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Roy, Blake help Blazers extend win streak to six

Dec 4, 2008 - 4:27 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Brandon Roy has quickly evolved into the Portland Trail Blazers' go-to guy.

Roy scored 12 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead five players in double figures as the Blazers won their sixth straight with a 98-92 victory over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.

"He understands that situation," Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "He's done well when the game is on the line and the ball is in his hands. This is really another adjustment for him as far as teams double-teaming him and trapping him before he even gets into the offense.

"Those are plays you usually see with a Kobe (Bryant) or a Dwyane Wade. He's getting that type of attention. Now what he has to do is draw the double-team, trust his teammates, and those guys have to make plays, and tonight they did."

Former Wizards guard Steve Blake sealed the victory with three free throws in the final 13 seconds that denied Washington its first two-game win streak of the season.

"It was good seeing him back home playing and having fun," Roy said of Blake, a graduate of the nearby University of Maryland. "He made some big plays, made some big free throws for us, and closed the game out."

Roy split two defenders on a drive down the lane for a layup that gave Portland a 94-90 lead with 35 seconds left.

"I knew if they were to bump me it was going to be a foul, so as soon as I saw the lane, I just tried to take it," Roy said. "I didn't want to play with it; I just wanted to attack right down that paint. A couple of times they called fouls, so after that they really didn't want to body me so I was able to get right to the rim."

Darius Songaila answered with a jumper from the left corner that pulled Washington within 94-92 with 29 seconds left. Blake then drew a foul on Songaila on a drive to the basket and made both free throws with 13.2 seconds left.

Songaila missed a turnaround jumper with nine seconds remaining before Blake and Roy each hit 1-of-2 from the line to provide the final margin.

Rudy Fernandez's follow gave Portland a 90-87 lead with 2:20 left.

"I thought that tip by Rudy was huge when he came flying in the lane and got a big rebound," Roy said. "It just says a lot about our young team. We're maturing. I think I only played 34 minutes. My minutes are down and that allows me to be a lot more aggressive in the fourth quarter of games, so that all just factors into it. With our depth we have a lot of young bodies to just throw at teams."

The Wizards took an 81-77 lead on Nick Young's 3-pointer with 8:32 left in the frame before Roy - the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week - got busy. The All-Star guard made back-to-back buckets and Greg Oden followed with a slam follow that gave the Trail Blazers an 83-81 lead with 6:03 remaining.

"I did say, 'All right, it's time to be aggressive. If they're going to win this game, they're going to win it with me attacking them for the rest of this six minutes,'" Roy said. "I was able to get to that paint. Coach put a lineup out there with Rudy and Blake, and it was tough for them to collapse on me. They like to help off, but you can't leave those two."

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 16 points and Blake added 15 for Portland. Oden finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and fellow rookie Fernandez added 13 points in 25 minutes off the bench.

Antawn Jamison led the Wizards with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting and Caron Butler added 16.

"That's been the story this year," Jamison said. "Instead of finding ways to get it done, we make mistakes and it really hurt us. The toughest thing about it is we're in the game and it comes down to the last two or three minutes and, you know, just not finding a way to get it done. You've just got to keep plugging away, man."

Jamison praised Roy for taking advantage of McMillan's system in Portland to become one of the league's elite players.

"I don't know too many Pac-10 guys who can control the game the way he's controlling it," said Jamison, who bleeds Carolina Blue. "The thing I like about him is he's really flourishing under Nate McMillan's system. I think having Nate as a coach really makes that much of a difference."

Fernandez scored six quick points in the final minute of the third quarter that gave Portland a 77-72 lead after three. He knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner with 41 seconds left and followed with a three-point play over Nick Young with 1.8 ticks left in the frame. Fernandez made a baseline cut and flipped a shot backward over his head with Young clinging to his arm.

Butler's driving layup gave the Wizards a 62-61 lead with 4:37 remaining in the third quarter.

Blake and Roy combined to score nine of Portland's first 11 points of the third as the Blazers built a 56-50 lead.

"In the first half, I think I was looking for calls," Roy said. "And at halftime, I said, 'You know what, forget the calls, forget the refs and just go play.' In the fourth quarter I think the refs finally gave me some breaks. I think you make your own breaks by continuing to attack, and that's when the team needed me to get there. At the end, I was fortunate enough to get some free throws, finally."