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Morrow leads Warriors to consecutive wins for first time in 08-09

Nov 19, 2008 - 7:45 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- With a retooled roster and the absence of Monta Ellis, rookie Anthony Morrow might be the missing piece the Golden State Warriors need.

Morrow scored 11 of his 25 points in the third quarter as the Warriors claimed a 111-106 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

The 23-year-old Morrow caught fire from the field, making 8-of-12 shots, including four of his five 3-pointers.

"They told me don't worry coming out to try to prove that 37 (points) was a fluke or anything like that," Morrow said of his 37-point effort against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

"I'm just out here playing, working hard every day. It feels great that my coach has that kind of confidence in me so I just want to continue to come out, work hard and continue to make plays and be aggressive."

He may be the perfect replacement for Ellis, who is currently serving a 30-game suspension for violating his contract when he hurt his knee during a moped accident in the offseason.

"He's the real deal and we haven't even learned how to play with him yet," Golden State coach Don Nelson said of Morrow. "We better learn, first of all, where he is and have an eye out for him. When he's open, he gets the ball, and I told the team that after the game we better know where this guy is at all times.

"It's not just him scoring it's the threat of him scoring. You see guys flying at him when he's around a screen. Both players are up on him now. It just opens the court for other people. And if we learn how to negotiate that, that has a lot of openings for a lot of different people."

Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette each scored 20 points as all five starters scored in double digits for Golden State, which earned back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

"(Morrow) has the drive and the skills," Jackson said. "One thing I have nothing to do with, he's been blessed with the skill to shoot and to play the way he plays. My job is just to support him and to be a big brother to him in good and bad times, and that's what I'm going to continue to do."

Greg Oden came off the bench and led Portland with a career-high 22 points and added 10 rebounds.

"We've got to take care of the ball," said Oden, who committed five turnovers. "We ended the game with 21 turnovers. We gave them 21 extra possessions and you can't expect to beat somebody in their home gym by giving them 21 extra possessions."

Brandon Roy also scored 22 points with nine assists for the Trail Blazers, but it was not enough to avert a seventh consecutive loss in Oracle Arena.

"We're just going to try to come out and try to play better basketball for 48 minutes," Roy said. "They play weird lineups. They got guards on our bigs and they did a good job of attacking us and getting into the bonus early so we've got to do a better job next time."

The Warriors started the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead, but Oden scored six points in the early going, pulling Portland within three points with six minutes remaining.

Jackson made a turnaround jumper with 1:31 left to keep the Warriors' lead at six, but again tried a tough fade-away jumper with a minute remaining and missed.

Travis Outlaw's one-handed slam on the ensuing possession trimmed Golden State's lead to 104-101 with 42 seconds left.

On the Warriors' next possession, Maggette missed a jumper, but C.J. Watson got the rebound and made both free throws after he was fouled.

Outlaw quickly made a layup on the other end and it became a foul-shooting contest for the Warriors with 14 seconds to go. Maggette made two more from the line to help Golden State regain its five-point cushion.

In less than three seconds, the Warriors gave the Blazers a chance to win the game. First, on an inbounds play, Roy stole the ball and converted a layup.

Moments later, Morrow fought with Outlaw as the ball went out of bounds on a bad pass by Kelenna Azubuike and Portland again had possession.

On the ensuing inbounds play, the ball was on the floor and Outlaw was fouled putting him at the line.

He made one free throw, but Outlaw committed a lane violation on the second shot by crossing the line before the ball hit the rim.

Rudy Fernandez was assessed technical foul and personal fouls away from the ball, and Morrow hit three straight free throws to seal the victory.

"I won't even waste my breath on (the foul calls)," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "We've got to play and what I tell our guys is don't expect anything. You're going to have to play through things and tonight was one of those situations. You've got to play through it."