Hardens miss to put Houston up 108-106

CHICAGO -- Having been burned by D.J. Augustin the previous night, the Boston Celtics clamped down on the Bulls guard in the second game of their home-and-home series. Boston succeeded in limiting Augustin to four points on 1-of-9 shooting, but that didnt affect the final outcome. Mike Dunleavy had 22 points on 7-for-12 shooting and Augustin handed out 11 assists to help five Bulls score in double figures for a 94-80 win over the Celtics on Monday night. "From the beginning of the game I knew they were going to do that, adjust to me," Augustin said. "I had to do some other things and find my teammates and they did a great job getting open." Joakim Noah added 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, Jimmy Butler scored 18 points, Carlos Boozer 16 and Taj Gibson had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, which pulled away with a 13-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter. The Bulls (42-32) moved into a tie with the Toronto Raptors -- who lost at Miami -- for third place in the Eastern Conference. "I think its very important," Dunleavy said of the third seed. "We want to get as high as we can. Not only with home-court advantage and avoiding the first seed in the second round, if were fortunate enough to advance. We just want to get as high as we can." Chicago swept the home-and-home series with the Celtics after winning 107-102 in Boston on Sunday. The Celtics have lost 10 straight on the road to drop to 8-28 away from home. Their last road win was Feb. 10 at Milwaukee. Brandon Bass and Jerryd Bayless scored 18 points apiece for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo didnt play Monday after getting 17 points and 11 assists Sunday. He is still working his way back to full strength following reconstructive knee surgery and doesnt play in back-to-back games. "It wasnt just the fourth (quarter)," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "The first five minutes of the third and the fourth we went into a drought. We looked heavy-legged the whole second half. "Thats no excuse because they played last night, too." The game was tight entering the fourth, but the Bulls went on a quick 9-0 run for an 80-70 lead with 9 1/2 minutes to play before Stevens called time out. The stoppage didnt curb the Bulls momentum. Gibson scored on vicious dunk off a nice feed from Butler to make it 82-70 and Noah capped the run of 13 straight with a post move for an 84-70 lead. Noah had six points during the spurt, including an 18-foot jumper before Bostons timeout. "Theyre a good team," Bayless said. "We dont have a lot of room for error. We made a couple of bad plays in a row and theyre too good and they got on the break and hit their shots. We have to pull it together for longer stretches of time." Although Augustin didnt score in the fourth, he played a big role by dishing out six assists as Boston overplayed him. "Thats the advantage we have with the finishing group," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "The job of those guys is to read what the defence is doing." The Bulls are 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. "I think were playing pretty good basketball, but I think we can play better," Noah said. "I think the mindset is good. Everybody is working, everybody is in the weight room, everybody is trying to find ways to get better." NOTES: Home-and-home series on consecutive games used to be a regular occurrence in the NBA, but are rare these days. "Its the same plays, so theres a tendency for the players to know whats coming," Thibodeau said. "I think its good preparation for whats coming down the road." ... Since he wasnt playing because of the back-to-back, Rondo spent part of the game working on the TV broadcast back to Boston. ... Celtics G Avery Bradley left the game in the first half because of a sore Achilles. . Noah had 13 assists in Sundays game, the most ever by a visiting centre in Boston. The previous high was 11 by Wilt Chamberlain in 1968. Mike Evans Jersey . The Mercedes duo of three-time Canadian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has won all six races to start the season, finishing one-two in the last five. Warren Sapp Jersey . Coming off a 6-0 drubbing at Chelsea on Saturday, Arsenal endured another demoralizing result after rallying for a 2-1 lead -- only to concede a fluke equalizer. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Lee-roy-selmon-buccaneers-jersey/ . - Diego Fagundez scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season in the 76th minute to lift the Revolution to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night that kept New Englands playoff hopes alive. Vita Vea Jersey . Ozuna hit Reeds 2-2 pitch off the batters eye far above the 407-foot sign in straightaway centre. It was the fifth blown save in 25 tries for Reed (1-5) and the ninth home run the closer has allowed in 38 appearances. Nuno, acquired in the deal that sent Brandon McCarthy to the New York Yankees, gave up three hits, struck out a career-high seven and walked one in seven innings. John Lynch Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. SAN ANTONIO -- The Houston Rockets gave away a 23-point lead, Dwight Howard was being