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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Rasheed Wallace tried to duck out of the
locker room, but the New York media had him hauled back in.
|  | | Rasheed Wallace, right, led the Blazers with 30 points to go with his eight rebounds. |
His assessment of the New York Knicks' defense of him – which
essentially boiled down to leaving him open for fadeaway jumpers –
was succinct and inarguable.
"Just taking what they was giving me; open shots, that's all.
Nothing special," he said. "Just simple basketball. Nothing to
it."
Wallace used his simplified strategy to score 30 points as the Blazers handed the Knicks their third straight defeat, 96-79 Friday night.
Bonzi Wells added 16 points for Portland, which beat every team
in the NBA this season for the first time since 1989-90.
"It's the kind of game we need, and we need to build on this,"
said Scottie Pippen, whose team had lost seven of 11 games and four
of six at home. "When we play like we do tonight, we do look like
a team capable of winning a title."
Latrell Sprewell had 21 points to lead New York, which fell to
fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a half-game behind idle
Miami. The Knicks, who were blown out at Vancouver by 21 points
Thursday night, have lost 11 of 14 on the road.
"We're just having a hard time guarding anything, really," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "To start the year, defense and rebounding, I thought, would be our bigger problems, or could be. And without the extra effort, they will be.
"Right now, we don't have any of the extra effort to our game."
The Knicks shot 58 percent in the first half and trailed 49-46,
but they couldn't do anything right to start the third quarter,
when the Blazers used a 16-0 run to put it away.
New York missed six consecutive shots and committed three
turnovers during the drought, which lasted 5:39.
"We kept scoring and they kept missing," Wells said. "When you open the half with 16 points in a row, that'll knock the wind out of anybody."
The Knicks somehow cut a 19-point deficit to 10 by the end of
the third quarter but then ran out of gas, going the first 6:16 of
the fourth without a field goal.
By the time Sprewell hit a jumper, the Blazers still led 83-71.
The Knicks, who won the first meeting at Madison Square Garden by 13 points on Jan. 13, had won three straight in Portland.
New York completes its season-long five-game road trip Sunday
against the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Playing like this, we're going to play ourselves right out of the playoffs," New York's Glen Rice said.
Wallace finished the Blazers' 16-0 third-quarter run with a
3-pointer that made it 65-46. The Knicks got back in it with help
from a five-point possession started by Sprewell.
Sprewell, who had just eight points on 4-of-14 shooting against
the Grizzlies, drove the lane for a bank shot, and got fouled.
Portland's Dale Davis was then ejected after getting two technical
fouls.
Rice made the two free throws, and Sprewell made his to shrink
the deficit to 14.
Following two free throws from Arvydas Sabonis, Sprewell made a
3-pointer, Charlie Ward hit a pair of free throws and Marcus Camby converted a three-point play to get the Knicks within 77-67
entering the fourth.
But Portland shut down the Knicks for another long stretch, opening the fourth with an 8-0 run over the first 5:24.
The teams went right at each other from the start, with the
Blazers making 10 of their first 13 shots and the Knicks making 10
of 14. Wallace, who had two long jumpers sail past the iron and
slam off the glass, made a 17-footer to get the Blazers within
25-24 after one period.
Game notes
New York's Larry Johnson scored just two points on 1-of-8
shooting; he has 12 points in four games since returning from a
back injury. ... The Knicks need a win, or a loss by Indiana, to
clinch their 14th straight playoff appearance. ... Rice, held to
two points on 1-for-6 shooting against Vancouver, scored 10 points
on 5-for-10 shooting.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
New York Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 102
Golden State 89
Toronto 110
New Jersey 99
Indiana 92
Boston 87
Denver 103
Charlotte 96
Detroit 100
Orlando 97
Utah 95
Cleveland 88
Portland 96
New York 79
Seattle 94
LA Clippers 84
LA Lakers 98
Dallas 89
Sacramento 110
Minnesota 98
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