PORTLAND, Ore. http://www.intermilanfcteamshop.com/Authentic-Juan-Jesus-Jersey/ . -- The semifinal victory over the rival Seattle Sounders was barely over when Portland Timbers supporters started chanting "Beat Salt Lake!" Making their first trip to the playoffs, the Timbers held off the late-charging Sounders 3-2 Thursday night to advance to Major League Soccers Western Conference final. The Timbers, who won the semifinal series against the rival Sounders 5-3 on aggregate, will face Real Salt Lake in the first of the two-leg conference final on Sunday in Salt Lake. RSL defeated the two-time defending MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 Thursday night to win the series 2-1 on aggregate. "Now were locked in," Timbers midfielder Will Johnson said. "Were in the zone." The victory extended Portlands winning streak at Jeld-Wen Field to 16 games. The Timbers went 11-1-5 at home in the regular season with their lone loss on March 9 to Montreal. They had an MLS record 11 shutouts at home this season. Portland pressured Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning from the start. Rodney Wallace booted a shot that went just wide in the third minute, and Darlington Nagbe came close but went wide again in the 15th. Portland broke through when Johnson converted a penalty kick in the 29th minute to go up 1-0. Diego Valeri, who had appeared to injure his shin when he was fouled hard by Seattle defender Marc Burch, came back a few minutes later to score from a seemingly impossible angle just before the break. Valeri, who blew kisses to the crowd after his goal, was Portlands top scorer this season with 10 goals and 13 assists. "We were hoping to get out of the first half at 0-0," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "That one coming right before halftime, the goal right before halftime, the goal right after halftime, is what killed us at the end of the day. For the first 45 minutes, hats off to them, they were much better than us." Futty Danso added a header for Portland in the 47th minute. The Sounders put up a fight, and DeAndre Yedlins goal in the 74th minute avoided the shutout. Eddie Johnson added another three minutes later to close the gap. The Sounders have been to the playoffs in each of the last five seasons. The Timbers, who joined MLS in 2011, are making their first trip. "Were getting closer," Portland coach Caleb Porter said. "And this team genuinely believes we have a realistic shot at this." The intense rivalry between the two clubs dates to 1975 when both were part of the North American Soccer league. For nearly a decade the teams have battled with the Vancouver Whitecaps for the supporter-created Cascadia Cup. While it was sweet to defeat the Sounders, Johnson said the Timbers didnt pay much attention to the hype. "To us, it was just another team that was in our way of getting to the next round," Johnson said. In the opening game on Saturday in Seattle, Ryan Johnson flicked in a header early in the first half and Nagbe added a goal in the second for the Timbers. Osvaldo Alonso scored late for the Sounders, who needed to win Thursday by at least two goals to become the fourth team to accomplish the comeback since the league went to the two-leg, aggregate-goal format for its conference semifinals in 2003. Seattle was without forward Lamar Neagle due to yellow card accumulations, but Yedlin started despite an ankle injury and forward Obafemi Martins was listed as a reserve after struggling with a groin injury. The Timbers finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference at 14-5-15 overall. Their 23-point improvement from last season is the biggest turnaround in MLS history. The Sounders, who were 15-12-7, defeated the Colorado Rapids in the knockout round to advance to the semifinals. Schmid said he was aware that some Seattle supporters were calling for a coaching change. "I dont want to walk away. I know theres probably people out there that would like me to walk away," he said. "I think theres a good base of talent, theres a good base of people we can work with next year, but theres improvements, and theres changes we have to make."http://www.intermilanfcteamshop.com/Authentic-Hernanes-Jersey/ . The Pacers rallied from 17 points down in the first half and almost wiped out another double-digit deficit after halftime, but had the same offensive troubles late that plagued them early in the game. Paul George had 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pacers, who stayed a game and a half up on Miami for the lead in the Eastern Conference after the Heat lost in overtime to Chicago.http://www.intermilanfcteamshop.com/Authentic-Ivan-Perisic-Jersey/ . PETERSBURG, Fla.The Los Angeles Clippers will try to knot their Western Conference playoff series with the Golden State Warriors on Monday night when the two teams collide at Staples Center. The Warriors stole home-court advantage with a 109-105 victory Saturday afternoon. Klay Thompson tallied 22 points and seven rebounds, while David Lee had 20 points and 13 rebounds. Harrison Barnes scored 14 with eight boards off the bench for Golden State, while leading scorer Stephen Curry was limited to 14 points with seven assists and seven turnovers. "I am proud of my guys," said Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. "Were not going to quit. We had a tremendous will. This series is far from over." Chris Paul flirted with a triple-double for Los Angeles, depositing 28 points with eight assists and seven rebounds in the disappointing setback. He helped bring the Clippers back into the contest, but made some critical mistakes late. J.J. Redick added a playoff career-high 22 points and DeAndre Jordan scored 11 and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. Blake Griffin, an MVP candidate this season, was plagued by foul trouble for most of the game. He managed 16 points before he fouled out after just 19:14 of action. "I kept putting myself in a bad situation by fouling," Griffin said. "I have to do a better job. I have to play smarter. I think some of us, including myself, wanted it too much. We have to relax." The Warriors were in front through most of the second half, but Paul buried a pair of 3-pointers to tie the contest. It was knotted at 105-105 when Golden States Draymond Green worked his way to the free throw line with 24 seconds left and made both. The Clippers used their final timeout and put the ball in their All-Star Pauls hands, but a hard double team forced Paul to lose it out-of-bounds, although a foul couldve been called. After initially ruling Clippers ball, officials went to the monitors and quickly overturned the call, handing it back to Golden State. It appeared to be a classic case of the refereees electing not to call a foul, instead, letting the team retain possession. http://www.intermilanfcteamshop.com/Authentic-Gary-Medel-Jersey/. While the replay was used correctly by the officials, the NBA acknowledged a foul shouldve been called. "Just prior to the ball going out-of-bounds, Paul was fouled by Green and Paul should have been granted two free throws. Contact preceding out-of-bounds calls is not a reviewable matter," Rod Thorn, NBA President, Basketball Operations said in a statement. Barnes then made 1-of-2 from the stripe, leaving the door open for Los Angeles, but Paul was intentionally fouled and the 86 percent career foul shooter missed both. Green could have put the game away, but he too missed two free throws with 6.8 seconds to play. On the second miss, the Clippers Darren Collison chased down the rebound and stepped out of bounds. Thompson then took his turn at the stripe and made 1-of-2, sealing the outcome. "We didnt play very well," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. "We were in foul trouble most of the game. We played hard but a lot of times I think we lost our trust." There were no fireworks that marred three of the four regular-season meetings between the teams. For the Warriors, who pulled off an upset of the Denver Nuggets in the first round last postseason, it was a great win as they were not immune from foul trouble. Andre Iguodala, a stout defender, fouled out in the fourth quarter after around 20 minutes of action. Golden State is already without its defensive anchor, center Andrew Bogut, who fractured a rib and is out indefinitely. "Maybe being short-handed focused on that a little bit more," said Lee. "We feel like this is two very good basketball teams, were a little bit short- handed so our goal tonight was to come out aggressive and to come out and hit first. That didnt mean get down 10 to one or whatever happened, but thats the way it worked but we feel like we have enough players to win this series and just try to be aggressive." This series shifts to Oracle Arena for Game 3 on Thursday night. Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys ' ' '
