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. This one stings: The Portland Trail Blazers totally dominated the fourth quarter and overcame a 15-point deficit to beat the Phoenix Suns 105-102 Thursday night in Portland.
Steve Nash had an opportunity to bring the Suns back to life and send the game into overtime, but his three-point shot at the buzzer clanged off the rim. Here's a not-so-fun fact for you: The Suns have now lost 17 straight games that have been televised nationally on TNT. Really.
The game was the second-straight road loss for the Suns, who fell to 17-9 on the season. That's not a bad record, but after a white-hot start to the season, the Suns have looked like a good-but-not-great team. The good news for the Suns is that they play 10 of their next 12 games at US Airways Center, where they are undefeated in only nine games this season.
What did in the Suns on Thursday night?
Turns out it was local-boy-done-good Jerryd Bayless. The former St. Mary's High School star and former Arizona WIldcat scored 29 points in just 29 minutes off the bench. When point guard Andre Miller went down in the second quarter, Bayless got the call. Entering Thursday night's game, the 21-year-old had averaged only 11 minutes and six points a game. Actually, given the Blazers' injury woes, Bayless has been getting more playing time lately, averaging 11.3 points over his past nine games. So it's good to see a Phoenix kid doing well in the NBA, but let's hope he doesn't inflict any more damage to the Suns this year.
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