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PORTLAND, Ore. -- LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the Trail Blazers lineup, happy to know that things didnt go awry without him. Portlands All-Star forward had 16 points and the Blazers won their fifth straight game with a 102-96 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night. Aldridge was averaging 23.9 points and 11.4 rebounds before a left groin injury caused him to miss five games. "Im not going to call guys out but I thought that they just played great," Aldridge said about the team in his absence. "I thought everybody did more, whether it was rebounding or whatever. Everybody just played better." The win moved the Blazers (41-18) a season-high 23-games over .500. After failing to make the playoffs last season, Portland sits in third place in the Western Conference. Robin Lopez led the Blazers in scoring for the first time this season with 18 points, while Nicolas Batum had a career-high 16 rebounds. "That was a solid win for us," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "We did a lot of good things. I felt like we were in control for the most part." Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and Evan Fournier scored 16 points apiece, but Denver (25-33) lost its fifth straight. Faried, who also had 10 rebounds, took a hard fall with less than two minutes left and appeared to injure his right knee, but finished out the game. Portland won all four meetings this season against Denver, its first sweep of the series since the 1999 season, when the Blazers won all three games against the Nuggets. Damian Lillards driving layup gave Portland a 100-87 lead with 4:09 left in the game and the Nuggets never really challenged. Lillard finished with 17 points. The Blazers had a bit of a rest after a 124-80 rout of Brooklyn on Wednesday night. The Nets played in Denver the next night, routing the Nuggets 112-89. "The effort was there and it was something to build off of because everybody -- the whole city of Denver -- after that loss to Brooklyn had a sour taste in our mouth," Foye said. "We just wanted to get back out there and try to give the fans something to cheer about." The Nuggets have won just one of their last 11 games. Aldridge was greeted with a roar from the crowd at the Moda Center when he was announced as a starter. "It felt good," Aldridge said. "My timing was a little off but it felt good to be back out there playing with the guys." Second-year centre Meyers Leonard also returned after a five-game absence because of a sprained right ankle. But the Blazers did not have forwards Thomas Robinson, who has a left knee injury, and Joel Freeland, with a right knee sprain. The Nuggets were hurting, too. Top scorer Ty Lawson missed his ninth straight game with a left rib fracture. But guard Aaron Brooks, acquired before the trade deadline from Houston, played despite a sore ankle, and Wilson Chandler returned after missing a game because of a right knee sprain. Denver closed within 52-47 late in the half after a pair of free throws from Faried, but Lopezs dunk and Lillards layup helped push Portlands lead to 56-48 at the break. Lopez led all players with 12 points. Lillard, Batum and Leonard had consecutive dunks to give the Blazers an early 22-12 lead. The Blazers stretched the lead to 73-60 in the third quarter on Batums finger-roll layup. Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said he liked the effort after the loss to Brooklyn, but pointed to missed free throws. Denver was 23 of 35 from the line. "You lose the game by six points and you miss 12 free throws, that can be the difference in the game," Shaw said. "I thought the team played a lot better and responded after the embarrassing game we had the other night at home against Brooklyn. So we got better tonight and Im happy with our effort." Notes: Brooks played at the University of Oregon and got warm applause during pregame game introductions. .... Batum becomes the fourth Trail Blazer this season with 16 or more rebounds in a game, joining Aldridge, Lopez and Robinson. ... It was the first time this season that no player for the Blazers or their opponent had a player with at least 20 points. New Balance Outlet Italia . -- Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer, Colby Rasmus drove in two runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 9-4 on Saturday. New Balance In Offerta . On Sunday, head coach Patrick Roy said the teams leading scorer will skate at Mondays morning practice and the club will make a decision on his status for Game 6 at that point. http://www.newbalanceoutlet.it/ . The defending champions sent their preliminary list to FIFA on Tuesday, with coach Vicente del Bosque to announce the final 23-man squad on May 25. Costa is set to lead the attack in his native Brazil, with Atletico Madrid teammate David Villa and Chelseas Fernando Torres also included, while David de Gea replaces injured goalkeeper Victor Valdes. New Balance Scarpe Offerta .C. - The housecleaning continues for the B. New Balance Outlet On Line . The former Toronto FC designated player played three of his 15 professional seasons with the team.Scotland defence coach Matt Taylor says incoming boss Gregor Townsend should follow the blueprint of predecessor Vern Cotter. Glasgow coach Townsend takes over from the Kiwi next summer after the SRU confirmed Cotters contract would not be renewed at the conclusion of the 2017 Six Nations.Taylor works closely with both men - assisting Townsend at Glasgow while also helping Cotter prepare the Dark Blues - and believes the latter has put Scotland on the path to success Im lucky enough that Im in the Scotland set-up under Vern but also work with Gregor at Glasgow, said Australian-born Taylor who will remain Townsends No 2 with the national side.There hasnt been a formal plan drawn up [to ensure a smooth transition] but I know Gregor is on the phone to Vern a lot and they talk about different things. Vern Cotter will bow out at the end of the 2017 Six Nations I report back to Gregor too and tell him what were doing here in the Scotland camp and how were doing it. He recently said to me to make a note of anything that works well so we can continue with it going forward.Gregor is very detailed in his coaching so he is very conscious of things that work well and things that can be improved on. I would imagine he is only thinking about making small adaptations rather than wholesale changes.He will want to put his own spin on things as all new coaches do but hed be crazy to change everything, because were doing reasonably well. So there will be things that change, but also things that stay the same. Matt Taylor will join Townsend in the Scotland set-up next year Townsend could be left with a nasty hangover of the Cotter era, however, should Scotland lose out to Argentina on Saturday.ddddddddddddScotland - ranked ninth in the world, one place behind the Pumas - can overtake them with a win at Murrayfield. Defeat, however, could have a knock-on effect for their World Cup seeding hopes.The draw for Japan 2019 takes place next May and governing body World Rugby will use the rankings to calculate the seeding for the pool stage. Six months half price Upgrade to Sky Sports to watch Man Utd v Arsenal on Saturday and get the first six months half price If Scotland end up outside the top eight, they face the daunting prospect of having to overcome two major nations to make the quarter-finals.But Taylor said: We have talked about winning and the processes we need to win, but we havent said we need to win because of our ranking. We know in the back of our minds its important but so is winning every Test match.Youre right to say this game has more importance in that sense but does that add pressure by saying that to the players? Were not preparing any less but of course we understand it. Were just looking to win first and foremost. 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