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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Scottie Pippen yelled and cursed at his
teammates to pass him the ball. He picked up a technical foul after
a call went in his favor. He shoved Jason Kidd out of bounds for no
good reason.
|  | | Jason Kidd, left, looks for help from the officials as Scottie Pippen tries to steal the ball from the Phoenix guard.
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Losing has taken a toll on Pippen, a six-time champion who can
feel his chance at a seventh slipping away.
Shawn Marion had 26 points and 13 rebounds as the Phoenix Suns
took advantage of Portland's sloppiness down the stretch and handed
the Blazers their fifth consecutive defeat, 84-79 Wednesday night.
"I've been playing angry since we've been losing," Pippen
said. "We've got to shake it somehow."
Rasheed Wallace had 29 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers,
who ruined a chance for a thrilling victory by committing five
turnovers on their last six possessions.
"I don't know if it's shaken our confidence," Damon Stoudamire
said. "I know we're definitely not the same team that we were in
terms of where our confidence level was, but hopefully we can get
that back. But it's going to take some time."
Phoenix blew a 10-point fourth-quarter lead, but closed the game
with a 10-2 run.
"They made a run; they're a great team," said Kidd, who had 21 points and eight assists. "But we kept our
composure. That showed a lot of character for us tonight."
Stoudamire, Wallace and Detlef Schrempf threw bad passes on
consecutive possessions, and the Suns scored six consecutive points.
Tony Delk's reverse layup put Phoenix ahead 80-77 with 49.3 seconds
left.
Wallace and Marion each hit two free throws, leaving the Suns
ahead 82-79 with 19.4 seconds left. Stoudamire's kickout pass was
intercepted by Mario Elie, and Kidd hit two more free throws with
5.9 seconds left for the final margin.
Stoudamire had 14 points for the Blazers, who last dropped five
in a row from Jan. 5-13, 1998. Portland also lost the season series
to Phoenix, 3-1, for the first time since 1994-95.
Portland is only a half-game ahead of Dallas for the No. 5 spot
in the Western Conference playoff race.
"Everybody here has championship expectations," Portland coach
Mike Dunleavy said, "so certainly there's going to be some
confidence issues. We've got to play through that."
The Blazers trailed by 17 in the third quarter and by seven to
start the fourth, but surged ahead with a flurry of 3-pointers.
Steve Smith hit two consecutive, and after Kidd had the ball stolen by
Schrempf, Wallace hit another 3-pointer to put the Blazers ahead
75-72. A turnaround jumper by Bonzi Wells pushed the lead to three
with 2:49 left.
Pippen had nine points and eight assists for the Blazers, who
fell to 9-10 against teams from the Pacific Division.
Pippen agreed with Dunleavy's assessment that Portland is
standing around and shooting too many jump shots while going to
post players Wallace and Arvydas Sabonis too infrequently.
"I think we have to focus on the guys that are dominant inside
players and make them stay in the post and give us something
inside," he said.
Even with the skid, the Blazers are only two games behind
Sacramento for the division lead, and 3½ behind San Antonio for the
best record in the West.
"Every team goes through periods like this," Kidd said. "I
would bet the house that they won't be playing like this in
April."
A dismal game got interesting late in the third quarter. Phoenix
had stretched a 10-point lead to 49-32, but the Blazers responded
with a 19-6 run. Stoudamire's second and third 3-pointers of the
period cut the deficit to four, but Kidd answered with his own 3,
and the Suns took a 62-55 lead into the fourth quarter.
Kidd missed a shot, but went up between three Blazers to grab
the rebound and lay it in for a 72-62 lead with 7:13 to go.
Wallace, angry at being pushed out of bounds under his own
basket without a foul being called in the first quarter, slammed
the ball down, resulting in his 37th technical foul of the season.
He's one away from tying the NBA record he set last season.
Game notes
The Suns' Clifford Robinson scored 42 points in the first
game against the Blazers, but has since scored 20, 12 and zero
Wednesday night on 0-for-9 shooting. ... The Blazers are 4-7 since
Pippen came back from surgery on his right elbow. ... In 161 games
against Portland dating to 1970, the Suns have failed to score 90
points only 14 times. Six of those efforts have come in the last
three seasons.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Phoenix Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 103
Detroit 96
Charlotte 100
Vancouver 95
Orlando 97
Cleveland 87
Miami 114
Sacramento 104
San Antonio 106
Minnesota 100
Philadelphia 85
Chicago 67
Denver 95
Indiana 83
Phoenix 84
Portland 79
Utah 102
Golden State 83
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