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Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Rockets didnt miss a beat without Dwight Howard in the lineup, but theyre still happy to have him back. Howard had 26 points and 13 rebounds after missing the last 11 games with right knee soreness and the Rockets defeated the Denver Nuggets 108-96 on Saturday night. Howard initially began to experience slight pain in his knee during Houstons Nov. 17 game against the Memphis Grizzlies and had platelet-rich plasma therapy to restore the cartilage in his knee. The Rockets went 8-3 without Howard in the lineup. James Harden posted a triple-double with 24 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds and Donatas Motiejunas added 25 points for Houston, which has won six of its last seven games. Ty Lawson tallied 19 points and 12 helpers, while Darrell Arthur supplied 20 points and six boards off the bench for the Nuggets, who have lost five of their last six games. After Arron Afflalo nailed a 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a 40-26 margin at the 8:06 mark of the second, Houston responded with a 16-2 run to tie the game. Motiejunas poured in the first seven points of the surge and capped it with a triple to knot the contest at 42-42. Houston went on a late 7-0 spurt, with Hardens three-point play concluding it and helping the Rockets to a 54-46 cushion. Kenneth Farieds hook shot in the closing moments of the half got Denver within 54-48 heading into the break. The Rockets opened the second half on an 8-2 flurry to establish their first double-digit lead. Trevor Ariza capped the burst with a trey for a 62-50 spread. Houston was up 80-73 after three. The Rockets started the fourth on a 12-4 swing with a Patrick Beverley triple concluding it and give the Rockets a comfortable 92-77 advantage. They cruised to the victory from there. The Nuggets netted the final seven points of the first quarter, including Lawsons jumper at the buzzer, which staked them to a 31-21 advantage going into the second. Houston outscored Denver 33-17 in the second. Game Notes Howard was averaging 18.8 points and a team-leading 11.3 rebounds per game prior to being injured ... Houston had been 2-8 in its last 10 meetings against the Nuggets ... Denver fell to 4-9 on the road this season ... Houston held Denver to just 37.5 percent (36-of-96) from the floor ... Howard reached the 10,000 rebound mark for his career. Diogo Dalot Manchester United Jersey .com) - The NFL is investigating whether the New England Patriots intentionally deflated balls during Sundays AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis. Jesse Lingard Jersey . Whenever United loses, its crisis. When other top teams slip up, its the quirky nature of the Premier League. The predictable reaction speaks to the sky-high expectations for a team proven perennial contender and 13 times Premier League champion. http://www.jerseymanchesterunitedsoccer.com/ . The redshirt freshman finished the regular season with nearly 3,500 passing yards, and 35 touchdowns with another three on the ground while leading the Seminoles to the top of the BCS Rankings. Ashley Young Manchester United Jersey . -- For one night, Nick Calathes provided a big reason to believe the Memphis Grizzlies might be able to withstand the loss of Mike Conley on a short-term basis. Anthony Martial Manchester United Jersey . Sam, who joined the Cowboys in early September, has spent the entire season on the practice roster.JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- New Zealand enhanced its credentials as the best team in the world by continually coming back against a pumped-up South Africa to win 38-27 in a sizzling finale to keep the Rugby Championship title on Saturday. The top-ranked and world champion All Blacks took their recent dominance a significant step further by winning at Ellis Park for the first time in 16 years and scoring five tries in the intimidating inner-city cauldron against a No. 2-ranked Springboks team that probably played as well as it could on attack -- and scored four tries against the All Blacks for the first time in nearly a decade. New Zealands fourth try and title-winning blow came in the 61st minute of a breathless contest when replacement flyhalf Beauden Barrett sliced through, and outstanding No. 8 Kieran Read scored the fifth two minutes later to completely shatter the Boks. "Days like today are the reason you put on the boots," All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said after his 120th test but first at Ellis. Coach Steve Hansen opened his media conference by saying he wanted to congratulate both teams on "a very special game of rugby." "Both sets of players left everything on the park and both countries should be very proud of their teams," Hansen said. But it is mighty New Zealand which holds every major title it is eligible for. The All Blacks, playing 20 minutes of the second half a man down, took everything a desperate South Africa could muster and finished a gripping match stronger for a sixth win from six in the championship. "If we sit down and analyze the game, Im sure we can find a lot of positives," Springboks skipper Jean de Villiers said of his shattered team. "But we can never be happy with this result." De Villiers scored South Africas bonus-point fourth try in the 58th and for just under three minutes with a roaring crowd behind it, the home team sensed the possibility of stealing the title with the crucial bonus point it needed. The Boks had to then just win by more than seven and shut down the All Blacks for an against-the-odds turnaround. Barrett killed that dream straight away, earning the bonus point the All Blacks needed to win the competition no matter the result as he busted through the defence and skipped clear. Read, with a rampaging break down the left flank, added another try for good measure, the hammer blow that left no doubt as to the sports current leaders. "Weve had some good performances over a few years, but this is probably right up the top," Hansen said. Most spectators would agree. Right at the start, Ben Smith cut inside aa host of South African defenders off a defence-opening Read pass for the first try in the 12th minute and New Zealands first lead.dddddddddddd. It was the wingers eighth try, breaking the single-season record. Opposite number Bryan Habana replied with two scores in two minutes to become the leading try-scorer in the competitions history, the records a sideshow to the immense overall contest that South Africa suddenly led, though Habana left straight after his second try with a leg injury. Flanker Liam Messam then scored two tries for the All Blacks, the second well after the halftime hooter in a brilliant display of the cleverness and creativity of their game as they went left, right and then left again to finally break through and change the momentum completely by leading 21-15 at halftime. Winger Willie le Roux and captain De Villiers pushed the 60,000 people at a packed and breathless Ellis toward ecstasy with South Africas two second-half tries in the 47th and 58th. In two crucial stages in the second half, the All Blacks had to front up with 14 men after Messam and then prop Ben Franks were sin-binned. The All Blacks showed guts and then class as tries by Barrett and Read finished off a test that exceeded the immense hype. "It was probably one of the best games Ive ever been involved in," Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer said. But in saying that you want to win." Overall, rugbys fiercest rivals shared nine tries and the lead changed hands continually at the venue where their near 100-year-old rivalry has often played out in spine-tingling fashion and where the momentous 1995 World Cup final went the Springboks way. At a sellout on Saturday, a South African jet flew low over the stadium three times before kickoff in a recreation of that 95 final and South Africa sensed it might have that precious edge again. But New Zealand, clinical in attack and desperate and brave at times in defence, emerged to hold on to the southern hemisphere title and beat the Boks at Ellis for the first time since 1997. At the end, the All Blacks, rather than celebrating wildly, slumped over in exhaustion. "When youve won a game that you know youve really had to work hard for, its gratifying and satisfying," Hansen said. "First a sense of relief and then that feeling of joy. We came here and we got told history was against us." ------ New Zealand 38 (Liam Messam 2, Ben Smith, Beauden Barrett, Kieran Read tries; Aaron Cruden 3 conversions, Barrett 2 conversions, penalty), South Africa 27 (Bryan Habana 2, Willie le Roux, Jean de Villiers tries; Morne Steyn 2 conversions, penalty). HT: 21-15. ' ' '