Blazers' rally falls short

Suns hang on to win

By Kerry Eggers

LocalNewsDaily.com, Mar 4, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

It was a tale of two halves Tuesday night at the Rose Garden, but the Phoenix Suns’ first one was just a little better than the Trail Blazers’ second.

Portland cut a 23-point third-quarter deficit to two with plenty of time remaining, then couldn’t get over the hump, falling 97-92 before a sellout crowd of 20,595.

The Blazers (31-30) lost for the 10th time in the last 13 outings and fell further out of the Western Conference playoff picture, dropping seven games behind Golden State and five games back of Denver, the No. 8 and 9 teams in the West.

Phoenix (40-20) — which came into the game 2-4 since acquiring Shaquille O’Neal — was there to be had after running out to a 60-41 lead at halftime. The Suns, who shot .537 from the field in the first half, were 7 of 29 (.241) shooting the second half and failed to score on nine straight possessions down the stretch.

But the Suns made 22 of 26 from the line in the second half and had just enough at the end to send the Portland fans home unhappy.

“We worked hard that second half,” Blazer forward James Jones said. “We showed some grit. We just have to do it for a full game.

“It’s tough on us. We see our promise when we play like we did in the second half, but we also see our shortcomings with what we did the first half. We came out and pretty much laid an egg.”

The Blazers got whipped every which way the first half. Phoenix made 4 of 6 from 3-point range, outrebounded the hosts 26-16 and had a whopping advantage in points in the paint (28-8) and fast-break points (12-4). Portland shot .357 from the field, was 0 for 6 on treys and had only five assists.

The Suns “pretty much got what they wanted the first half,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “They were knocking down threes, scored pretty easily, and we were tight. We missed a lot of point-blank shots early. They built a lead and it was tough to dig ourselves out of the hole.”

At the half, the Blazers still felt they were in the game against the freewheeling Suns.

“The pace they play, there are opportunities to run on both sides,” Jones said. “If we could put together a couple of baskets here and a couple of stops there, we could back in it in a hurry. And we were there.”

After the Suns jumped ahead 64-41 early in the third quarter, momentum swung Portland’s way. Suddenly, it was Phoenix struggling to score and the Blazers — with Brandon Roy leading the way — finding the range.

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