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Thursday, Mar. 30 10:00pm ET
Wallace scores season-high 34 points | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- A bit of perimeter defense and a whole lot of offense from Rasheed Wallace were all the Portland Trail Blazers needed to snap their longest home losing streak in four years.
"I didn't think he was going to miss a shot in that first half," Portland guard Steve Smith said of Wallace, who hit 10 of 11 shots in the half, many from the outside. Wallace finished 16-of-22, and Smith added 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting for the Blazers, who had lost four in a row and six of their last eight at home. The Blazers hadn't lost four straight at home since dropping six straight from Jan. 29-Feb. 20, 1996. Portland had dropped eight of 14 overall. Michael Finley scored 30 points to lead Dallas, which had won four straight road games. Dallas' loss clinched a playoff spot for the idle Sacramento Kings. Wallace's 34 points were the most by a Portland player this season, topping Damon Stoudamire's 30 on Feb. 24. Wallace hasn't complained about sharing shots with teammates. "He is not the kind of guy that wants or demands the ball," Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said. "In the three years I have been here, I can't remember a time when he's come over and asked for the ball." Portland led 77-69 at the end of three quarters, but Dallas pulled within four points, at 84-80, on Finley's jumper with six minutes left. After the teams traded turnovers, Scottie Pippen drove the baseline for a dunk to put Portland up 86-80. Wallace then added a reverse layup, a hook shot and a midrange jumper to seal the win. The Blazers started the second half with an 8-0 run and led by 10 points most of the third quarter as Wallace had eight points, including six in the first two minutes. Portland held Dallas without a 3-pointer in nine attempts in the first half, and the Mavericks finished 3-of-21 from beyond the arc. "If we have a chance to win, we have to make the 3s," Dallas coach Don Nelson said. "We had a number of them and missed. Portland defended the 3 pretty well, too, but when we get those, we normally make them." Dallas came into the game leading the league by making 30 percent on its 3-pointers, and the Blazers keyed in on the Mavericks' shooters early. "They have been shooting the heck out of the ball lately and have been beating teams -- especially from 3-point range," Dunleavy said. "We were able to rotate out and contest a lot of their shots in the early part of the game." Without injured center Arvydas Sabonis, the Blazers avoided much confrontation with the Mavericks' 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley by hitting their outside shots in the first quarter. Portland went up 21-10 on one of Wallace's deep jump shots with 2:55 left, but the Mavericks closed to 25-19 by the end of the period. Dallas stayed close in the second quarter, tying the game at 34-34 when Finley hit a jumper over Detlef Schrempf with 7:05 left. But the Blazers pulled away at the end of the quarter by going on an 11-3 run sparked by 3-pointers from Smith, Pippen and Greg Anthony that gave them a 54-45 halftime lead. Game notesWallace's eight field goals in the first quarter topped the Mavericks' team total for the period. Dallas was 7-of-20 in the opening quarter. ... Pippen went down hard after taking an elbow from Jermaine O'Neal in the third quarter, and went to the locker room feeling lightheaded. He returned in the third. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Dallas Clubhouse Portland Clubhouse RECAPS Phoenix 118 Atlanta 74
San Antonio 102
Portland 96
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