HOUSTON -- LaMarcus Aldridges son JJ, who turned 5 on Wednesday, texted him after the Portland Trail Blazers playoff win and told him he looked like Spider-Man on one of his dunks. To the Houston Rockets the Portland star probably looked like a superhero on more than just that one play. Aldridge continued his dominance against the Rockets, scoring 43 points to lift the Trail Blazers to a 112-105 victory and a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoff series. Aldridge has made the most of the return to his home state and put the Trail Blazers in control heading home for Game 3 in Portland on Friday. The former University of Texas star who grew up in Dallas laughed heartily and said maybe when asked if hed rather stay in the Lone Star state after the way hes played in the first two games. "(Leading) 2-0 going home feels great, but its not over," he said. "Were going to stay hungry, stay humble and go home and try to duplicate the same (success)." Aldridge became the first player with consecutive games of 43 points games in the playoffs since Tracy McGrady did it in April 2003 after scoring a career-high and franchise playoff-record 46 in an overtime win in Game 1. Hes also the first player Trail Blazers history to have two 40-point games in the post-season and his 89 points in a teams first two playoff games trail only Michael Jordan (1986, 1988) and Jerry West (1965) in the last 50 years. Hes helped the Trail Blazers win two road games to start a playoff series for just the second time in franchise history and the first since they took the first two against the Lakers in the 1977 Western Conference Finals. Damian Lillard made six free throws down the stretch to help out in the win. But the guard gave all the credit for the win to Aldridge. "What can they do to stop him? He was great once again, just like Game 1," Lillard said. "When a lot of guys couldnt get going and couldnt hit shots, he just carried us. He played like an MVP again." The Rockets spent the last two days of practice focused on how to slow Aldridge down, but nothing they did seemed to faze the 6-foot-11 player. "We tried changing it up tonight," Houston coach Kevin McHale said. "Tonight, he was picking and popping and moving and we were having trouble running people at him. We were trying to get the ball out of his hands as much as we could." Aldridge credited coach Terry Stotts for moving him around early in the game to help evade Houstons double-teams. "I made tough shots," Aldridge said. "I dont think too much was easy tonight. I just got in that rhythm and started making shots." James Harden knocked down a 3-pointer with about 30 seconds left to get the Rockets within 3. Lillard made two free throws before Harden fouled out about 10 seconds later. Mo Williams and Lillard both made a pair of free throws after that to secure the win. Lillard finished with 18 points. Dwight Howard was unstoppable early and scored 25 points in the first half, but managed just seven in the second half. After missing 20 shots in Game 1, Harden promised a better performance in this game. But it was much of the same as he was 6 of 19 and finished with 18 points. "We dont have our same flow, our same mojo that we had throughout the season," Harden said. "We dont have our same swag ... weve got to get that back." The Rockets trailed by nine points before a 5-0 run cut the lead to 102-98 with about a minute left. Both teams made a pair of free throws after that before Lillard found Wesley Matthews wide open for a reverse layup to make it 106-100 with 33 seconds left. A one-handed dunk by Aldridge over Omer Asik gave Portland a 96-87 lead with about five minutes left. With Aldridge on the bench to start the fourth, Houston scored the first four points of the period to cut the lead to two points, but Williams and Dorell Wright made consecutive 3s to make it 89-81 midway through the quarter. Aldridge made 10 of Portlands first 14 points of the second half to help the Trail Blazers build a 67-58 lead with about eight minutes left in the quarter. Houston scored the next nine points, with the last five from Chandler Parsons, to tie it at 67 a couple of minutes later. Portland an 83-77 led entering the fourth quarter. The Trail Blazers scored seven straight points to take a 53-51 lead late in the second quarter, but Beverleys basket at the buzzer tied it at halftime. Howard scored Houstons first 13 points and had 19 -- with five dunks -- by the end of the first quarter to help the Rockets to a 31-23 lead. NOTES: Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, who has been working with Howard this week, watched the game from a courtside seat. ... Wright finished with 15 points. ... Howards 19 points in the first quarter were a franchise-high for a quarter in the playoffs, surpassing the 18 Olajuwon scored against Utah on May 5, 1995. Fake Nike NBA Jerseys . Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the defending Pacific Division champions to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night. "Dud is a shooter. Discount Fake NBA Jerseys .TV Series: Duck Dynasty. http://www.fakenbajerseys.com/ . Jamies number grades given are out of five, with five being the best mark. Steve Mason, Philadelphia (4) - Mason was brilliant all night long with save after big save on Benoit Pouliot, Carl Hagelin and Derick Brassard. Fake NBA Jerseys Online . Top-seeded Djokovic swept to a 6-1, 6-3 win over 51st-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in just 57 minutes, but fourth-seeded Federer had to see off a serious challenge from 48th-ranked Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic before coming through 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Fake NBA Jerseys Sale . How foolishly wrong I was. Forget the now inherent corruption and back handed favours that plague the beautiful game. Goal Line Technology? Youre having a laugh. As for them penalty cheating bandits, footballs lawmakers upend them by awarding the penalty to the opponent each time a player attempts to con the referee into awarding ghost penalties.Scott Cullen takes a look at the stories from December 26th through January 2nd, including not-so-happy holidays in New Jersey, an Oilers-Penguins trade, World Juniors, contract extensions and more. DEBOER FIRED A Merry Christmas to former New Jersey Devils coach Peter DeBoer, who was relieved of his duties on Boxing Day, with GM Lou Lamoriello taking over behind the bench, with Adam Oates and Scott Stevens in charge of the forwards and defence, respectively. In 251 games with the Devils, DeBoer compiled a 115-95-41 record (.540 points percentage) and made it to the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Los Angeles Kings, in 2012. In 251 games, the Devils had strong possession numbers (52.5% of even-strength shot attempts in that span ranks sixth), but it has been undone by poor (shooting and save) percentages at both ends of the rink. It’s hard to look at the Devils’ current roster – old and lacking top-end talent – and not pin the blame for their slide on Lamoriello, general manager, more than DeBoer, the coach. PERRON TRADE The Pittsburgh Penguins have been seeking a scoring winger for most of the season and pulled the trigger to acquire David Perron from Edmonton, a team that has begun planning, in earnest, for 2015-16. In this case, it means the Oilers moving out a proven scoring winger with a year-and-a-half left on his contract, in the hopes that they will secure future value from a first-round pick and whatever they might receiver from Rob Klinkhammer, a bruising winger with an expiring contract. At this moment, the Penguins have improved and ought to be Cup contender, while the Oilers have gotten worse and set their sights on a top draft pick. U.S. ELIMINATED FROM WORLD JUNIORS They might well have been the second-best team in the tournament, but after losing to Canada on New Year’s Eve, Team USA was bounced from the medal round when they lost 3-2 to Russia. Such is the peril of a single-elimination tournament. Take some penalties – as the Americans did (eight minor penalties, including seven in the first half of the game) – and run into a hot goalie (Team USA outshot the Russians 41-25) – as the Americans did – and suddenly very realistic hopes of a gold medal are gone. Dylan Larkin, a first-round pick of the Red Wings in 2014, was a standout in the tournament for USA, scoring five goals and seven points in five games, while Jack Eichel, the prospect battling Connor McDavid for top spot in the 2015 Draft, had a goal and four points for the Americans. WORLD JUNIOR LEADERS As always, the World Junior Hockey Championship is a great showcase for young hockey talent and some top prospects are off the terrific starts in this year’s tournament. Canada’s Sam Reinhart, the No. 2 overall pick by Buffalo last summer, has eight points (3 G, 5 A) in four preliminary games to hold an early edge on William Nylander (No. 8 to Toronto), Larkin (No. 15 to Detroit) and David Pastrnak (No. 25 to Boston), who all had seven points. Reinhart’s linemate, Max Domi (No. 13 to Arizona in 2013), Nic Petan (2013 second-round