Trail Blazers Blow Big Lead, Lose to Grizzlies

Rodney Buford scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from 19 points down to stun the Portland Trail Blazers, 103-100, Monday night at Portland, Ore.

Lorenzen Wright scored 21 points to lead the Grizzlies, who had lost 15 of 17 games.

The Grizzlies trailed by as many as 25 late in the third quarter, making this the biggest comeback in the franchise’s seven-year history.

Bonzi Wells scored 34 points to lead the Trail Blazers. Trailing 100-97, Wells missed two free throws, but grabbed his own rebound.

He ran toward the three-point line, turned around and swished the shot with 6.4 seconds left, but the officials ruled Wells’ foot was inside the line, giving the Grizzlies a 100-99 lead.

Memphis made three more free throws and Damon Stoudamire missed a desperation three-point attempt to seal the Grizzlies’ victory.

Seattle 106, Utah 92--Rashard Lewis scored 11 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the SuperSonics won at Seattle to hold onto their playoff position in the West.

Lewis also grabbed seven rebounds in the final quarter. Gary Payton had 24 points and seven assists for the SuperSonics, who entered with a half-game lead over the Jazz for seventh place in the Western Conference.

Utah is battling to stay ahead of the Clippers for the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. The Clippers lost at home to San Antonio, 91-85.

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Phoenix 102, Cleveland 96--Jake Tsakilidis scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Dan Majerle made two three-pointers in the final three minutes at Phoenix.

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Boston 87, Miami 82--Erick Strickland scored a season-high 23 points, including a pair of three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, leading the Celtics at Miami.

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Denver 84, New York 83--Voshon Lenard scored 16 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and made the winning shot at New York. Juwan Howard added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half.

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New Jersey Net forward Kenyon Martin was suspended for two games after picking up his sixth flagrant foul of the season. The suspension was the fifth this season for Martin, all related to flagrant fouls. The length of this penalty was mandated because Martin had eight points from flagrant fouls.