NEW ORLEANS -- The Portland Trail Blazers are not faring well against teams with winning records so far this season.That wont be an issue when they face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night in the Smoothie King Center.The Blazers are 7-6 overall, but just 1-5 against teams with winning records after a 126-109 defeat against the Rockets (7-5) on Thursday night in Houston.The Pelicans (2-10) have the worst record in the NBA.Its still early, Portland All-Star point guard Damian Lillard told the Oregonian. I think weve got a lot of time to shore up things we havent done well so far. Im not happy with some of the things that have happened, but were in a good spot.Portlands only victory against a team that has a winning record came on opening night against a short-handed Utah Jazz team that was missing injured starters Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors.In their five other games against winning opponents, the Blazers lost to the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Clippers (twice), the Chicago Bulls and the Rockets by an average of 20.8 points.Im just happy that we can say that were learning through a lot of things right now, Lillard said. Were not doing well, but (were) still finding ways to win games.That hasnt been the case for New Orleans, but help is on the way.Starting point guard Jrue Holiday is expected to make his season debut against Portland. Holiday had been away from the team to be with his wife, Lauren, who last month gave birth to the couples first child, daughter Jrue, and recently underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor.Lauren Holiday is a former U.S. womens national team soccer star.Mother and daughter are doing well and stayed at home in North Carolina as Holiday rejoined his teammates and coaches, who were very supportive during his absence.Anything we needed, they were there for us, Holiday said Thursday. It was unbelievable. Im so excited. Going through a hard time, my teammates were always there for me. My teammates and the Pelicans were always there. To come back and fight for them, like they supported me, Im happy to do it.The Pelicans are happy to have their point guard back, and they are looking forward to other happy returns.It will probably take (Holiday) a couple games to get back (to form), All-Star forward Anthony Davis told the teams official website, but as long as hes on the floor.New Orleans hopes to have Davis back on the floor after he sat out an 89-82 loss at Orlando on Wednesday because of a bruised right quad. Davis practiced Thursday and is listed as questionable for the game against the Blazers.Terrence Jones started in Davis place against the Magic and scored a career-high 26 points. He also fell one rebound short of his second consecutive double-double.We tried to make sure we still had that flow as if the best big in the league was still playing with us, Jones told the teams official website. Without him, its very tough to keep that normal flow of offense.Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans returned to practice earlier this week and could return soon from offseason knee surgery. Aaron Holiday Jersey . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Cheap Indiana Pacers Jerseys . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. http://www.cheappacersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-alize-johnson-jersey . Fred Couples, captain of the U.S. side, put it all into perspective. "We know whos in charge," he said. Cheap Swingman Pacers Jerseys . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Cheap Pacers Jerseys Authentic . PETERSBURG, Fla. SAINTE-MARIE-DU-MONT, France -- Minutes after pulling on the yellow jersey for the first time in his award-filled career, Mark Cavendish walked over to the Utah Beach Peace Monument and placed a white rose to commemorate the Allied landings in Normandy that took place there more than 70 years ago.It was a memorable moment that crowned a day full of emotions for the British cyclist, who won a sprint at the end of the crash-affected opening stage of the Tour de France and took the overall lead on Saturday.It was Cavendishs 27th stage win in the French classic -- third on the all-time list behind Eddy Merckx (34) and Bernard Hinault (28) -- but he had never won the opening leg, which is often a time trial.Cavendish has already worn the leaders jerseys at the Giro dItalia and the Spanish Vuelta.Its going be a special day tomorrow to ride a stage in yellow, Cavendish said. There was no better place to achieve this than Utah Beach where soldiers died for us.Its an incredible opportunity to remember and respect not just those that fought and died on D-Day but fought and died across all the wars and brought freedom to the Western world, he added.After the stage, Cavendish joined a specially invited group of American, Canadian, French, Belgian and German riders for a ceremony at the Peace Monument.German rival Marcel Kittel and Slovakian Peter Sagan finished second and third, respectively, in the 188-kilometer (117-mile) picturesque stage, which began at Mont-Saint-Michel, a World Heritage Benedictine abbey perched on a rock off the Normandy coast.Two years ago, Cavendish was the overwhelming favorite to win the opening stage and take yellow when the Tour opened on his home roads in England. But he crashed during the sprint, separated his right shoulder, and had to withdraw from the race.Once dominant, Cavendish has also struggled to keep up with rivals like Kittel and Andre Greipel in recent years. The 31-year-old joined South African team Dimension Data for this season after shoulder surgery in September.Ever since 2008 its been the end of me. I guess thats just how it is -- something to talk about, Cavendish said. I would stay home if I didnt think I could win.Cavendish was behind Sagan and Kittel entering the final 150 meters, but Kittel went around Sagan on the left and Cavendish slipped by on the right and easily surged in front.ddddddddddddPushed by a strong tail wind of up to 70 kph (43 mph), the leaders required slightly more than four hours to reach the finish.Two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador crashed midway through the stage and several riders were involved in an ugly high-speed crash on the final straight.Contador hit a traffic curb while coming around a right turn. The Spaniard came away with some serious abrasions and had his jersey ripped on his back and right shoulder, but he was quickly helped back to the peloton by his Tinkoff teammates.Im bruised all down along my right side from my ankle up but at least I dont have to go home, Contador said. Hopefully I can get through the coming days and recover before the mountains.Defending champion Chris Froome and the other overall favorites finished safely in the main pack.In the overall standings, Cavendish leads Kittel by four seconds with Sagan six seconds behind, courtesy of time bonuses.Cavendish has won virtually everything there is to win for a sprinter in cycling, including gold medals at both the road world championships and the track worlds.Cav, as he is known, will be aiming to tick off one final box when he aims for gold on the track at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympics.The opening-day route also passed through Sainte-Mere-Eglise, where American paratrooper John Steele dangled from a clock tower after his parachute got caught during the invasion, and survived. The town is now home to the Airborne Museum.The stage included two mild Category 4 climbs in the opening 40 kilometers (25 miles), but was otherwise a mostly flat and rolling route along the English Channel coast.The Tour remains in Normandy for Stage 2 on Sunday, a slightly more challenging 183-kilometer (114-mile) leg from Saint-Lo to Cherbourg-En-Cotentin---AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin contributed to this report.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf ' ' '