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Even without All-Star guard Brandon Roy, the Portland Trail Blazers earned an impressive win Tuesday night. Steve Blake had 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 20 and the short-handed Blazers beat the Boston Celtics 91-86, sending the NBA champions to their third loss in four games. Missing Roy because of a pulled hamstring, the Blazers snapped a seven-game losing streak against Boston and pulled...

By JEFF CAPLAN DALLAS — Technicals and flagrants are flying in the Dallas Mavericks’ direction these days.Break out the scorecard and chalk up six technical fouls, two flagrant fouls and three ejections in the past four games. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle jacked up the technical foul totals Tuesday against Minnesota with consecutive T’s at the 6:30 mark of the second quarter. It was his second and third technicals of the season, all in the past four games, and his first ejection as the Dallas coach.That led to assistant coach Dwane Casey taking over and directing the biggest comeback in franchise history. He did it against the team he coached for a season and a half from 2005 to 2007.'I’m happy for Case,' Carlisle said. 'These things happen in weird ways. You meet up with a former team, not that it’s that big of a deal, but fate works in weird ways. He and [assistant] Terry [Stotts] did a great job of managing the team and finding some things that were worki

Mike D'Antoni's credo of winning with offense may sound exciting and occasionally look good, but Tuesday the Knicks finally got down and dirty on the defensive end to end a six-game losing streak. The final result was a 93-89 Knicks victory.

The Ottawa Senators were so focused on breaking a long losing streak on the road, they treated their game against the Edmonton Oilers like a postseason contest. It worked. Brian Lee's first NHL goal helped the Senators beat the Oilers 3-2 on Tuesday night, snapping the away-from-home skid at 12. Antoine Vermette set up the winning power-play goal in the third period when he sent a pass back to Lee,...

By ANTHONY ANDRO German Duran’s December in Mexico wasn’t spent relaxing on the beach.The Rangers’ infielder instead put his time in working at third base while playing for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League.Duran, who had not played third base before his rookie year with the Rangers, had a good mentor. His teammate and manager was former All-Star third baseman Vinny Castilla.'I got to talk to him a lot,' said the Fort Worth Paschal High School ex, who returned to Fort Worth just before Christmas. 'He knew I was working on things. We know how important it is. He’s played at third his whole life and he helped me learn a lot.'That extra work at third could be important. As of now, the Rangers will head to spring training in February with no set plan at third base. They could use Chris Davis there or Hank Blalock. Duran and Travis Metcalf could also figure into the mix.Duran, who played in 60 games with the Rangers last season, isn’t

Minnesota was the Mavericks’ second straight home opponent and fourth in nine December home games to come to Dallas after playing the night before.All signs pointed to an easy Mavs win. They were 3-0 in those games and the poor Timberwolves were finishing already their ninth of 22 back-to-backs. By comparison, the Mavs just completed their fifth set of back-to-backs on the last road trip. They’ll play a total of 15.'I don’t want to hear any bellyaching about back-to-backs,' Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said before the game. 'Because when I was in the Central Division we had between 21 and 24 every year.' But is there a physical and mental toll on that second night? The Mavs (2-3 on the back end of back-to-backs) won an emotional game in Portland and fell flat the next night at Utah. Minnesota won in overtime against Memphis on Monday and apparently ran out of gas Tuesday.'I’m not sure playing the back-to-backs is as much of a determinant as a lot of people think,' C

The undefeated Wake Forest women's basketball team will host UNC Wilmington on January 1. The special New Years Day event will be the last home appearance before the Demon Deacons' three-game road swing that kicks off conference season.

With its biggest game of the season approaching, Penn State is fighting the urge to take the cautious approach in Thursday's Rose Bowl.

By JEFF CAPLAN DALLAS — No-calls on consecutive possessions at the offensive end ultimately got Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle steaming mad. Watching his inexplicably listless team get run by the Minnesota Timberwolves started the boil. Certain Dirk Nowitzki was getting hacked, Carlisle earned double-technical fouls, twice clapping emphatically in the direction of referee Gary Zielinksi with 6:30 left in the second quarter.The Mavs trailed by 16 points and if Carlisle intended for his first heave-ho of the season to ignite his team it backfired badly ... at first.Minnesota practically doubled the lead to 29 points early in the third quarter. Although the Mavs have made a habit of rallying at home, not even struggling Minnesota figured to blow this one.Then with Mavs assistant coach Dwane Casey at the helm against his former team, the Mavs turned the game upside-down, jacked up the intensity and couldn’t miss as they raced past the young and skittish Wolves 107-1

State farm Classic MVP Marshae Dotson notched her first double-double of the season as No. 18/20 Florida extended its winning streak to a school-record 13 games with a 75-56 win against Miami (Ohio).