PORTLAND — Bah Humbug.
Christmas continued to treat the Seattle SuperSonics unkindly, as the Sonics fell to 0-11 in Christmas day games with a clunky 89-79 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
And while the Sonics struggle their Northwest rival Portland pushed its torrid winning streak to 11 straight games Tuesday night.
The Trail Blazers received a standing ovation from the sell-out crowd of 20,527 faithful fans at the Rose Garden at the end of the game.
Although Christmas has been a downer for Seattle, the Blazers have been in a cheery mood during the holiday season. Portland won its 13 straight game on Christmas day, and holds a 13-1 record on Christmas.
In a game where neither team shot the ball particularly well, offensive rebounding proved the difference. The Trail Blazers totaled 19 offensive rebounds for the game compared to Seattle’s 12 offensive boards, helping Portland get 17 more shot attempts up than the Sonics (8-20).
“We did a poor job (of rebounding),” Seattle coach P.J. Carlesimo said. “And it wasn’t just the bigs. We needed our smalls in there tracking down some of them.”
Following a recent trend, Seattle’s starters again struggled from the floor. Only Kevin Durant finished in double figures, totaling a game-high 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting from the floor. The rest of the starters were 6-of-21 from the field.
“This was one of those game we wanted to get but it was tough for us,” said Chris Wilcox, who finished with five points and eight rebounds. “We couldn’t put it in the basket. And every time we made mistakes they had answers for us.”
Seattle shot 31-of-76 from the floor (40.8 percent) and turned it over 13 times in a low-scoring affair where possessions were valuable.
Portland (16-12) played just good enough to win, with Brandon Roy and Jarrett Jack finishing with 17 points each. Although the Trail Blazers only shot 36-of-93 from the field (38.7 percent), they finished 7-of-19 from the 3-point line, and made clutch shots when they needed them.
“This game was crucial because for the first time in awhile we were the team that was favored,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “How we would respond was important. And we also were playing on national television on Christmas Day. I think national TV likes what we have and wants to showcase that. I think we showed them something.”
Portland came into the game with the much-talked about winning streak, but Seattle only trailed 46-44 at the half. Wally Szczerbiak carried the Sonics offensively in the first half, scoring 15 of his 19 points in the opening half.
Roy struggled in the first half, shooting 2-of-11 and scoring only four points. He also received a blow to the jaw while helping to guard Wilcox in the first half and had to leave the game just before halftime.
But with Roy struggling offensively, reserve guard Jack picked up the slack, scoring 12 points in the first half on several drives to the basket.
Portland grabbed control of the game in the third quarter. Roy did what good players do to open the second half — he took over the game. The 6-foot-6 University of Washington product sparked the Blazers on a 20-6 run to open the third quarter, basically putting the game away with 4:32 left in the third. Roy scored 11 of his team’s 20 points during the stretch — including six straight at one point — and also handed out two assists as Portland took a commanding 66-50 lead.
Seattle managed to work its way back into striking distance, with Durant leading a late rally and the Sonics cutting Portland’s lead to 70-62 at the end of the third quarter. The Sonics would get a close as six points in the fourth quarter, but Portland went on another run late in the fourth salted the game away.
Seattle’s frustrations bubbled over with under three minutes left as Earl Watson threw the ball at the back of Portland Center Joel Przybilla after a called foul. Przybilla bumped Watson as he drove to the basket. Watson continued to talk after the foul and was called for a technical foul.
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Sonics, as they host the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics on Thursday, with ex-Sonic Ray Allen making his first appearance at KeyArena since being dealt during the summer.
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