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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Steve Smith isn't thrilled about coming
off the bench, but the role of reserve seems to agree with him.
|  | | Portland's Rasheed Wallace shows Cleveland's Lamond Murray what he can do with this shot. |
Bonzi Wells scored 22 points, and Smith, who lost his spot in
the starting lineup to Wells, had 19 as the Portland Trail Blazers
defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 103-83 Tuesday night.
"This is a different role. I've never come off the bench before
in my career, but we're winning, so we'll stick with it," Smith
said.
The veteran sat out a Dec. 29 game against Vancouver because of
the flu, and Wells came in and scored 14 points, giving the Blazers
a run-and-gun attack they had been missing.
Wells has started 10 consecutive games now, averaging 16.1 points.
This month, he has had scoring efforts of 27, 25 and 28 points.
"I'm one of the younger guys on the team, so I just try to take
advantage of my young legs and young enthusiasm," said the
24-year-old Wells.
The move also seems to have energized Smith, who averaged only
10.4 points and shot 33 percent in December. Yet over the past
seven games, he has averaged 17.7 points on 47 percent shooting.
Smith might not like it, but coach Mike Dunleavy isn't in a
hurry to send Wells back to the bench.
"I'm looking at this as pretty much the long haul," Dunleavy
said.
Rasheed Wallace added 18 and Arvydas Sabonis 16 in just 20
minutes for the Blazers, who have won 12 of 13 games. Portland
extended its lead in the Pacific Division to 1½ games over
Sacramento, and 2½ over the Los Angeles Lakers.
"We're starting to get into a playoff-type mode," Wells said,
"but we've got a long way to go."
Clarence Weatherspoon scored 17 and Andre Miller had 10 assists
to lead the injury-riddled Cavaliers, who fell to 1-4 on their
Western Conference road trip. Since a 15-7 start, Cleveland has
lost 12 of its last 15.
Wallace and Sabonis not only exploited the Cavs' lack of size in
the middle, they hooked up on the most exciting play of the night.
With six-tenths of a second to go in the third quarter, Wallace
threw a long, high inbounds pass, which Sabonis caught, then
flipped behind his head for a layup at the horn. That gave the
Blazers a 78-67 lead.
"They are the top right now," the Cavs' Jim Jackson said of
the Blazers, one of his former teams. "They're playing the best.
That's because they have some of the best players in the league.
Time will only tell how far that will take them. Right now, you
have to say Portland is the best team in the league."
Cleveland, which came from behind to beat Golden State a night
earlier, stayed with the Blazers until late in the third quarter,
mostly because of lazy defense on Portland's part.
Two free throws by Miller, who had 10 of his 14 points in the
quarter, pulled the Cavs to 72-67, but Sabonis hit a reverse
layup, and Stacey Augmon banked in a putback jumper to set up the
Wallace-to-Sabonis play.
Wary of the 7-foot-3 Sabonis, Cavaliers coach Randy Wittman
started the 6-foot-8, 284-pound Robert Traylor at center instead of
the skinnier Chris Gatling. Traylor, making his second start, got
into immediate foul trouble, picking up his third with just less than nine minutes left in the second quarter.
Sabonis sat out the entire quarter, so the Blazers didn't do
much damage inside. They shot 56 percent in the period, but let
Gatling into the lane for three consecutive easy baskets that cut the
lead from 13 to 43-36.
A reverse layup by Weatherspoon with four-tenths of a second
left before halftime trimmed the lead to 54-48.
Game notes
Cleveland fell to 3-10 without center Zydrunas Ilgauskas,
who is contemplating surgery on his broken left foot. Backup Chris
Mihm missed his sixth consecutive game with an injured right knee. ...
The Blazers are 23-6 since starting the season 6-5. ... Shawn Kemp,
traded from Cleveland to the Blazers in a three-team deal before
the season, had six points in 22 minutes. The Blazers are 14-2 when
he plays at least 20 minutes. ... Portland's Scottie Pippen missed
his fifth consecutive game with a sore right elbow.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Miami 93
Detroit 85
Houston 114
Toronto 99
Milwaukee 112
LA Clippers 91
Portland 103
Cleveland 83
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Mike Dunleavy Official Site
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