--The Blazers led 63-61 Thursday when the wheels fell off late in the third quarter. They missed six straight shots and had three turnovers, leading to nine fast-break points as Houston seized a 74-63 lead going into the final period.
"We got kind of lazy with our passes, and (the Rockets) took it and ran with it," said forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who led the Blazers with 23 points. "Coach always tells us a game is four quarters -- 48 minutes long. We seem to always have 3 1/2 good quarters, but there's a three- or five-minute spurt that gets us." --The Blazers closed to within 74-68 at the start of the fourth quarter, but Tracy McGrady wasn't going to let the Rockets lose, scoring 12 of his points in the final 12 minutes. The scene was reminiscent of a night earlier, when Kobe Bryant tallied 36 points to lead the Lakers past the Blazers, 104-91, at Staples Center.
"The last two nights, you saw two good players take the game over," coach Nate McMillan said. "Guys like Kobe and Trace, they're very capable of doing that. If they're hot, it's difficult to stop them. Whenever we made runs tonight, Tracy made big shots."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's tough when someone like that gets hot. There wasn't too much I could do. I was trying to deny him the ball, but once he got it going, he can cut you in half." -- Travis Outlaw after Tracy McGrady's 35-point outburst spelled doom for the Blazers.
