12-25-2019, 01:23 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. Russell Canouse Jersey . -- DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and eight rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers opened the preseason with an 89-81 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Chris Paul added 15 points and eight rebounds as new Clippers head coach Doc Rivers got a look at his team after holding training camp last week in San Diego. "You can see them in practice, but games are different," Rivers said afterward. Nicolas Batum, who played for his native France this summer on the gold-medal winning European Championship team, led Portland with 12 points. Blazers guard Damian Lillard, last seasons NBA rookie of the year, added 11 points and six assists, but Portland was hampered by the absence of All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who was nursing a left quadriceps injury. "Well, it looked like a first exhibition game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. Rivers joined the Clippers this summer when the Celtics agreed to let him out of his contract in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 2015. Rivers also serves as senior VP of basketball operations. Rivers joins a talent-laden team that had a club-record 56 wins and its first Pacific Division championship, but fell in the first round of the playoffs to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Clippers have 11 new players on their roster, building around the nucleus of Paul, Jordan and Blake Griffin. Willie Green and newcomer Jared Dudley rounded out the starting lineup on Monday night. The Blazers were also without new guard Mo Williams because of a sprained right ankle. Williams, a 10-year veteran, was signed as a free agent in the off-season after spending last season with the Utah Jazz. Forward Dorell Wright, also acquired this summer, was given the night off. Portlands top draft pick C.J. McCullom was absent after fracturing his left foot during practice. He will need surgery and his recovery time isnt yet known. Four of the Blazers starters return this season, including Aldridge, Batum, Lillard and Wesley Matthews. The Blazers added 7-foot centre Robin Lopez, acquired in a three-team deal from New Orleans in the off-season. Lopez finished with eight points and 10 rebounds. "I think maybe I was a little too overanxious," Lopez said. "I was moving too quickly. I wasnt stopping to think." Paul hit a 19-footer to give the Clippers an early 15-4 lead and Rivers kept his starters in for much of the first quarter. The Blazers cut the lead to 25-22 on Lillards layup, and evened it on Allen Crabbes put-back dunk. After Antawn Jamisons jumper for the Clippers, Crabbe hit a 3-pointer that gave Portland its first lead of the game at 28-27. But Portland stumbled over its own mistakes, with 17 first-half turnovers, and Greens 3-pointer put Los Angeles back up 43-36. Griffins dunk off a steal by Jordan put the Clippers up 53-20. Jordan led the Clippers with 14 points and six rebounds at the half. Griffins dunk midway through the third quarter kept the Clippers in front 66-54. Ryan Hollins hit a layup and a free throw that gave Los Angeles an 84-66 lead in the fourth. Rivers focus the first week of training camp was on the defence, and he said that overall he was encouraged by what he saw. "Were just trying to get them to see -- defence is all the time," Rivers said. The Blazers finished 33-49 last season and out of the playoffs for the second straight year. Jackson Yueill Jersey . Toronto has lost six of its last eight games but is coming off Thursdays 7-3 victory at Kansas City. Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus both went deep for the Blue Jays, who are second in the American League with 34 home runs on the season. Nick Lima Jersey . The Blue Jackets announced the injury through their official Twitter account Friday afternoon. Gaborik, 31, has scored five goals and six assists in 17 games with the Blue Jackets in 2013-14. https://www.cheapusasoccer.com/281j-keeg...y-usa.html . Bayern winger Franck Ribery marked his league return after recovering from a cracked rib by scoring two goals and setting up two more as the league leaders inflicted the heaviest home defeat on Bremen in the Bundesliga. PITTSBURGH -- A sharp Hyun-Jin Ryu and some clutch hitting enabled the Los Angeles Dodgers to overcome the absence of two top sluggers. Ryu pitched seven strong innings, Adrian Gonzalez reached base five times and Los Angeles beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 on Monday night. Ryu (11-5) joined Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw in making the Dodgers the first team in the majors with three 11-game winners. The left-hander allowed two runs and five hits with a walk and five strikeouts. "He had a good fastball, a good curveball and he threw his fastball to both sides of the plate," Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said. "I thought he pitched really well and kept them off balance the whole time." Justin Turner had two RBIs and scored twice for the Dodgers, who snapped Pittsburghs six-game home winning streak. Pirates starter Edinson Volquez (8-7) had won four straight starts, tying his career high. Los Angeles played without right fielder Yasiel Puig (left hand) and shortstop Hanley Ramirez (left wrist) after both were injured when they were hit by pitches last weekend in St. Louis. Puig and Ramirez had X-rays in Pittsburgh that came back negative Monday. To compensate for their absence, Mattingly started Matt Kemp in right field -- his first appearance there since 2009 -- and Turner at shortstop. Turners start was his first since June 28, the day he sustained a strained left hamstring that put him on the disabled list for three weeks. Dee Gordon and Juan Uribe also had two hits apiece for Los Angeles, is two percentage points behind first-place San Francisco in the NL West. Brian Wilson and J.P. Howell combined to pitch a scoreless eighth before Kenley Jansen earned his 29th save in 32 opportunities. Andrew McCutchen had two hits and a run for the Pirates, who were coming off a home sweep of the Colorado Rockies. Turner scored on Kemps double in the third for the gamees first run. Marlon Fossey Jersey. . The following inning, Turners sharp liner wasnt handled by Pirates third baseman Josh Harrison and turned into a two-run double. Gonzalez followed with an RBI single to make it 5-0. That was plenty for Ryu, who retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced outside of Pittsburghs two-run fourth inning. "As a team we did a good job of putting good at-bats together when there were runners in scoring position," Gonzalez said. "We got those five runs in those two innings -- and Ryu on the mound made it enough, for sure." Volquez won five of his previous six starts and had a 0.90 ERA over 30 innings during his four-start winning streak. But he allowed 10 hits and three walks as the Pirates fell short of their first seven-game home winning streak in five years. "Everything was off today," said Volquez, who partially blamed the 11-day layoff between starts. "I wasnt executing my breaking balls. "Im just battling all the time. Fighting myself to find a rhythm, to execute pitches and stay in the game." Pittsburgh (52-47) also missed an opportunity to move seven games over .500 for the first time this season. "We battled and stayed in the game the best we could," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We just couldnt add on after the fourth." NOTES: Los Angeles catcher A.J. Ellis was hit in the head with a 78 mph pitch from Volquez in the second inning. The ball bounced off his helmet, and Ellis immediately ran to first and stayed in the game after being briefly examined by a trainer. ... The Dodgers plan to activate RHP Josh Beckett from the disabled list in time to start Tuesday at PNC Park. Beckett has been on the DL since July 8 because of a left hip impingement. RHP Vance Worley will start for the Pirates. ... Pittsburgh RHP Gerrit Cole, on the disabled list since July 9 because of lat soreness, will throw 50-60 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday. ' ' '