NEW ORLEANS -- Its Holiday season in New Orleans all right. One of the Pelicans primary players is back and already helping them win.Jrue Holiday scored 21 points in his first action this season, Anthony Davis had his latest stellar outing with 38 points, nine rebounds and four blocks, and the Pelicans beat the Portland Trail Blazers 113-101 on Friday night.I head a great first game, Holiday said. The thrill was there. It felt good, being a part of a team.Holiday made his season debut after missing the first 12 games to care for his wife, retired soccer star Lauren Holiday, who had brain surgery last month only weeks after giving birth to the couples first child, a daughter.He wound up playing just more than 23 minutes hitting an array of jumpers, including a 3, as well as driving floaters and layups. He finished with seven assists, none more crowd-pleasing than his crisp bounce-pass to a cutting Davis, who finished the play with a thunderous two-handed dunk.Holiday had been in constant contact with coaches and studying game video while on leave, so he wasnt surprised that he quickly got into the rhythm of the offense.There are some new faces around here, but at the same time its the same system, Holiday said. The part that I was really worried about was conditioning. I really thought that I was behind. Maybe I was just excited for this game. I felt like I could play forever.Terrence Jones added 15 points, and Tim Frazier had 12 for the Pelicans. New Orleans built the lead up to 20 in the fourth quarter and cruised to the finished. Theyve won three of five after an 0-8 start.Damian Lillard scored 27 points, and CJ McCollum 24 for Portland, which has lost three straight to fall to 7-7. Mason Plumlee added 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who never got closer than eight points in the second half.We obviously are not playing the best basketball right now, but we are still .500, said Portland forward Ed Davis, who had 11 rebounds in a starting role that required him to attempt to defend his Pelicans namesake. Its not like we are on an eight-game losing streak.We are not in panic mode, he added. Well be all right, man.TIP-INSTrail Blazers: Maurice Harkless scored 10 points, but went 2 of 7 from 3-point range, from where the Blazers went 12 of 34 as a team. ... Portland has scored 100 or more points in 12 of its first 14 games. ... The Blazers, which lost 126-109 in Houston on Thursday night, dropped to 3-4 on the road.Pelicans: Alvin Gentry reached his 800th career game as an NBA head coach. ... New Orleans won its second straight home game after starting 0-5 on its own floor. ... Center Alexis Ajinca sat out with a sore left shoulder.HOLIDAY CHEERThe crowd bellowed, Jruuuuue! as Holiday checked in, and he wasted no time getting involved, assisting on Jones layup the first time he handled the ball on the offensive end.Within four minutes on the court, Holiday scored five points to go with a rebound and assists, and even a block on Noah Vonlehs dunk attempt.Anthony Davis called Holiday instant offense.He comes in, makes great reads, makes plays for himself or others -- and also does it on the defensive end, Davis said. In my eyes, hes one of the top point guards in the league and it showed.DOMINANT DAVISDavis was making shots from all over the court, hitting a pair of 3s to go with usual leaners, floaters, layups and mid-range jumpers.The Pelicans made their first significant push in the final three minutes of the first half. Portland was down 51-47 after Plumlees 16-foot jumper, but Davis responded with a 16-footer of his own that sparked a 13-4 run to close out the half. Davis added six more points during the spurt, hitting a jumper, floater and spinning a reverse layup off the glass with McCollum climbing on his shoulders. Davis also rejected his third Lillard shot of the half, and New Orleans led 64-51 as the horn sounded to end the second quarter.NEW LOOKHoliday wore goggles as a precaution after missing the last nine games of last season because of an inadvertent elbow he took to the head, fracturing his orbital eye wall.He said he hasnt decided yet how long hell wear them.We won so Im probably going to play in them Saturday night, he said. I think I look dorky. Ive already been made fun of by half of the team. Thats OK as long as we get the win.UP NEXTTrail Blazers: Visit Brooklyn on Sunday.Pelicans: Host Charlotte on Saturday night. Jerome Boateng Bayern Munich Jersey . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Rafinha Bayern Munich Jersey . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. http://www.soccerfcbayernshop.com/kids-mario-gotze-bayern-munich-jersey/ . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal. Serge Gnabry Jersey . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Leon Goretzka Bayern Munich Jersey .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. LOS ANGELES -- The Clippers are playing stingy defense and having fun doing it.Blake Griffin had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Chris Paul added 19 points and Los Angeles rolled past the Portland Trail Blazers 111-80 on Wednesday night to improve to an NBA-best 7-1 with its fourth straight victory.When you play defense the way we have been, its a lot of fun, Griffin said. We enjoy getting stops and look forward to getting stops. Guys are just flying around, and even if someone makes a mistake, theres another guy to cover up for them. When you are playing basketball like that, its a blast.It was the second time the Clippers beat the Trail Blazers this season.This one was never close.The Clippers stunned Portland from the opening tip, shooting 59 percent in the first quarter. They built a 32-point lead in the first half, when Griffin had 17 points.Los Angeles bench opened the second quarter on a 14-2 run to go up 50-18 before extending the lead to 61-32 at halftime.We got our (rear ends) whupped, Blazers guard Damian Lillard said. They had a lot of energy and they wanted it more than we did. They hurt us on the glass and we didnt take anything away from them.Lillard, the NBAs second-leading scorer at 32.8 points per game, was held to eight. CJ McCollum, who was averaging 22.9 points, also scored eight for the Blazers.They didnt have anyone in double figures until Shabazz Napier hit a 3-pointer with under 2 minutes left. He led the team with 11 points.DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and nine rebounds and J.J. Redick added 10 points for the Clippers, who sat their starters for good at 3:54 of the third quarter while owning a 44-point lead.It was the fourth straight game that the Clippers had at least an 18-point lead in the first half.We kept telling each other to not play the score and respect the game, Jordan said of keeping up the defensive pressure. We wanted to make shots they took tough.Before the starters left, they began the quarter with a 17-3 run that stretched the Clippers lead to 78-35. Each of the five starters scored in thee spurt.dddddddddddd Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute each had a 3-pointer, and Jordan slammed down a two-handed, fast-break dunk off Griffins alley-oop pass.It was one of three signature dunks by Jordan in a period that ended with consecutive 3-pointers by reserves Marreese Speights and Austin Rivers, leaving the Clippers ahead 93-50.Los Angeles held Portland to 35 percent shooting. The Blazers shot just 6 of 30 on 3-pointers as their three-game winning streak was snapped.The Clippers beat us at both ends, coach Terry Stotts said. They were good at the rim, good on the free throw line, good at passing, good on defense, good in transition.TIP-INSTrail Blazers: They failed to score at least 100 points for the first time in nine games. ... They were held to 16 points in the first, a season low for a quarter. ... Portland was playing the second half of a back-to-back, having won at Phoenix by three points on Tuesday.Clippers: With his fifth rebound in the first quarter, Griffin reached 4,000 in 417 career games, the second-fastest player since 1983-84 to reach 8,500 points, 4,000 rebounds and 1,500 assists. Chris Webber did so in 408 games. ... Jordan played his 600th career game, joining Randy Smith (715) and Eric Piatkowski (616) as the only players in franchise history to do so.ALL INEveryone on Portlands roster saw action except Al-Farouq Aminu and Festus Ezeli, who are injured. All but Ed Davis scored. The only Clipper not to play was Paul Pierce, and all 12 of their players scored.SECOND UNITThe Clippers second unit was led by Speights with 12 points. The fourth was the only quarter won by the Blazers, who outscored the Clippers reserves 30-18.UP NEXTTrail Blazers: Host Sacramento on Friday, a team thats lost to the Blazers in six straight games and 10 of the last 12 matchups.Clippers: Visit Oklahoma City on Friday, the only team they have lost to so far. The Thunder won by two points in L.A. last week. ' ' '