The Portland Trail Blazers will try to win a playoff series for the first time since 2000 on Wednesday night when they visit the Houston Rockets for Game 5 at the Toyota Center. cheap jerseys . Portland won Game 4 Sunday night at the Moda Center and are now up 3-1. The last time the Blazers won a playoff series came in the 2000 Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. They fell to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games in the Conference Finals, but since, Portland has lost six times in the first round. That could all change on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers won the first two games in Houston, then fell in Game 3 at home. Portland is on the precipice of advancement, but its been a tough trek to get to this point. Three of the first four game went to overtime, including Game 4, which the Blazers won 123-120. "Its not exhausting if you win, its exhausting if you lose," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said of the series three overtime games. "And weve lost two of the three." LaMarcus Aldridge scored a game-high 29 points for the fifth-seeded Blazers, followed by 25 from Nicolas Batum. Damian Lillard had 23 and Wesley Matthews added 21. James Harden had 28 points to lead the Rockets, Chandler Parsons scored 26 -- but just seven after halftime -- and Dwight Howard ended with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Portland took its first lead since 6-5 when Batum spun Parsons around with a crossover dribble and knocked down a 3-pointer from the high right side to make it 99-97 with 4 1/2 minutes left in regulation. Later, Howards only two blocks of the game came before Harden made four foul shots in a row to give Houston a 104-102 edge with 50.9 seconds on the clock. After Batum missed a 3, Jeremy Lin rebounded the ball for the Rockets but was stripped by Mo Williams. Matthews missed a layup, but Lillard got the rebound and kicked it to Williams, who knocked down a 3 to give Portland a one-point lead with 18.9 seconds left in the fourth. Howards game-tying dunk came after Dorell Wright missed one of two foul shots for the Blazers, and Williams missed a 3-point try at the buzzer for Portland. Matthews opened overtime by wrestling the ball away from Howard and called a timeout, Parsons smacked Aldridge across the face at the other end for a Flagrant 1 foul and Aldridge made his free throws for the first points of overtime. Still, the game was tied until Batum scored five straight to spark a 7-0 run that gave the Blazers the lead for good. He made a 3-pointer after Aldridge stripped Howard under the Rockets basket, then found Lillard in transition for a layup and 117-110 lead with 2:19 to play. Troy Daniels, the former D-League player and unexpected hero for the Rockets in Game 3 when he hit the winning 3 in the closing seconds of overtime, made his first three NBA foul shots to get them within a point with 8.9 seconds left. After Williams made two free throws at the other end, Matthews stepped in front of Patrick Beverley just beyond midcourt and knocked the ball loose, sealing the win -- Portlands second in overtime in the series. "It was another terrific game and I think its obvious that both teams are pretty evenly matched," said Portland coach Terry Stotts. "I was really proud of the way we played in the second half. I thought we showed a lot of heart and determination to get back into the game." If needed, Game 6 will be Friday night in Portland. nfl jerseys china . Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau made the announcement on Sunday, a day after Gibson made 28 saves in his playoff debut in a 2-0, Game 4 victory. wholesale jerseys . -- The Oakland Raiders have signed offensive lineman Ed Wang to a contract. KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The first time Houston came into Livestrong Sporting Park, the Dynamo went home on the short end of a 3-0 rout. They havent lost since that Sept. 10 defeat -- and this time, they left with the faint scent of champagne still clinging to their scraggly playoff beards. "Three months ago, a lot of people just kind of have -- I wouldnt say cast us aside, but didnt take us seriously," coach Dominic Kinnear said after Houston reached the MLS Cup final by beating Sporting Kansas City 2-0 on Sunday in the Eastern Conference title game. "This is definitely a big statement to everyone who did that, that things can happen when things go well for you." Houston will face Los Angeles in the championship game Nov. 20 in Carson, Calif. The Galaxy beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 on Sunday night in the Western Conference final. The win also puts the Dynamo in the CONCACAF Champions League for the 2012-13 season. Houston last qualified for the competition in 2009-10. Sporting, which won over legions of new fans by rebounding from an 0-6-1 start to finish atop the East in the regular season, has not made the title game since finishing as the runner-up in 2004. Sundays loss came in front of a standing-room-only crowd of almost 21,000, the biggest to pack into the teams new stadium. "Were disappointed because we did realize that it could have been something special with the crowd, with us being at home and only having a one-game series," defender Matt Besler said. "So thats the unfortunate part about it." Andre Hainault and Carlo Costly scored second-half goals for Houston, which extended its unbeaten streak to nine -- but now heads into the Nov. 20 title game, its first since the back-to-back championship seasons of 2006 and 2007, with questions about wheether its star playmaker will be able to play. wholesale nfl jerseys. Midfielder Brad Davis, who led MLS with 16 assists this season, went down with an injured right quadriceps while challenging Graham Zusi for a ball in the 37th minute. "The prognosis is most likely not, right now," Davis said of his chances at playing in the final against either Real Salt Lake or the Los Angeles Galaxy. "They think I have a torn quad. Its just a freak thing; I was trying to turn and make a play on the ball. They didnt hit me. They didnt kick me." His emergency replacement, little-used Jamaican defender Jermaine Taylor, helped set up Hainaults 53rd-minute goal for a 1-0 lead. Kansas City keeper Jimmy Nielsen was able to get a glove on Taylors header off Adam Moffats free kick, but Hainault was there to tap the rebound into an open goal. "Give a lot of credit to Jermaine Taylor," said Hainault, who has two goals in the post-season. "He did well to get to that back post and get it across. I knew set pieces were going to be huge tonight, and they were." Costlys goal came in the 87th minute, with Sporting pushed forward in search of an equalizer. He took a long pass from Luiz Camargo, beat defender Aurelien Collin into open space, and slotted the ball past Nielsen from the top of the penalty area. Sporting, meanwhile, struggled throughout the game to connect its passes and find an offensive rhythm against Houstons packed-in defence. "They rarely left themselves exposed for the counter," Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. "They rarely let themselves get too stretched out. I think if we had been a little more disciplined in our play, we would have had more space to play in behind them. They did a very good job of playing halfcourt soccer." cheap jerseys ' ' '
