Marcus Camby scores season-high 30, Portland defeats Thunder 103-95 without injured guard Roy

By Anne M. Peterson, AP
Monday, April 12, 2010

Camby scores 30, Blazers beat Thunder 103-95

PORTLAND, Ore. — Marcus Camby scored a season-high 30 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 103-95 without injured guard Brandon Roy on Monday night.

The loss locked the Thunder into the eighth spot in the Western Conference, meaning they’ll face the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

Roy announced shortly before the game that he had a torn meniscus in his right knee that will also keep him out of Portland’s regular-season finale Wednesday night against Golden State. Beyond that, the three-time All-Star’s status for the playoffs is uncertain.

If the Blazers win their final game, they are assured the No. 6 seed in the West. If San Antonio wins its finale and Portland loses, the Spurs get the sixth seed.

The Spurs beat the Timberwolves 133-111 earlier on Monday night.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 30 points. Oklahoma City was coming off a 120-117 loss to Golden State on Sunday.

Portland beat the Lakers 91-88 in Los Angeles on Sunday, but Roy went down in the first quarter.

His injury is the latest to befall the seemingly jinxed Blazers, who lost both Greg Oden and fellow center Joel Przybilla to season-ending knee injuries. A total of 13 Blazers have missed a combined 307 games this season.

Roy, who leads the Blazers with an average of 21.5 points per game, said he wants to try and play in the playoffs. He will be re-evaluated on Friday.

Rudy Fernandez started in Roy’s place and had nine points.

The Blazers jumped out to a 15-8 lead early, but the Thunder went on a 10-0 run to close the first quarter — capped by Durant’s 3-pointer — to go up 28-22.

James Harden’s fast-break slam made it 34-24 for Oklahoma City. Durant gave the Thunder their biggest lead of the first half at 48-36 with a fast-break layup.

Durant had 21 points after the first half with the Thunder leading 51-43.

Andre Miller’s hook put the Blazers ahead 53-51 and it was close the rest of the third quarter. Jerryd Bayless’ layup put Portland up 73-71 to start the fourth.

Harden’s 3-pointer gave the Thunder an 84-79 lead in the fourth, but Portland pulled back in front, 85-84, with Camby’s two-handed dunk with 6:50 left.

Durant’s running jumper evened it at 88 before Nicolas Batum made one of two free throws for a one-point lead.

LaMarcus Aldridge’s hook shot made it 91-88 before Camby hit a pair of free throws to put Portland ahead 93-88 with 4:03 to go. Batum’s dunk and Miller’s layup extended the lead to 97-88.

Nick Collison made a pair of free throws with 1:07 left to narrow it to 101-95, but that was as close as the Thunder would get.

When Camby left the game with 15.9 seconds left, the sellout crowd at the Rose Garden chanted his name.

The last time the teams met, on Feb. 9 at the Rose Garden, Roy was also absent and the Thunder won 89-77 with the help of Durant’s 33 points and 11 rebounds.

The Blazers selected Oden over Durant as the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft.

NOTES: A wayward bird — or bat — flew around the Rose Garden Bowl during the game. No one was quite sure what it was. … Portland coach Nate McMillan has been called for technicals in three straight games. … As usual when the Thunder visit, there were quite a few Sonics jerseys among fans at the Rose Garden.

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