fouled intentionally and the disdain of the San Antonio Spurs sellout crowd was roaring down on them in the final minutes of the game. It was a tense situation that Houston would have folded under last season, James Harden readily admits. The Rockets demonstrated Saturday night that they are a different team this season, even if it is early. Harden scored 31 points, Chandler Parsons had 25, and Houston overcame a furious second-half rally to beat San Antonio 112-106, handing the Spurs their first home defeat. "Its a great win for us," Harden said. "Last year we probably would have caved in; they would have beaten us by a lot. So, this year the improvement weve adjusted to has been tremendous. A back-to-back in San Antonio is always tough, but we showed resiliency and pulled out a great win." Harden had 16 points in the final quarter, going 4 for 8 from the field and 7 for 10 on free throws in leading Houston (13-5) to its fifth straight victory. Howard had 13 points and 11 rebounds, Terrence Jones added 10 points and 16 boards, and Patrick Beverly scored 11 points. Tony Parker had 27 points, Tim Duncan added 20 and Marco Belinelli scored 18 for San Antonio (14-3), which has lost two of three. San Antonio outscored Houston 39-26 to open the second half, with Belinelli scoring 13 points after halftime to set up a furious finish. Harden hit a high-arcing, off-balance 3-pointer to tie the game at 106 with a minute remaining. "That was the shot of the game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. Parker then missed a driving layup over Howard, and Beverly tipped in Hardens miss to put Houston up 108-106 with 32 seconds remaining. Manu Ginobili missed a 3-pointer, enabling Houston to outlet to Parsons for a dunk and a 110-106 lead with 16 seconds left to seal a victory over its longtime state rival. "Its going to be a dogfight every time we see these guys," Howard said. "And thats what we want. Thats going to make us better as a team, and its going to make it fun for the fans to watch." San Antonio finished 9 for 26 on 3s, including 2 for 9 in the first half. Without the Spurs usual crisp ball movement, Parker was forced to take the offence into his own hands, going 13 for 27 from the field. "Definitely," Harden said. "If you get Tony Parker to put a lot of shots up, it takes away from all their guys knocking down 3s and getting us off balance." The Rockets responded to a late first-half spurt by the Spurs by opening the second half on a 13-2 run that Parsons and Harden opened and closed with 3-pointers. The run appearedd to fire up Duncan, who scored seven of the Spurs 13 points in one stretch, including an alley-oop-dunk in front of Howard.dddddddddddd The Spurs were energized by their stoic leader showing some fire, closing within 81-80 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter. "They battled back," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "It got scrappy and dirty, and they got really physical with us. They got a little lead, and our guys made some big plays and battled back down the stretch." Belinelli hit consecutive 3s to give San Antonio an 85-83 lead early in the final quarter, its first since going up 12-11 with 6:34 left in the first. He added another 3 to give the Spurs an 88-83 advantage. "Its a great lesson for us," Popovich said. "When you play a good basketball team, youve got to come with passion, an edge and aggressiveness for 48 minutes - and we did that for a half. (The Spurs) got embarrassed for a whole half. In the second half, their aggressiveness and attention to detail was very good. They got themselves back in the game." San Antonio shot 80 per cent in the opening minutes compared to 28 per cent by Houston, but the Rockets were able to stay within a basket until their offence began flowing. Early in the game Howard ran isolation plays against Duncan, performing the "Dream Shake" taught to him in the off-season by Rockets legend Hakeem Olajuwon on one possession to set up a short hook in the lane. "On every team that Dwights on it seems that focus is inside and the shooters get a lot more open looks," Duncan said. "Thats a byproduct of having him in there and the shooters shooting the ball well obviously. Its tough. They are tough and well see what happens next time." NOTES: Houston G Jeremy Lin and F Greg Smith both missed the game with sprained right knees. It was the second straight game Lin has missed. . A scene from the 2004 movie "The Alamo" was shown during the first quarter, making the Spurs the defenders of the Alamo and Texas, and the Rockets as the invading army. . "Lets go Rockets!" chants broke out during the game. ... Popovich was assessed a technical foul after screaming at official Tom Washington for allowing McHale to stand within a foot of Duncan as he attempted to inbound the ball on the final play of the first half. After stepping in front of Duncan several times to prevent Washington from handing him the ball while he argued a non-call, McHale stood an arms length beside the Spurs forward as he threw the ball three-quarters of the court to Ginobili. "I was in the coachs box," McHale said. "I probably shouldve gone and sat my big (butt) on the other side." 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