Blazers waste Wizards

Roy strains groin

By Kerry Eggers

LocalNewsDaily.com, Mar 25, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

For most NBA teams, there are a few games each season with which they would like to use a mulligan and take a do-over.

For the Trail Blazers, Monday night’s 97-84 loss at Seattle was one.

For the Washington Wizards, Tuesday night’s 102-82 decimation at Portland was one.

“It was a story of two teams,” Washington coach Eddie Jordan said after the Blazers blew out his playoff-bound Wizards before an announced sellout Rose Garden crowd of 19,980. “One team could shoot straight; the other team couldn’t.”

“Washington was sitting here waiting for us, we played last night, and we come out and look like a totally different team,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “It just shows what you’re capable of doing if you play hard and you play together.”

Portland (38-34) was sensational in bursting to a 59-43 lead at the half, shooting .622 from the field and .625 (5 of 8) from 3-point range. The second half was a case of dominating the boards and protecting a huge lead, and the Blazers did it superbly in rolling to their most decisive victory all season.

Washington (36-34), meanwhile, never found a rhythm. The team that won Sunday night at Detroit and is battling for homecourt advantage in the Eastern Conference playoffs shot .358 from the field and was overwhelmed 55-36 on the boards.

The Wizards are typically a good road team, too, having won four in a row and posting a 15-18 record away from home entering Tuesday’s game.

“You look at our record – we always play good on the road,” Washington guard DeShawn Stevenson said. “Tonight we didn’t, and (the Blazers) gave us a good knockout punch.”

The Blazers did much of it without their top two players. LaMarcus Aldridge sat out the game with an ankle sprained in Monday’s loss at Seattle. Brandon Roy left in the first quarter with a strained groin, tried briefly to return in the second period before limping off the floor and calling it a night.

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