Lind returned to the lineup after sitting out the ser | Forum

HOUSTON -- Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that hes playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011. Bobby Orr Jersey . He will, however, concede that at age 35 hes having a pretty good season. Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night. He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court. "Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away," he said, breaking into a huge smile. Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isnt surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season. "Hes the great Dirk Nowitzki," Carlisle said. "Hes one of the great players in the history of the game." Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more. "The driving the ball is whats missing a little now," he said. "I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I dont think Im in 11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better." Nowitzkis performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history. Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97. Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down. "We tried a bunch of different stuff," McHale said. "We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work." Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle. Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 run powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82. Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston. Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five. Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists. With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houstons seven 3-pointers. "They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half," Howard said. "They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat." A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter. The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk. Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw. The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime. NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games. Patrick Kane Jersey . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Bobby Hull Jersey . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. http://www.pronhlonline.com/St-Louis-Blues-Tony-Twist-Jersey/ . On June 12, just as the sun sets on the magnificent historical city of Sao Paulo the inventors, innovators and purveyors of “joga bonitowill” open their campaign. The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. TORONTO -- Toronto Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ capped a challenging season with one of his best efforts of the year. It was a performance that leaves him feeling good heading into the off-season. It also significantly raised the pressure on the Tampa Bay Rays in their pursuit of an American League wild-card spot. Happ retired 11 batters in a row at one point in Torontos 7-2 victory over the Rays on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre. He allowed one earned run and five hits over 7 1/3 innings. "Overall its a great way to finish for him," said Blue Jays manager John Gibbons. "He can go into the off-season feeling confident and healthy." Ryan Goins and Kevin Pillar hit two-run homers in Torontos four-run fifth inning. First baseman Ryan Langerhans scored twice and had two of the Blue Jays 12 hits. The Rays loss made things even tighter in the American League wild-card race. Tampa Bay and Texas are even at 90-71 after the Rangers beat the Los Angeles Angels 7-4 earlier in the day. Later, the Cleveland Indians (91-70) moved into sole possession of the AL wild-card lead by beating the Minnesota Twins 5-1 in Minnesota. "Weve been here before, weve been in these moments," said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon. "We never do things seemingly easily so lets just play tomorrow and see what happens." Todd Redmond (4-2) will get the start Sunday as the Blue Jays go for the three-game sweep. "Wed like to come back and get one more win tomorrow," Gibbons said. "Thats what its all about. Wed rather be in their position, no doubt about that. But well come out tomorrow and play. Hopefully Redmond has a good one and he can finish on a good note and well see what happens. "Its good for baseball, I know that." Matt Moore (16-4) will get the pressure-packed starting assignment for the Rays. "Its resiliency to infinity," Maddon said. "You have to come out and be yourselves and go out and play." Happ missed three months of action this season after suffering a fractured skull and sprained knee when he was hit in the head by a liner on May 7. He has found his form of late after making a minor change to his delivery. "Ive been working and battling and feeling like I was close," Happ said. "I feel like finally the last several starts Ive kind of been putting it together. It feels good to end on a good note, for sure." Happ settled down after a choppy opening frame. Tampa Bays Ben Zobrist opened the game with a double off the centre-field wall. Sean Rodriguez movved him to third with a sacrifice fly and Zobrist scored on a Wil Myers single. Jonathan Toews Jersey. Toronto (74-87) put runners on the corners in the bottom half of the inning but Anthony Gose grounded into a force out to end the threat. The Blue Jays looked sloppy in the second inning. James Loney hit a sky-high pop fly that dropped to the turf beside the mound. The crowd of 33,232 groaned at the miscue, which may have been caused by the bright afternoon sunshine and swirling wind. Brett Lawrie of Langley, B.C., helped lift the Toronto fans spirits later in the frame with a nice over-the-shoulder catch in foul territory for the third out. Jose Reyes reached on an infield single in the third inning and moved to third on a hit-and-run play as Lawrie drove the ball into right field. Designated hitter Adam Lind followed with an RBI single that tied the game. With the stakes high for Tampa Bay, Maddon was quick with the hook. He pulled starter Chris Archer with one out in the frame and runners on the corners. Reliever Alex Torres (4-2) got Gose to hit into a fielders choice and then struck out Goins with two runners in scoring position to keep the game tied. Langerhans opened the bottom of the fourth with a nice bunt down the third-base line and moved to second on an infield single by Pillar. Reyes drove a ball to deep left field that Rodriguez tracked down at the warning track for the second out. That brought Maddon out for another pitching change, with right-hander Jamey Wright getting the nod. Wright then walked Lawrie to load the bases and Lind stroked a single down the left-field line to score a pair. Moises Sierra struck out to end the rally. In the fifth, Goins took a 3-2 pitch just over the wall in right field for his second homer of the season. Pillars drive came on a 2-2 pitch from Brandon Gomes and barely cleared the wall in left field for his third homer of the year. Happ allowed one walk and had four strikeouts. Archer, meanwhile, allowed one earned run, five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. Toronto reliever Aaron Loup recorded two outs in the eighth inning. Dustin McGowan gave up a run in the ninth before striking out former Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar to end the game. Notes: Lind returned to the lineup after sitting out the series opener with a bad back. He was clearly hobbled on the basepaths but played through the pain. ... The Rays had six hits and neither team made an error. ... The game took three hours 18 minutes to play. ... The Blue Jays improved their home record to 40-40. Wholesale Jerseys China ' ' '