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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
DENVER (AP) – Even without Rasheed Wallace, there were plenty of
technical fouls to go around.
|  | | Nuggets guard Robert Pack hurt his former team Tuesday, scoring a season-high 26 against Portland. |
After suspending Wallace for his continued on-court tantrums,
the Portland Trail Blazers were whistled for three technicals and
stumbled in the playoff chase, losing 94-92 to the Denver Nuggets
on Tuesday night.
"You dig yourself a hole in this league, you've got to dig
yourself out of a hole," Portland point guard Damon Stoudamire
said. "The only thing is, the hole is getting bigger every day.
It's just getting too hard. We're making it too hard."
Robert Pack, starting in place of suspended point guard Nick Van
Exel, had a season-high 26 points for the Nuggets, who also played
without leading scorer and rebounder Antonio McDyess (dislocated
kneecap).
Kevin Willis added 19 points and 18 rebounds, and George McCloud
scored 20 to help Denver absorb the loss of its two top players.
"That was probably as satisfying a win as we've had all year,"
Nuggets coach Dan Issel said. "I know they were short-handed, too,
without Strickland and Wallace, but it is an awfully satisfying
win."
Blazers backup point guard Rod Strickland joined Wallace on the
suspension list as the NBA sanctioned him following his guilty plea
to a drunken-driving charge.
The timing of the suspensions hampered the Blazers as they fell
one game behind fifth-place Dallas in the Western Conference
playoff race.
"Basically without their main players and without our main
players, they were a team that was better than us, and they're not
even going to the playoffs," Stoudamire said. "Here we are
fighting for our lives, and we come up with no answers for them."
There was no shortage of intensity as the Nuggets also drew
three technical fouls, and Portland guard Bonzi Wells was ejected
after receiving his second technical with 46 seconds left in the
game.
The Blazers trailed 92-86 when Wells left the court and rallied
within two on 3-pointers by Stoudamire and Scottie Pippen.
After Pack missed a long 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining,
Portland had one last possession, but Steve Smith's 30-footer
rattled in and out as the buzzer sounded.
"I had a good look," Smith said. "I wasn't as upset with that
one as I was with the one the look before -- top of the key, wide
open and it rattled in and came out. I thought it was in and it
would have tied the game and put some pressure on them."
Stoudamire and Smith each finished with 17 points to lead six
Blazers in double figures. Dale Davis had 12 points and 13
rebounds.
Seeking scoring from other sources, the Nuggets got several
strong drives from Pack and support inside from Willis as they used
a 15-2 run over the third and fourth quarters to build a 79-68 lead
with 10:25 remaining.
The Blazers, who missed nine of their first 10 3-point attempts,
could never mount a sustained and were never closer than six points
until Pippen and Stoudamire hit 3-pointers 13 seconds apart in the
final minute.
"We didn't have anybody step up the way Pack did for them,"
Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We had guys play well, but we
didn't get that next level that we needed somebody to take it to
for us, and Pack took it to another level for them."
Wells, the NBA's second-best shooter at 53.8 percent, was
4-for-11 from the field and drew his first technical foul while
arguing with McCloud after the Nuggets forward gave him a
halfhearted head-butt.
McCloud ended up with the last laugh as Denver held on for its
36th victory -- one more than all of last season.
Game notes
Rockies pitcher Mike Hampton and Avalanche center Joe Sakic
were among the sparse crowd. Hampton pitched 8 1-3 scoreless
innings in his Colorado debut Monday and Sakic had a hat trick a
few hours later. ... McCloud returned after missing three games
with a strained lower back. ... Wallace had averaged 28 points in
three games against Denver, including a career-high 42 on Feb. 20.
... Stoudamire scored 14 points in his previous two games combined.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Portland Clubhouse
Denver Clubhouse
Blazers suspend Wallace, NBA suspends Strickland
Nuggets suspend Van Exel for not showing up
Strickland gets 10-day jail term after guilty plea to DUI
RECAPS
Boston 82
Miami 77
Charlotte 103
New Jersey 88
New York 94
Orlando 82
Indiana 85
Phoenix 81
Toronto 100
Philadelphia 85
LA Lakers 96
Utah 88
Detroit 110
Chicago 83
Dallas 109
Houston 97
San Antonio 107
Seattle 89
Denver 94
Portland 92
Milwaukee 107
Sacramento 101
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