PORTAND, Ore. -- Everyone it seems was talking about the showdown between Portlands LaMarcus Aldridge and Minnesotas Kevin Love. Except Aldridge and Love. "All he kept saying was All I care about is the win," teammate Mo Williams said of Aldridge. "Much ado about nothing," Love countered. In the end, Aldridge had 21 points to help the Trail Blazers down the Timberwolves 115-104 on Saturday night. Love, coming off a back-to-back, had 15 points and 13 rebounds. "We didnt both particularly have a great game," Love said. "Other people stepped up on both of our teams -- but he came away with the win." It was the Trail Blazers 33rd win -- matching their total from all of last season. Aldridge hit a long jumper and drew a foul to give the Blazers a 100-88 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Damian Lillards 3-pointer pushed the lead to 105-88 and Minnesota could never catch up. Aldridge is 12-3 in head-to-heads with Love. Kevin Martin led the Timberwolves with 30 points, while Nikola Pekovic had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Love, named Thursday as an Western Conference All-Star starter, went into the game against the Blazers averaging 25 points and 13 rebounds, but some Portland fans and players felt Aldridge -- averaging 24.7 points and 11.6 rebounds -- deserved the starting nod because of his role in the teams success this season. Aldridge scored a career-high 44 points and had 13 rebounds following the All-Star announcement in Portlands come-from-behind victory at home over Denver on Thursday night. Afterward he said he "definitely" thought he should have made it. The 6-foot-11 seventh-year veteran can still make the team as a reserve -- as he has for the past two seasons -- when the coaches selections are announced later this month. Love is a first-time All-Star starter after leap-frogging Houston Rockets centre Dwight Howard in the final fan balloting. "I think its a little sweeter this way because I really didnt expect it," he said following the announcement. Earlier this season, Love had 29 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in Minnesotas 120-109 home victory over the Blazers on Dec. 18. Love said his knees felt the previous nights 121-120 victory at Golden State all through the game against Portland. "Last night I took a pretty bad hit from Harrison Barnes and every time I sat down during the game my knees stiffened up a little." Aldridge, who had his 11th straight game with 20 or more points, also cited some fatigue. "I thought both guys competed," he said of the matchup. "I was a little tired and I thought he was tired on the second night of a back-to-back." While fans were expecting Aldridge to come out and make a statement, teammate Nicolas Batum quickly tallied 11 points and five rebounds in the first quarter. Love had 10 points to lead Minnesota, which finished the first leading 29-27. The Blazers then took off on a 16-4 run, capped by Thomas Robinsons fast-break dunk, to take a 43-33 lead. Williams, who finished with 16 points off the bench, had 10 points in the spurt. Portland led 65-57 at the break. Three straight dunks from Pekovic -- off feeds from Ricky Rubio -- tied the game at 73 midway through the third quarter. But the Timberwolves didnt pull ahead until Martins 3-pointer made it 79-78 with 3:50 left in the period. The Blazers answered by finishing out the quarter on an 8-2 run to lead 87-81. Portland pushed its lead to 95-86 on consecutive jumpers from rookie C.J. McCollum. The Blazers outscored the Timberwolves 60-46 in the paint, and Portlands bench outscored Minnesotas 34-15. "The second half we just ran out of gas," Minnesota coach Rick Adelman said. "I noticed it. We made runs at them, we caught them in the third quarter, but they kept having one more run." NOTES: Love is from Oregon and played for Lake Oswego High School just south of Portland. ... Rubio left Friday nights win over the Warriors with a sprained left ankle in the fourth quarter. He was questionable against the Blazers but started. ... With his first rebound, Aldridge joined Love as the first players in the league this season to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. ... Rubio finished with 11 assists. Cheap Jerseys China .com) - The Winnipeg Jets will try to continue to take advantage of home ice when they host the struggling San Jose Sharks tonight at the MTS Centre. Cheap Jerseys From China . 1-ranked Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have been made the top seeds at the Australian Open which begins on Monday at Melbourne Park. http://www.cheapjerseysmall.us.com/ . -- Joe Thornton scored the lone shootout goal in the fifth round, and Alex Stalock stopped all five tries as the San Jose Sharks overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Saturday night. Jerseys From China . Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar scored power-play goals, and Quick earned his first shutout of the season in the Kings 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Richards had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who came back from their break with their ninth victory in 13 games. Cheap NFL Jerseys . -- Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford took a look at the Cowboys assist total against Robert Morris on Monday night and smiled the smile of an old point guard.Panama was about 90 seconds from beating the United States and advancing to a playoff against New Zealand for a World Cup berth. The fans at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City were ready to start a nationwide celebration. And then the Americans stunned not just an opponent, but an entire country. Graham Zusi and Aron Johannsson scored in second-half stoppage time, and the United States rallied for a 3-2 win that left Mexicos World Cup hopes alive and knocked out the Panamanians. "It shows you how brutal football can be. For one side thats almost there, and then the other side is back in," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "Now obviously you feel for the people. You feel for an entire country." The U.S., which clinched a World Cup berth last month, didnt use most of its regular starters, and Gabriel Torres put Panama ahead in the 18th minute in a downpour. Michael Orozco tied it the 64th minute, just as Costa Rica took a 2-1 lead at home against Mexico. Luis Tejada scored in the 83rd, putting Panama back into fourth place and the playoff berth. Mexico, which last missed the World Cup in 1990, would have been eliminated, and the Panamanians would have kept alive their chance to reach the World Cup for the first time. But Zusi scored 1:24 into three minutes of stoppage time, and Johannsson added his first international goal at the 2:40 mark to seal the U.S. win and Panamas elimination. The Americans, who have lost just once in their last 16 games, finished with a record-tying 22 points in the hexagonal, the final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region. "This is just how football writes these crazy, emotional stories, and youre in the middle of it, because we all felt all of a sudden when Graham scored that header that it was all quiet, silence, and you feel for them," Klinsmann said. "Maybe its a little bit in my culture, in the German culture you never stop before the referee blows the whistle, because I have won many, many games in the last minute. And hopefully, we keep on winning more. But it was a very sad moment for all here in Panama. We understand that." It was a similar finish to four years ago, when Jonathan Bornsteins goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., gave the U.S. a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica, clinching a World Cup berth to Honduras and knocking out the Costa Ricans. The U.S. (7-2-1) and Costa Rica (5-2-3) already had clinched berths last month, and Honduras (4-3-3) earned the regions final automatic spot with a 2-2 tie att last-place Jamaica (0-5-5).dddddddddddd Mexico (2-3-5) finished fourth with 11 points, three ahead of Panama (1-4-5). Before allowing the stoppage-time goals, Panama was even with El Tri on points and goal difference and would have reached the playoff based on a 10-7 advantage in goals scored. Having earned its seventh straight World Cup berth last month, the U.S. was without many of its regulars because of either injuries or decisions to allow them to return to their clubs. Among the missing were Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, Tim Howard, Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler. In all, the Americans started just two players who began the clinching match against Mexico: defender Clarence Goodson and midfielder Alejandro Bedoya. In the absence of Dempsey and Howard, Jozy Altidore captained the national team for the first time. "It was an opportunity for us to see some players stepping in," Klinsmann said, Panama got the early goal when Marcos Sanchez sent a layoff to the top of the penalty area, and Torres split the defenders and easily beat goalkeeper Brad Guzan with a one-timed shot to the corner. Orozco scored his third international goal off a Davis corner kick. Sacha Kljestan was hauled down by Luis Henriquez right in front of the goal, allowing the ball to fall to Orozco. With his back toward the goal, Orozco lifted his left leg and made just enough contact to score from 6 yards. Orozco then did a little dance with DaMarcus Beasley, the American left back of late who was given the night off. Panama could have been awarded a penalty kick two minutes later, but Jamaican referee Courtney Campbell didnt whistle Bedoya for knocking over Alberto Quintero as he streaked into the penalty area. Two minutes later, Guzan got his left hand up to stop a point-blank shot by Torres. Panama came back when Torres sent the ball down the right flank to Roberto Chen, who sent a low cross through the penalty area. Guzan slapped the ball with his right hand and the ball ricocheted to Tejada, who stepped in front of Kyle Beckerman. But it wasnt over. Edgar Castillo started the set-up to the tying goal with a pass to Davis, who sent the ball to Zusi, He climbed over Henriquez and his 8-yard header beat goalkeeper Jaime Penedo. It was his third international goal, and second in five days. With Panama pressing to get the goal it needed to regain the lead, Terrence Boyd fed Johannsson for a goal on a 20-yard shot. "Nobody," Klinsmann said, "expected what happened in the last two minutes." cheap nfl jerseys authentic wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys authentic jerseys nfl wholesale wholesale jerseys stitched ' ' '