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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Steve Francis and the Houston Rockets had
little to gain by winning Friday night. Still, they went out and
took away something very important from the Portland Trail Blazers.
|  | | The Blazers had little reason to celebrate Friday. |
Francis had 32 points and 10 assists as Houston beat Portland
109-103, dropping the Blazers into the West's No. 6 playoff spot.
"You can tell when a team's overlooking you -- their demeanor
and the way they came out," said Francis, who made 12 of 19 shots,
including four 3-pointers. "I think they were overlooking us."
Houston (43-37) is out of the playoff picture but took it to
the Blazers' interior defense all game long. Shandon Anderson added
20 points, Cuttino Mobley 18.
"We wanted to attack, attack and attack," Rockets coach Rudy
Tomjanovich said.
Of Francis, Tomjanovich said: "He played one of his best games
ever. He made phenomenal shots with guys all over him. And the
great players do that."
Portland (50-30) fell a half-game behind the No. 5 Mavericks,
who defeated Sacramento on Friday. With Phoenix also winning, the
Blazers are just a half-game ahead of the No. 7 Suns.
The Blazers, who never led, were outshot 55 percent to 46
percent.
"We just played with a deficit all night, and they just played
free ball, knowing that they have nothing to lose," said Scottie
Pippen, who had season highs of 28 points and 13 rebounds.
The Blazers are trying to get the fifth spot so they can play
Utah in the first round instead of the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers.
Rasheed Wallace added 21 points and Dale Davis had 13 rebounds
for the Blazers.
Francis didn't score in the last 8:10 of the game, but his
teammates picked up the slack from the outside. Walt Williams hit
two 3-pointers, and another 3 from Moochie Norris helped the
Rockets stretch their lead to 102-91 with 4:13 to go.
"We had more sense of urgency; their urgency wasn't as thick as
ours," Mobley said. "We came out aggressive, because we knew they
were too big for us to play half-court."
The Rockets were without center Hakeem Olajuwon, who didn't make
the trip because of a sprained left foot. Blazers center Arvydas
Sabonis left after the first quarter with back spasms.
Wallace's 3-pointer cut it to 106-101 with 34.2 seconds left,
but Mobley hit two free throws, and the Blazers didn't make much of
an effort to foul again, prompting boos from the Rose Garden crowd.
Five Blazers took turns guarding Francis in the first half, with
little success. A 22-foot jumper over Pippen put the Rockets ahead
37-30. Later in the second quarter, Blazers dribbled around Rod
Strickland and Greg Anthony for a layup and a 54-44 lead.
Francis had 19 points, seven assists and four rebounds in the
half, and hit eight of his 10 shots. The Rockets shot 61 percent
and outrebounded the Blazers 22-15.
The Blazers used an 11-2 run, highlighted by a one-handed
putback slam and tip-in by Davis, to get to 64-61 with just under
seven minutes left in the third.
After a 3-pointer from Francis, Damon Stoudamire answered with a
3 that rattled in. Stoudamire then fed Pippen for a fast-break
layup to pull the Blazers to 74-72, the closest they had been since
late in the first quarter.
Pippen slowed the momentum, however, with a backcourt foul on
Carlos Rogers, who made both free throws to start a brief surge for
the Rockets that continued into the fourth quarter. Six quick
points from Francis, including a 3-pointer, gave Houston an 86-77
lead with 10 minutes left.
Game notes
Wallace extended his NBA record for technical fouls by
picking up No. 41 early in the third. He had gone four games
without a technical. ... Houston improved to 27-5 when scoring at
least 100 points. ... The Rockets, who went 16-0 against the
Central Division, improved to 9-19 against the Pacific.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Houston Clubhouse
Portland Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 113
Orlando 110
Cleveland 97
New Jersey 91
New York 101
Atlanta 65
Indiana 113
Boston 108
Toronto 94
Miami 82
Utah 94
Chicago 83
Dallas 101
Sacramento 97
Denver 108
Golden State 92
Phoenix 109
Seattle 100
Houston 109
Portland 103
LA Clippers 111
Minnesota 105
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