The Portland Trail Blazers (43-26) took the Cleveland Cavaliers (55-13), the team with the best record in the NBA, to overtime before falling 97-92 at the Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night in Cleveland, Ohio.
Portland, playing the second game in a back-to-back, was without starting power forward LaMarcus Aldridge or starting small forward Nicolas Batum. Aldridge suffered a concussion and Batum a twisted ankle in the Trail Blazers victory over the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night.
The Trail Blazers used defense to take an early advantage Thursday night. Greg Oden, playing in only his second game since the All-Star break, converted his second of two free throws, giving Portland a 19-10 lead with 56 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Trail Blazers held the Cavaliers to four field goals in the opening quarter, and led 19-12 after 12 minutes of play.
Channing Frye, starting his first game of the season in place of Aldridge, supplied the offense for Portland in the second quarter as the Trail Blazers built a lead. Frye hit an 18-footer with 9:47 to play in the opening half, giving Portland its largest lead of the night at 25-14. The Trail Blazers held off a run by the home team at the end of the second quarter, and finished the first half leading 36-34.
Frye finished the first half with 10 points, eight coming in the second quarter.
Cleveland took back the lead early in the third quarter on two made free throws by Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cavaliers closed out the third quarter with a three-pointer from Daniel Gibson giving the home team a 65-57 advantage. Portland was outscored in the third quarter 31-21.
LeBron James began to take over the game late in the fourth quarter. James scored all of Cleveland’s final six points in regulation, the final two coming on a banked eight-footer with 36 seconds remaining in the game, putting the Cavaliers ahead 86-82. Brandon Roy responded with four straight made free throws, both trips to the free throw line coming on fouls drawn against James, knotting the game at 86-86 and sending the contest into an extra period.
Portland came out flat in the overtime period, and Cleveland took advantage to put the game away. Steve Blake hit a three-pointer with 23 seconds left in overtime to reach the final margin of 97-92 in favor of Cleveland. Blake’s bucket was the only field goal Portland managed in the extra time. James recorded six points, one assist, and one rebound in overtime.
Roy led the way for the Trail Blazers with 24 points, seven assists, and seven rebounds. Travis Outlaw, starting in place of Batum, scored 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds, Frye finished with 14 points, Joel Przybilla scored 13 points and added 11 rebounds for his third straight double-double, and Blake tallied 12 points and added seven assists.
The Trail Blazers close out their five-game road trip on Saturday in Milwaukee against the Bucks.
