azers: The sellout crowd was enthusiastic, even giving Lillard a standing ovation for an early 3-pointer that put

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Diana Taurasi and her U.S. teammates knew theyd be in for a test against Serbia.The result was another blowout victory, but the Americans couldnt put it on cruise control like they had in their first two wins.Taurasi scored 22 of her Olympic-best 25 points in the first half to help the U.S. beat Serbia 110-84 on Wednesday and advance to the quarterfinals.The U.S. had easily routed Senegal and Spain in its first two games, winning by an average of 52.5 points, but it had a harder time against Serbia, which came out shooting well from behind the arc and led 17-16,?the latest the Americans have trailed in the Olympics.We knew it was going to be tough, Taurasi said. We played them in Turkey in 2014 and it was our toughest game at the world championship. They are the European champions for a reason.Taurasi took over and scored nine points, including two 3-pointers, during a 15-4 run to close the opening period.Usually Diana doesnt assert herself like she has the first three games, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. Usually waiting for the game to come to her, get everybody else involved. These first three games of the tournament shes come out and taken over right from the beginning.Taurasi is averaging 17.7 points, her highest ever in the four Olympics shes played in.Breanna Stewart added 17 points, and Tina Charles finished with 15 after getting going in the second quarter to help the U.S. extend the advantage to 22 at the half. Taurasi had five 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, equaling her Olympic team record. She broke the mark early in the third quarter and finished the game with six 3s to set a new U.S. Olympic mark.Caroline Williams, first-team PR, told me that going into halftime that I needed one, so I shot it, Taurasi said. If I wasnt open I probably wouldnt have shot it. On this team you really got to be open to shoot. Today I thought I took two bad ones, and I felt really bad about it.While Serbia could never recover from the halftime deficit, the Serbians did make the U.S. work on both ends of the floor. They kept pace with the U.S. in the third quarter, being outscored by only one point. Serbia finished the game 12-for-20 from behind the 3-point arc.The U.S. (3-0) has been scoring at a record pace, topping 100 points for the third consecutive game. The Americans have never done that in the Olympics and are on pace to break the 102.4 points a game the 1996 team averaged en route to the gold medal that started this run of five straight that the U.S. is currently on. The victory was the 44th straight in the Olympics for the Americans, who were 26-for-26 from the foul line.Serbia has had a disappointing first Olympics after winning the Eurobasket last year. The Serbians lost their first two games by a combined eight points, including blowing an 18-point lead against Canada. Now they sit at 0-3 and in danger of not making it to the quarterfinals. Serbia must win its final two games to have any chance of advancing.They are the best team in the world, but I thought we did some positive things and we could learn from some things we did well, said Danielle Page, who scored 15 points. Our goal is to get to the quarterfinals and see what we can do there.Page, who played college basketball at Nebraska, joined the Serbian team after the coach saw her play in a French league.I got really lucky, she saw me play and wondered if Id be interested in a passport and dangled the Olympic dream in front of me. I was very interested.Next up for the U.S. is Canada on Friday. The Canadians are also undefeated so far after beating Senegal 68-58 to clinch a quarterfinal berth for the second straight Olympics. In the only other game of the day, Spain beat China 89-68. Air Max 180 Canada . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Air Max 97 Cheap Canada . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/ . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Nike Air Max 95 Canada . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Nike Air Max Clearance Canada . By having more great seasons. Manning was the only unanimous choice for the 2013 Associated Press NFL All-Pro team Friday. PORTLAND, Ore. -- Stephen Curry had just five points in the first half against the Portland Trail Blazers. He knew the second half was going to be different from his first shot.You see one go in and thats all you really need confidence-wise, he said. That first shot? It was a 3-pointer.Curry finished with 28 points, 23 in the third quarter alone, and the Golden State Warriors beat the Trail Blazers 127-104 on Tuesday night to extend their early season winning streak to three games.Ian Clark came off the bench with a career-high 22 points for the Warriors, who have rebounded after a season-opening loss to San Antonio. Kevin Durant added 20 points and Golden State rested its starters down the stretch after leading by as many as 35 points.Damian Lillard had 31 points for the Blazers, who fell in five games to the Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals last season. Playing the first of a back-to-back, Portland coach Terry Stotts also went to his reserves with eight minutes left.The Blazers beat the Warriors 137-105 in Portland last February, with Oakland native Lillard scoring a career-high 51 points against his hometown team. It was one of just nine losses for the Warriors. Lillard averaged 36.5 points against the Warriors last season.They played their game. In the first half, we were right there. In the second half, they stuck with it, Lillard said. Their defense was more consistent than ours, and their offense was more free than ours was. We needed to have more of a presence.Lillard scored with 0.3 seconds left to give the Blazers a 115-113 win at Denver on Saturday. He finished with 37 points.Clark, who averaged fewer than 3.0 points in Golden States first three games, scored 16 in the first half. Clarks 3-pointer midway through the second quarter extended Golden States lead to 47-38. Clark hit his first 3-point attempt after going 1 for 7 from the perimeter in the Warriors first three games.Lillards 3-pointer pulled the Blazers within 55-51 but Golden State led 59-53 at the break. Lillard finished the first half with 22 points in just under 18 minutes.CJ McCollum, who finished with 16 points, made consecutive 3s to pull Portland within 76-69.Curry made a layup and a free throw to put the Warriors up 94-71 late in the third quarter as the game slipped out of reach for Portland.Ive never seen anybody quite like him who can turn it on that quickly and turn a horrible game into a brilliant game, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.dddddddddddd Thats what makes Steph who he is.Golden State was coming off a 106-100 victory over Phoenix on Sunday.TIP-INSWarriors: Kerr was asked pregame if the team was in danger of looking past Portland to the Thunder and Durants first game against his former team on Thursday. I dont know how youd look past the Blazers, Kerr said. ... Durant scored 94 points in his first three games as a Warrior. Only Wilt Chamberlain had more, with 120 points in his first three games with the Philadelphia Warriors.Trail Blazers: The sellout crowd was enthusiastic, even giving Lillard a standing ovation for an early 3-pointer that put Portland up 14-7. ... Lillard has scored at least 25 points against the Warriors in seven straight games.QUOTABLE:I told him he looked like Riley Curry in the first half and Steph Curry in the second half, Kerr said about his postgame chat with Curry. For the record, Riley Curry is 4 years old.WHO IS THAT GUY?:Jake Layman came off the bench in the fourth quarter for the Blazers, essentially in garbage time, and scored 17 points in eight minutes, including five 3-pointers.Hes the first Blazer ever to make five 3s in a debut, and finished one shy of the franchise record in a quarter. He had the most points for a first game with the Blazers since Lillard had 23 as a rookie in 2012.Layman was a second-round pick in last Junes NBA draft out of Maryland.In the position Im in, no matter when you go in youve got to play hard. Thats what was going through my mind, Layman said.AND HOW ABOUT CLARK?In his third fourth year out of Belmont, Clark averaged 3.0 points and 7.9 minutes in 119 games with one start going into this season. He was 8 of 8 from the field against the Blazers, becoming the first Golden State reserve to hit at least eight field goals in a game without a miss since Chris Mullin in a game against Milwaukee in 1996.BEEN A LONG TIME:Durant extended his streak of games with at least 20 points to 68, which is the longest since Michael Jordans 69-game streak in 1990-91, according to the Warriors.UP NEXTWarriors: Host the Thunder on Thursday, reuniting Durant with his former team.Trail Blazers: Open a three-game trip against the Suns on Wednesday night. ' ' '