Thursday, February 07, 2008
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Roy Leads Blazers Past Bulls 100-97

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[February 07, 2008]  PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Brandon Roy scored 28 points and the Portland Trail Blazers held off the short-handed Chicago Bulls 100-97 on Wednesday night.

LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points for the Blazers, who led by as many as 13 points in the second half.

Chicago threatened in the final minutes. Ben Wallace's dunk with 2:01 left narrowed it to 91-88, but Travis Outlaw kept the Blazers out in front with a pair of free throws.

After Tyrus Thomas' hook shot closed the gap again for Chicago with 1:14 left, Outlaw answered with his own hook shot to make it 95-90 with 26.9 seconds to go.

Thabo Sefolosha, who had a career-high 22 points, made a layup for the Bulls to pull close again.

After Jarrett Jack made just one of two free throws for the Blazers, Chris Duhon hit a baseline jumper to make it 96-94 with 7.2 seconds left. Jack then went back to the free-throw line, this time making both shots.

Nocioni's 3-pointer closed it to 98-97 with 0.8 seconds left, but officials had to rule whether Duhon's foul on Roy came before the buzzer.

The officials added 0.5 seconds to the clock, Roy went to the foul line and made both of his shots for the final margin.

Nocioni also had 22 points for the Bulls.

Chicago guard Kirk Hinrich was not in the lineup because of bruised ribs. Hinrich, averaging 13 points, six assists and 3.5 rebounds, was injured in Chicago's 118-108 victory at Seattle on Monday. Duhon started in his place.

Ben Gordon also didn't play because of a sprained right wrist. The guard had 20 points against the SuperSonics and was averaging 20 points, but has struggled of late with his wrist.

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Thomas returned after missing the game against the SuperSonics with a sprained left foot.

Portland coach Nate McMillan shook up his starting lineup, going with Jack as shooting guard and Roy at small forward. The change wasn't because of poor play, but because the Blazers have been forced to reshuffle their rotation with the absence of 3-point shooter James Jones, who's out until after the All-Star game to rest a sore left knee.

Portland has cooled off considerably after their 13-game winning streak in December, and have lost five of their seven games. The Blazers were coming off a 105-103 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday.

Joakim Noah's dunk late in the first quarter tied it at 21 before the Blazers began to pull away. Portland answered with a 14-3 run to lead 35-23.

Aldridge's dunk made it 41-29, and the Blazers went on to lead 49-43 at the half.

The Bulls gained ground in the second half, closing within 66-62 on Nocioni's 3-pointer. But Roy came back with an off-balance, falling-down jumper, and Martell Webster followed with a dunk to make it 70-62.

Notes: The Bulls have won five of the last seven games against Portland, but the Trail Blazers won the last meeting in overtime 115-109 in Chicago. ... Chicago remained without forward Luol Deng because of left Achilles' tendinitis.

[Associated Press; By ANNE M. PETERSON]

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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