the goal would immediately have been disallowed and the penalty assess

MINNEAPOLIS -- The banged-up Minnesota Timberwolves were just what the Portland Trail Blazers needed. Vapormax Bianche Ingrosso . Having lost six of their previous 10 games, and with a date against first-place Oklahoma City looming on Tuesday, the Blazers took advantage of a Timberwolves team missing three of its best players. "We felt that way even if they had all their guys," LaMarcus Aldridge said after scoring 26 points to lead Portland past Minnesota 117-110 Saturday night. "If they had those guys, it definitely wouldve been different, but this was a must-win game either way." Aldridge scored 16 of his points in the second half and Wesley Matthews added 21 as the Blazers held off a tougher-than-expected Wolves team missing starters Kevin Love, Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin. Just minutes before tipoff, the Wolves announced Love -- their All-Star power forward -- would miss the game with a bruised left quadriceps sustained in Friday nights loss in New Orleans. Shortly before that, Martin was ruled out indefinitely with a broken left thumb, also suffered against the Pelicans. Combined with Pekovic, the trio accounts for an average of 60 points and 25 rebounds per game. "It takes a little edge off the game," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "We found out Kevin Martin wasnt going to play early and then Love wasnt going to play. I think that deflates the balloon a little bit, you kind of get yourself up for guys like that." But the Blazers knew they couldnt afford to let up against the scrappy Wolves, who trailed for most of the first half but led 82-75 with 1:50 to play in the third quarter. Corey Brewer led Minnesota with 26 points and Ricky Rubio scored a career-high 25. Minnesota led 87-85 with 9:48 to play in the game before Portland went on a 13-1 run to put the game away. Minnesota pulled within 101-96 with 3:29 to play before Matthews scored five straight and Robin Lopez hit a layup to put the game out of reach. The Wolves got 19 points from Chase Budinger, 14 from Dante Cunningham and a season-high 12 from rookie Shabazz Muhammad. "It doesnt matter whos out," coach Rick Adelman said. "The next guy steps up, thats how you have to approach it. You cant worry about whos not playing, worry about who is playing, and make the best out of the situation. I thought we played well tonight." Aldridge had six points during Portlands game-deciding 13-1 run in the fourth quarter. That run came with Rubio on the bench. Rookie C.J. McCollum had a season-high 19 points and Nicolas Batum added 15 for the Blazers, who finished their four-game road trip 2-2. "We were really counting on our bench tonight because I really wanted to rest the starters," Stotts said. "They all played a lot of minutes last night and the first half the bench really gave us a boost. We were able to make a little ground with them in the game." Minnesotas key starters also got a rest -- in their street clothes. "Its tough having all of those guys out," Budinger said. "Those are huge impact guys for us and were hoping Kevin was able to go but he was really struggling and hurting. He tried to get himself going but just couldnt do it." NOTES: During halftime, Love told The AP he hopes to play on Monday night against Houston. ... The Blazers played a second-straight game without backup point guard Mo Williams, who left the team Friday for family reasons. Stotts did not have an update on when Williams might return. ... Adelman is assuming Pekovic will not return until after the All-Star break. ... Love bought a full-page advertisement in Sundays Minneapolis Star Tribune thanking fans for voting him an All-Star starter. "Just my way of paying tribute to the fans," he said at halftime. Vapormax Bianche In Offerta . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. Vapormax Plus Scontate .com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. http://www.vapormaxscontateoutlet.it/ .The result meant Juventus will spend the winter break three points clear of Roma after the league leader beat Cagliari 3-1 on Thursday.Milan remained seventh ahead of the rest of the weekends fixtures, but was provisionally two points behind third-place Napoli in their duel for the final Champions League spot.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, I have watched thousands of games but I have never seen this. In the first period of Mondays game between the Penguins and Sabres, Pittsburghs Tanner Glass accidentally high-sticked a Buffalo player along the boards, then the puck came back to him. He closed in a bit on the net and ripped a shot which Ryan Miller deflected into the corner - there was another Penguin there and a couple of Buffalo players. I am not sure at what point the referees arm was raised, but Fleury raced to the bench for another attacker. Play was then whistled down and Glass received a high-sticking penalty. My question is: had Glass scored on his shot would the goal have counted? Does somehow the intent to blow the whistle factor in here? Thanks for any clarification you can offer, Kerry. John DickieLondon, Ontario Hi John:Perhaps you werent even born in 1987 but a similar incident happened to yours truly during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that year at the Montreal Forum in the hotly contested Battle of Quebec between the Canadiens and the Nordiques. I raised my arm for a delayed penalty and got caught up watching the follow-up action to where the infraction had occurred and while the "offending team" had possession of the puck. Seeing that my arm was raised to call a penalty with his team in possession of the puck the offending team goalie raced out of his crease for an extra attacker. A change of puck possession with no whistle blown resulted in an attack toward the unguarded cage and caused the goalie to throw on the brakes half way to his players bench. Through instinct and a quick replay in my brain I recognized that the offending team had possession of the puck at the time of the infraction and I immediately blew the whistle to assess the penalty. It was a minor embarrrassment for me but no damage was done as result of my slow whistle. Nike Vapormax Scontate Uomo. That is what occurred in Monday nights Sabres-Pens game when the referee in the neutral zone, looking down the wall, did a great job in catching the quick high-stick by Tanner Glass to the chin of Tyler Ennis of the Sabres. The referee remained focused on Ennis to determine if an injury had resulted as the Buffalo player grabbed his chin. In that moment of time the shot on goal was taken by Tanner Glass of the Penguins. As Ryan Miller made the save and steered the rebound to the corner behind his net Marc-Andre Fleury had already bolted from his net for an extra attacker! The referee, like me, recognized that the offending team had puck possession following the infraction and stopped play to assess the penalty. If the shot by Glass had gotten past Miller and entered the net the goal would immediately have been disallowed and the penalty assessed as per rule 78.5 (xi)—During the delayed calling of a penalty, the offending team cannot score unless the non-offending team shoots the puck into their own net. This shall mean that a deflection off an offending player or any physical action by an offending player that may cause the puck to enter the non-offending teams goal, shall not be considered a legal goal. Play shall be stopped before the puck enters the net (wherever possible) and the signaled penalty assessed to the offending team. (xii) When the Referee deems the play has been stopped, even if he had not physically had the opportunity to stop play by blowing his whistle. The answer to your question John is clearly found in rule 78.5. Putting aside any minor embarrassment a referee might feel for not blowing his whistle at the appropriate time, no goal can result on a delayed penalty or a delayed off-side call (even after the attacking team has tagged up at the blue line) unless the non-offending team shoots the puck into their own goal. ' ' '