Blazers crush Suns 109-71
PORTLAND, Ore. — LaMarcus Aldridge had 23 points and seven rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers blew out the Phoenix Suns 109-71 Friday night for their sixth straight win at home.
Gerald Wallace added 17 points, Wesley Matthews had 16 and Nicolas Batum added 14 for the Blazers. Marcus Camby had 20 rebounds and was the only Blazers player who didn’t score on a night where both benches emptied early.
Grant Hill had 12 points for Phoenix, which was held to a season-low in scoring. Sebastian Telfair had 10 and Hakim Warrick had nine.
The Suns shot just 32.8 percent from the field, made four of 13 3-pointers and were 9 of 18 from the free-throw line.
Portland has been a much different team at the Rose Garden than out on the road this season. The Blazers are 9-1 at home, tying them with San Antonio for the best home record in the Western Conference. Portland is 3-7 on the road, including a loss Wednesday at Golden State, when the Blazers struggled against Stephen Curry’s 32 points and seven assists.
Phoenix has lost four in a row and was coming off a 99-96 defeat against Toronto.
The Suns led after the first quarter, but fell way behind after a horrid second quarter in which they made just four of 19 shots and scored just nine points. Portland took a 47-33 lead into halftime.
It just got worse for Phoenix in the second half, which had the feel of a Blazers scrimmage full of alley-oops, breakaway dunks and cross-court passes. The Suns scored only 12 points in the third and the Blazers breezed their way to a 35-point lead before the end of the quarter.
Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry sat his starters for much of the second half, including Steve Nash, Hill and Marcin Gorat. Both teams played bench players almost exclusively in the fourth quarter.
Nash finished with five points and seven assists in 24 minutes. He could have passed Mark Price to become the NBA career leader in free-throw percentage but went 1 of 3 from the line. Gorat finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
Notes: Phoenix C Robin Lopez sat out after being suspended by the league for bumping an official in Tuesday’s game. ... The Suns blew out Portland 102-77 when the two teams played on Jan. 6 in Phoenix. ... The Blazers have won the last seven meetings with the Suns in Portland. ... Phoenix is 0-11 this season when trailing at halftime.