pick to Winnipeg) and Sweden’s Oskar Lindblom (2014 fifth-round pick to Philadelphia) also had seven points. Swedish defenceman Gustav Forsling, a 2014 fifth-round pick of Vancouver, was the top scoring defenceman with six points through the preliminary round. FOLIGNO CASHES IN Enjoying a career year in Columbus, left winger Nick Foligno signed a six-year, $33-million contract extension with the Blue Jackets. Foligno would have been an unrestricted free agent, in a shallow market, in the offseason, but it’s impossible to turn down a deal offering that kind of long-term security. Foligno has 17 goals and 32 points in 34 games this season, easily the best per-game scoring rates of his career and with a career-high 22.1% shooting percentage, he’s almost assureed to regress.dddddddddddd It’s possible that Foligno can provide fair value as a top-six forward over the next few seasons, but once he’s past 30, which is more than half of this deal, it seems less likely that he will produce enough to justify $5.5-million per season. SO DOES BJUGSTAD The Florida Panthers also extended a frontline player with a new six-year, $24.6-million contract for centre Nick Bjugstad, signing the 22-year-old centre to a six-year, $24.6-million extension. He’s the Panthers’ leading scorer, with a modest 21 points (13 G, 8 A) in 35 games this season, but he’s driving play while starting more than half of his shifts in the defensive zone, a good sign at a young age that he can handle tough minutes. While the Blue Jackets’ deal for Foligno looks like it’s born out of optimism that he can maintain unsustainable percentages, Bjugstad is finishing more (13.7 SH%) this year, but his on-ice shooting percentage (7.7%) is still rather modest and likely to get better with more skilled linemates over time. That this contract covers relatively early years of Bjugstad’s career, leading into his prime, make it more likely that he will produce enough to justify the price. The deal also covers mostly restricted free agent seasons, along with a couple of years in which Bjugstad would be unrestricted. When this contract expires, and he’s a 29-year-old unrestricted free agent, there will still be an opportunity to sign another lucrative deal, so long as he continues his currently promising career arc. NEW OWNER FOR COYOTES It can get exhausting keeping track of who is in charge of the Arizona Coyotes from one year to the next. The latest to hold a majority ownership stake is Andrew Barroway, a hedge fund manager who agreed to purchase a 51% ownership stake for $155-million. That would put the price of the Coyotes franchise around $300-million, which is more than the $225-million that Forbes had for Coyotes in their most recent valuations. The deal still requires the approval of the NHL Board of Governors. CROWDED CREASE IN ST. LOUIS When the St. Louis Blues decided to sign veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur – following an injury to starter Brian Elliott – that opened up the possibility that the Blues would have three NHL goaltenders under contract once Elliott was healthy and, after nearly five weeks on the sidelines, Elliott is back. Brodeur has a .904 save percentage in six games with the Blues, which would hardly qualify for a significant role going forward, but 24-year-old Jake Allen (.899 SV%) has also struggled. The trouble is that Allen would need to clear waivers to be sent to the AHL and it seems unlikely that he would get through, so the Blues are carrying three goalies for the time being. WASHINGTON WINS THE WINTER CLASSIC Maybe the TV ratings weren’t what they had hoped and the buzz leading up to the outdoor game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals wasn’t quite to the same level as previous Winter Classics, but more than 42,000 fans took in a well-played, competitive game on New Year’s Day in Washington, D.C. Washington’s Troy Brouwer, a former Blackhawk, scored the winning goal with 13 seconds remaining in the third period – a power-play goal after a questionable penalty call on Blackhawks superstar Jonathan Toews. JOHNNY BE GOOD Named the NHL Rookie of the Month for December, after scoring 13 points (8 G, 5 A) in 14 games, Flames left winger Johnny Gaudreau has shown that size isn’t everything. Since starting this season with no points and one shot on goal in his first give games, Gaudreau has put up 30 points (12 G, 18 A) in the past 33 games and is now the only viable challenger for Filip Forsberg, who has 35 points, in the rookie scoring race. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '