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Bobcats battle Blazers in Rip City

Mar 5, 2011 - 3:58 PM (Sports Network) - The reeling Charlotte Bobcats hope to salvage the finale of a four-game road trip in Rip City on Saturday against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Bobcats fell to 0-3 on their trek in Los Angeles on Friday when Kobe Bryant had 27 points, Pau Gasol scored 20 with 10 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers captured their sixth straight win with a 92-84 victory over Charlotte.

D.J. Augustin scored 22 points to lead the Bobcats, who are just one game behind Indiana for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference despite their current slide. Charlotte trailed by as many as 17 points in the game despite shooting marginally better than the Lakers at 40 percent.

Making matters worse, the Bobcats lost leading scorer Stephen Jackson late in the third quarter to a left hamstring injury. Charlotte head coach Paul Silas said Jackson, who has struggled with the injury, "might be out for a little while."

"He really shouldn't have played. He said he was OK, but he's going to have to sit out until he gets better," Silas explained without saying how many games he thought Jackson might miss.

The Blazers, meanwhile, snapped a two-game skid in Sacramento on Wednesday when LaMarcus Aldridge posted 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, as Portland used a balanced attack to down the Kings, 107-102.

Wesley Matthews scored 21 points, Andre Miller had 19, and Nicolas Batum posted 17 for the Trail Blazers, who won their fifth straight road game and are seventh in the West, one-half game behind sixth-place New Orleans. Patty Mills chipped in 14 points while Gerald Wallace added 12.

"It was a great team effort," Wallace said. "We got stops when we needed to and made shots when we needed to."

Brandon Roy sat out against the Kings because coach Nate McMillian has decided not to play his star guard on back-to-back nights as he recovers from arthroscopic surgery on both knees. The former All-Star is expected back in the lineup tonight.

Portland has won three straight over the Bobcats.