HOUSTON -- Dwight Howard was late for the pregame shootaround. So he knew that playing on his 28th birthday, and against his former team, the onus was on him to both atone and deliver. Done and done. Howard had 20 points and 22 rebounds Sunday night to lead the Houston Rockets over the Orlando Magic 98-88. "I just wanted to get the win tonight," Howard said. "Im just happy our team came out tonight, settled down and played basketball." Howard became the first Rockets player since Ralph Sampson in 1985-86 to pull down 18 or more rebounds in three straight games. Despite the positive outcome, dont expect to see Howard showing up late to any more shootarounds anytime soon. "Bad example," he said. "I shouldnt have done it." James Harden scored 27 points and also had 10 assists and eight rebounds for the Rockets. Terrence Jones contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds. Jones scored 10 a busy third quarter when Houston pulled away for good, extending its lead to as many as 22 points. He also blocked five shots, stopping Victor Oladipo as time expired in the third quarter to preserve an 83-61 lead. Chandler Parsons, who missed two games because of a sore back, started for Houston and had 18 points. "Our starting four and five had 35 rebounds between them," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "James went and got eight rebounds, too. So that was big." Glenn Davis scored 18 in Orlandos fifth straight loss. Arron Afflalo finished with 16 points and Jameer Nelson added 15. "We just didnt play well," Davis said. "We cant make shots. Its not about the shots. Its about the defence. Everybody needs to be held accountable in making sure they do what they need to do, or its going to be a long season." Howard got off to a slow start offensively, but he amassed nine quick rebounds in the first quarter, thanks in part to the Magics 7-for-22 shooting. This was Howards first game against Orlando in a Rockets uniform, having faced his first former team last season while with the Los Angeles Lakers. Orlando made Howard the top pick of the 2004 NBA draft. He played for the Magic from 2005-2012, once led the team to the finals and remains Orlandos all-time leading scorer. The Magic shot just 27.7 per cent (13-for-47) from the field in the first half. But they benefited from at-times lacklustre rebounding the Rockets, which led to second-chance points that allowed them to loiter around. Orlando appeared poised to give the Rockets a tough test, scoring nine straight points to take a 9-2 lead. But the burst was brief. "We just came out sluggish and werent contesting shots, and we werent rebounding," Howard said. "We had to pick our energy level up, and thats what we did." The Rockets hurt the Magic from the 3-point line, making seven of 11 to erase that run by Orlando in the first quarter. Houston finished 10-for-33 from 3-point range against 8-for-29 for Orlando. The Magic cut Houstons lead to 28-25 with a burst of hustle to open the second quarter, capped by a 3 from ETwaun Moore. Thats as close as Orlando got the rest of the way. NOTES: The Magic missed C Nikola Vucevic (left ankle) for a third straight game. ... Rockets G Jeremy Lin (right knee) missed his sixth game but participated in pregame workouts. ... Houston tallied 10 blocks, its fourth double-digit game of the season. Griffin Canning Angels Jersey . Granada defender Diego Mainz barged into the back of Villa to send the Spain striker to the ground inside the area and Costa stepped up to the spot to score his 12th league goal in the 38th minute. Costa showed no effects of the news that his Brazilian citizenship may be revoked after he elected to play for Spains national team, as the forward was a constant threat for Atletico and forced several saves from goalkeeper Roberto. Brian Downing Jersey . LUCIE, Fla. https://www.cheapangels.com/443j-mike-wi...sey-angels.html. Justine finished first with a score of 22.44 while Chloe was second with 21.66 points. Defending champion Hannah Kearney of the U.S., was third at 21.49. A third Dufour-Lapointe sister, Maxime, failed to make the final group and finished 12th while Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City was 10th. Zack Cozart Jersey . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. Albert Pujols Jersey . Leave it to Matt Niskanen, the newly proclaimed Eddie Haskell of the Washington Capitals.CHICAGO - Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has seen this Kris Versteeg before. Not last season, when Versteeg was still finding his way after knee surgery, but way back in 2010, when he was an emerging young forward.Versteeg scored 59 seconds into the third period and had the primary assist on each of Patrick Kanes two goals, leading streaking Chicago to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.Lets compare it (to) 2010. Thats more realistic, Quenneville said when asked about Versteegs game a year ago. I think hes back where he was, or wanted to be. You know hes coming off that injury, and I can go back to every single guy that had an ACL injury, it takes a year to get back to square one.Marcus Kruger also scored for Chicago, and Antti Raanta had 40 saves in his first start since Corey Crawford was sidelined by a left foot injury. Back at home after a 5-1 road trip, Chicago killed each of St. Louis six power plays and won for the seventh time in eight games.Ian Cole scored in the second for the Blues, who had won four of five. Jake Allen made 29 saves.You can blame the power plays all you want and your best players on the power play, but we gave the game away in the third period, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said.Martin Brodeur was the backup to Allen in St. Louis first game since the NHLs winningest goalie signed a one-year contract on Tuesday.The second line of Versteeg, Brad Richards and Kane has played a key role in the Blackhawks resurgence. Versteeg has four goals and 10 assists in his last eight games, and Kane has eight goals and seven assists in his last nine games.Im just trying to get the puck into great players hands and let them go to work, Versteeg said. Those two guys have been helping me out a lot. Just got to keep going and grinding it out.Versteeg put Chicago in front for good when he one-timed a pass from Jonathan Toews into the lower right side of the net for his eighth of the season.dddddddddddd He then made a pair of nice passes to Kane to help the Blackhawks put the game away.Kane beat Allen to the stick side at 2:47 of the third. He added his 12th goal when he made a terrific move to get past defenceman Barret Jackman before sliding a shot between Allens legs at 5:19.You cant let a team with that skill get those chances, but it was only a five-minute span, and they took advantage of it, Allen said.Crawford had made 14 consecutive starts, but he hurt his left foot when he missed a step while leaving a recent concert and is expected to be sidelined two to three weeks. Crawford said Wednesday he was embarrassed and frustrated, but declined to reveal any further details about what happened.Crawfords injury put Raanta in goal for the first time since he had 28 saves in a 3-2 loss at St. Louis on Oct. 25. It was just his fourth appearance of the season.I think it was a pretty good 60 minutes, Raanta said. Maybe the last 50 minutes was even better than the first 10, but I felt very good.The Blackhawks jumped in front when Brandon Saad stole the puck from Cole near centre ice and started a 2-on-1 rush with a pass to Kruger, who beat Allen for his fourth goal at 15:57 of the first.St. Louis used a delayed penalty to tie it at 1 in the second. With the Blues enjoying a 6-on-5 skating advantage, Patrik Berglund passed to an open Cole on the right side for his second goal at 12:38. The Blues outshot the Blackhawks 13-7 in the period.NOTES: Brodeur tops the NHLs career lists for wins (688), games played (1,259), losses (394) and shutouts (124), all with New Jersey. ... Blackhawks D Brent Seabrook played 25 minutes after he missed practice on Tuesday due to an illness.___Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap ' ' '