Portland crushes Philadelphia to win 13th in a row

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Portland Trail Blazers rolled to their 13th consecutive victory on Sunday with a crushing 97-72 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Trail Blazers, who have not lost since December 2, got 22 points from Brandon Roy and went on a 21-0 run in the third and fourth quarters to overtake the 76ers. Portland outscored Philadelphia 35-9 in the fourth.

"They were driving, and we were stopping them and they weren't getting back on defense," Roy told reporters when asked about Portland's big fourth quarter.

"We said they were putting their heads down and said we have to keep hammering this team, because they came back on us last time, and we didn't want to let up this time.

"We definitely saw them kind of folding a little bit," he added.

Philadelphia coach Maurice Cheeks did not think his team folded in the fourth, even though they made just 4 of 19 shots in the quarter.

"Their defense was good; our offense was not good," Cheeks told reporters. "I'm not going to attribute it to us losing our composure or collapsing."

James Jones and Travis Outlaw added 12 points each for Portland (18-12).

Andre Iguodala led the 76ers with 24 points while Andre Miller added 17 points and 11 assists.

Philadelphia led 63-59 with 1:25 to go in the third but Jones hit three successive free throws to pull Portland within one at the end of the quarter.

The red-hot Trail Blazers took the lead for good on Outlaw's jumper to start the fourth quarter and cruised the rest of the way.

*Paul Pierce had 33 points and Kevin Garnett contributed 22 and 12 rebounds as the NBA-leading Boston Celtics scored a 110-91 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers, who were led by Kobe Bryant's 22 points. The win gave the Celtics a sweep of their four-game West Coast trip and ended the Lakers' four-game winning streak.

*Baron Davis had 28 points and Stephen Jackson 23 as the Golden State Warriors snapped a seven-game losing streak in Denver with a 105-95 victory over the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 26 points and 10 rebounds.

*Tony Parker and Tim Duncan each scored 24 points and the San Antonio Spurs handed the Memphis Grizzlies a 111-87 defeat.

*Amare Stoudemire's 31 points and 17 rebounds keyed a 117-102 road win by the Phoenix Suns over the Sacramento Kings.

*Ben Gordon scored 25 points as the Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks 100-83.

(Writing by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Peter Rutherford)