 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
End of the Trail Blazers end Spurs' streak at 13 with 98-93 winPosted: Thursday March 28, 2002 1:23 AMUpdated: Thursday March 28, 2002 2:34 AM
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Portland ended San Antonio's 13-game winning streak with something the Spurs didn't recognize from their last meeting with the Blazers: defense. Shawn Kemp, Ruben Patterson and Dale Davis teamed up to limit Tim Duncan to just 10 points in the second half, and Bonzi Wells scored 24 points as the Blazers defeated the Spurs 98-93 Wednesday night. "Tim Duncan started out on fire, man. Seemed like we had no answer for him, but in the second half Shawn and Dale really took it personal and really made him work for everything," said Wells. Davis added 19 points for the Blazers, who played the final three quarters without leading scorer Rasheed Wallace, who left with a sore lower back. Duncan had 34 points and 11 rebounds, his 57th double-double of the season, and David Robinson added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who had the league's longest win streak of the season. San Antonio shot just 38 percent in the fourth quarter, committed nine turnovers and got outscored 25-6 in second-chance points. "They were all over the glass, and they killed us with offensive rebounds," Duncan said. "That's why we lost the game." The Spurs shot 54 percent, making this their first loss when making at least half their shots. They had been 16-0 in that department. San Antonio dropped to fourth in the Western Conference playoff race, a half-game behind Dallas but only two games behind West-leading Sacramento. Portland had lost five straight to the Spurs, but hadn't played them since a 97-79 loss on Dec. 19. The Blazers also atoned for an embarrassing 103-100 loss to Memphis on Monday night, in which the Blazers blew a 25-point third-quarter lead. "It was really just a reality check for us, to let us know we're not invincible," Wells said. Wells, who was knocked woozy midway through the third quarter when he fell and hit his head against Davis' knee, sank a 3-pointer to cap a 12-4 run and break an 87-all tie with 3:58 to go. The Spurs never got the lead back. After a missed layup by Bruce Bowen, Damon Stoudamire made two free throws to make it 94-89 with 23.2 seconds left. San Antonio got within three, but no closer. "We gave up more than 20 second-chance points and 23 points off turnovers," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "It's a miracle that we were even in the game." Tony Parker added 15 points and eight assists for the Spurs. Steve Smith, who missed five games with a sprained right ankle, returned and scored four points on 1-of-6 shooting in 22 minutes. Wallace was in obvious pain nearly from the beginning, and he barely got a hand up over Duncan's jumpers. Duncan scored 17 points in the first quarter, two on a ferocious slam dunk over Wallace after a pass from Parker. "We knew 'Sheed was hurting, but it was kind of gutsy of him just to even come out and give us his presence," Wells said. Wallace fouled Duncan on the play, and Wallace walked off the floor, grimacing. Wallace went to the locker room to get treatment on his back, and Kemp was assigned to Duncan. Working against Kemp, Duncan simply waited until his defender crouched low, bracing for a drive to the basket, before shooting over him. Over the last seven minutes, the 6-foot-5 Patterson guarded the 7-foot Duncan and held him to just four points the rest of the period. Duncan had just two points in the third, and for the second half, he took just five shots, making three. "He was killing us, but in the second half, we brought a ton of energy and effort, and great defense won this game," Patterson said. Notes: The Spurs had won four straight in Portland. ... Duncan has topped the 20-point mark in 18 straight games. He's been the Spurs' leading scorer 16 straight times, and in 61 of his team's 71 games. ... Parker held Stoudamire to nine points on 2-of-10 shooting.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
