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Blazers ride recovery road

Portland continues its turnaround by rallying to beat Atlanta for a fourth consecutive win away from home

ATLANTA -- Rip City. Boom-chaka-laka. Red hot and rollin'.

You pick the trademark Trail Blazers radio catchphrase for excitement and use it, because for the first time this season, the Blazers are swelling with enthusiasm and accomplishment.

The Blazers finished their three-game road swing undefeated after a 93-85 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, which continued their about-face since being called a "bad" team by coach Maurice Cheeks last Saturday.

"We've turned ourselves around," Cheeks said. "We are a better team. I said before we left on this trip that we were a bad team, but I said we had a chance to turn things around on this trip, and that's what we did."

Zach Randolph continued his campaign to make the Western Conference All-Star team with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and Rasheed Wallace continued his assertive play since returning from an ankle injury with 20 points and six rebounds.

Damon Stoudamire added a season-high 13 assists, and Darius Miles had 16 points and three dunks that had radio play-by-play man Brian Wheeler dusting off his seldom used "Boom-chaka-laka" exclamation.

"We knew we had it in us," said Derek Anderson, who finished with 15 points while extending his string of late, backbreaking three-pointers to three. "Granted, we have played two lesser teams, but we beat them. And that's all we could do, and all we needed to do."

The Blazers (20-24) now have won four of five overall, and four in a row on the road after starting the season 2-16 away from the Rose Garden. In the meantime, the Blazers have climbed to within five games of Denver and Memphis for the eighth and final playoff spot with 38 games remaining.

"We are back in the hunt," Ruben Patterson said.

This matches the Blazers' longest winning streak of the season, but that streak came at home against New Jersey, Indiana and New York, and was followed by three consecutive losses on the road.

The Blazers' road to recovery continued at the expense of what is the real definition of a bad team -- the Hawks. Atlanta (14-33) was a bumbling and stumbling team Thursday, missing four point-blank layins while throwing away 20 turnovers -- many of them unforced and nearly laughable.

And the Hawks' best player -- Shareef Abdur-Rahim -- had just two points after the first quarter, finishing with 13 on 4 of 12 shooting.

The Blazers had a similar experience with Qyntel Woods, but were able to recover. The team's experiment to have Woods become the backup point guard is all but over. For the fourth consecutive game, Woods has not been able to handle an opponent's pressure, but never was it more evident than on Thursday.

In nine minutes, Woods had the ball knocked away from him eight times. He also had a turnover, a shot blocked and watched the Blazers' three-point lead turn into a six-point deficit before Stoudamire returned. By the end of his stint, Woods had thrown his headband in frustration, and he looked so defeated that Cheeks spent much of a timeout consoling him.

The Blazers were able to recover because of a forceful third quarter by Wallace. After a five-point first half, Wallace hit five of seven shots and scored 11 points in the third quarter as the Blazers outscored the Hawks 29-15. He also was the primary defender on Abdur-Rahim all night, helping keep him 6.8 points below his season average.

"He has been so assertive since he has come back," Anderson said. "And that helps all of us, because for one, it seems like everyone picks their game up a notch. And it also helps create shots for everyone else because he becomes the focus."

And, incredibly, in less than a week, the talk of the Blazers has shifted from how bad they are, to wondering how good they could be.

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