Blazers beat short-handed Magic

Portland, OR (Basketball News) - Juan Dixon scored 25 points and continuously made big shots in the fourth quarter, as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Orlando Magic, 113-108, at the Rose Garden.

Sebastian Telfair tallied 21 points and Zach Randolph contributed 19 for Portland, which won its second straight contest.

Dixon’s teammate at the University of Maryland, Steve Blake, added 17 points and dished out six assists in the victory.

Portland made a season-high 10 three-pointers, including five from Telfair and four from Blake.

Orlando was without guards Steve Francis and Keyon Dooling for the contest. Francis was suspended by the Magic on Thursday for conduct detrimental to the team, while Dooling was suspended five games by the NBA for fighting with Seattle’s Ray Allen during Wednesday’s 113-104 loss to the SuperSonics.

Hedo Turkoglu led six Orlando players in double figures with a season-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Dwight Howard notched a double-double with 20 points and 13 boards in the loss.

Jameer Nelson also had a double-double with 19 points and 13 assists and DeShawn Stevenson added 13 points and five boards for the Magic, who have lost three in a row and six of seven games.

The Magic held their own without the two integral players, but Dixon took over in the fourth stanza.

Leading 89-88, Telfair drained a trey and Jarrett Jack converted a driving layup to push the Blazers in front 94-88 with 6:17 to play. Turkoglu’s finger roll about three minutes later got the Magic within two points, 100-98, but Dixon responded with a fadeaway jumper at the 2:48 mark.

Howard’s layup with 1:50 on the clock made the score 102-100, but again Dixon answered with a fadeaway jumper to push the lead back to four. Tony Battie made a jumper on Orlando’s next possession, then Dixon pulled up and drained a jumper to give the Blazers a 106-102 advantage with 44 ticks on the clock.

Portland made its free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.

The game was tied at 61 at the half and Portland held an 86-83 edge after three quarters.

Game Notes

Travis Diener tallied 11 points and Battie contributed 10 in the loss...Orlando scored 52 points in the paint to Portland’s 34...The back-and- forth contest had 14 ties and 12 lead changes...Orlando held a 40-30 edge on the glass...Theo Ratliff had four blocked shots in the victory...Orlando is 4-12 on the road...Portland is 8-10 at home.