CLIPPERS HOLD ON TO BEAT BLAZERS ROOKS' FREE THROWS PRESERVE VICTORY CLIPPERS 90, PORTLAND 89.Byline: Sean Kearns Staff Writer The Clippers figured they'd had enough of those late-game heroics - by the other team. Saturday night at Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. , Eric Piatkowski Eric Todd Piatkowski (pronounced IPA: /ˌpaɪətˈkaʊski/) (born September 30, 1970, in Steubenville, Ohio) is an American National Basketball Association player with the Phoenix Suns. and Sean Rooks Sean Lester Rooks (born September 9 1969 in New York City) is a retired American basketball player at the center position in the National Basketball Association. He attended the University of Arizona and was drafted in the second round of the 1992 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. were the heroes, making the big plays down the stretch as the Clippers surprised the Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise, based in Portland throughout its existence, entered the league in 1970 and has won the NBA Championship once, in 1977. 90-89 in front of 19,077. Rooks Rooks can refer to: People:
Still, the win didn't come easily. Portland's Damon Stoudamire missed a jump shot and Steve Smith a tip as the buzzer sounded and the Clippers exchanged grins and hugs on the court like they had just beaten a curse. And in a way they did. ``It's big,'' Piatkowski said. ``I felt like we played with a lot of confidence going down the stretch even though we missed a couple shots and they got back into it. I felt as though during the timeouts that guys were smiling and saying, `We're going to win.' '' But, again, that almost did not happen. Steve Smith had given Portland an 89-88 lead on a turnaround jump shot over Piatkowski with 28.9 seconds left, capping an 11-3 Portland run that erased an 85-78 Clippers lead with 4:44 left. However, the Clippers responded when Rooks made a pair of free throws with 20.9 seconds left after being fouled by Arvydas Sabonis. That gave the Clippers the lead for good. ``I didn't worry about (losing a close game) because I knew somewhere along the line that it had to turn,'' Clippers coach Alvin Gentry said. ``That's what I had to get across to our guys that if we keep playing through that, it evens out in the end.'' The Clippers also received contributions from seldom-used Derek Strong, a former Laker who had five points in 24 minutes. The win is the Clippers second in a row after losing nine straight. It also gives them a 15-33 record, equaling their win total of the entire 1999-2000 season. The Blazers played the game without two of their top players, Rasheed Wallace and Scottie Pippen. Wallace didn't make the trip after being suspended by the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= for two games Friday for an incident with an official. Pippen had surgery on his right elbow last week after missing eight previous games with tendonitis tendonitis /ten·do·ni·tis/ (ten?do-ni´tis) tendinitis. ten·do·ni·tis n. Variant of tendinitis. of the elbow. He went on the injured list Jan. 25. CAPTION(S): box Box: GAME RECAP |
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