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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An argument can be made that Rasheed Wallace's uncontrollable temper cost the Portland Trail Blazers a
victory Saturday night. And he wasn't even in the building.
Eric Piatkowski scored 26 points and Sean Rooks hit a pair of
free throws with 21 seconds remaining as the Los Angeles Clippers
capitalized on Wallace's suspension to beat Portland 90-89 Saturday
night.
"Any time you can get a win against the caliber of a team like
the Portland Trail Blazers, that's saying a lot," Rooks said.
"Everywhere you looked, everybody turned in a great performance.
And that's what makes me feel good. We deserved this one. We
haven't been getting many breaks, and tonight we got one."
Wallace, who leads the Blazers with a 19.3 scoring average -- and
the NBA with 27 technical fouls -- began his two-game suspension for
throwing a towel at referee Gary Benson in Thursday night's home
victory over Phoenix.
The temperamental All-Star forward, who was fined $10,000 by the
NBA following his third ejection and ninth in two seasons, also
will sit out Wednesday night's home game against Seattle.
"Anytime you've got an All-Star out of the lineup, you can use
him," said Portland coach Mike Dunleavy, who is having an
increasingly difficult time defending Wallace's antics. "But we
had plenty of opportunities to win this game without him, and I'm
disappointed that we didn't do it."
Los Angeles also got 18 points from Lamar Odom and 17 from Jeff
McInnis. The victory was the second in a row for Los Angeles after
a season-worst nine straight losses.
"We had that little skid right there, and I think the morale
was getting down a little bit and some guys were starting to maybe
start to have a bad attitude," Piatkowski said.
"So for us to be able to come back from those two embarrassing
losses to San Antonio and beat Houston and a quality team like
Portland is key because our next two games (against Chicago and
Golden State) we look at as very winable."
Bonzi Wells had 22 points for Portland and a tied career-high
with seven assists. Dale Davis had 13 points and 12 rebounds as the
Blazers lost for only the fifth time in 22 games.
The loss ended Portland's eight-game road winning streak against
the Clippers, who have beaten the Blazers only twice in their last
16 meetings overall.
After trailing by as many as seven with 4:45 remaining, Portland
regained the lead with an 11-3 spurt. Wells started the rally with
21-footer and a reverse layup 40 seconds apart, and Steve Smith hit
a 13-footer over Piatkowski for an 89-88 edge with 29 seconds to
play.
Rooks converted both foul shots after getting fouled by Arvidas
Sabonis on a drive to the basket. Damon Stoudamire, who entered the
game with 4:45 left after Greg Anthony injured his right ankle,
missed an 18-footer from the right side after faking Odom into the
Clippers' bench.
The rebound went off Derek Strong of the Clippers, and the
Blazers had one more chance, but Stoudamire missed a 21-footer just
before the buzzer.
The Blazers, who fell to 28-3 in games they've led after three
quarters, took a 74-73 advantage into the fourth. But they missed
their next seven shots and the Clippers pulled ahead 80-74 with a
10-0 run, ignited by Odom's 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds left in the
third.
Davis and Smith powered the Blazers to a 50-44 halftime lead
with 11 points each. Detlef Schrempf, playing his second game of
the season after ending his retirement, scored his first points on
a 7-foot hook shot with 2:09 left in the second quarter. It gave
the Blazers their biggest lead of the half, 48-38.
Game notes
The NBA prohibits suspended players from being in the
arena, so Wallace hopped an afternoon commercial flight back to
Portland instead of hanging around the team's hotel. The league did
not inform Wallace or the club of the suspension until after the
charter flight from Portland to Los Angeles landed, according to a
Blazers spokesperson. ... Clippers reserve forward Brian Skinner
remained in Houston to attend his uncle's funeral. He will rejoin
the team for Monday's home game against Chicago. ... The Clippers
have won six games against teams that were in last season's
playoffs, matching last season's win total against teams in the
1999 postseason.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Portland Clubhouse
LA Clippers Clubhouse
League throws two-game towel at Blazers' Wallace
RECAPS
Minnesota 108
Toronto 105
Denver 105
Washington 100
Detroit 88
Cleveland 81
Orlando 96
Atlanta 84
Dallas 101
Golden State 95
Milwaukee 104
Indiana 85
San Antonio 90
Houston 88
Utah 111
Seattle 91
Vancouver 91
Chicago 84
LA Clippers 90
Portland 89
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Mike Dunleavy Official Site
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