Sat 15 Dec 2007
Trail Blazers Win 6th Straight, Beat Jazz 99-91
Posted by Stephen Rhodes under Main

The Portland Trail Blazers did nothing out of the ordinary against the Utah Jazz on Friday night, except one thing - they went to the free throw line 46 times, making 37 of them. That was the difference as the Blazers outlasted the Jazz 99-91 at the Rose Garden, extending Portland’s winning streak to six.Portland led 45-37 late in the second quarter, but Utah would outscore the Blazers 17-8 to take a 1-point lead at halftime. Utah threatened to pull away in the third quarter as guard Ronnie Brewer made a layup, forward Carlos Boozer hit a jumper and G Deron Williams made a layup; however, Portland went on an 8-0 run capped by a jumper by Brandon Roy. The Jazz went scoreless for the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter and the Blazers took the lead 75-74 on a jumper by James Jones.
What would prove to be costly to the Jazz was an intentional foul call on Williams late in the game. Portland F Travis Outlaw made 2 free throws before Roy sliced through the Jazz for a layup to put the Blazers up 91-86 with just under 2 minutes remaining. Utah’s Boozer made 1 of 2 free throws, but Outlaw hit a 10-footer then grabbed a Boozer miss, icing the win for Portland.
Portland’s leading scorer was Roy with 29 points, while Outlaw added 21; Jones added 14. Utah’s leading scorer was Boozer with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists - a fine effort. Andrei Kirilenko added 16 with 8 boards, while Williams, on 5-of-14 shooting, scored 11 while dishing out 10 assists. Portland (11-12) travels east to Denver to take on the Nuggets Sunday, while Utah returns home to host the Seattle SuperSonics Saturday night.






