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Tuesday, Dec. 28 10:00pm ET
Pippen gives Blazers a fourth-quarter lift | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The Seattle SuperSonics fumed and fussed, but not even a revamped lineup and improved intensity could stop them from losing their fourth straight. Rasheed Wallace scored 24 points and hit two big jumpers in the final minutes to help the Portland Trail Blazers defeat the Seattle SuperSonics 94-89 Tuesday night. "Did you see a win? We didn't win, so it ain't an improvement," said Gary Payton, whose team was blown out at home by the Blazers by 26 on Dec. 16. "We had a lot of fire, but we did a lot of stupid stuff at the end." The Sonics missed seven of 10 free throws in the second half but still had a chance to win. An open 3-pointer by Payton pulled the Sonics within 85-83 with 3:08 to play, but Wallace hit a spot-up jumper and a turnaround to make it 89-83 with 2:16 left. A 3-pointer by Scottie Pippen made it 92-84 with 43.9 seconds left. "I don't believe in moral victories," Seattle's Horace Grant said. "We lost, and we should have won this ball game." Pippen had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Blazers, who won their third straight. Steve Smith scored 17 and Bonzi Wells, playing his third game after missing a month because of a sprained knee, scored a career-high 14. Payton had 24 points and 13 assists for the Sonics, who are 7-8 since starting the season 11-3. Seattle hasn't won since defeating the Bulls in Chicago on Dec. 20. The atmosphere was heated between the two Pacific Northwest rivals. Players from both teams cursed at each other and at the officials, and there was a near tussle between Seattle's Vernon Maxwell and former Sonic Detlef Schrempf. Smith said there was no animosity in the exchanges. "It wasn't trash talk," he said. "Trash talk is when you're degrading somebody. We were just talking, so we were just in the game having fun." Vin Baker, coming off a 10-point, 2-for-11 shooting effort in Seattle's 92-86 home loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, had 16 points and seven rebounds. Sonics coach Paul Westphal, trying to shake up his team after a season-low 33 percent shooting performance Sunday, benched starters Brent Barry and Ruben Patterson. The coach started 20-year-old Rashard Lewis in place of Patterson at small forward and Cuban rookie Lazaro Borrell for Barry at shooting guard. Lewis had a solid game with 10 points and eight rebounds, and he outhustled Pippen a few times, beating him down the floor for an easy layup after a Blazers basket early in the game. Pippen was stronger late, setting up two easy baskets for his teammates with steals to help the Blazers take a 71-69 lead heading into the fourth quarter. "Tonight we knew they were going to come at us real hard," Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "Gary Payton is probably hitting 3-pointers as well as anyone in the league right now, and no lead against them is really that safe." Seattle trailed by as many as eight in the second quarter, but a 10-0 run put the Sonics ahead. Smith put Portland back in front 44-43 on a spectacular play in which he took a behind-the-back pass from Pippen, got bumped by Baker and tossed a shot back over his head that went in. The Sonics missed their first seven shots of the third quarter, and Portland took a 58-53 lead, but the Blazers went cold, going nearly six minutes without a field goal. Payton hit two 3-pointers and a back-door layup during a 14-1 run to put Seattle back ahead 67-59. Pippen brought the Blazers back with defense. Two steals in the final minute led to a dunk by Wells and a slam by Wallace, and the game was tied at 69. A quick baseline drive by Wells put the Blazers up by two to close the period. "We did a lot of good things," Westphal said. "I told the team we needed 48 minutes of good basketball, and we came up with about 45. The breakdown at the end of the third quarter and at the end of the game hurt us." Game notesThe Blazers have the league's second-best record at 21-7, but still are 2½ games behind the Los Angeles Lakers (24-5). ... The Blazers are halfway to their first season sweep of Seattle since 1990-91. ... After scoring a season-low five points on the fast break against the 76ers on Sunday, the Sonics had 14. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Seattle Clubhouse Portland Clubhouse RECAPS Miami 89 Minnesota 78
Portland 94
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