Dein erstes Forum » k to avoid a season-worst fourth straight defe

HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets recently have developed a knack for playing great in the third quarter. Coach Kevin McHale loves what his team has been doing after the break and wishes they could find that intensity early in games. James Harden tied a season high with 38 points, Dwight Howard added 20 points and 13 rebounds and the Rockets used a big third-quarter run to earn a 113-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. Howard got his first win against his former team as the Rockets sent the injury-riddled Lakers to their third straight loss. "We did a better job in the second half of defending," McHale said. "It was a big difference in the game." The Rockets trailed by a basket in the third quarter before going on a 17-2 run to take an 80-67 lead and roll to victory. Harden hopes they can find a way to play better early when they leave Houston for a long road trip on Thursday. "At the beginning of the game ... we have to come out with a sense of urgency," he said. "We cant put ourselves in situations like that because on the road these four games anything is possible and if we do that, some games we might not be able to come back." Harden continued his recent torrid scoring with his third straight 30-point game. He has piled up 113 points in the last three games combined. Nick Young scored 25 points to lead Los Angeles and Pau Gasol and Jodie Meeks scored 21 each. Ronnie Brewer started for the first time this season in place of the injured Chandler Parsons, who was out with a sore right knee. Howard made a season-high four steals, Harden collected a season-best five steals, and Terrence Jones had 15 points and 13 rebounds. The Lakers had a two-point lead midway through the third quarter when Houston got rolling, scoring seven straight points thanks to a 3-pointer by Harden and back-to-back buckets by Howard to take a 70-65 lead. The second one brought the crowd to its feet when Harden swiped a bad pass from Kendall Marshall and tossed up an alley-oop that Howard finished with a monster two-handed slam. That spurt was the beginning of the 17-2 burst that extended Houstons lead to 80-67 with about two minutes left in the quarter. Harden was on fire in that span, scoring nine points and drawing a collective "ooh" from the crowd when he crossed up rookie Ryan Kelly on a layup to cap it. Los Angeles was as cold as Harden was hot, missing five shots and committing three turnovers while the Rockets built the lead. "We seem to run out of energy," Los Angeles coach Mike DAntoni said. "I dont know if they are getting tired or its just the other team turns on the burners." Howard spurned the Lakers to sign an $88 million deal with Houston, joining Harden and a team that made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2009. He admitted after practice Tuesday that he was ticked off that Los Angeles came out on top in the first meeting earlier this season. The centre missed several key free throws down the stretch in that one, a one-point win by the Lakers in November when they employed the Hack-A-Howard strategy. They were down by 14 points when they used that approach again Wednesday night, fouling him every time Houston got the ball for a two-minute span ending with about two minutes left. "Its nothing I like," DAntoni said. "It makes an ugly game, but were trying to get a win." Howard made just six of 14, but Houstons lead was so big this time it didnt matter. He finished 10 of 24 from the free throw line. "I was upset at myself for missing all those," Howard said. "I just have to get better at it." He wouldnt acknowledge that this win meant any more than beating any other team. But said it was important for the team to win in general to get going for the road trip. The Lakers, who are missing Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Jordan Farmar and Steve Blake with various injuries, lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Houston opened the second half with a 9-3 run to take a 61-60 lead with about 8 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. Jones scored the last four points of that run. The Lakers led 57-52 at halftime. NOTES: Houston C Omer Asik missed his 17th straight game right thigh and knee injuries. ... Houstons Greg Smith sat out with a sprained right knee. ... New Houston Texans coach Bill OBrien watched the game from a courtside seat. Jean Beliveau Jersey .Former NBA forward Morris Peterson has been added to TSNs Toronto Raptors broadcast team. Mats