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HOUSTON -- Houston coach Kevin McHale worried that his team might come out flat Monday night against the struggling Utah Jazz after dropping a close game to the Heat in Miami a day before. Nike Roshe Run Women . His fears were completely unwarranted. Terrence Jones scored 30 points and the Rockets ended a three-game skid with their most lopsided victory of the season, a 124-86 win over the Jazz. "Theres got to be an emphasis on how we play and improving," McHale said. "Its really important that we keep improving and getting better." Dwight Howard was out with an ankle strain, leaving the Rockets without him for the first time this season. But they still had no problem handling the Jazz, who have lost five in a row and have one of the worst records in the Western Conference. Houston was up by 19 at halftime and 13 points by Jones in the third quarter helped push the lead to 92-69 entering the fourth. "We just wanted to be aggressive," Jones said. "Coming off three tough ones we wanted to come out and have a lot of energy and just get back to playing ... the way we had been playing." The big lead allowed an overworked James Harden, who had played more than 43 minutes in three of the previous four games, to rest a bit as he watched the fourth quarter from the bench. Harden finished with 15 points. Houston used a 15-0 run starting midway through the fourth quarter with all their starters on the bench except for Jones to push the already lopsided game to a 40-point advantage. Jordan Hamilton had seven points for Houston during the run. Derrick Favours had 15 points for the Jazz a night after scoring a career-high 28. "This is a lesson for the young guys," Jazz coach Ty Corbin said. "They have to learn to get ready every night. Tonight, we just couldnt get it going. It was like we were running in mud and couldnt get ourselves out of it." It was unclear when Howard was injured, but the team announced the mild strain to his left ankle about 40 minutes before tipoff. He had been the only Rockets player to start every game this season before missing Mondays game. Omer Asik started in his place and finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Houston got back on track after an 0-3 road trip for its first three-game losing streak of the season. The losses came at Oklahoma City, Chicago and Miami and followed a great stretch in which the Rockets won five straight over some of the Eastern Conferences best teams. "Weve been playing well and were confident in each and how weve been playing," Harden said. "The last three games have been a slip up, but overall I think were in a good place." Patrick Beverley scored 19 and Jeremy Lin had 17 for the Rockets, who are second to San Antonio in the Southwest Division. Jones opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer and scored the first nine points of the second half for Houston to extend the lead to 69-47. Asik had a dunk for the Rockets before Jones added four more points to leave Houston up 75-51. Favours made two free throws for the Jazz midway through the quarter before Beverley scored four points for the Rockets to stretch the lead to 26 points. Utah finally found some offence after, scoring eight straight points with the first six from Alec Burks to cut the lead to 79-61. The Jazz cut the lead to seven on a 3-pointer by Richard Jefferson with about 9 1/2 minutes left in the first half. Houston used a 13-2 spurt to stretch the lead to 47-29 about 3 1/2 minutes later. Lin and Beverley scored all of Houstons points in that span with Beverley scoring eight and Lin adding the rest. Utah went almost four minutes without scoring before a layup by Favours with four minutes left in the second quarter. Houston led 60-41 at halftime. The Rockets were up by two points with three minutes left in the first quarter before using an 8-2 run to close out the period and extend their lead to 28-20. NOTES: Houston F Omri Casspi missed the game with the flu. ... The Jazz won 109-103 in the last meeting with Houston this season. ... Houstons Francisco Garcia and Utahs John Lucas got into a scuffle as the game ended and pushed each other before they were separated and both led off the court. ... The Rockets shot 58.2 per cent and had 30 fast-break points, which were both season highs. Nike Air Max 90 Camo . Berdych, coming off a semifinal run at the Australian Open and Davis Cup win over the Netherlands, didnt face a break-point. A semifinalist two years ago here, he will play the winner of an all-French faceoff between Gilles Simon and Nicolas Mahut. Nike Air Max 2015 For Sale . Teague one handed three pointerTheres something to be said about having the nerve to go up and take a shot from downtown late in a close playoff game, but what is there really to say when that shot is one handed? Teague answers that question with a simple Jordan like shrug of the shoulders. DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Jose Bautista kept up his torrid start to the spring, hitting two doubles and driving in two runs Thursday that sent the Toronto Blue Jays over the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5. A day after hitting a long home run against the Phillies in his first at-bat of exhibition play, Bautista had an RBI double in the first inning off Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee. Bautista finished 2 for 2 with a walk. The former two-time major league homer champion missed the final six weeks last year because of a hip injury. Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie and Melky Cabrera also drove in runs for Toronto. "I thought we swung the bats pretty good," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. Gibbons liked how many of Torontos hits were up the middle or to the opposite field. "Against a lot of lefties and things like that, you have to be able to do that and I think it was progress for us," he said. Lee allowed two hits and a run in two innings. He struck out three and walked none. "Obviously Im trying to throw strikes," Lee said. "I made a couple mistakes. The first double was, for sure, a mistake. I tried to throw a backdoor cutter and it ended up right down the middle." "And then Bautista, I just missed on the pitch before and tried to throw the same pitch. It wasnt a bad one, its just you get into a 2-2 count with him in that situation is not where you want to be. He put a good swing on it." Philadelphias offence was powered by a pair of home runs from bench hopefuls: Darin Ruf hit a two-run shot in the third and John Mayberry Jr. had a solo drive in the sixth. Blue Jays starter R.A. Dickey allowed one unearned run in two innings. He gave up two hits, two walks and struck out two. STARTING TIME Phillies: Lee gave up doubles to two of the first three batters he faced, then stopped the Blue Jays. He is the odds-on favourite to start on opening day March 31 at Texas. Blue Jays: Dickey got through an uneasy first inning to feel good about his spring debut. The knuckleballeer walked back-to-back batters with one out in his opening inning. Nike Air Max 2015 Mens Shoes. "Im feeling a lot better than I was at this point last year, so Im hoping that will carry out through the rest of spring and opening day," Dickey said. RUF RIDER Ruf hit a long home run off Esmil Rogers with one on and no one out in the third inning. The shot was the first for any Phillies player this spring. Ruf finished 1 for 3 with a walk. KNUCKLED Dickey worked with new battery partner Erik Kratz for the first time this spring. Kratz, a catcher acquired from the Phillies in a trade this winter, wore a first basemans glove in an attempt to have a better chance at catching Dickeys arsenal of knuckleballs. Kratz allowed one passed ball in the games first inning. "Its a hard thing to do," Dickey said. "The game speed, and runners on -- its just going to take some time. But I felt like he looked real comfortable back there. Outside of the one passed ball, I felt like he handled it pretty well." TRAINERS ROOM Philadelphia right-handed reliever Mike Adams threw off the mound for the first time since undergoing shoulder surgery on July 31. He was limited to 28 games in his first season after signing a two-year, $12 million free agent deal with the Phillies. The veteran setup reliever hopes to join the Phillies bullpen at some point in April. "It went good -- really good," he said. "It was probably an 85 per cent bullpen or so. I wasnt trying to let loose right off the bat. I was trying to get a good feel for throwing off the slope again." Philadelphia right-hander Ethan Martin, who entered camp competing for the fifth starters job, left after facing four batters in the fifth inning with shoulder discomfort. Hell be examined by the team medical staff on Friday morning. "He was pain-free pitching, but the ball just wasnt coming out, throwing 85 miles per hour," Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. "That was a sign for me to go out and see what was going on." wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
