip) returned after
missing the last game with injuries.
Andy Levitre Falcons Jersey .C. United have acquired midfielder Alex Caskey from the Seattle Sounders for a third-round pick
in the 2016 MLS draft.
Devonta Freeman Falcons Jersey . Cammalleri scored two goals, Corban Knight netted the winner in a shootout, and the Flames
erased a two-goal deficit in the third period to beat the Stars 4-3 on Friday
night.CAIRO, Egypt -- The Confederation of African Football has moved the Super
Cup game between Egypts Al Ahly and Tunisias Sfaxien to a smaller stadium in
Cairo. CAF also brought the match between the winners of the African Champions
League and Confederation Cup forward from Feb. 22 to Feb. 20. The
Confederation initially said the match would be at the 75,000-seat Cairo
International Stadium, raising concerns as games in front of large crowds in
Egypt have been rare since more than 70 people, mostly Al Ahly fans, were killed
at a stadium riot in 2012.
Vic Beasley Falcons Jersey. CAF says the switch to a 30,000-capacity military venue which hosted the Egypt-Ghana World
Cup playoff last year was for "organizational reasons." Fans clashed with police
before Ahlys victory in Novembers Champions League final at another Cairo
stadium.
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