MINNEAPOLIS, May 2 -- The Portland Trail Blazers got a big boost from their bench in the fourth quarter Tuesday night when they held the Minnesota Timberwolves to 23 percent shooting and rallied for an 85-77 victory that wrapped up their Western Conference first-round series in four games.
Steve Smith scored seven of his 14 points around a scuffle in the fourth quarter for Portland, which limited Minnesota to 5-of-22 shooting in the final period.
The Trail Blazers gave up two points in the final four minutes.
Portland is considered the NBA's deepest team but its bench was outscored in every game this series. However, in the fourth quarter, Blazers reserves scored 13 points, matching Minnesota's total for the entire period.
Arvydas Sabonis collected 15 points and 11 rebounds andRasheed Wallace added 15 and eight for the second-seeded Blazers, who reached the conference semifinals for the second straight year and await the winner of the Utah-Seattle series.NEWLN:
