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PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- Bonzi Wells and Scottie Pippen showed again why the Portland Trail Blazers are the NBA's deepest team. Wells scored a career-high 33 points and Pippen added 26 as the Trail Blazers defeated the Golden State Warriors for the ninth straight time, 92-87. Last season, Wells supplanted veteran Steve Smith at shooting guard but tore an ACL in April, ending his season. During the summer, Portland traded Smith to San Antonio for Derek Anderson and Wells was back on the bench. But Anderson suffered a sprained right ankle in Tuesday's season-opening loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and Wells, who was not expected to be ready by the start of the season, stepped in. He made 13-of-25 shots as he repeatedly leaked out for easy baskets or scored from the low post. "It's good to be back on the court," Wells said. "I'm back and I'm just happy. ... I know the ACL injury is in the past. I feel good right now." "He was always chirping on the sidelines (during preseason), 'If you need a bucket, give me the ball,'" said Blazers coach Maurice Cheeks, who notched his first career win. "Tonight he showed me that he was a lot more than just talk. He started rolling and I went with him." Pippen, a small forward who usually gets his teammates involved, had to shoulder more of the offensive load with Ruben Patterson serving a league suspension and All-Star Rasheed Wallace having one of the worst shooting nights of his career. One of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, Pippen made 10-of-14 shots, including 5-of-5 from the arc. He added nine rebounds and five assists in a terrific all-around game as he bounced back from a poor performance against the Lakers. "I wanted to come back and become more defensive tonight," he said. "I just found some rhythm out there." "Scottie also had a remarkable game," Cheeks said. "If he did that last night, we'd be 2-0. In this game sometimes your confidence wanders. Scottie came back with a real strong game. He and Bonzi simply carried us." Wells and Pippen scored all of Portland's 17 points in the final period, when Golden State went scoreless for the last 2:09. "We have a lot of good players who play the same position on this team," Cheeks said. "It doesn't worry me at all to have to divide up the time. Tonight, with two of our really good players out and Bonzi stepping up the way he did, it shows that we have a very good, interchangeable team." The Blazers needed the outbursts because Wallace clearly was not himself. He had 10 points and nine rebounds but made just 2-of-17 shots and had trouble guarding Erick Dampier, who scored 18 points. Antawn Jamison scored 23 points for Golden State, which lost its season opener and has dropped 14 in a row dating to last season. "We weren't double-teaming a lot but they were just getting in and measuring and making shots," Warriors coach Dave Cowens said. "Pippen was 5-for-5 on threes and that hurt us but Wells really did us in." Pippen made consecutive 3-pointers to give Portland an 85-81 lead with 5:13 remaining. Jamison answered with a pair of hoops to tie it but Pippen gave the Blazers the lead for good with a hook with 3:49 to go. A free throw by Pippen and a jumper by Wells widened the lead to 90-85 with 2:26 left. Jamison made a jumper, but that was the Warriors' last basket. Wells closed the scoring with a jumper with 1:53 to play. Wells' previous career high was 29 on March 9, 2000 at Indiana, his home state. "This is what I really wanted to come back to," Wells said. "I don't want to show any signs of weakness. To have a good game was just a blessing for me." "Pippen definitely had a lot of shots," Jamison said. "Bonzi just played tremendously tonight. We've just got to do a better job of getting the ball out of their hands." The Warriors led by as many as eight points in the first half. Pippen made 3-pointers on consecutive trips to give the Blazers a 41-40 lead with 2:58 left in the second period. Wells scored 19 points in the third quarter, when Portland built a two-point halftime advantage to 75-70 entering the fourth quarter. Damon Stoudamire handed out 12 assists for Portland. Danny Fortson, who missed all but six games last season with a broken foot, had 15 points and 12 boards for Golden State, which has lost eight straight visits to Portland.
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