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Portland Trail Blazers Late Surge Downs Suns, 106-92

Portland, OR (Sports Network) - Brandon Roy scored 24 points and dished out six assists, as the Portland Trail Blazers used a late surge to take down the Phoenix Suns, 106-92, in the season opener for both teams at the Rose Garden.

Nicolas Batum finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who lost to Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs last season. Marcus Camby and Wesley Matthews each tallied 13 points. Camby added 10 rebounds for Portland, which got 10 points and nine assists from Andre Miller.

"Yeah well I thought the start was good too. They made a run - that's a good team and I think people are trying to write Phoenix off because Amare is gone," Blazers head coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought our guys tonight, we played the game we wanted to play. We stopped turning the ball over and got some penetration."

Steve Nash scored 26 points and dished out six assists to pace the Suns, who lost to the eventual championLakers in the West finals last season. Jason Richardson added 22 points and six rebounds in the losing effort.

Phoenix lost five-time All-Star Amare Stoudemire in the offseason. Stoudemire opted out of his contract with the Suns, for whom he had spent his entire eight-year tenure in the league, to join the Knicks.

Trailing by three, 91-88, with under six minutes to play, Portland finished the game on an 18-1 run.

Batum made a three-pointer to give the Blazers a 95-91 edge with about 4 1/2 minutes to go. Over a minute later, Batum made a jumper to make it a six-point contest.

Nash missed a layup at the other end, and Roy capitalized with a trey to give the Blazers a 100-91 lead with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. Batum made another three-pointer after Nash made 1-of-2 from the foul line.

Batum's shot from beyond the arc with 22.9 seconds left accounted for the final margin.

"We struggled offensively. We're not a ninety two point scoring team, but some of the credit you have to give to [the Trail Blazers], and some of it we did ourselves," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said. "It's hard to defend a turnover. Obviously we have to do a lot better job on the boards, but I thought we played hard and competed, and as I said, we're still trying to figure out this team and learn about this team."

Portland led by two, 28-26, following a tight first quarter.

Ahead 39-37, the Blazers scored five straight points to create some distance. Camby's jumper made it 44-37 with about six minutes remaining until half. Portland took a 50-46 margin into the locker room.

Phoenix outscored the Blazers, 35-25, in the third to take an 81-75 edge into the final frame.

Portland took two of three in the season set between the two clubs last season...Blazers centers Greg Odenand Joel Pryzbilla are still recovering from injuries. Pryzbilla, who is coming back from a twice-ruptured patellar tendon, began practicing on October 10, while Oden, whose latest injury was a fractured patella, has also been working out at times but is struggling with swelling in his knee. Swingman Rudy Fernandez, who was recently fined $50,000 by the NBA for public statements detrimental to the league, scored seven points for Portland. It was the second time Fernandez was punished for statements concerning his desire to be released in order to leave the league and return to Europe...Hakim WarrickHedo Turkoglu and Josh Childress made their Phoenix debuts. They had 10, six, and four points, respectively, on Tuesday night...LaMarcus Aldridge had eight points and nine boards for the Blazers.