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Friday, Mar. 3 10:00pm ET
Portland 101, Vancouver 91 | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ Steve Smith scored 19 points as the Portland Trail Blazers held off a late run to beat the Vancouver Grizzlies 101-91 Friday night. Rasheed Wallace and Bonzi Wells each added 16 points for Portland, which had its 11-game winning streak snapped Tuesday night by the Los Angeles Lakers. Mike Bibby led Vancouver with 25 points and 14 assists, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 21 points and nine rebounds. Since losing the league's best record to the Lakers, Portland had two days off to prepare for the last-place Grizzlies, but didn't put them away until the final minutes. After Othella Harrington missed a dunk, Smith grabbed the rebound and found Scottie Pippen downcourt for an easy layup to put the Blazers up 94-86 with 1:20 left. Pippen was then fouled on the baseline, and after hitting his first free throw, Smith grabbed the rebound on the second and tipped it in to give Portland a 97-88 lead with 43.4 seconds left. The Blazers, who committed eight turnovers in the first half and made just seven of 18 shots in the second quarter, jumped all over the Grizzlies in the third. Smith scored nine points in the first five minutes as the Blazers went on a 16-4 run to take a 68-49 lead with 7:04 left. But Portland's execution again fell off, and the Grizzlies took advantage. Bibby used his teammates to cut into the lead, dishing out six assists in the quarter as Vancouver cut it to 75-66. The Grizzlies stayed close in the first half because of Bibby's shooting. He made seven of nine shots and scored 20 points in the first two quarters. Portland played tough defense in the opening quarter and went ahead 35-25 on Rasheed Wallace's dunk with 9.6 seconds left. But the Grizzlies took advantage of the Blazers' sloppy play, hitting mid-range jumpers and wide-open 3-pointers while the Blazers missed alley-oop attempts and long 3s. Vancouver survived a three minute scoring drought and cut the lead to 45-42. Notes: Vancouver coach Lionel Hollins made his first appearance in Portland since replacing Brian Hill. Hollins played for the Blazers from 1975 to 1980. ... Starting point guard Damon Stoudamire and reserve forward Brian Grant did not play for Portland. Grant, who is nursing a sore foot, suited up, but Stoudamire did not while resting his sore left knee, which he bumped against the Lakers. ... The loss ended a tough three-game road trip for the Grizzlies, who beat Sacramento last week before facing the Lakers and the Blazers.
| ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Vancouver Clubhouse Portland Clubhouse RECAPS Toronto 114 Boston 104
Portland 101
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