Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Trail Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks praised his team’s renewed hustle and energy, but wondered where those virtues were hiding for most of the season.
Rasheed Wallace scored 28 points and Bonzi Wells had 27 as the Blazers shot 56 percent and handed the Seattle SuperSonics their fourth straight loss, 113-92 Saturday night.
“That was a lot of fun,” said the first-year coach, who had been exasperated at the team’s lethargic play in home losses to Phoenix and Charlotte. “Everybody who came in the game was ready to play.”
Damon Stoudamire added a season-high 13 assists and Scottie Pippen had 11 in a successful sharing of the point-guard duties, which opened the way for the most lopsided win of the season for Portland.
“All we’ve got to do is move the ball and we can score,” Pippen said. “But it all starts on defensive end. That was the main thing. A lot of the assists that we got were just from throwing the ball up the court and guys finishing.”
Gary Payton scored 21 points and Vin Baker had 20 to lead the Sonics, who were coming off an embarrassing home loss to Miami in overtime on Friday night.
“We just got heavy legs,” Seattle coach Nate McMillan said. “We’re a tired team.”
Earlier this season, Cheeks waffled between Stoudamire and Pippen at the point, with Stoudamire regaining his starting job recently while Pippen recovered from an injured right knee.
With Pippen healthy, Cheeks let them alternate against Seattle, and the result was a much faster, more efficient offense. Portland had a 29-11 advantage in fastbreak points.
“That was a nice little combination,” Cheeks said. “It really opens up the court.”
Consecutive alley-oop dunks off the transition – by Wallace on a lob from Pippen, and by Ruben Patterson from Wallace – capped a 12-0 run that put the Blazers ahead 103-84 with 3:45 to play.
Since coming off the injured list Nov. 23, Stoudamire has averaged 9.7 assists in six games.
Patterson added 19 points in 20 minutes against the team that declined to re-sign him following an attempted-rape charge last season.
“I was so amped and hyped for this game tonight,” Patterson said. “It felt good to beat those guys after everything that happened.”
With the Grizzlies’ move to Memphis, Seattle (9-14) and Portland (10-9) are once again the only teams in the Pacific Northwest, but their rivalry isn’t what it used to be.
The last time the Blazers and Sonics met this late in the season without at least one of them having a winning record was Feb. 27, 1986, when Jack Sikma led Seattle to a 107-94 home victory. Seattle improved to 21-38, while the Blazers lost their 12th straight and fell to 29-34.
But in front of the first sellout at the Rose Garden in seven games, the Blazers started quickly Saturday night, with Wallace scoring 12 points and Wells 10 in the first quarter. Stoudamire had seven assists and Pippen four.
A backdoor pass from Stoudamire to Patterson for a layup gave Portland a 31-18 lead to close the period.
“They had a good game plan,” Payton said. “They did a good job in making us lose.”
The Blazers shot 71 percent in the second quarter and pushed the lead to 15, but the Sonics came back behind Yugoslav rookies Vladimir Radmanovic and Predrag Drobnjak. They entered the game averaging a combined 8.5 points, but teamed for 11 points during a stretch of 6:03.
Radmanovic grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Rashard Lewis for a leaning bank shot that brought Seattle within 43-38, but the Blazers got the lead back to 10 at halftime.
Seattle got the deficit to six, but the Sonics made just two field goals in the final 5:18 of the third period, and Zach Randolph’s putback with 7.5 seconds left made it 84-70.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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