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Webster carries shorthanded Blazers past Wizards

Mar 26, 2008 - 6:01 AM By Kasey Postlewaite PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) - Martell Webster scored 23 points and Travis Outlaw added 20 as the Portland Trail Blazers rolled a 102-82 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.

Already without LaMarcus Aldridge (ankle), the Blazers were dealt another blow when All-Star Brandon Roy injured his right groin after he and Caron Butler got tangled up in the first quarter.

Roy returned from the locker room at the 7:05 mark in the second, but was forced to leave again after grimacing on the defensive end a few moments later and did not return.

"I know what it's like to pull a groin and it's not fun, it's a lot of rehab," Webster said. "It's not a good feeling when your two star players are out but we didn't flinch, not one bit. Everybody else stepped up to the plate and got the job done."

With Portland holding a 42-39 lead, Jarrett Jack scored nine of his 17 points during a 17-4 run to close out the first half to make it a 59-43 cushion at intermission.

"After Brandon went down, guys didn't panic," Jack said. "We didn't go outside our roles trying to do stuff were not used to. I was glad to see guys still with that philosophy and we were able to put out a good win."

In the third, Webster's 19-footer at the 7:36 mark pushed the Trial Blazers' lead to 70-48 and they never looked back thereafter.

"They came out still smoking in the second half," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "Webster, (Travis) Outlaw and that small lineup with Jack was tough. With their speed and agility and ability to make shots, we couldn't stay with our traditional lineup."

Caron Butler scored 14 of his 19 points in the first and Antonio Daniels added 14 for the Wizards, who had their three-game winning streak stopped.

"Well it seemed like a story of two teams, one team could shoot straight, the other team couldn't," Jordan said. "One team could rebound, the other team couldn't. They are a good team at home (25-10) and we just couldn't make shoots. We couldn't get the juice."

Portland came out on fire, hitting 9-of-12 shots from the floor compared to Washington's 2-of-13 to forge a 31-22 advantage after the first.

"It seems like everything we were shooting up didn't fall," Wizards guard DeShawn Stevenson said. "Webster had a great game and Jack caught fire right before halftime. Their whole team played pretty good without Roy."

"We came out with an urgency on the defensive end," Webster said. "Which is keeping the man in front of you and only allowing one shot. That got us off to a good start and made us successful."