NEW YORK -- LaMarcus Aldridge was stunned, suddenly finding himself matched against a version of Kevin Garnett that hadnt been seen yet in Brooklyn. wholesale jerseys . "I think he had one of those flashbacks to when he was in Minnesota and I was coming in as a rookie," Aldridge said. Just as quickly, the old Garnett reverted to just old, and the young Portland Trail Blazers ran right by the Brooklyn Nets. Aldridge scored 27 points, Wesley Matthews added 24 and Portland shot 54 per cent in a 108-98 victory Monday night that extended its winning streak to seven. "This team is good. Guys can get going," Aldridge said. Damian Lillard finished with 19 points and nine assists as the Trail Blazers withstood the Nets blistering start to win seven in a row in the same season for the first time since a 13-game run in December 2007. Portland (9-2) is just a half-game behind San Antonio and Indiana for the NBAs best record. The Blazers will try to complete a perfect 4-0 road trip Wednesday at Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the Nets (3-7) remain one of the NBAs biggest disappointments, shooting 9 of 41 (22 per cent) in the second half. Garnett made all six shots in Brooklyns 40-point first period, then went 2 for 13 from there to finish with a season-high 16 points. "I take the blame for this," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "We got stagnant on the offensive end, so that falls on my shoulders. We came out flat in the third quarter." Shaun Livingston scored 23 points for the Nets, who stormed out to their best first quarter of the season and then seemed to run out of gas. "Theyre a talented team. Theyve got Hall of Famers on that team and we had to throw our first punch, because we felt like they did that to us in that first quarter," Matthews said. "We came at them defensively and ramped it up." Garnett and Paul Pierce were back in the starting lineup after missing Saturdays loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles with injuries, though Brook Lopez and Deron Williams continued to rest sprained left ankles. Pierce, who had a sore left groin, played as if he was still hurting, managing just 11 points on 2-for-12 shooting. Neither he nor Garnett spoke to reporters. "Its been a tough month for us," said Jason Terry, who came with them from Boston. "Were going to stay optimistic, man. We have a great situation here and were just going to keep building." Portland turned the game around in the third quarter, limiting the Nets to 3-of-18 shooting and outscoring them 27-12 to take an 83-78 lead. They then opened the fourth with a 12-4 spurt to open a 95-82 advantage when Mo Williams was credited with a basket on a goaltending call. Matthews was 5 of 8 from 3-point range, improving to 30 for 57 for the season (52.6 per cent). He kept the Blazers in the game in the first quarter, when the Nets made 14 of 19 shots for a 40-31 lead. "What won the game for us was turning it on the last three quarters defensively," Matthews said. "Were not going to outscore teams on a consistent basis and win. We have to practice what we preach, which is defence, and thats what we were able to do tonight." Garnett, who hadnt been in double figures yet in the Brooklyn black and white, got there in this one by hitting five jumpers in less than 3 minutes at the start. He took a seat after starting 6 for 6 and then Livingston took over. He made all three of his shots in the period, including a driving, left-handed slam dunk over Robin Lopez that had teammates leaping up off the nearby Nets bench. But they fell apart in the third, just as they have in all their losses. Brooklyn has won the third quarter in all three victories and been outscored in the period in every loss. "We were hot. We had momentum. But you can go cold at any time in the game, so thats where we have to make adjustments," Livingston said. "Were all veterans out there on the floor." NOTES: Aldridge grabbed eight rebounds, ending his streak of five straight double-doubles. ... The Nets were also without reserve forward Andrei Kirilenko, who continues to be bothered by back spasms. ... Brooklyns previous high was 33 points in the first quarter at Washington. The Nets also lost that game after a bad third quarter.jerseys from china . Madrid lost Cristiano Ronaldo to injury early in the match and failed to create any clear scoring chances after the Portugal forwards exit. His team now trails city and Champions League final rival Atletico Madrid by four points with two games to play. cheap jerseys from china . But in the aftermath a 115-91 pounding of the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey insisted it was still invaluable for evaluating the depth of his team early in the season.AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- The Cleveland Cavaliers arent ready to throw in the towel. With only 10 healthy players, the Cavaliers overcame a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Detroit Pistons on Dion Waiters baseline jumper as time expired. With nine games left, Cleveland remains in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, three games behind No. 8 Atlanta and a half-game behind the Knicks. The Pistons led 82-66 going into the fourth quarter, but the NBAs worst fourth-quarter team collapsed once again down the stretch. Jarrett Jack hit a 3-pointer to pull the Cavaliers within 96-90 with 2:49 left, and his short jumper made it a four-point game with 90 seconds to play. After a bad Brandon Jennings miss, Jack drove the lane and hit a floater while being fouled. His free throw made it 96-95 with 53.8 seconds left and completed a personal 8-0 run. Cleveland coach Mike Brown wasnt ready to give one player credit for the rally. "For us to come back and keep our composure -- thats what championship teams do," he said. "Dont get me wrong, we are nowhere near that level, but to see these signs of life is a great thing as a coach." The Pistons werent done. Josh Smith dribbled himself into trouble and missed a desperation shot as the 24-second clock expired, but Kyle Singler knocked the rebound off Waiters to give the Pistons another chance. Jennings ran the clock down to 3.2 seconds, but missed a jumper to give Cleveland a chance to win. Thats when Brown and Pistons coach John Loyer matched up in a duel of wits, calling four straight timeouts before the ball was put in play. "We knew they were going to call one of two or three plays at the end, and the first time, they ran the play we expected, so we called time out," Loyer said. "The last time, they ran one of the other plays we had discussed, so we were ready." Unfortunately, for the Pistons, so was Waiters. He took Luol Dengs pass in the right corner and calmly knocked down the winning 20-footer with Jennings hand in his face. "Luol told me that he was going to come to me, so I needed to get separation and be ready," Waiters said. &quuot;I got the separation, and I knew it was good as soon as I let it go. wholesale nfl jerseys. Thats the best feeling in the world." Rookie Matthew Dellavedova led Cleveland with a career-high 21 points, while Waiters had 18 and Jack 17. "I was just trying to bring some energy and keep us going," Dellavedova said. "We knew if we could just get a couple stops and put a run on them, we were going to have a shot at the end." Smith finished with 24 for Detroit, which has lost 16 of 21 since Loyer replaced Maurice Cheeks as coach. "Our guys played their hearts out, and it is tough when you are one shot away from winning the game," Loyer said. "But we didnt do the little things that it takes to win these games. " Detroit dominated early, and looked ready for a rare blowout victory. They led by as many as 14 in the first quarter, but it didnt last. The Cavaliers rallied after three Pistons starters picked up two quick fouls, and Detroit needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Singler to lead 51-50 at the intermission. Singler and Jennings both had 11 points in the half, while Anderson Varejao came off the bench to get eight points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers. The Pistons got off to another quick start in the third, once again controlling the game with Varejao on the sidelines. Smith and Greg Monroe combined for 18 points in the quarter, as the Pistons were able to pound the ball inside, and Jennings hit a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to give Detroit the 16-point lead going into the fourth. "We had things the way we wanted them, but they got more aggressive against our pick-and-roll, and we started rushing things," said Jennings, who went 0-4 in the fourth. NOTES: Andre Drummond and Tyler Zeller were called for double technicals after a minor confrontation in the second quarter. ... Drummond missed all four of his first-half free throws, including an air ball that was wide left by nearly a foot. Smith made it a rare double by air-balling a free throw in the third quarter. ... Cleveland was missing five players due to injuries, including Kyrie Irving and Anthony Bennett. cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
