Ratliff slams home the win for Portland

Zach Randolph led the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who won for the third time in their last four games. Juan Dixon tallied 16 points and Darius Miles scored 14 for Portland, which shot 26-of-37 from the foul line.

"I thought we showed a lot of aggressiveness," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "They are a scrappy team, but I thought we scrapped a little more. We showed our aggressiveness by going to the basket and shooting 37 free throw attempts. The one negative, they pounded us on the offensive glass."

Mike Sweetney came off the bench for 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls who are 1-39 on their annual November West Coast road trip. The team traditionally plays on the road at this time since the circus is at United Center. . Andres Nocioni had 18 points and Ben Gordon scored 15 for Chicago, which has lost two in a row to start their six-game road trip. The Bulls had 22 offensive rebounds to six for Portland.

"Basically, I’m failing right now," Bulls head coach Scott Skiles said. "We’re not playing any defense, that’s unacceptable for us. Basically I’m just not getting it done."

Kirk Hinrich gave the Bulls a 93-92 lead with a runner, high off the glass with 15.3 seconds remaining.

Telfair slightly sprained his right ankle with 6:19 left in the game and had to be helped to the locker room. However, he returned just over three minutes later and nearly hit the go-ahead shot. His driving shot from the right side missed, but Ratliff was all alone under the bucket and leaped to grab the ball and slam it with two hands.

"It’s all about hard work and that’s what I try and bring every time I step out on the floor," Ratliff said. "We’ve got to take that attitude we had at the end of the game to the beginning of the game and then we’ll be okay."

Hinrich missed a shot from the left side at the other end, and Luol Deng fired up an air ball from the right corner before the ball fell out of bounds to Portland.

Dixon hit two free throws with 0.6 seconds left and Chris Duhon missed a desperation heave from beyond half court.

The Bulls were in front by a point after the first quarter, but Portland ended the first half on an 8-2 run to take a 61-52 advantage at the intermission. Portland was in front 79-70 going into the fourth.

Chicago rallied and finally took the lead on a Deng dunk with 4:08 remaining to make it 89-88 with 4:08 left, and the contest was tight until the end.

Game Notes

Ratliff and Jarrett Jack each scored 11 points...Hinrich had 14 points and seven assists...The Bulls made all 15 of their free throws.