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HOUSTON -- Dwight Howard is happy and healthy in Houston, and coach Kevin McHale is pleased with how his superstar centre has played so far this season. Howard scored 23 points, James Harden and Chandler Parsons each had 19 and the Rockets used a big third-quarter run to pull away for a 109-94 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. "Hes just got a nice rhythm," McHale said of Howard. "When he goes fast there is a reason to go fast. When he goes slow, hes setting guys up. Basketball is such a game of rhythm and hes in a nice flow right now." Howard joined the Rockets in July after one tumultuous season with the Lakers. He said hes feeling good, but has been spending extra time after practice working on his post moves in an attempt to improve. "I love it here," he said. "Its a great place to be. Were having some early success, but were not happy with where were at. We want to continue to get better. We dont want to get satisfied." The Rockets are 17-9 and in second place in the Southwest Division behind San Antonio. The Bulls trailed by three with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third before their offence went cold. Houston took advantage of the scoring drought, using a 15-1 spurt to make it 83-66 entering the final period. "That was tremendous," Harden said. "Weve been striking out these last couple of games in closing quarters and Coach has been preaching to us to make sure we go on a little run to close every quarter out. Tonight we did it and weve got to be consistent with that." Chicago missed six shots and had five turnovers in that decisive stretch, while Omri Casspi scored seven points to power Houstons offence. The Rockets picked up the victory in the return of McHale, who had missed the previous three games following the death of his mother. Jimmy Butlers 20 points tied his season high and led the Bulls, who have dropped three in a row and 12 of 15. "Were losing, so mentally its tough," Chicagos Joakim Noah said. "When you lose, its not fun but we have to keep battling. The games keep coming and nobody feels sorry for us and we cant feel sorry for ourselves." Harden started despite spraining his left ankle Sunday night. He had scored at least 25 points in five consecutive games. Harden said he got stepped on again on Wednesday night and was very sore after the game. He figures hell feel worse on Thursday. "Probably," he said. "I try not to think about it. Well wait until tomorrow and see how it feels." Howard had nine rebounds and Harden had six assists and three steals. Bulls point guard Kirk Hinrich missed his third consecutive game because of back stiffness. D.J. Augustin, signed on Friday, made his first start for Chicago in Hinrichs place. He finished with eight points and nine assists. Luol Deng scored 18 points for Chicago. Carlos Boozer had 17 and Taj Gibson added 14. "At the end of the day it comes down to the fact that we have to get guys healthy," Boozer said. "It seems like we are always missing somebody, but well do the best we can to fight through it." With 11 1/2 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Deng scored Chicagos first basket since there were more than 5 minutes left in the third. Casspi scored four points soon after that to extend Houstons lead to 89-70. Patrick Beverley had 15 points, Casspi added 11 and Terrence Jones had a career-high six assists for Houston. The Bulls used a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 68-65 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the third. Augustin scored five points in that stretch and Butler added a 3-pointer. Casspi ended the run with a 3 and Howard tacked on a dunk a minute after that to start Houstons big surge. Deng got Chicago within eight points late in the second quarter, but Beverley extended Houstons lead to 57-46 at halftime when Deng fell down and he sank an off-balance 3 at the buzzer. Officials at first said it didnt count, but a review showed he got it off in time. NOTES: Houston PG Jeremy Lin missed his second straight game with back spasms. ... Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said he doesnt expect Hinrich to be out for an extended period. Davon Grayson Jersey . On Thursday, a judge said Varlamov could be released if he posted $5,000 bond and be allowed to travel with the team but he was ordered to stay away from his girlfriend, among other restrictions. Tyreek Hill Jersey . - The Green Bay Packers got back to work on Friday without star quarterback Aaron Rodgers. http://www.cheapchiefsjerseysauthentic.c...artey-jersey.ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at LeBron James and the Miami Heat winning their second straight NBA championship. Raymond Davison Jersey .com) - The Columbus Blue Jackets rewarded starting goaltender and pending restricted free agent Sergei Bobrovsky with a four-year contract extension on Friday. Harrison Butker Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost goes to the mound, the pitcher normally goes to the clubhouse to start icing his arm. Yost visited Jason Vargas on the mound in the ninth inning after Kyle Seagers two-out double, but opted to leave him in the game. Two batters later Dustin Ackley singled home Seager with the go-ahead run as the Seattle Mariners beat the Royals 2-1. "Vargas said, Im in great shape. I can get us through this inning, " Yost said. He could not. After Stefen Romeros infield bad hop single, which second baseman Pedro Ciriaco bobbled, Yost thought again of removing Vargas before facing Ackley, who entered in the seventh as a pinch runner. "It is lefty-on-lefty and Ackley hadnt swung the bat all day," Yost said. So he again stuck with Vargas. "If it works out, you are smart," Yost said. "If it doesnt, youre the dumbest guy in the stadium. I was the dumbest guy in the stadium." Ackleys single to right on a 2-2 count scored Seager. Ackley is 5 for 10 off Jason Vargas (7-3), who took the loss. "He (Yost) just asked me if I could get him, and I said, yeah, Vargas said. "There wasnt a whole lot more than that. I felt fine, I felt great in the ninth inning. Just a little bit of bad luck got us and I think we all know what happened after that." It was 91 degrees and humid for the first pitch, but Vargas did not use that as an excuse. "I mean, its hot," Vargas said. "I dont think theres any other way around it. I dont think you can feel sorry for yourself out there just because its hot. You know what you signed up for. You know what Kansas City summers are like." After retiring the first dozen Royals, Chris Young yielded a home run to Alex Gordon to leadoff the fifth to tie the score at 1. Young gave up back-to-back singles to Salvador Perez and Justin Maxwell after Gordons team-leading ninth home run. Perez, however, was out tryinng to stretch his into a double.dddddddddddd "Hes really tough to pick the ball up," said Eric Hosmer, who went 0-for-4. "Hes throwing 84-85 miles per hour, but he has such a long arm and his release point is so close to you thats it really hard to pick up. Hes been real consistent for those guys." The Mariners bunched three hits leading off the third with Cole Gillespies single to centre scoring Brad Miller, who began the inning with a bunt single and stopped at second on James Jones single. Young, a 35-year-old right-hander who has had three shoulder surgeries including one last June, did not did not sign with the Mariners until March 27 after the Washington Nationals released him in spring training. He was pulled after seven innings, allowing only the run on Gordons blast and three hits. Yoervis Medina (4-1) replaced Young and worked a flawless eighth, striking out two to pick up the victory. He has not allowed a run and only three hits in his past 10 outings, covering 101/3 innings. Fernando Rodney worked the ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities, getting Hosmer to ground into a game ending double play. Vargas gave up 10 hits and two runs in 82/3 innings, losing for the first time since May 19. Robinson Cano went 0-for-4 to snap his 21-game road hitting streak, the longest in the majors this season. NOTES: The Royals purchased the contract of OF Justin Maxwell from Triple-A Omaha and placed OF Nori Aoki on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin. The Royals transferred LHP Bruce Chen, who has a bulging disc, f