Trail Blazers 98, Bulls 95
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Trail Blazers spotted Chicago a 21-point second-quarter lead, outscored the Bulls 34-12 in the third quarter and pulled out a 98-95 victory on Friday night at the Moda Center.
But the Bulls might have suffered a greater loss. Point guard Derrick Rose left the game late in the third quarter with a right knee injury and did not return.
Rose was taken to the locker room for examination and the extent of the injury was not immediately known. It is not the knee that required surgery and forced him to miss all of last season.
For the Trail Blazers (11-2), it was their ninth straight victory, the longest streak since a 13-game run in December 2007.
Guard Wesley Matthews scored a season-high 28 points and center Robin Lopez collected 13 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for Portland, which trailed the entire way until late in the third quarter. Guard Damian Lillard scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half.
Rose scored 20 points to lead Chicago (6-5) before he left. F Luol Deng contributed 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls.
Chicago got the jump on Portland, running out to a 22-10 lead in the first seven minutes. The Bulls outrebounded the Blazers 17-5 en route to a 32-22 advantage after one quarter, with Deng's eight points and eight rebounds leading the way.
Early in the second quarter, Chicago's advantage was 43-24. The Bulls held a huge edge in points in the paint (24-8) and rebounds (23-7). Chicago extended the margin to 48-27 midway through the quarter.
Portland sliced the margin to 59-44 at the half. Matthews did the bulk of the damage with 16 points. Lillard and forward LaMarcus Aldridge combined to make 2 of 17 shots from the field in the half for the Blazers.
The Blazers stormed back, drawing to 68-66 with four minutes left the third quarter. When guard Mo Williams buried a 3-pointer moments later, Portland had its first lead at 71-70. Williams followed with another trey to make it 74-70 and the Blazers' lead was 78-71 entering the fourth quarter.
Chicago regrouped and tied the score at 83 on two Kirk Hinrich free throws with 7:40 left. Deng's rebound basket gave the Bulls the lead back at 87-85 with 4:39 to play. They stayed in front until Matthews sank a set shot with 1:37 remaining to pull the Blazers on top 96-95.
After a Chicago miss, forward Nicolas Batum airballed a 3-point try, giving the Bulls the ball back with 36.8 seconds to go. The Bulls had three shots on the next possession but missed them all. The Blazers called timeout with 12.8 seconds left. Aldridge made two at the line with 7.8 seconds left to make it 98-95, and Deng's 3-point attempt missed as time expired.
NOTES: Chicago G Jimmy Butler sat out his second straight game with an injured big right toe ... Chicago came into the game ranked fourth, Portland sixth in the NBA in rebound percentage. ... ortland entered the night ranked No. 1 in opponents' 3-point percentage (.291) and last in opponents' turnovers (12.8 per game). "You're not going to be able to take everything away, otherwise you're the Indiana Pacers," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "I'd like to be able to force a few more turnovers, but I want us to be solid, not gamble. We don't want to give up something easy."
