Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge put in a superb individual performance, scoring 31 points and having a career-high 25 rebounds, to power the Western Conference-leading Trail Blazers to a 111-104 win over Houston on Thursday,

In the day's other game, Brooklyn beat the Los Angeles Clippers to give Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett a victory over their old Boston coach Doc Rivers.

PSV Eindhoven's dismal season reached a new low on Thursday by losing 1-0 at home to Chornomorets Odesa in the Europa League to become the biggest name to crash out of the competition.

Dynamo Kiev avoided the same fate thanks to a 3-1 win over Rapid Vienna, ensuring the Ukrainian giants joined Swansea, Slovan Liberec, Chornomorets, NK Maribor and Maccabi Tel Aviv in reaching the knockout stage on the final night of group play.

Michael Jordan's shoes from the famous flu game of the 1997 NBA Finals were sold for more than $100,000 in an online auction on Thursday.

The Nike Air Jordan XII shoes were owned by a Utah Jazz ball boy who befriended Jordan when the Chicago Bulls visited Salt Lake City. Jordan was playing with what he thought was the flu, but still led the Bulls to a key victory in the NBA Finals.

Even before leading the United States into next year's World Cup, Jurgen Klinsmann has been signed to stay on as the American coach for the 2018 World Cup.

Klinsmann agreed to a four-year contract extension through 2018, the U.S. Soccer Federation said on Thursday.

Queen Elizabeth II was so annoyed by police officers eating nuts laid out at Buckingham Palace that she marked a line on the bowl to monitor the level, jurors heard Thursday at Britain's tabloid phone hacking trial.

The unusual allegation was included in an email from then-News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman — who has been convicted of eavesdropping on the voice mails of royal staff — to his editor, Andy Coulson.

Sotheby's auction house in New York has agreed to return an ancient statue to Cambodia, ending a heated legal battle that began more than a year ago.

The agreement, signed Thursday by lawyers for Sotheby's, the consignor and the U.S. government, states that the auction house will transfer the statue to a representative of Cambodia in New York within 90 days.

Beyonce has announced and released an album on the same day.

Beyonce released her fifth self-titled album exclusively on iTunes early Friday.

Formula One team Force India has signed Mexican driver Sergio Perez to replace Paul di Resta.

The 23-year-old Perez was released by McLaren after the first of a multi-year deal but quickly found a new seat with the Indian team.

Sweden's most-capped player, midfielder Anders Svensson, is quitting the national team.

After scoring 21 goals in 148 matches for Sweden, the 37-year-old Svensson said Thursday "it's time to step aside and leave room for younger players who are knocking on the door to the national team."

A spokesman for Syria's main Western-backed rebel group has criticized the decision by the United States and Britain to suspend nonlethal aid to opposition fighters in northern Syria.

The U.S.-British decision reflected Western fears of the growing strength of al-Qaida-linked forces among the rebels. It came after some of the aid was seized by Islamic militants.