Trail Blazers vs Mavericks Saturday, 04/23/11 AT 02:00PM

Roy Rescues Trail Blazers To Overcome Mavs And Tie Series

04/24/11

Written by: ShalamarClark / avg. rating: 4.8

Brandon Roy scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Portland Trail Blazers out of a 23-point deficit to the Dallas Mavericks and even the series in Saturday’s 84-82 win at the Rose Garden.

It was a chilling effort from Roy, who scored 16 points in the Game 3 win at home on Thursday. He made 12 of Portland’s last 16 points in the final four minutes of the fourth to knot up the series 2-2.

“It still doesn’t feel real yet,” said Roy. “I’ve been in some pretty good zones before, but none like tonight.”

Roy nailed 25’ three from the top of the key and was fouled that sent the crowd in a frenzy. He tied the game at 82 at the line with 1:06 left.

Then with 49.9 seconds, Roy drove down the lane past Shawn Marion and banked in a bucket falling down to give Portland the two-point lead with 39. 2 seconds.

“Shots just kept going in,” said Roy. “Honestly, I envisioned a game like this when I came back from the surgery. I was like, ‘yeah I think I’m going to do something special.’”

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 18 points, Andre Miller had 14, Gerald Wallace ended with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Wesley Matthews, who deflected the ball off Jason Kidd at midcourt with 1:52, had 11.

It was a historic win for the Trail Blazers (2-2), who fought back from 18 points in the fourth to pull off the largest fourth-quarter comeback in the playoffs in the franchise’s history.

Portland didn’t turn the ball over in the final frame. The Trail Blazers turned up the intensity on defense and forced critical stops to overcome a 64-41 Dallas’ lead in the third quarter.

“We needed to get our heads up,” said Trail Blazer Head Coach Nate McMillan. “We made buckets, which is what we needed to do in the fourth quarter and we’re able to come back an win this game.”

Wallace made a huge stop with 2:16 in the fourth, drawing an offensive foul on Dirk Nowitzki in the paint as Aldridge’s turnaround jumper brought the Trail Blazers within four.

Dallas (2-2) committed 15 turnovers with four coming in the final period.

“I thought we all just put it out on the line,” said Aldridge of his team’s defense, “and it paid off.”

Nowitzki led Dallas with 20 points, while Marion had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Terry added 13 point from the bench.

The Mavs looked determined to pull away with the game in the third quarter after the Trail Blazers struggled shooting 3-of-18 in the period. Dallas was relentless, outscoring Portland 30-14 to go into the fourth up 67-49.

“We lost our aggression,” said Dallas Head Coach Rick Carlisle. “We went eight straight times without scoring and that fueled [Portland’s] offense.”

Roy’s three to close the third, the Trail Blazers’ second in 13 attempts at the time, was the spark Portland needed to ensure a Game 6 matchup back in Portland. It bounced around and teetered on the rim before slowly dropping in.

Kidd, who had nine points, missed a three and Nowitzki came up empty on a fade away. Roy and Aldridge both hit a jumper to climb back 75-64 in the fourth.

“I was just like, if we play defense for five possessions an get five stops, we can get it to ten,” said Aldridge. “Then we actually did it an I was like, ‘Oh its at 11, I was like, let’s try to do it again.’”

The Trail Blazers did do it again, tightening up their defense to stop the Mavs on the their next five shots.

Again, a confident Roy took advantage, stepping back to hit a jumper over Nowitzki and scoring on a drive to close the gap to six on the way to the win.

“I'm happy for him,” said Aldridge of his teammate Roy. "We got some pressure on [Dallas] now."

The Trail Blazers will travel to Dallas on Monday and try to grab an edge in the series. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 PM.