Despite seeing their 13-game winning streak end, the Portland Trail Blazers had a December to remember.
The Utah Jazz beat Portland 111-101 on Monday night, handing the Trail Blazers their first defeat since Dec. 2.
“It was a great month for us. We lost the first game of the month and the last game of the month. Any time you do that, I think that’s a sign of a young team maturing,” said Brandon Roy, who scored 17 for the Blazers. “You can’t win all of them. It’s an NBA season. We’d like to, but Utah played great tonight.”
Before the streak began, Portland was 5-12 and struggling without No. 1 overall draft pick Greg Oden, who is sidelined for the season.
“I told these guys, if they go about their lives and work the way they’ve done since August until now, they’re going to have a lot of good months and they’re going to have a lot of good streaks,” said assistant coach Dean Demopoulos, who coached for McMillan.
The Blazers were three wins away from tying the franchise record and had beaten Utah twice already during the run.
Portland coach Nate McMillan was attending a family funeral and not with the team to see the streak come to an end. It was just as well he missed it. The Blazers were outrebounded 40-31 and outscored in the paint 62-22.
In other NBA games Monday, it was Detroit 114, Milwaukee 69; Orlando 112, Chicago 110 in overtime; Charlote 107, Indiana 103 in overtime; Golden State 112, Houston 95; Toronto 97, New Orleans 92; Los Angeles Clippers 91, Minnesota 82; and Philadelphia 98, Seattle 90.
Andrei Kirilenko had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, Carlos Boozer had 19 points and nine rebounds and Deron Williams added eight points and eight assists. The Jazz also got a boost from newcomer Kyle Korver, who scored 11 in his Utah debut.
“They dominated us on the boards tonight and they got us,” Roy said. “We weren’t able to make up for it.”
LaMarcus Aldridge scored a career-high 36 points, but he and Roy were the only Portland starters to score in double figures.
The Blazers couldn’t overcome a cold stretch in the third quarter, going scoreless for almost 3 minutes and without a field goal for 4:34 as the Jazz pulled away on a 20-3 run.
“We were aggressive offensively and we got stops when had to get stops for us to win the game,” Boozer said.
Pistons 114, Bucks 69
Richard Hamilton scored 22 points and Chauncey Billups added 13 points and 12 assists, helping host Detroit rout Milwaukee for its ninth straight win.
The 45-point margin of defeat was the third-worst in Bucks history, trailing a pair of 48-point losses. The Pistons have won 17 of 19, including a franchise-record 15 wins in December, while Milwaukee has lost four straight and six of seven.
Michael Redd led the Bucks with 18 points.
Magic 112, Bulls 110, OT
Hedo Turkoglu hit a fadeaway jumper with seven-tenths of a second left in overtime, and visiting Orlando handed Chicago its first loss in three games since Jim Boylan became interim head coach following the firing of Scott Skiles.
After Chicago’s Ben Gordon hit a tying 3 with 6.7 seconds left, Turkoglu made a shot over Ben Wallace. The Magic’s fourth win a row was secure when Wallace missed at the buzzer.
Dwight Howard had 17 points and 22 rebounds for Orlando. He also blocked five shots. Turkoglu, who missed a shot in the closing seconds, finished with 17 points.
Gordon led Chicago with 39 points.
Bobcats 107, Pacers 103, OT
Gerald Wallace led a furious comeback in the fourth quarter and took charge in overtime, finishing with 36 points and giving host Charlotte a win over Indiana.
The Bobcats snapped a four-game losing streak by rallying from a 13-point deficit with under 6 minutes left in regulation, sending the Pacers to their fourth straight loss.
Wallace had two three-point plays late in regulation. He then hit two 3-pointers in OT and four free throws in the final 22 seconds, finishing with 20 points in the fourth quarter and OT.
Indiana lost for the sixth time after leading by double digits. Jermaine O’Neal had 20 points and 13 rebounds.
Warriors 112, Rockets 95
Baron Davis scored 23 points and Al Harrington had 16 points and 11 rebounds as visiting Golden State overcame 21 turnovers to rally past the Rockets.
Davis had seven assists, Monta Ellis scored 20 and Stephen Jackson sank four 3-pointers and added 18 points for the Warriors, who outscored Houston 37-15 in the final quarter to win for the 19th time in 26 games.
Rafer Alston scored a season-high 22 for Houston.
Raptors 97, Hornets 92
At New Orleans, Chris Bosh scored 29 points and the Raptors rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Hornets.
The Hornets’ winning streak ended at five after Chris Paul, perhaps exhausted from a 44-minute effort, committed a turnover with just over a minute to go and then missed a pair of crucial free throws that could have given New Orleans the lead with 25.8 seconds left.
It was a bitter end to an otherwise strong performance for the Hornets’ star point guard, who finished with 23 points, 16 assists and seven rebounds.
Clippers 91, Timberwolves 82
Chris Kaman had 16 points and 16 rebounds to help host Los Angeles rally to beat Minnesota.
Cuttino Mobley scored 18 points and Corey Maggette added 17 for the Clippers, who snapped a six-game losing streak.
Al Jefferson led Minnesota with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
76ers 98, SuperSonics 90
Andre Iguodala scored 25 points to help visiting Philadelphia beat injury-depleted Seattle.
The Sonics played without their top two scorers. Rookie guard Kevin Durant, who is averaging 19.7 points, was out with a sprained left index finger. Second-leading scorer Chris Wilcox has a sprained left knee. Both had started all 30 games this season.
Earl Watson led the Sonics with 18 points. Rookie Jeff Green added 16.
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