मेम्फिस ग्रिज़लीस

Byron Scott scored six of his 14 points in a 12-0 fourth-quarter run as the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies won their first-ever game, a 92-80 triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers. The loss spoiled Portland's first-ever game in the Rose Garden, a 21,300-seat arena. The TrailBlazers drew 19,115 fans, ending a consecutive sellout streak of 810 games dating to April 5th, 1977. After Clifford Robinson made a jumper to give Portland a 72-69 lead with 7:24 to play, the Grizzlies scored the next 12 points to take control of the game. Scott started the run with a 10-footer and Chris King made a pair of free throws, giving Vancouver the lead for good, 73-72, with 6:18 left. Greg Anthony made one of two free throws before Scott made consecutive jumpers for a 78-72 lead. Anthony capped the run with a three-point play, providing the Grizzlies an 81-72 edge with 3:27 remaining. "I read a paper here earlier today that said we would would only win eight games this year, so if that's the case we only have seven more to go," Scott said. "This is a great start for us, we did some good things tonight and the main thing we did was to compete with the understanding that we could win. We were real aggressive at certain times and we hit some big shots and that's the sign of a veteran team." "First of all we did beat a very good basketball team tonight," Anthony added. "I'll admit they didn't come out and play as well as they could have and we were fortunate enough to keep ourselves in the game but this is the regular season and it's one win and we've got 81 games to go. There's one thing I've learned in this league, you never get too high with wins or too low with losses." Benoit Benjamin scored 29 points to lead Vancouver, which became the seventh-ever expansion team to win its first-ever game. The other expansion team, the Toronto Raptors, posted a 94-79 victory against the New Jersey Nets. Robinson led Portland with 33 points and 13 rebounds. Rod Strickland added 13 points and 10 assists. "Tonight proved that if we don't come out and play with a high level of confidence and believe in ourselves we're gonna get beat," Robinson said. "It's pretty simple the team with more confidence usullay wins and they had the confidence tonight." Vancouver led after the first quarter, 19-17. King scored the first-ever Grizzlies points on a layup with 10:04 to play in the opening quarter. The Grizzlies opened the second quarter with an 8-3 spurt to take a 27-20 lead, but Portland closed within 41-39 at halftime. Benjamin scored 11 points in the second quarter and finished 11-of-19 from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds. The Trail Blazers shot 36 per cent from the field (29-of-81), including 5-of-22 from three-point range. Portland also turned the ball over 26 times, leading to 27 points. Rookie center Arvdyas Sabonis had 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 25 minutes, making 3-of-9 shots. Anthony finished with 15 points and six assists. Vancouver shot 44 per cent from the field (33-of-75) and outscored Portland at the foul line, 25-17.