Naslund Jersey . -- The Grand Rapids Griffins scored three goals in 33 seconds of the second period en route to defeating the Hamilton Bulldogs 6-1 in American Hockey League action on Friday. http://www.canadienssale.com/authentic-s...nadiens-jersey/. And while taking highly-touted Simon Fraser offensive lineman Matthias Goossen second overall on Tuesday night will definitely help in an area of need for the club, it was a swap of draft picks that may prove to be his most shrewd move. "When Jesse Briggs started to fall a little bit, you could just see Kyle perk up in his chair. Jacques Plante Jersey . - The Clippers have signed guard Dahntay Jones to a second 10-day contract. Ken Dryden Jersey . The Blue Jackets announced the injury through their official Twitter account Friday afternoon. Gaborik, 31, has scored five goals and six assists in 17 games with the Blue Jackets in 2013-14.The Montreal Canadiens will look to avoid a season-worst fourth straight defeat Monday night when they travel to Denver to face Patrick Roy and the surging Colorado Avalanche. You can listen to the game live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal starting at 9pm et/6pm pt. Montreal (16-7-2) had won eight of nine before falling 5-0 to the New York Rangers on Nov. 23. It then dropped a home-and-home set with lowly Buffalo, losing 2-1 on the road Friday and 4-3 in a shootout the next night. Brendan Gallagher, who signed a six-year, $22.5 million extension prior to the second contest, ended a five-game goal drought Saturday. Galchenyuk got an assist on the goal. Its frustrating, but we cant really do anything about it now and weve got to focus on our next game, Galchenyuk said. Learn from our mistakes, take the positive things from these two games and move on. Montreal outshot Buffalo by 24 over the two games. We spent three-quarters of the game in the offensive zone without being able to capitalize more than we did, coach Michel Therrien said. The way we played, we could have picked up four points this weekend. Price made 32 saves in the first meeting with the Avalanche and will be in net for this contest. Hes 6-2-0 with a 1.51 goals-against average over his last eight starts after stopping 23 shots Friday. Roy has watched Colorado underachieve most of the season, but the Avalanche coach knew that the defending Central Division champions had it in them to improve. Their recent surge is providing proof as Colorado will seek its sixth victory in eight games. The Avalanche (9-10-5) are tied with Dallas for last place in the Central after winning their first division title in 11 years in Roys first season. Theyre beginning to recover from a slow start, though, and have gone 5-2-0 over their last seven after beating the Stars 5-2 on Saturday.dddddddddddd Alex Tanguay had a goal and two assists, Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog added a goal and an assist apiece and Tyson Barrie had a career-high three assists. A break here and there, we would have won seven in a row, Roy said. I love the way we are playing right now. I really love (it). Were intense, were on the puck, were competing well, we put pucks on net. Colorado tied for fifth in the league with a 19.8 power-play percentage last season, but it had gone 1 for 31 (3.2 percent) over its previous 11 heading into Saturday. Duchene and Landeskog scored with the man advantage in the third period after Roy delivered a message by sending his fourth line to work a previous power-play opportunity. Our power play was big. Its nice to finally score on it, said Tanguay, who assisted on both power-play goals. We havent been scoring on that all year. The Avalanche had seven power-play chances for the game and held a 47-24 shot advantage. Calvin Pickard had 22 saves to earn his first NHL victory as a starter. I dont think we wasted any shots, Duchene said. That is what Patty has been harping on all season. He wants us to make the plays when theyre there, but when they are not there, put pucks on net and get some greasy ones. Duchene and Tanguay scored in the first meeting with Montreal on Oct. 18, but the Avalanche allowed two goals to P.K. Subban and another to Alex Galchenyuk in the second period of a 3-2 loss. Game Notes: MTL is 1-0-0 vs COL this season, winning at home COL has won their last 2 games at home vs MTL Colorado: 3-1-0 past 4 games, 15GF, 2/15 on PP 3-4-0 past 7 home games, 2/24 on PP Tanguay (1G, 3A) past 2 games Montreal: 0-2-1 past 3 games, 1/6 on PP, 4GF 0-2-0 past 2 on road, 1GF, 1/4 on PP 8-0-0 when scoring first Subban (2G) vs COL this season ' ' '