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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Damian Lillard makes the first of his two annual trips to his hometown on Saturday night when the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Golden State Warriors.The goal: Set the stage for closing down Oracle Arena for the summer with a return visit in the playoffs.The Trail Blazers had a chance to do just that last May but lost three straight in Oakland in a 4-1 defeat in the Western Conference semifinals.Those were three of seven straight losses that Portland has endured in Oakland since Nov. 23, 2013.And those games -- especially the four in the regular season -- havent been close.The Warriors put a 128-112 and 136-111 thumping on the Trail Blazers in their two regular-season visits last season. Overall, Golden State has averaged a 16.8-point margin of victory in its four-game regular-season home run over Portland.If any player is capable of turning that around, its Lillard. After all, he had 20 points and nine assists as a rookie in the 2013 win, and he crushed the Warriors with 51 points in a 137-105 home win over Golden State last January.Unfortunately for the Trail Blazers, it seems recent wins over the two-time Western Conference champs have only inspired them to greater things. The Warriors responded to the 32-point shellacking last season with the subsequent 16- and 25-point home wins, followed by the 4-1 playoff triumph.Lillard often hasnt been at his best in front of family and old friends in Oakland. He did have a 38-point outing in his most recent regular-season visit last April, but that followed a 5-of-19, 17-point dud a month earlier when he missed nine of his 10 3-point attempts.The point guard enters Saturdays visit on a bit of a roll. Hed already had three 30-point games this month before exploding for 40, two off his season high, in Thursdays loss at Denver.Portland was coming off a 114-95 thrashing of the Oklahoma Thunder two nights earlier.We werent the same team that we have been the last few games, Lillard told reporters after the Denver loss.Warriors coach Steve Kerr, meanwhile, wasnt happy with his teams play Thursday night, either. But his team was good enough to win anyway, 103-90 at home over the New York Knicks.The game featured 36 consecutive Warriors baskets on which they were credited with assists. They finished with 41 assists on 45 hoops, the first team this season with an assist on more than 90 percent of its shots.That was the lone bright spot of the game, Kerr said to reporters afterward. They really look for each other. Thats a theme almost every night. Thats such a great quality to have as a team.The Warriors had 45 assists on 50 baskets in their 127-104 win at Portland last month.Lillard was the games top scorer with 31 points but missed 11 of his 19 shots from the field and registered a minus-29 plus/minus in his 32 minutes. NFL Jerseys Wholesale . Fellow centre Pavel Datsyuk remains out because of a concussion. Zetterberg has 11 goals and 19 assists for a team-high 30 points, and Datsyuk has a team-high 12 goals and 11 assists. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. http://www.cheapjerseys.trade/ . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Cheap Stitched Jerseys .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys . -- Whether Jeremy Hill deserves a prominent role in LSUs offence this early in the season is a matter for debate. STILLWATER, Okla. -- After a dominant outing by quarterback Mason Rudolph in Oklahoma States dramatic win over Pittsburgh, its clear his play will be key to the Cowboys success this season.Rudolph is coming off a game in which he threw for a school-record 540 yards, hitting on nine passes of 20-plus yards, in a 45-38 victory on Saturday.Now, as Oklahoma State (2-1) opens its Big 12 conference schedule next week at No. 16 Baylor (3-0) -- the site of Rudolphs first collegiate start in Nov. 2013 -- the junior will once again be the center of attention for the Cowboys offense.He had a great game for us last Saturday, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. Oklahoma State, traditionally, goes as their quarterback goes. He plays pretty good, we usually do pretty well, and if they play average, then were usually pretty average. So it really hasnt changed. Most teams are that way. But hes matured and understands. I thought he missed three, maybe four, throws last week, but overall, his reads and where he was at with the football, were pretty high percentage.Rudolphs ability to connect on the deep ball was crucial to the Cowboys victory over Pittsburgh, as he had five passes of 35 or more, with two additional long passes causing pass interference penalties. That includes the 91-yard touchdown pass to James Washington on the games first play from scrimmage and the 86-yard pass to Jhajuan Seales that set up the game-winning touchdown with 1:28 remaining.I think when youve got weapons like James and Seales and (Chris) Lacy and (Austin) Hays, its fun to go to work every day at practice and get those practice reps in and get comfortable with those certain routes, said the 6-5, 235-pound Rudolph, who now ranks seventh in the nation with 1,017 passing yards. Thats what we did all week and thats what weve done as long as Ive been here. Weve prided ourselves on being able to blow the top off of the offense and be accurate down the field.Just as Rudolph was quick to praise his receivers for being able to come down with the ball in those 1-on-1 situations, OSU offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich took it a step further, detailing all the factors that go into a successful llong pass.ddddddddddddYou cant throw deep balls against soft coverage, Yurcich pointed out. So you have to take what the defense is giving you. Secondly, you need good pass protection, third you need fast (receivers), and fourth, you need guys that can catch it. If you have all those things, then you have deep balls. Its everything.But it all starts with Rudolph being able to make the throw. He has demonstrated significant growth since the last time he stepped onto the field at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, developing from a nervous freshman into a respected team leader. Since then, he is 14-4 as a starter.Masons growth has been pretty consistent, Yurcich said. Theres not really one area where he had to dramatically improve, he was a pretty well-rounded quarterback when he got here. Hes a mature guy, has a lot of confidence in himself. I think his poise and his demeanor set himself up to be a successful quarterback, because he doesnt get too high and he doesnt get too low. He stays somewhere in the middle, and I think thats where the key to his success has been.Specifically, Yurcich noted several subtle areas of improvement for Rudolph, pointing out how his summer camp stint with former Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson helped his fundamentals, among other things. Mostly, though, he noted Rudolphs overall desire to be better.Hes really done a great job improving himself from a physical standpoint, Yurcich said. He knows theres still room to improve, so hes never going to think hes arrived, theres always a way to get better. Hes better in the film room, hes better at recognizing defenses, so overall, hes gotten better from just about every angle.Hes done a hell of a job and deserves a lot of credit for that, because a lot of that stuff is outside of the time that we have him -- its in the summer, its in the offseason, its on his own. Any quarterback that wants to be great has that in him, and thats great to see. Hes a great example and a great leader for everybody else to follow.---Online: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '