|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Rasheed Wallace had nothing to do with a
thrown headband or a pair of ejections Tuesday night.
|  | | Rasheed Wallace scored a career-high 42 points and collected his league-leading 30th technical Tuesday. |
Wallace played a huge role for Portland by scoring a career-high
42 points as the Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 104-94.
"Just playing, man," Wallace said. "That stuff doesn't matter
to me. Y'all should know that by now."
Wallace surpassed his previous high of 38 points, set against
Sacramento on Dec. 21, 1996, with a 3-pointer that gave Portland a
14-point lead with 2:44 left.
Wallace picked up his league-leading 30th technical foul with
2:05 left for arguing with referee Marc Davis, who ended up tossing
two Nuggets in the final minute.
Antonio McDyess scored 30 for the Nuggets, who cut Portland's
14-point third-quarter lead to four points in the fourth.
Nick Van Exel, who added 13 points and seven assists, was
ejected with 38 seconds left for cursing at Davis, much to the
delight of Wallace, who laughed and sat on the scorer's bench as
Steve Smith hit the free throws.
After Van Exel threw his headband at Davis, Denver coach Dan
Issel was ejected for arguing the call.
With Portland leading 83-79 with 6:10 left, Wallace took
control. Arvydas Sabonis hit a pair of free throws and Wallace hit
one of two before sinking a leaning turnaround jumper with 4:24
remaining that put Portland up 88-81.
Detlef Schrempf, who added 13 points, then hit an open jumper
and a pair of free throws to give Portland a 92-81 advantage. Bonzi
Wells added 13 points.
"What can you say about Rasheed Wallace," said Greg Anthony,
who had two steals in the fourth quarter. "He's just one hell of a
basketball player. The guy can play. He's a pleasure and a joy to
play with, because he's really unselfish. I've never seen a guy
that unselfish get 40 like that."
The Nuggets couldn't get closer than nine points until George
McCloud hit a 3-pointer with 7:58 left in the fourth. Denver went
on an 11-4 run and cut its deficit to 83-79 when Van Exel hit a
layup with 6:10 left.
Schrempf's free throws set up Wallace's 3-pointer that broke the
Nuggets, who doubled Wallace inside but left him open beyond the
arc.
"Rasheed just showed tonight what a really good shooter he is.
He has been knocking them down all year," Portland coach Mike
Dunleavy said. "This is no accident. In practice, he can shoot
those 3s left-handed."
Portland took a 59-45 lead when Wallace swished an open
3-pointer on the Blazers' second possession of the second half.
Denver chipped away at the lead as Voshon Lenard hit a 3-pointer,
Raef LaFrentz hit three free throws and James Posey drove for a
powerful dunk.
Lenard's two free throws with 3:13 left cut the lead to 70-61,
and McDyess blew past Wallace for a dunk to keep the lead at nine
one minute later.
But Schrempf answered with a reverse layup off a pass from
Wallace to give the Blazers a 74-63 lead at the end of the third.
Lenard gave the Nuggets a seven-point lead by hitting three
consecutive 3-pointers in the first quarter.
But Wallace scored five of his 12 first-quarter points in the
final two minutes, including his second 3-pointer with 6.7 seconds
left in the quarter, as the Blazers cut the lead to 27-26.
Denver had only three field goals in the first eight minutes and
Portland went on a 19-7 run.
Playing with three guards, the Blazers used Steve Smith to bring
the ball up and fed to Wallace, who scored six points during the
run. Schrempf added seven of his points in the quarter as Portland
held Denver to 6-for-19 shooting for a 54-41 lead at halftime.
Game notes
Wallace's 42 points was the most scored by a Blazer since
Clyde Drexler had 48 in 1992. ... When the Nuggets beat the Blazers
116-96 in Denver on Dec. 22, Van Exel and McDyess each scored 29
points. Tuesday they combined for 44. ... Denver has lost nine of
11 games. ... Denver has scored fewer than 100 points in its last
seven games. ... Denver's reserves are averaging just 19.2 points
in the last five games. ... Denver is 7-21 on the road.
 Send this story to a friend
|
|
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Denver Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 113
Golden State 102
Vancouver 116
Washington 104
Phoenix 110
Orlando 104
New York 76
Miami 74
Milwaukee 101
Chicago 92
LA Lakers 119
Dallas 109
Houston 101
Boston 84
Portland 104
Denver 94
Sacramento 94
Atlanta 80
|
