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Avydas Sabonis softens up the Nets in the first
The New Jersey Nets knew exactly what hit them. First, Arvydas
Sabonis.
Then, the Trail Blazers' depth.
The Nets had no match for either Monday night as the Blazers
gained more
ground on the slumping Los Angeles Lakers with a 101-87 win.
Sabonis had 21 points and a season-high-tying 13 rebounds in 26
minutes.
He sat the final 15 minutes, when Portland's defensive
quickness and reserves
took over. Greg Anthony, Bonzi Wells and Detlef Schrempf
combined to make
eight of 11 shots and score 24 of their 28 points in the second
half.
The Blazers, who had to overcome a 13-point, second-quarter
deficit, pulled
away by outscoring the Nets 30-19 in the fourth quarter.
"Too many turnovers at the end. Portland really got after us,"
Nets coach
Don Casey said. "Sabonis got his, but he's good. The others got
theirs
off the bench, and that killed us."
The Blazers are 31-10 halfway through the 82-game regular
season. Last
season's team also was 31-10 in what was a lockout-shortened,
50- game
season.
The Lakers' lead dropped to 11/2 games. They fell to 33-9, and
2- 4 in
their last six games, with a 105-101 double-overtime loss at
Utah, a game
that ended just as halftime was ending in Portland.
"It's a good number," coach Mike Dunleavy said of the Blazers'
record.
"We can take our rebounding up a few notches. I've seen some
signs of it
getting better the last couple of games, of us having a little
more focus
and blocking people out. And at times, we can give better
support off the
dribble, recognizing and being aggressive to go to the ball
when somebody
gets beat."
Point guard Stephon Marbury led the Nets (17-24) with 21 points,
but he
scored only three in the second half. New Jersey was outrebounded
44-31
by the bigger Blazers, who have won three in a row.
"They're the best team in the league," Nets guard/forward Kendall
Gill
said. "But I think we proved that we can play with them."
So can a lot of teams, for two or three quarters.
"Our depth wore them down in the second half," said Portland
guard Steve
Smith, who had 16 points.
The Nets came into the game facing some huge obstacles.
Undersized, they
felt compelled to start center Jim McIlvaine, who did not play
in the Nets'
last game, having sat out with plantar fasciatis of the left
foot as New
Jersey beat Dallas on Saturday. New Jersey's starters might be
able to
stay close to the Blazers' first string, but could the Nets'
no-name bench
keep from getting run over by Portland's reserves? And, could
either New
Jersey unit rebound with the bigger Blazers?
Sabonis took advantage of the mismatch in size and skills from
the start.
The Blazers looked for him inside and got the results for which
they hoped.
After the first 71/2 minutes, Sabonis had 12 points and six
rebounds; New
Jersey had 12 points and four rebounds; and Portland had an
18-12 lead.
Sabonis finished the quarter with 14 points and eight rebounds,
making
seven of 11 shots.
"We're always trying to get Sabonis rolling," Scottie Pippen
said with
a grin. "He just has a tendency to distribute the ball and be
like a guard.
Tonight, we just kept yelling at him to shoot it."
Sabonis, who had been averaging 8.6 shots per game, eventually
needed a
breather, and New Jersey moved into the lead early in the
second quarter.
The first game back after a long trip often is difficult for
the home team,
and that might have caught up with the Blazers for a while. The
Nets' lead
grew to 50-37 with just under two minutes to play in the half,
as Rasheed
Wallace was off to a 2-for-8 start from the field and Damon
Stoudamire
failed to score until late in the quarter.
At the half, Marbury had 18 points to Sabonis' 16, and the Nets
had a 50-43
lead.
The Blazers made 10 of 18 shots in the third quarter to take a
71- 68 going
into the final 12 minutes.
Anthony's three three-pointers gave Portland an 81-74 lead
early in the
fourth quarter, and the Nets never got closer the rest of the
way.
Notes: The Nets' three centers -- McIlvaine, James Feick and
Evan Eschmeyer,
combined for eight points and 11 rebounds in 58 minutes. "He's
a lumberjack,"
the 6-foot-8 Feick said of Sabonis. . . . Wells made a three-
pointer with
1.3 seconds left that put Portland over the century mark. The
24-second
clock would have expired with 1.0 seconds remaining, and one of
the officials
was calling for Wells to shoot his uncontested 24-footer. . . .
The Blazers
are 22-3 all-time at home against New Jersey. . . . Portland
will play
its next three at home, against Utah on Thursday, San Antonio
on Saturday,
and then Chicago on Tuesday.
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