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Wednesday, Jan. 12 10:00pm ET
Slow-starting Blazers win ninth in 10 games | |||||
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- An early Portland Trail Blazers lull wasn't enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers to steal a victory on the road. Rasheed Wallace scored a season-high 25 points and Steve Smith added 18 as the Blazers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 95-75 Wednesday night for their ninth victory in 10 games. "It's good that there are two halves in basketball," said Smith, whose team had 12 turnovers in the first 24 minutes but just two after that. Damon Stoudamire added 17 points, and Scottie Pippen scored all 12 of his points during a four-minute stretch late in the second quarter when the Blazers rallied from a five-point deficit to take the lead for good. Shawn Kemp had 18 points and Lamond Murray had 17 for the Cavaliers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. "We knew they were going to be waiting for us just because we beat them in Cleveland," Kemp said, referring to the Cavaliers' 103-100 win at Gund Arena on Nov. 23. "You just hope they miss some shots down the stretch, and they didn't tonight." Wallace's 25 points was one off Portland's season-high of 26 by Smith at Utah on Nov. 9. No other team in the league has a lower point total as a season high. It was a sad and strange night for the Cavs, who began a season-long seven-game road trip with the news that former teammate Bobby Phills had been killed in a car accident in Charlotte, N.C. Then, before the game, backup forward Ryan Stack had a dizzy spell, nearly falling off his chair during player introductions. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital with what a team spokesman called lightheadedness. Stack was reportedly feeling better later, but was kept overnight as a precaution. Cavs coach Randy Wittman was encouraged by the team's hustle to start the road trip, but disappointed by his team's season-high 18 turnovers. "You give them 21 points off our turnovers on the road, that's hard to overcome," he said. Cleveland scored just 10 points and made three field goals in the fourth quarter as the Blazers turned the game into a rout. "We got close, and then somebody put a lid on the basket for us," guard Brevin Knight said. Portland trailed by eight in the second quarter, but used a 16-4 run in the final 4½ minutes to take a 51-44 halftime lead. Pippen hit two 3-pointers during the run. "I was just trying to get everybody else involved by moving the ball and getting some rhythm to our offense," Pippen said. "We came out in the second half and played almost a perfect game." Stoudamire scored eight points in the third, including a driving layup with six-tenths of a second left, for a 73-65 lead. Detlef Schrempf's short jumper made it a 13-point lead less than two minutes into the fourth, and it only got worse from there for the Cavs. "We just weren't knocking them down," Kemp said. "We had some pretty good looks. We had a chance to really be in the ball game there, but Steve knocked down some crucial baseline shots there at the end." Wallace injured his right ankle with 3:57 left in the third when he hung on the rim after an alley-oop pass from Pippen, then fell backward and stepped on Kemp's heel. He lay on the court for several seconds and hobbled off the court, but returned to score four points in the fourth quarter. Game notesCleveland and Phoenix are the only teams to score at least 100 points against the Blazers in 35 games this season. ... The Cavs, leading the NBA in 3-point shooting at 41 percent, made just 3-of-13. ... The Blazers had 12 turnovers in the first half but just two after that. ... Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis missed his fourth straight game with the flu. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Cleveland Clubhouse Portland Clubhouse RECAPS Boston 95 LA Clippers 88
Portland 95
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