arly along with five layups in the sec

Anthony Davis was flat on his back, grabbing his right ankle and wincing in pain. And now the New Orleans Pelicans can only wonder if their best player will be ready for opening night.Davis sprained his ankle Wednesday in a preseason game against the Houston Rockets in Beijing, part of the NBA Global Games. The All-Star center was unable to play when last season ended because of shoulder and knee problems, and this season is presumably going to begin with him facing yet another injury issue.Its very frustrating, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said. Its very frustrating in that we cant seem to get a rhythm or we cant seem to put the team together because theres always someone missing.Davis has never played in more than 68 games in a regular season for New Orleans, missing an average of 17 contests in each of his first four seasons. He needed surgery on his left knee to fix a problem in March.Davis was scheduled for more evaluation on his ankle Thursday, when the team is back in New Orleans. The Pelicans 13-hour flight home from Beijing was scheduled to land around 2:40 a.m. Eastern time.New Orleans used 42 different starting lineups in 82 games last season -- only one of those lineups for more than six games. And this season is starting with an array of injury concerns for the Pelicans, even before Davis got hurt when he was going against Houston center Nene during the first quarter.Guard ETwaun Moore (right heel contusion) got hurt Wednesday as well. Tyreke Evans and Quincy Pondexter didnt even make the trip to China while dealing with the aftermath of knee surgeries, and starting point guard Jrue Holiday is out indefinitely to be with his wife, former U.S. soccer star Lauren Holiday -- who was diagnosed with a brain tumor while pregnant with the couples first child.The Holidays daughter was born last month, and Lauren Holiday is expected to have surgery to remove the benign tumor later this fall.---ROCKETS 116, PELICANS 104BEIJING -- James Harden scored 14 points and handed out eight assists for Houston, which remained unbeaten in four preseason games and swept two matchups with New Orleans on this trip to China.Bobby Brown led the Rockets with 18 points. Quinn Cook had 20 points for New Orleans, on 7 for 9 shooting.ROCKETS: Houston led by 25 points at halftime. ... Rookie Chinanu Onuaku had two points, notable that they came on free throws he shot underhanded -- something he did last season in college at Louisville as well.PELICANS: Langston Galloway had 16 points for New Orleans. ... First-round pick Buddy Hield missed all four of his shots and went scoreless. ... The Pelicans had 27 assists on 36 field goals.UP NEXT: Houston (4-0) plays host to Memphis on Saturday. New Orleans (1-3) goes to Atlanta on Tuesday.---SPURS 95, MAGIC 89ORLANDO, Fla. -- Pau Gasol scored 14 points for San Antonio, which won despite shooting 39 percent.LaMarcus Aldridge and Bryn Forbes each added 12 for the Spurs. Evan Fournier led all scorers with 20 for Orlando, while Jeff Green scored 11 for the Magic.SPURS: Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard both got the night off. ... San Antonio held Orlando without a field goal for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter while pulling away.MAGIC: Bismack Biyombo had nine points and 11 rebounds. ... Orlando committed 23 turnovers. ... Aaron Gordon and Nik Vucevic each grabbed 10 rebounds, neither playing more than 21 minutes. ... Serge Ibaka made his debut with the Magic, scoring seven points in 20 minutes.UP NEXT: San Antonio (3-1) hosts Miami on Friday. Orlando (0-3) hosts Indiana on Friday.---PACERS 101, BUCKS 83EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Indiana outscored Milwaukee 49-12 over the final 17 minutes of the first half, going into the break with a 62-31 lead and cruising from there.Rodney Stuckey led the Pacers with 21 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 points, six assists and five rebounds in 24 minutes for Milwaukee.BUCKS: Jabari Parker, John Henson and Michael Carter-Williams each scored 11 points. ... The Bucks were plus-12 when Henson was on the floor.PACERS: Paul George (illness) got the night off. ... Stuckey was 4-for-4 from 3-point range. ... Jeff Teague scored 15 points and Lavoy Allen finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. ... Al Jefferson grabbed 10 rebounds, all defensive, in 21 minutes.UP NEXT: Milwaukee (2-1) hosts Chicago on Saturday. Indiana (3-1) hosts former coach Frank Vogel and Orlando on Friday.---TIMBERWOLVES 105, NUGGETS 88LINCOLN, Neb. -- Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Shabazz Muhammad each scored 18 points for Minnesota, and the Timberwoves pulled away in the second half.Wilson Chandler scored 16 points for Denver, which got 14 from Jamal Murray.NUGGETS: Denver shot 15 percent (3-20) from 3-point range and committed 25 turnovers. ... The Nuggets were outscored 55-38 in the middle two quarters.TIMBERWOLVES: Ricky Rubio had eight assists. ... Towns had eight rebounds and Muhammad shot 7-for-10 in 19 minutes. ... Minnesota shot 38 free throws in the game, 31 of those in the first half.UP NEXT: Denver (2-2) hosts Golden State on Friday. Minnesota (2-1) plays Miami in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday.Authentic Custom Blazers Jersey . The showiest items on Calgarys lot were forwards Mike Cammalleri and Lee Stempniak. Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Custom Blazers T-shirts . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. http://www.customblazersjersey.com/ . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Custom Terry Porter Jersey . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. Wholesale Custom Blazers Shirts . -- Quarterback Will Finch threw for 252 yards and three touchdowns, and Yannick Harou rushed in two scores as the No. MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The Grizzlies have repeatedly been asked who will take the game-winning shot since the Rudy Gay trade on Jan. 30. Mike Conley has been the answer during the playoffs. The point guard scored 13 of his 26 points Tuesday night in the fourth quarter, helping the Grizzlies beat Oklahoma City 99-93 and even this Western Conference semifinal at 1-1. He also had 10 rebounds and nine assists to join Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Baron Davis as the only players with such a performance in a road playoff game in the past 25 years. "After we lost Rudy, it was tough," Conley said. "We didnt know who was going to be that guy down the stretch. Ive kind of had to assume that role, grow into it and live and learn from it. Sometimes I make shots, sometimes I dont. Im kind of getting used to it." Conley has been at his best over the past four games for Memphis, averaging 20.5 points with 5.5 rebounds and 6.3 assists as the Grizzlies finished off the Clippers in the first round and got the split in Oklahoma City. His biggest shot was a 3-pointer with 1:58 left that put Memphis ahead to stay in Game 2 followed by an 18-foot jumper. If not for a Tony Allen miss late, Conley would have had a triple-double. "I take that personally," Thunder guard Reggie Jackson said. "I almost gave the guy a triple-double. I cant let that happen again. I feel the great players always take things personally -- the match-ups -- and like Ive said since day one, I want to be great. So, I have to do a better job of slowing him down and not letting the head of the snake bite us next game." Game 3 is Saturday in Memphis. Since the trade, Conley said hes worked on handling both the blame that comes with missing shots along with the attention that comes with being the guy everyone looks to at the end of games. Its been an adjustment for a six-year veteran long accustomed to distributing the ball and playing hard on defence. He led the NBA in total steals this season with a career-high 174. Part of his learning curve also included not getting too excited with the clock running down and the team needing a key bucket.dddddddddddd "I think thats helped me be more calm down the stretch and realizing situations and being patient," Conley said Thursday after practice. He started blossoming as a key scorer since the All-Star break. Conley led the Grizzlies after the break with the best scoring stretch of his career as he led the team in scoring 10 of their final 17 games. He scored at least 20 points in 12 of those games, averaging 17.6 points in March and 17 in April. Its why Allen believes Conley is among the leagues top five point guards. "Hes been doing everything," Allen said. "Assists, points, rebounds, steals and most importantly hes winning." Conley definitely has been more aggressive. Grizzlies centre Marc Gasol said Conley doesnt have to take 20 shots a game, though the guard hit 11 of 22 from the floor in Game 2. Coming off screens and forcing the Thunder defence to play honest also is a big part of what they need. "Im really proud of him, but were not satisfied. Im not," Gasol said. "The one position to me, one of the toughest ones to play because everyones always looking up to you, and we put a lot of pressure, at least I am, I put a lot of pressure on Mike and Im really hard on Mike a lot of times. But he knows I love him, and hes always the best and I expect more." The Thunder saw Conley in 2011 when these teams went seven games in the Western semifinals before Oklahoma City won. Oklahoma City forward Nick Collison said Conley has gotten better since then. He sees Conley being aggressive in his decisions passing off pick-and-rolls or attacking when Gasol and Randolph draw more attention. Thunder coach Scott Brooks isnt happy Conley got so many chances to score in the paint early along with five layups in the second half. Brooks said they knew going into this series that Conley is a good player. "Hes a problem that we have to make sure that we control," Brooks said. AP Sports Writer Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City, Okla., contributed to this report. ' ' '