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. Vin Baker Jersey . The Austrian ski federation said Morgenstern was "conscious and well responsive" and his condition would be monitored in the intensive care unit of a Salzburg hospital for the next 72 hours. The federation said it was "way too early" to judge Morgensterns chances of competing in Sochi, and that an update on his condition was not expected before Monday. Custom Milwaukee Bucks Jerseys . The 23-year-old Woods, Tiger Woods niece, closed with a 4-under 69 at Royal Pines to finish at 16-under 276. Lee also shot 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Australian tours. Woods birdied the par-5 15th to open a two-stroke lead, hitting a wedge from about 120 yards to 4 feet. http://www.nbabucksproshop.com/Authentic-George-Hill-Bucks-Jersey/ . Richard Jefferson scored 17 points and Diante Garrett had a career-high 15 points as the Jazz had seven players with 10 points or more in Utahs largest margin of victory this season. Eric Bledsoe Jersey . A spokeswoman for the NLRB says its "a very incremental move" and does not necessarily indicate the board is close to a finding in the case. NFL owners filed an unfair labour charge against the players union in February, arguing that the union was not negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement in good faith. Ersan Ilyasova Bucks Jersey . As analysts we do the same thing, so here are some observations from week one. First there were two major upsets. I should say, major upsets in the eyes of the fans and prognosticators.Dustin Brown deflected in a Willie Mitchell slapshot for the game-winning goal in double overtime, as the Los Angeles Kings rallied to defeat the New York Rangers 5-4 in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final, taking a 2-0 series lead. The Rangers held 2-0 and 4-2 leads in the game, but couldnt hold off the Kings, who have won three straight games in the postseason without holding a lead at any point in those three gaames. Brown, the double-OT hero, finished the game with the worst possession stats among Kings skaters. Mitchell, the 37-year-old veteran, logged 34:07 to rank third (behind the top pair of Drew Doughty -- 41:41! -- and Jake Muzzin) among Kings defencemen for time on ice. It was the first time since February 25, 2012 that defensive-minded Mitchell, who scored the Kings second goal, had a goal and an assist in the same game. (Incidentally, in all that ice time, Doughty had no shots on goal and only one attempt.) While Mitchell might count as some unexpected production, the Kings are getting used to big performances from RW Justin Williams, who had three assists to give him 23 points in 23 playoff games, tied with Jeff Carter, two points behind Anze Kopitar for the lead in the playoffs. Williams has eight points in his past four games, a stretch during which hes been on for 57.5% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when hes on the ice. In a game that had many brilliant and exciting plays, the one that stands out, unfortunately, was the Kings third goal, scored 1:58 into the third period, when Kings LW Dwight King plowed into Henrik Lundqvist as D Matt Greenes shot from the point deflected off King into the net, cutting the Rangers lead to 4-3. Considering other goaltender interference calls in the playoffs, and even earlier in this game, its hard to fathom how King was granted immunity for invading Lundqvists crease, but it paid off and King had a strong night in general, adding an assist and on for 63% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when he was on the ice. Rangers D Ryan McDonagh collided with King at the edge of the crease on that goal, though King was already in the blue paint at that point. McDonagh was front and centre in the action, scoring a goal and an assist for the Rangers, but McDonagh was also on the ice for the last three Kings goals.dddddddddddd After the King goal, McDonagh had the puck deep in the Rangers zone, tripped over Derek Stepan and turned it over to Marian Gaborik, leading to the game-tying goal. In overtime, McDonagh was matched up on Brown as he tipped in the game-winning goal. LW Mats Zuccarello was a threat for the Rangers, launching a game-high 11 shot attempts towards the Kings net. Only three of those made it on net, but Zuccarello did put up a goal and an assist, giving him 13 points for the playoffs. RW Martin St. Louis scored a nice one-time goal for the Blueshirts, but was dominated in terms of possession, on the ice for nine shot attempts for and 27 against during 5-on-5 play. The Rangers line of Chris Kreider, Rick Nash and Derek Stepan was territorially dominant, on for more than 64.0% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts when they were on. Kreider had an assist and had eight shot attempts, but was impressive physically, recording a game-high nine hits. Nash had a game-high eight shots on goal (10 attempts), but couldnt find his way to the scoresheet -- the story of his playoffs, as he has the best puck possession stats of Rangers forwards, yet has three goals and 10 points through 22 playoff games. The Rangers have every right to be upset about how the Kings third goal was scored but, in the big picture, cant be entirely discouraged by the way the first two games in Los Angeles turned out. They got bad breaks that cost them in overtime, but the Rangers had enough opportunities in two road games to believe that they can hang with the Kings. Odds are against the Rangers coming all the way back, but lets see what they have upon returning to Madison Square Garden. If this years playoffs have revealed anything, its that leads, both in games and series, are not as safe as they once were. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '