Trail Blazers vs Wizards Friday, 03/19/10 AT 07:00PM

Trail Blazers Win Fifth Straight Thanks To Roy's Winner

03/19/10

  1. Written by: caseyholdahl

    Brandon Roy rebounded from a cold spell to hit a 22-foot jumper with 0.5 seconds left and the Portland Trail Blazers (42-28) beat the Washington Wizards 76-74 on Friday night.

    Roy, who averaged 27 points last week as the Western Conference player of the week, finished with 14 points for the Trail Blazers, who have won five straight, their longest winning streak of the season.

    “I was just thinking ‘finally,’" said Roy of the game-winning shot. "I took a lot of shots tonight. The majority of them felt good – a couple of them felt like I was a little off balance but I was just laughing, you know, finally, I made a shot. It was the one to help us win an important game for us.”

    Portland's 32.1 field goal percentage was the worst ever for the Trail Blazers in a victory. The previous low was 33.0 percent on Nov. 3, 1990 versus Sacramento.

    “We missed shots," said Nate McMillan. "It’s as simple as that – shooting 30 percent. We had open looks and sometimes you can anticipate this happening. That’s what we talked about on the four days off – not having your rhythm. It’s hard to simulate a game, game speed, and game conditions through practice."

    Mike Miller had 16 points for the Wizards, who have lost 10 straight. Washington trailed by 16 points, but pulled to 69-67 with 2:50 left after Al Thornton's dunk and free throw.

    Randy Foye hit a 2-pointer with 2:11 left that gave the Wizards a 70-69 lead. After Andre Miller's free throw for Portland, Foye hit a pullup jumper to put Washington ahead 72-70.

    Nicolas Batum made two free throws before Foye hit another jumper to put Washington ahead 74-72 with 1:01 left.

    LaMarcus Aldridge made a pair of foul shots before Andray Blatche missed a layup. And Roy closed it out with his jumper on the other end.

    "We got the stop, tie ball game, we want to get Brandon in the pick and roll," said McMillan. "If they’re going to play him straight up, spread the floor and put the shooters out there and let him go. He hit and unbelievable shot. We wanted to make sure we got the last shot on that."

    Aldridge shad 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers, and Miller added 14 points in his 600th consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NBA. Marcus Camby had 19 rebounds.

    Portland appeared inexplicably sluggish after a rare four days off following a 109-98 victory over Toronto on Sunday.

    “I felt good," said Roy. "I didn’t feel sluggish at all. I was just thinking that we were just missing shots. Maybe the four days off had something to do with our shots, but I don’t think it had anything to do with our legs. We felt fresh. I felt good before the game and just couldn’t make a shot. Hopefully we’ll play much better against Phoenix.”

    Andre Miller's fadeaway jumper put Portland up 36-26 and the Blazers led 16 points en route to a 42-30 halftime lead. Roy had 10 first-half points and Camby had 11 first-half rebounds.

    But the Trail Blazers struggled in the third quarter, when Roy missed 12 straight shots, and the Wizards closed the gap to 55-51 on James Singleton's layup to start the fourth quarter.

    Earlier Friday the Wizards signed guard Shaun Livingston for the rest of the season after playing through a pair of 10-day contracts. He originally joined Washington on Feb. 26.

    Going into the game, he averaged 4.9 points and 3.3 assists in 15 1/2 minutes in 10 games. He scored Washington's first basket against the Blazers.

    Earl Boykins did not make the trip to Portland with the Wizards because of a stomach virus.

    Blatche started despite spraining his left ankle in practice on Tuesday and finished with 12 points.
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