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Giricek And Suns Down Trail Blazers

POSTED: 10:57 pm PDT April 16, 2008

(Sports Network) - Gordan Giricek scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Phoenix Suns past the Portland Trail Blazers, 100-91, in the season finale for both clubs.

Sean Marks chipped in 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns (55-27), who won two straight and four of five to conclude the season. Phoenix, the sixth seed, will head to San Antonio to face the third-seeded Spurs in the first round of the playoffs. That series begins Saturday, April 19. Amare Stoudemire ended with 12 points and Alando Tucker 10.

"We know our fate and we know we play San Antonio which sooner or later we have to play them anyway, so we might as well play sooner," said Suns head coach Mike D'Antonio. "It was nice to finish off - the second group did a a nice job to finish off and get a win, and we were able to rest our guys and we'll be ready to go (Saturday)."

Travis Outlaw contributed 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Blazers (41-41), who snapped a two-game win streak to close out the 2007-08 campaign. LaMarcus Aldridge tallied 16 points and nine boards, while Channing Frye had 13 and nine. Jarrett Jack gave 10 points.

A 10-0 Portland run brought the Blazers within 86-78 just past the nine-minute mark of the fourth. Von Wafer and Steve Blake each chipped in five points on the surge. Marks briefly interjected with a jumper, but Aldridge tacked on three more points to make it a seven-point game.

Portland cut the difference to 92-89 on a Sergio Rodriguez three-pointer, an Aldridge free throw and a Frye bucket.

Marks answered with four points to make it a seven-point game, and the Blazers failed to pull within five the rest of the way.

Phoenix played its reserves the entire second half.

The Suns held a 30-25 lead after the first frame, and increased that lead to 58-49 at the break.

Phoenix opened the second half on a 12-4 run. Giricek sparked the run with a pair of free throws and Tucker closed it out with a pair from the line to put the Suns up 70-53 with just under 8 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Suns' lead hovered around the mid-teens, until Blake connected on a jumper and Aldridge added a three-point play to make it 79-68 heading into the final 12 minutes of play.

Game Notes

Phoenix went 3-0 against the Trail Blazers this season, and has won nine straight in the series. Portland has lost seven in a row as the visitor against the Suns...The Suns finished 30-11 at home this season. Portland, which did not qualify for the playoffs for a fifth straight year, ended 13-28 on the road this season, and has dropped five in a row as the visitor.


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