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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Blazers edge Rockets in OT thriller, 122-120

Nicolas Batum, who had 14 points and nine rebounds for the Blazers, defends Houston’s Jeremy Lin in the second quarter. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

NBA: LaMarcus Aldridge scored a franchise playoff-record 46 points and Damian Lillard added 31, including the go-ahead free throws in overtime, to lift the visiting Portland Trail Blazers to a 122-120 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Aldridge fouled out with about a minute left in overtime and Lillard, who was making his playoff debut, took over. He scored the next five points for Portland and put the Trail Blazers on top by one point with a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left.

Aldridge, who was playing in his home state, also had 18 rebounds and two blocks. James Harden and Dwight Howard each scored 27 points for Houston.

• Wizards rally past Bulls: Nene dominated with 24 points, Trevor Ariza scored 18, and the Washington Wizards rallied from 13 down to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-93 in their playoff opener.

John Wall scored 16 in his postseason debut. Marcin Gortat added 15 points and 13 rebounds. The fifth-seeded Wizards cut a 13-point deficit to one in the third and trailed by three going into the fourth, before outscoring Chicago 18-6 over the final 6 minutes to come out on top in their first playoff appearance since 2008.

Heat surge past Bobcats: LeBron James scored 27 points, Dwyane Wade added 23 and the Miami Heat used a late charge to beat the visiting Charlotte Bobcats 99-88 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Miami sealed it with an 18-4 run in the fourth, all but three of those points coming with James getting a rest.

Spurs edge Mavs: Tim Duncan scored 27 points, and the San Antonio Spurs held the visiting Dallas Mavericks to one field goal in the final 7 minutes to rally for a 90-85 victory in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

The Mavericks also went scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes during that stretch, their lone field goal coming as time expired.

NBA says Paul was fouled on critical play: The NBA said referees missed a foul call late in the Warriors’ Game 1 win that would have given the Clippers a chance to tie the score.

Los Angeles point guard Chris Paul lost the ball out of bounds with 18.9 seconds left Saturday and Golden State leading 107-105. The league said the Warriors’ Draymond Green should have been whistled for a foul, which would have given Paul two free throws. Instead, Golden State got the ball and went on to win 109-105.

Canadiens grab 3-0 lead over Tampa Bay

NHL: Tomas Plekanec scored at 5:43 of the third period, and Carey Price made 27 saves to give the Montreal Canadiens a 3-2 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning and a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series.

Rene Bourque scored 11 seconds into the game, and Brendan Gallagher broke a 1-1 tie 18:10 into the second period. P.K. Subban had two assists for the Canadiens.

Flyers rally to even series: Luke Schenn scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and backup Ray Emery made 31 saves for the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, who rallied to beat the New York Rangers 4-2 to even the first-round playoff series.

Schenn put Philadelphia in front after Game 1 goat Jason Akeson tied it 2-2 earlier in the period. That was enough for the Flyers to snap a nine-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden and send the series to Philadelphia tied at 1.

Bruins top Red Wings: Justin Florek and Reilly Smith scored in a 3-minute span in the first period and the Boston Bruins evened their playoff series with a 4-1 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings in Game 2.

Luke Glendening cut Boston’s lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third.

Sharks pull away from Kings: Fourth-liners Mike Brown and Raffi Torres scored second-period goals to spark a San Jose comeback and lead the Sharks to a 7-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Kings and a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

Justin Braun, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Joe Thornton also scored for the Sharks, who overcame a two-goal deficit after the first period of a playoff game for just the third time in 26 tries in franchise history. Antti Niemi made 24 saves.

• Blackhawks’ Seabrook suspended: Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook has been suspended for three games for his vicious hit on Blues center David Backes during their first-round playoff series.

Germans, Czechs in Fed Cup final

TENNIS: Germany will take on the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final after both countries wrapped up their semifinal victories by winning the first reverse singles.

Germany’s Angelique Kerber overcame Sam Stosur in three sets and former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova beat Roberta Vinci 6-3, 7-5 as both countries took insurmountable 3-0 leads, giving Germany its first Fed Cup final berth since 1992, when it beat Spain for the title.

The Czechs will host Germany in the final in November, having won the previous three encounters between the countries.

Wawrinka beats Federer: Stanislas Wawrinka won the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time after rallying to beat Roger Federer 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in a rare all-Swiss final in Monaco.

The Australian Open champion had lost his previous two Masters finals and looked like losing a third until Federer’s level dropped suddenly late in the second set, and Wawrinka began troubling the 17-time Grand Slam champion with his aggressive backhand.

Vekic beats Cibulkova for WTA title: Seventh-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia clinched her first WTA tourney win after beating top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the Malaysian Open final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Arkansas’ Grable claims 2 NCAA titles

MISCELLANY: Arkansas’ Katherine Grable won two national titles and Florida’s Bridget Sloan captured the third of her career at the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships.

Grable won the floor exercise with a 9.9625 and tied with LSU’s Rheagan Courville for first on the vault in the individual competition.

A 2008 Olympian, Sloan won the uneven parallel bars with a score of 9.9375.

Gilbert wins Amstel Gold: Philippe Gilbert of Belgium won the Amstel Gold Race for the third time, clinching the 49th edition of the cycling race in the hills of the southern Netherlands.

Gilbert’s win in the 251-kilometer race followed his triumphs in 2010 and 2011. He finished in a time of 6 hours, 25 minutes, 57 seconds.