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Roy powers Blazers past Hawks

Feb 21, 2009 - 6:23 AM PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- Thanks to Brandon Roy, the Portland Trail Blazers continued their dominance when holding a lead at halftime.

Roy scored 15 of his 27 points in the second half, leading the Trail Blazers to a 108-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.

The 24-year-old All-Star, Roy finished 12-of-22 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, and added seven rebounds and five assists for Portland, which improved to 24-3 when owning an advantage entering the third quarter en route to its fourth win in the last five games.

"We came out in the second half and coach said to keep being aggressive and keep getting to the paint," Roy said. "Our fans boost us in the fourth quarter and we get a little more energy. We make shots, we feel comfortable here. This building has been really good to us. If we want to continue to make a playoff push, we need to continue to take care of home court."

Mike Bibby's stellar night wasn't enough for the Hawks, who suffered just their third loss in eight games this month.

"We couldn't get the stops we needed to," Bibby said. "They outrebounded us and we just couldn't get over their heads. We were close, we just couldn't get over the top."

Bibby poured in 27 points, hitting 10-of-14 shots from the floor, while Joe Johnson contributed 21 points, eight boards and seven assists during the setback.

"They made a run in the second half that really put them over the hump and we never recovered from it," Johnson said. "We just couldn't get stops when we needed to. The pick-and-roll they were running with Brandon Roy on the top, even when we trapped them, they are knocking down threes. It was a tough game."

Atlanta faced a slim deficit at halftime but was never able to move in front during the second half as Roy took control.

"I thought going into the half down two, we had control early, but we let it slip away," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "They made a big run that we could never recover from and it was basically because of our defense. We didn't defend or rebound the ball well at all tonight. They had second-chance opportunities to score the ball and that was the difference in the game."

The Blazers carried a 50-48 advantage into the locker rooms and quickly expanded the bulge to eight points with an 8-2 run highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Roy.

The Hawks pulled within 68-66 on Marvin Williams' three with 4:15 remaining in the third, but Portland scored seven straight points as part of a 12-6 surge to end the session, halting Atlanta's momentum.

The Hawks once again scratched back into the game in the fourth, narrowing the deficit to 82-76 with 9:42 remaining and quickly entered the penalty when Portland picked up its fifth team foul of the quarter 33 seconds later.

But Rudy Fernandez, who finished with 18 points off the bench, quieted Atlanta with a 3-pointer and, after a pair of free throws by Flip Murray, Roy started a 12-3 run with an alley-oop as Portland forged a 97-81 lead - its largest of the game.

"It's good to get any win regardless of the team, but this was a good team," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "It wasn't off a back-to-back and they were coming in here with a record very close, style of play very similar, and our guys did a nice job for 48 minutes."