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Tehama Tracker Friday's results NBA Kings Houston Evans: 27 points, 5 assists Hickson: 8 points Thursday's results GIRLS HOOPS Red Bluff Lassen 57 69 Lily Brose: 21 points, 7 rebs Lottie Jones: 16 points, 7 rebs Cori Schatz: 9 points, 4 rebs BOYS SOCCER Willows Los Molinos GIRLS SOCCER Corning Central Valley Nicole Mason: 2 goals, assist Viviana Morales: goal Mayra Sanchez: goal Laura Madera: assist Caitlin McCoy: assist Saturday's games WRESTLING at Oak Ridge Tourney at Battle of the Border at Lakeport Tourney NFL Playoffs New Orleans 49ers Denver New England NBA Warriors Charlotte Kings Dallas NHL San Jose Columbus 4 p.m. CSNC Sunday's games NFL Playoffs Houston Baltimore N.Y. Giants Green Bay NBA Warriors Detroit NHL San Jose Chicago 4 p.m. CSNC Monday's games NBA Kings Minnesota Kings hire English SACRAMENTO (AP) — The Sacra- mento Kings have hired NBA Hall of Famer Alex English as an assistant coach. Coach Keith Smart said in a state- ment announcing the hiring Friday that having a former elite player on the staff will be especially good for the current players. English comes to the Kings after spending seven seasons as an assis- tant coach and director of player development with the Toronto Rap- tors. The eight-time All-Star is the NBA's 13th all-time leading scorer with 25,613 points. Follow us on Twitter: @TehamaSports 5 p.m. CSNC 3 p.m. CSNB 10 a.m. CBS 1:30 p.m. FOX 4 p.m. CSNB 6 p.m. CSNC SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Drew Brees piled up points, yards and acco- lades in a record-setting season for the New Orleans Saints. Much of the time, Alex Smith did just enough to get the San Francisco 49ers back in the play- offs for the first time in nine years while a dominant defense and kicking game did the rest. Everybody is curious to see which of the contrasting styles works best in a classic playoff matchup. Does that old notion that defense wins championships still hold up these days? ''We're going to find out,'' 49ers punter Andy Lee said. Brees and the Saints (14-3) come to sold-out Candlestick Park on Saturday afternoon riding a nine-game winning streak after gaining 600 yards in each of their last two games, including a playoff-record 626 yards in last Satur- day night's 45-28 win over the Lions. Brees threw for 466 yards and com- pleted 33 of 43 passes. Since the merg- er in 1970, a team had gained 600 yards in a game only 11 times in the regular season or playoffs before the Saints did it the past two weeks. The San Francisco defense knows it will have to keep Brees off the field and pressure him at every chance to slow down these Saints. ''They're built a little bit differently. They're typically a lot bigger, they're more physical,'' Brees said. ''You look at them statistically, No. 1 against the run, they're putting all kinds of pres- sure on the quarterback. ... They rarely miss tackles.'' The fact that Lee is such an impor- tant figure for the 49ers shows just how different these teams are. The Saints didn't punt once in their playoff open- er. San Francisco (13-3) also relied on David Akers' single-season NFL record of 44 field goals to return to the playoffs under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh. The 49ers stunned the New York Giants 39-38 at home in the NFC wild-card game back in January 2003. ''This is a game where the better defense will definitely win the game,'' New Orleans linebacker Jo-Lonn Dun- bar said. ''It's about us stopping them from doing whatever they want to do. They have to play a different brand of ball and we have to play good in all three phases of the game.'' There have been several noteworthy playoff games featuring teams with opposing styles. In the NFC championship game after the 1999 season, St. Louis' ''The Greatest Show on Turf'' group of Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce and Marshall Faulk held on for an 11-6 victory over the defensive-minded Buccaneers. In the 1991 Bills-Giants Super Bowl, New York's talented defense held off Jim Kelly and the Bills' ''K- Gun'' offense for a 20-19 win. More recently, a Giants defense led by Michael Strahan pulled off a 17-14 victory over the undefeated Patriots' Tom Brady and Co. to win the 2008 Super Bowl. San Francisco's dominant D has no flashy nickname, just a balanced attack featuring All-Pro defensive tackle Justin Smith, rookie Aldon Smith and talented linebackers Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman. And, in the sec- ondary, Carlos Rogers and safety Dashon Goldson have six interceptions apiece. ''With two good defenses, I don't think it's going to be high scoring,'' Rogers said. ''That's what everybody wants to see because it's the Saints. We don't give up a lot of points.'' The Saints scored three rushing touchdowns against the Lions, two by Darren Sproles and another from Pierre Thomas. That's as many as San Fran- 1:30 p.m. FOX 5 p.m. CBS Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff's Garrett Sandow floats a shot during the Spartans' 57-54 win over Lassen Friday night.Taylor Blaser led Red Bluff with 18 points. Jonah McInnis had 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Spartans and Mitch Robison added 12 as Red Bluff held off a late Lassen rally. More details of the game can be found online at redbluffdailynews.com. 49ers defense looks to stop red-hot Saints Lowry leads Rockets past Sacramento HOUSTON (AP) — Samuel Dalembert had the best game in his short career as a Houston Rocket on Fri- day night. The fact that he did it against former team proba- bly wasn't a coincidence. Dalembert had 21 points and 16 rebounds to help the balanced Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings 103-89. ''He was possessed or something, I don't know,'' Houston's Kyle Lowry said. ''He really looked like the old Sam Dalembert back in the 76ers days and he played really good.'' Dalembert, who was signed by the Rockets on Dec. 26, spent his first eight seasons in Philadelphia before playing for the Kings last season. ''He just had great energy MCT file photo Vernon Davis and the 49ers host the Saints, Saturday afternoon. cisco gave up during the season, all in the last two games. New Orleans is three-point favorites and can already envision that premier matchup with defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay in the NFC championship game next weekend. Yet Saints coach Sean Payton insists his team found out the hard way last year and doesn't want to fall in another upset after losing the wild-card game to Seattle. ''When you finish the season and you finish with a tough loss, that's something you remember and you really remember forever,'' Payton said. ''There are certain things you learn from. You understand the finality of this time of the year and you never take things for granted. All of us, players and coaches, will all carry that tough loss with us, just as we will the really good wins we have.'' The 49ers plan to stick with what got them this far. They should be fresh and healthy after a week off as the NFC's No. 2 seed. The Saints chased them late in the year hoping to steal the second spot. One thing these Niners don't do is make many mistakes. They had 38 See 49ERS, page 2B tonight,'' Houston coach Kevin McHale said. ''It was just fantastic. That was just the Sammy we've been hop- ing to see.'' Lowry led the team with 25 points and had nine assists, and Luis Scola added 21 points and 11 rebounds. Dalembert's previous scoring high with Houston was 10 points. He wouldn't acknowledge that his offen- sive outburst had anything to do with the opponent, but instead said he wanted to give Houston a second inside scoring threat to go with Scola. ''I was telling the guys that I'm trying to be a pres- ence because Scola is the only one there inside who is doing a lot for us,'' he said. ''I said that I needed to be a presence offensively.'' The Kings led at half- time, but Houston used a strong third quarter to take the lead and Sacramento never really threatened after that. Tyreke Evans scored 27 points for Sacramento, See KINGS, page 2B 0 4 0 7 103 89 Sports 1B Weekend January 14-15, 2012 Red Bluff beats Lassen