Phoenix Suns derail Portland Trail Blazers 114-87 in NBA

By Luther Jefferson

PHOENIX, United States (TheSportsNEXT) November 22, 2012: The Phoenix Suns snapped a three-game losing run on Wednesday when they routed the Portland Trail Blazers by a huge margin of 114-87 in their home game of the NBA 2012-13 season.

The victory was largely attributed to a super hot shooting performance by Marcin Gortat who made 11-of-14 shots from the field and ended the game with 22 points. As a team, the Phoenix Suns shot 59 percent and kept the opponents to 40 percent shooting as Portland Trail Blazers had no answer to aggression put on display by the home side.

Phoenix Suns were in control of the proceedings right from the start as they outscored the Trail Blazers in all the four quarters and were leading by 13 points at the halfway stage.

Portland Trail Blazers found it tough to stage a comeback and succumbed to strong performance by the hosts who were also assisted by Markieff Morris with 19 points.

The only bright point for the Portland Trail Blazers was the performance of Damian Lillard who scored 24 points while Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum both delivered 13 points apiece.

This was the first defeat for the Portland Trail Blazers in their last four games.

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Jamal Crawford propels LA Clippers to 103-90 win over Trail Blazers

By Lindy Rumer

PORTLAND, Oregon United States (TheSportsNEXT) November 9, 2012: Jamal Crawford hit 25 points off the bench to help the Los Angeles Clippers defeat the Portland Trail Blazers by 103-90 in their first away game of the NBA 2013 on Thursday night.

The Los Angeles Clippers made their point clear in the first half of the game in Portland as they were 21 points ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers at halfway stage and then held their nerves to see off their opponents despite of a late challenge by the hosts.

The early hard work paid huge dividends for the LA Clippers as they raced to 60-39 after first two quarters and despite of the fact that Portland Trail Blazers outscored completely in the third quarter winning it by 32-17 the visitors came good in the final quarter to take it by 26-19 and with it a well-earned victory at Portland.

Apart from Jamal Crawford, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul also played their crucial part in the victory as both of them scored 21 points each for the Los Angeles Clippers in its first game away from Staples Center.

With this victory, the Los Angeles Clippers have won two straight games in the NBA 2013 season and now have the record of 4-2 and are fourth placed in the NBA Western Conference.

De'Andre Jordan also put in eight rebounds while Chris Paul delivered six assists for the Los Angeles Clippers.

On the other hand, Nicolas Batum hit 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists but couldn’t stop the Portland Trail Blazers from second consecutive defeat.

Damian Lillard also scored 16 points while LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points for a losing cause.

The Portland Trail Blazers had stormed their way back into contention after third quarter with score of 77-71 in favor of the visitors but they had cut down the massive deficit of the first two quarters a great deal.

At one stage in the final quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers managed to cut down the deficit to only four points at 86-82 but this is where their rally faded and when Paul hit a jumper with only 2:51 left in the final buzzer the home fans started leaving the arena with home side trailing at 98-85.

It is important to mention here that it was only the seventh victory for the Los Angeles Clippers in 32 appearances in Portland.

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