Wesley Matthews leads the Portland Trail blazers to a 110 - 101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers
Wesley Matthews shot 6-9 from beyond the arc, on his way to 28 points to power the Portland Trailblazers to a 110–101 win over the Philadelphia 76ers here at the Rose Garden, on Saturday, March 19.
With its five starters contributing 96 points, the Blazers were firing on all cylinders at home on Saturday. Portland have now won seven of their last nine games.
The Sixers were missing Andre Igoudala, who was out due to knee trouble. Portland took an early 12 point lead in the first period marked by a 10-2 run at the 2:56 second mark.
Portland led 36 -27 at the end of the first quarter.
With both teams shooting more than 50 percent from the field, the solid play by Portland’s starting-five was the deciding factor in the game. Led by Thaddeus Young’s 19 points and 6 boards, the Philly
bench had to contribute 59 points to the game close.
Philadelphia is ranked first in the league in bench scoring, averaging 39.8 points a game.
Gerald Wallace had 25 points, eight assists and six rebounds, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 18 points, five assists and seven boards to guide the Blazers to victory over the Sixers.
After a closely contested second quarter, the Blazers led 62-54 halfway through the game.
Matthews had 20 point in the first half of the game, as he went 7-for-8 and drained six three-pointers.
Philadelphia fought back in the third quarter with an 11 -2 run at the 07:54 mark to reduce the Portland lead to just two points. But the Blazers responded with an 8 – 0 run of their own to go up
83 – 73 with 03:46 to go in the quarter.
But the 76ers hit right back. Louis Williams’ jumpshot with 35.7 seconds left in the third period cut the Blazers lead to four.
Elton Brand started the fourth period with 6 points to keep Philadelphia in the game, but they went on to score just two points in the next 6:24 to allow the Blazers to cement their lead and the win.
For the Sixers, Jodie Meeks had 17 points, while Louis Williams scored 24 off the bench.
Frenchman Nicolas Batum added 16 points for the Blazers.
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