Trail Blazers even series with Rockets

Brandon Roy scored 42 points and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Houston Rockets, 107-103, on Tuesday night at Portland, Ore., to even their playoff series at one game apiece.

Aaron Brooks led a late charge and finished with 23 points for Houston, which has not made it out of the first round since 1997. Von Wafer came off the bench to score 21.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and 12 rebounds for Trail Blazers, who had never dropped the first two games of a playoff series at home and played one of their most physical games of the season.

Rockets reserve center Dikembe Mutombo suffered a strained left knee in the first quarter and left the court on a stretcher.

Mutombo appeared to get tangled with Greg Oden and came down hard. He was prone on the court under the for several moments before he was taken from the court.

Cleveland 94, Detroit 82 -- The Pistons couldn’t contain LeBron James again. And this time, they didn’t stop his teammates until it was too late.

James, showing no regard for a defensive plan Detroit spent three days preparing for him, scored 29 points and Mo Williams had 21 as the host Cavaliers withstood a stirring comeback to open a 2-0 lead over the visiting Pistons in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Delonte West scored 20 and Zydrunas Ilgauskas 12 for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who built a 29-point lead in the fourth but lost their edge and let the Pistons get to within seven in the closing minutes before finally putting Detroit away.

“We lost our focus,” Williams said. “We all knew it. But it’s nothing to get overly concerned about. I don’t think it will happen again.”

Richard Hamilton scored 17 and Rodney Stuckey had 14 for the Pistons.

James had 13 rebounds, six assists and a windmill dunk before pulling on his warmups and sitting the first 4:45 of the fourth quarter.

But as Cleveland’s star was resting up for Game 3 on Friday night at Auburn Hills, Mich., the Pistons, showing more fight than they had in two games, closed to within 14 and forced Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown to put James and Cleveland’s other starters back in.

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Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, who was named NBA defensive player of the year, said the discomfort in his scratched eyes is minimal and he’ll be ready for Game 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers tonight. . . . Boston Celtics forward Leon Powe will be out the rest of the playoffs because of a torn ligament in his left knee. Powe, who is a free agent at the end of this season, will have surgery and spend the next 9-12 months recovering.