Slovenia’s Goran Dragic fires up Suns

Slovenian guard Goran Dragic scored 31 points to lead the Phoenix Suns in an impressive 120-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.

Goran Dragic led the Suns with 31 points on Wednesday night. Christian Petersen / Getty Images / AFP

PHOENIX, United States // The good news for the Portland Trail Blazers is they only face Goran Dragic and the Phoenix Suns one more time. And that’s not until spring.

Dragic scored 31 points, Channing Frye added 25 and the Suns used their up-tempo style to recover from a poor start and beat Portland 120-106 Wednesday night and snap the Blazers’ 11-game winning streak.

Markieff Morris scored 19 and twin Marcus Morris 15 for the Suns, who wiped out a 16-point second-quarter deficit to hand the Blazers their first loss since November 5 against Houston. Two of Portland’s three defeats have come to the Suns, who shot 52 percent from the field behind the speedy Dragic, who was one point shy of his career-high and added 10 assists.

“I’m glad we don’t have to play Phoenix until April,” said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, whose team is 1-2 against the Suns and 12-1 against the rest of the league. “After we got a lead they completely outplayed us. They ran, they rebounded, they played an excellent game. They have played us very well and we will see April 4 if anything changes.”

LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and Damian Lillard scored 16 points for the Blazers, who had also won six straight on the road but couldn’t keep up with the new-look Suns, who moved a game over .500.

“We already played those guys three times and in all those games, we were better or we were close,” said Dragic, who hit 4-of-5 3-pointers. “I don’t know why. I think they’re a good matchup for us. They want to play slow in the half court and we want to run. And that’s to our advantage.”

Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said before the game that he wanted to push the pace, adding, ‘’We’re not good when we hold the ball.” But the Suns looked sluggish early and Portland looked poised to match the third-longest win streak in franchise history.

Then Dragic took over.

Playing without backcourt mate Eric Bledsoe (bruised shin) for a sixth straight game, Dragic fueled a 40-point second-quarter with a variety of 3-pointers, midrange jumpers and nifty passes for buckets on the fast break. Frye helped by heating up from the outside. Phoenix turned a 39-23 deficit into a 61-58 halftime lead.

“Goran has just been on a tear,” Frye said. “When he is feeling it like that you just give it to him and get out of the way.”

Frye’s 3 to start the second half was the beginning of a 10-0 spurt and he hit another 3 to start the fourth quarter as the Suns built a 97-78 lead.

“Every time we look at the tape, if we play half court we have problems,” Dragic said. “But when we run we got those easy, open 3s or easy layups. Everybody wants to play like that. It’s really fun.”

OTHER WEDNESDAY RESULTS

Heat 95, Cavs 84

LeBron James scored a game-high 28 points and Dwyane Wade added 22 as Miami won their eighth consecutive game.

Forward Michael Beasley hurt the Cavs off the bench with 17 points and nine rebounds for Miami (12-3).

Dion Waiters matched his season high with 24 points and six rebounds for Cleveland (4-11), who have now lost four in a row and seven of their last eight.

Pacers 99, Bobcats 74

Reserve guard CJ Watson scored 18 points on six three-pointers, as the Indiana Pacers easily accounted for the Charlotte Bobcats.

The NBA-leading Pacers (14-1) held Charlotte (7-9) to just 31.3 percent shooting to record their fifth successive victory.

Mavericks 103, Warriors 99

Dirk Nowitzki scored a game-high 22 points on 11-of-19 shooting, as the Mavericks improved to 10-6.

Golden State (9-7) guard Stephen Curry led the visitors with 29 points and knocked down six three-pointers. Guard Klay Thompson struggled with his shooting (5-for-16) but still managed to score 20 and grab 10 rebounds.

Thunder 94, Spurs 88

Guard Reggie Jackson came off the bench and tied a career high with 23 points to propel the Oklahoma City Thunder to a victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

The loss ended the Spurs’ 11-game win streak and extended the Thunder’s winning streak to five games.

Kevin Durant had a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Thunder (10-3) while Tony Parker paced the Spurs (13-2) with 16 points and seven assists.

Rockets 113, Hawks 84

The Houston Rockets (11-5) were buoyed by the bench combination of 42 points from swingman Francisco Garcia and guard Aaron Brooks’ to record an easy win over Atlanta (8-8).

Garcia scored a season-high 21 points while Brooks also scored 21 for the Rockets, who have won three successive games.

Nuggets 117, Timberwolves 110

Denver Nuggets (8-6) point guard Ty Lawson led seven other teammates who also scored in double-digits with a 23-point performance as Denver won their fourth successive game.

Kevin Martin had 29 points for the Timberwolves (8-9) who lost their third consecutive game and their sixth in the last eight.

Lakers 99, Nets 94

The Los Angeles Lakers (8-8) squandered a 27-point lead to allow Brooklyn (4-11) to tie the game at 92-92 with two minutes remaining but managed to pull away with good free throw shooting.

Los Angeles guard Nick Young had a game-high 26 points.

Bulls 99, Pistons 79

Luol Deng scored a season-high 27 points as the Chicago Bulls snapped a four-game losing streak by toppling the Detroit Pistons.

Forward Taj Gibson had a season-high 23 points for Chicago (7-7), who have beaten the Pistons (6-9) in 19 of the last 20 meetings.

Magic 105, 76ers 94

Nikola Vucevic had 21 points, 16 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the Orlando Magic (6-9) to a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers (6-10).

The Magic never trailed after the first quarter, using a well-balanced attack that included forward Glen Davis adding 19 points.

Grizzlies 100, Celtics 93

The Memphis Grizzlies, leading for virtually the whole game, held off a wild late charge by Boston and ended their two-game losing streak.

The Celtics (6-11) were down by 13 with 2:40 left but cut the deficit to three with 14.4 seconds remaining before Memphis sealed it at the free throw line.

Jerryd Bayless had a season-high 20 points off the bench for the Grizzlies (8-7).

Wizards 100, Bucks 92 (OT)

Center Marcin Gortat scored 25 points as the Washington Wizards held off the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime.

Gortat made 11 of 12 shots and was one of four Wizards (7-8) to score in double figures.

Milwaukee (2-12) lost their 10th consecutive game.

Clippers 93, Knicks 80

Los Angeles extended a horrendous start to the season for New York, as Chris Paul, JJ Redick and Blake Griffin each scored 15 to move the Clippers to 11-5.

The Knicks fell to 3-11 as Carmelo Anthony led the side in soring with 27 points on 9-of-23 shooting. Griffin and DeAndre Jordan each added 13 rebounds for Los Angeles.