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EUGENE, Ore. -- With finals finished, Oregon can focus on basketball for the next month.The 24th-ranked Ducks (7-2) are back on the court for the first time in eight days when they host Alabama (4-3) Sunday at 3 p.m. Oregon won its fifth straight game with a 128-59 win over Savannah State on Dec. 3 before taking finals week off from games.The next three or four weeks are really important for this team, coach Dana Altman said. We have to get so much better in so many areas. We only have four games before conference play. Alabama is up next and then we have one day before Montana and then UNLV in Portland before we come back and play Fresno State. We will give them four days off for Christmas and then it is conference time.Oregons sense of urgency is ramped up by the fact it opens Pac-12 play against No. 2 UCLA on Dec. 28.With as many guys as we have back, we shouldnt be making the mistakes we make, Altman said. Defensively and offensively, were making mistakes that veteran teams probably should not make.Oregon returned four starters from last year, when it went 31-7 and reached the Elite Eight, but its best player has been slowed early in the season following foot surgery in July. Six-foot-seven all-conference junior forward Dillon Brooks missed the first three games of the season and is averaging 18.2 minutes per game off the bench in his first six games back.It is all up to coach, Brooks said. He keeps on saving it and saving it, but hes going to let the beast loose soon.Brooks is averaging 13.7 points in limited time and Altman indicated he will return to the starting line-up soon.Im almost 100 percent, just trying to get in shape a bit more, Brooks said. I feel good and my teammates keep pushing me to go harder and push harder, so it goes great.Oregon is coming off a blowout win over Savannah State, when it set single-game school records for points in a game as well as field goals (54) and assists (36).Sophomore guard Tyler Dorsey scored a career-high 29 points against the Tigers and now leads the Ducks with 13.8 points per game. Senior center Chris Boucher is averaging 13.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 blocked shots.Alabama (4-3) has also had more than a week off since losing 77-68 at Texas.Six-foot-eight freshman Braxton Key leads the Tide with 10.4 points per game while freshman guard Dazon Ingram averages 10.3 points and 4.4 assists.Alabama will be without junior guard Nick King, who is averaging 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds. King started two games, but has an unknown illness that caused him to lose 10 pounds.He hasnt been able to sleep and eat, Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. Its not something thats normal.Fake Astros Jerseys . 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Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2.TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona coach Bruce Arians was candid as usual when he was asked what would have happened had the Cardinals lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers.Its over, he said.But the Cardinals escaped with a 23-20 victory on Sunday, Chandler Catanzaro kicking a 34-yard field goal as time expired to win it.At 4-4-1, Arizona can still make a push toward a playoff berth, but the going will be tough.The Cardinals play five of their remaining seven games on the road, beginning with a trip to Minnesota on Sunday.Cant even think about five out of seven, Arians said at his Monday news conference. If we just think about them one at a time, well be fine. This is a great new stadium (at Minnesota). Very, very loud, so well have our hands full.Larry Fitzgerald was having an MRI on his sore knee but Arians said that was just a precaution.Arians said Fitzgerald and outside linebacker Alex Okafor (calf) have a chance to practice Wednesday or Thursday.As for the possibility of Fitzgerald sitting out Sundays game, I would be shocked if he misses a game at home, Arians said.Fitzgerald was born in Minnesota and grew up there.He caught 12 passes for 133 yards against the 49ers, his first 100-yard game this season and 42nd of his career.I wish I could have done it with less targets (18), Fitzgerald said after the game. You give me 18 targets in 2006, I might have had 200 yards.It was the first time in his long career that the 33-year-old receiver had double digit catches in consecutive games. Fitzgerald caught 10 passes in Arizonas previous game, a loss at Carolina.He acknowledged he was hurting, but hes long been accustomed to playing with pain.You dont play 13 years without it, Fitzgerald said. Its football. Youre going to get banged up. Its just part of it. Theres a difference between being hurt and being injured. A lot of guys are hurting.Fitzgerald has missed six games in his 13 NFL seasons.Theres a chance the Cardinals will have do-everything defensive back Tyrann Mathieu back this week. Mathieu injured his shoulder against Carolina and sat out Sundays win.Well just see how he is, Arians said.dddddddddddd His strengths back. Its good. So hell be cleared to go and I want to see him practice and see how he looks.If he does come back, it might be without the knee brace that has slowed him this season. Mathieu was without the brace when he was running during a portion of a practice last week that was open to the media.Its about the time we had talked about the brace leaving, so Im not sure, Arians said. Again, thats going to be up to him.Arians said he hasnt decided who the team will lift from the injured list. NFL rules allow a team to bring one player back from the disabled list. Running back Chris Johnson and safety Tyvon Branch are the leading candidates. Both would be eligible to practice this week but couldnt play until the Dec. 4 home game against Washington.The Cardinals were rooting hard for New England on Sunday night but the Patriots came up just short in a loss to Seattle. The Seahawks remain two games up on Arizona in the NFC West. The Cardinals best shot at a playoff berth might be as a wild card. They are just behind a number of teams in those standings, including the Vikings, who are 5-4 but have lost four in a row.Arizonas running game was shut down for the second consecutive game. The 49ers (1-8) entered the game ranked last in the NFL in run defense but held Arizona to 80 yards in 23 plays. David Johnson gained just 55 yards in 19 carries.Arians did not place the blame on John Wetzel in his first start at left tackle after replacing Jared Veldheer, who is out for the season with a torn triceps. Arians said he thought Wetzel played a really solid game.He was not so kind to the rest of the offensive line.They kicked our butt, Arians said. They had safeties down in there. They did a couple of different stunts we hadnt practiced. A different front, but nothing we havent seen all year. We just didnt block very well.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '