Brandon Roy took over down the stretch Wednesday night, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the final 8 minutes to help Portland beat the Washington Wizards 98-92 and extend the Trail Blazers' winning streak to six games. Portland is 7-0 against teams from the Eastern Conference.
The well-balanced Trail Blazers put five players in double-figures: Roy, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rudy Fernandez and Steve Blake. Oden, the rookie center who missed all of last season, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double in the past 12 games.
Antawn Jamison scored 22 points and Caron Butler added 16 for the Wizards, who fell to an Eastern Conference-worst 3-13.
Darius Songaila's 16-foot jumper got Washington back within two points late in the fourth, but he fouled Steve Blake at the other end, and the former Wizards guard made both foul shots to make it 96-92. Songaila then missed a jumper, Blake rebounded and was fouled, and the fans headed for the exits.
Caron Butler opened the second half with a 20-footer to tie it at 45, part of a personal 12-point third quarter that kept the Wizards close. Still, the Trail Blazers took a 77-72 lead into the final period thanks in part to Fernandez's three-point play with 1.8 seconds to go.
Washington began the fourth quarter with a 9-0 spurt capped by Nick Young's 3-pointer that put the Wizards ahead 81-79. Portland shot 0-for-6 in that stretch, not scoring a point in that quarter until nearly 4 1/2 minutes had elapsed.
But that's when Roy really began to assert himself, scoring seven points in a 9-2 run by the Blazers as they took an 86-83 lead.
“The game was close and we put the ball in (Roy’s) hands,” said head coach Nate McMillan. “Every team puts the ball in the hands of their best player and lets them create. What he is starting to see now is more teams double-teaming him down the stretch. They try to get the ball out of his hands and they don’t even wait for him to make a play. Teams try to get the other players to make a play and he has been very good at giving up the ball on the double-team and trusting his teammates.”
Roy, who finished the game with 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists, once again buoyed the Trail Blazers in the fourth quarter.
“It was time to be aggressive,” Roy said of his late-gamer heroics. “If they were going to win this game, they were going to win it with me attacking the rim for the last six minutes. I was able to get in the paint. Coach (Nate) McMillan put a lineup out with Rudy (Fernandez) and Steve Blake and it was tough for the Wizards to collapse on me.”
The Trail Blazers travel next to Boston to take on the Celtics on Friday for a nationally televised game on ESPN.
