always an aspiration of mine to one day move onto the National Hockey League," Pascall sa

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 Vans Toy Story . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans. Fake Vans Shoes . Early in the first period, Stuart pinched in from the blue line, hit Nash and was assessed a minor penalty for elbowing. Nash remained in the game for the rest of the first period, but did not return for the second. http://www.fakevans.com/ . -- Former NHL star Jeremy Roenick shot a second-round 69 to take the lead after 36 holes and former LPGA great Annika Sorenstam and Chad Pfeifer, who lost his left leg above the knee serving in Iraq, are among several players in contention in the American Century Championship tournament on Saturday. Fake Vans Online . Kerr said he had dinner with Jackson, his former coach with Chicago and the new Knicks team president, on Friday night and they talked again Saturday. Kerr is in New York to work the game between the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors for TNT. Wholesale Fake Vans CALGARY -- Brad Trelivings first major move as new Calgary Flames general manager was to beef up the front office. He named former Flame forward Craig Conroy and former Hockey Canada executive Brad Pascall as his new assistant general managers Friday. Conroy and Pascall join Mike Holditch, who has held that title since 2010. "Having depth, having manpower, allows us to see more and do more," Treliving said at Scotiabank Saddledome. "Everything we do here when we look at adding staff and we look at adding people, this is all about building and this is about winning. "To me, you need to build your foundation off the ice before you can ever think of having success on the ice." Treliving, 44, was revealed as the Flames new GM on April 28. The Flames were grooming Conroy for the managerial ranks before Trelivings arrival. Conroy went to work immediately as a special assistant to former GM Jay Feaster after retiring in 2011. Conroys apprenticeship accelerated in December when president of hockey operations Brian Burke fired Feaster. Conroy had more responsibilities in the four months Burke searched for a replacement before deciding on Treliving. "All of a sudden, everyone had more to do," Conroy said. "Now you can really focus in on an area and really nail down what were going to do moving forward." The 42-year-old from Potsdam, N.Y., played 1,009 NHL regular-season games, just over half of them with the Flames. He also played for the Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues. Pascall worked for Hockey Canada for almost two decades in different roles. He was most recently vice-president of hockey operationns for the last four years.dddddddddddd He was part of the management groups that assembled the victorious Canadian mens hockey teams for the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics. "I think the evolution of my experience of being involved with various championship teams and building an organization there from a high-performance structure, I think it was always an aspiration of mine to one day move onto the National Hockey League," Pascall said. The 43-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C., was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in 1990 and played four years of minor pro hockey. His wife is Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who led the Canadian womens hockey team to Olympic gold in 2002 and 2006 as team captain. Holditchs area of expertise is salary cap and contracts. Pascall will oversee Calgarys American Hockey League team which is moving to Glens Falls, N.Y., next season from Abbotsford, B.C. Conroy will spend the most time of the road of the three, Treliving said, watching NHL and minor pro games in order to help with player decisions. "I think you ought to be careful that youre not tripping over people, but the way I look at it is you get the right people on the bus, you get winners on the bus, well figure out all the rest," Treliving said. "The game is becoming bigger each day, becoming more competitive each day, so the question we ask every morning when we roll out of bed is how do we win? How do we win and how do we get better? We got better today. Well keep all three of these guys busy." Calgary missed the playoffs for a fifth straight season with a record of 35-40-7. The Flames own the fourth overall pick in the NHL entry draft June 27-28. ' ' '