MINNEAPOLIS -- The banged-up Minnesota Timberwolves were just what the Portland Trail Blazers needed. Having lost six of their previous 10 games, and with a date against first-place Oklahoma City looming on Tuesday, the Blazers took advantage of a Timberwolves team missing three of its best players. "We felt that way even if they had all their guys," LaMarcus Aldridge said after scoring 26 points to lead Portland past Minnesota 117-110 Saturday night. "If they had those guys, it definitely wouldve been different, but this was a must-win game either way." Aldridge scored 16 of his points in the second half and Wesley Matthews added 21 as the Blazers held off a tougher-than-expected Wolves team missing starters Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. Just minutes before tipoff, the Wolves announced Love -- their All-Star power forward -- would miss the game with a bruised left quadriceps sustained in Friday nights loss in New Orleans. Shortly before that, Martin was ruled out indefinitely with a broken left thumb, also suffered against the Pelicans. Combined with Pekovic, the trio accounts for an average of 60 points and 25 rebounds per game. "It takes a little edge off the game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "We found out Kevin Martin wasnt going to play early and then Love wasnt going to play. I think that deflates the balloon a little bit, you kind of get yourself up for guys like that." But the Blazers knew they couldnt afford to let up against the scrappy Wolves, who trailed for most of the first half but led 82-75 with 1:50 to play in the third quarter. Corey Brewer led Minnesota with 26 points and Ricky Rubio scored a career-high 25. Minnesota led 87-85 with 9:48 to play in the game before Portland went on a 13-1 run to put the game away. Minnesota pulled within 101-96 with 3:29 to play before Matthews scored five straight and Robin Lopez hit a layup to put the game out of reach. The Wolves got 19 points from Chase Budinger, 14 from Dante Cunningham and a season-high 12 from rookie Shabazz Muhammad. "It doesnt matter whos out," coach Rick Adelman said. "The next guy steps up, thats how you have to approach it. You cant worry about whos not playing, worry about who is playing, and make the best out of the situation. I thought we played well tonight." Aldridge had six points during Portlands game-deciding 13-1 run in the fourth quarter. That run came with Rubio on the bench. Rookie C.J. McCollum had a season-high 19 points and Nicolas Batum added 15 for the Blazers, who finished their four-game road trip 2-2. "We were really counting on our bench tonight because I really wanted to rest the starters," Stotts said. "They all played a lot of minutes last night and the first half the bench really gave us a boost. We were able to make a little ground with them in the game." Minnesotas key starters also got a rest -- in their street clothes. "Its tough having all of those guys out," Budinger said. "Those are huge impact guys for us and were hoping Kevin was able to go but he was really struggling and hurting. He tried to get himself going but just couldnt do it." NOTES: During halftime, Love told The AP he hopes to play on Monday night against Houston. ... The Blazers played a second-straight game without backup point guard Mo Williams, who left the team Friday for family reasons. Stotts did not have an update on when Williams might return. ... Adelman is assuming Pekovic will not return until after the All-Star break. ... Love bought a full-page advertisement in Sundays Minneapolis Star Tribune thanking fans for voting him an All-Star starter. "Just my way of paying tribute to the fans," he said at halftime. Marquez Valdes-Scantling Packers Jersey . -- Mississippi State was crushed twice by Florida last season, once by 35 points and the other by 25. JK Scott Jersey . Obasi chested the ball past one defender, prodded it past another and then rounded the keeper before scoring from a tight angle in the 16th minute. Seconds after the restart, Obasi set up Klaas Jan Huntelaar for the Dutchmans 11th goal from 13 games this season. http://www.packersproshopfootball.com/Yo...-Jersey/.Before a raucous sellout crowd, the Hawks won for the 29th time in 31 games to extend their Eastern-best record to 36-8.As usual, pretty much everyone chipped in.Four starters were in double figures and backup point guard Dennis Schroder led a spurt at the start of the fourth quarter that helped the Hawks pull away. Custom Packers Jerseys . -- Zach Johnson asked his short-iron approach on the par-4 18th to "Do something right, baby. Jaire Alexander Jersey .A. Happ is coming off his first start of the year, a win at Philadelphia Monday. The former Phillie allowed three hits in five scoreless frames of a 3-0 triumph.KAPALUA, Hawaii - The reward for winning on the PGA Tour is a trip to the west tip of Maui for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, where the course was built on the side of a mountain, overlooks the ocean and evokes a response from players that is different from other weeks.My first reaction was, Do we get a cart for the week? Canadian Open champion Tim Clark said.J.B. Holmes can spend all day looking out at the Pacific, where he can see the occasional breach of a humpback whale and the island of Molokai appearing to be close enough to swim there. The Plantation Course at Kapalua is on an amazing piece of property.Perhaps even more amazing is that they play golf on it.You wouldnt walk out onto it and say, We should put a golf course here. But they did a good job, Holmes said. Its a fun course to play.Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw created this golf course, which looks like a beast because of the expansive fairways cut through canyons, the stunning drops (and rises) in elevation and enormous greens that are difficult to gauge because of the grain.Hideki Matsuyama of Japan is still working on his English, though he had the right word when he smiled and said, Big.Looks can be deceiving, however. Zach Johnson, a pea shooter in this era of power, won last year at 19-under 273. Steve Stricker won and was runner-up the next year. Geoff Ogilvy won twice in a row and attributed it to his chipping.One thing is clear — it might be the most interesting course on the PGA Tour.The Tournament of Champions gets started on Friday when the 34-man field of PGA Tour winners — making this the most difficult tournament to get in — stick a tee in the ground and look some 500 yards out and 600 feet down to the first green.Off the first tee, I was like, Whoa, because of the views. Its just way different than I imagined watching on TV, Russell Henley said. The undulation is unlike anything I had seen anywhere else. The thing about it is it looks downhill, but its even more downhill than it looks.There are 12 players who are playing Kapalua for the first time.dddddddddddd In the 16 years the Tournament of Champions has been held at the Plantation, only David Duval (1999), Sergio Garcia (2002) and Daniel Chopra (2008) won on their first try.I was intimidated, Zach Johnson said of his first trip. Not necessarily because of the yardage, though — because of the greens. Theyre just so hard to putt. Theyre big. Theyre undulating. A flat putt is pretty slow. The ones down grain are super fast. ... Its just hard. Youre going to hit a lot of fairways. Youre going to hit a lot of greens. And youre going to miss a lot of putts.Robert Streb, who won the McGladrey Classic last year to qualify for his trip to Kapalua, was reminded quickly that hes not in Kanas anymore. At least he has been watching this tournament on TV for years, and he knew what to expect in terms of vast changes in elevation and endless views of the Pacific.Its really pretty. And its really big, he said. They said the fairways are wide, and they are. They said its usually windy, and it is.Perhaps its greatest appeal is the width of the fairways — nearly 80 yards on some holes — which is good for the ego when players are coming off their short winter break and are trying to shake off some rust. The greens take experience, but with a Friday start, there is plenty of time to get used to them.Ogilvy, perhaps the most astute among players when it comes to golf course architecture, recalls his first reaction to the Plantation Course.I thought it was ridiculous that we played golf on a piece of land like this, he said. It was just absurd. From the 17th tee to the first green, what is that, 1,000 feet? You think 10 (tee) at Augusta to the 11th green, thats not even half of 17 here. I though the course was cool to not have a scorecard in your hand. Nobody plays really well their first time, I dont think. Its pretty extreme.It takes a bit of getting used to, he said.Now, Ogilvy cant think of a better place to be — mainly because he gets to play. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale Jerseys China Wholesale Black NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Store Disocunt Football Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Throwback ' ' '