Roy, Blazers blow by Knicks in fourth quarter

NEW YORK(AP) The more Chris Duhon drove by
them in the third quarter, the more the Portland Trail Blazers knew the
fourth would be theirs.And it was Rudy Fernandez, Joel Przybilla and the rest of the Blazers' deep bench that won it for them.Brandon
Roy scored 23 points, and Portland dominated the fourth quarter to beat
the tiring New York Knicks 104-97 Tuesday night for their fifth
straight victory."We had a group to come in and they got
aggressive and we were able to gain control of the game,'' Portland
coach Nate McMillan said. "And you know, when you're playing nine, 10
guys, if we play the way we condition ourselves to, we should be able
to wear down some teams. I thought tonight, Duhon, in the third quarter
he played well, but he looked like he wore down a little bit.''And McMillan made sure his players were aware."Yeah,
we seen it. Coach said they're wearing down, they've got heavy legs, so
let's keep trying to push it at them,'' Roy said. "Duhon played great
tonight. They've got a number of guys that play hard, but in that
fourth quarter you could see that our depth kind of outlasted them.''The
Knicks have been playing basically seven players because of trades,
injuries and the Stephon Marbury situation. Duhon played 44 minutes
with a bad back and missed all three shots in a scoreless fourth
quarter after scoring a season-high 23 through the first three."Once
the game is on, the adrenaline and you are competing, I don't really
think much about it,'' Duhon said. "But at the aftermath, I definitely
feel it afterwards. But I've been through this before, it's nothing
that's going to slow me down or prohibit me from playing.''Fernandez
made a pair of 3-pointers early in the final period and scored 18 for
the Trail Blazers, who shut down the Knicks' high-powered offense for
the first seven-plus minutes of the fourth and improved to 13-6, their
best start after 19 games since the 1999-00 club was 15-4.The
Blazers shook off a dismal offensive night from rookie Greg Oden, who
botched two dunks in the first five minutes and finished with two
points, matching Kwame Brown for the lowest-scoring effort by a No. 1
overall pick in his Madison Square Garden debut in 40 years."Kind of stopped shooting after that one, because I usually don't miss dunks,'' Oden said.Oden
played only 19 minutes because Przybilla was dominant in the paint,
finishing with 14 rebounds, eight points and two blocked shots.LaMarcus
Aldridge added 17 points and Travis Outlaw 16 for the Blazers, who have
won the first two games of their five-game Eastern Conference trip and
are 6-0 against the East, their best start since winning their first 12
in 1990-91.Duhon had 13 assists for the Knicks, who missed 10 of
their first 12 shots in the fourth quarter, when they were outscored
19-5. They didn't reach 82 points - the total they had at halftime of
their 138-125 victory against Golden State on Saturday - until Quentin
Richardson's two free throws with 4:49 remaining trimmed their deficit
to eight.David Lee finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds."We
saw some bodies dragging and a couple of guys had bad games,'' Knicks
coach Mike D'Antoni said. "The guys that were playing well I think ran
out of a little bit of steam.''New York seemed in control after
Duhon's two free throws gave him 13 points in the third quarter and
made it 75-67 with 2:05 left. The Knicks didn't score again in the
period, then Fernandez broke free in the fourth.The Spanish
rookie, greeted by chants of "Rudy!'' when he first checked in, knocked
down a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the quarter, and after a basket
by Przybilla, Fernandez sank a pair of free throws and buried another 3
to make it 81-75 with 9:37 remaining."I had confidence and I had
to make my shots the way I did with the Spanish national team,'' said
Fernandez, who nearly carried Spain to an upset of the U.S. Olympic
team in the gold-medal game. "I was aggressive.''The Knicks
missed their first five shots in the period before Al Harrington's
basket, but Roy made a couple of baskets and Rodriguez added another
bucket and a 3-pointer to push the lead to 90-80 with 5:40 left.Lee
and Tim Thomas both scored 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting in the first
quarter, helping New York build a 31-24 lead. The Knicks led 51-49
after Lee tipped in Harrington's missed 3-pointer as time expired.Notes:
D'Antoni said he hoped Nate Robinson (groin) and Jared Jeffries (leg)
can play Friday at Atlanta. Jeffries has begun practicing after sitting
out all season with a fractured fibula sustained in training camp. ...
Cazzie Russell (1966) and Jimmy Walker (1967) had the only other
two-point outings in an MSG debut since 1966, when the NBA switched
away from a territorial draft. ... Portland won the last four meetings.