Udoka misses crucial free throw; Grizzlies end losing skid

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Pau Gasol was starting to celebrate a rare Memphis Grizzlies win when the whistle blew. One minute later, with the game really over, he picked up the celebration again.

Gasol, who will remain with the Grizzlies for the rest of the season now that the trade deadline has passed, had 23 points, teammate Mike Miller added 19 points and seven rebounds, and the Grizzlies survived a strange ending to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 103-102 Friday night.

Zach Randolph had 25 points and seven rebounds for Portland, which had a chance to tie the game after Lawrence Roberts was called for a loose-ball foul as time ran out.

Portland had pulled within 102-101 on a 3-pointer from Brandon Roy, then immediately fouled Damon Stoudamire with 0.8 seconds left.

Stoudamire made the first free throw, and missed the second on purpose. Ime Udoka grabbed the rebound and appeared to stumble, but Roberts was called for the foul.

Time expired in the game but the officials huddled, put the 0.8 back on the clock and sent Udoka to the free throw line. He made his first shot but the second one bounced off.

This time, the game really was over.

"It was unbelievable," Gasol said. "I couldn't believe that foul(call) was made. We had the win and they made the call. It was devastating. I'm happy he missed the free throw because we deserved the W."

It was just Memphis' fourth road win of the season. The Grizzlies, with the second worst record in the NBA, had lost their last six away from the FedEx Forum.

With the close call, Memphis coach Tony Barone was second-guessing himself after the game.

"I did a terrible job there in the last 18 seconds of coaching," he said. "We told Damon to make the first and miss the second. I don't know if there was a foul or not, but I would have been devastated if we had lost like that."

Brandon Roy had 19 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Blazers. Jarrett Jack had 18 points.

Hakim Warrick had 20 points and seven rebounds off the bench for Memphis.

Jamaal Magloire started for the Blazers in place of Joel Przybilla, who injured a knee against the L.A. Lakers Wednesday. He had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Gasol scored Memphis' first nine points and the Grizzlies led 17-10. They led by as many as 11 in the first half and 58-50 at the break.

The Blazers started off the third quarter with an 11-4 run to get within a point. They eventually led by five, 78-73. Roy had nine in the quarter and Jack had eight as Portland held Gasol scoreless to take a 82-79 lead into the fourth quarter.

But the Grizzlies scored 14 in a row -- capped by Miller's alley-oop to Rudy Gay that made it 95-87 at 6:09.

Portland countered with a 11-3 run. Magloire converted a hook shot at 1:15 to tie the game at 98.

Warrick knocked down two free throws with 17.6 seconds left to give Memphis a 100-98 lead.

Randolph missed on the other end for the Blazers with about 6 seconds. Miller got the rebound and threw an outlet to Gay who punctuated the fastbreak with a reverse jam with 3.8 seconds left.

Gasol, who had 19 of his points in the first half, was rumored to be in part of trade talks before the deadline. Miller was coming off a franchise-record 45 points in an overtime loss to Golden State Wednesday.

Portland was coming off a gratifying 112-108 road win over the Lakers. The Blazers were sloppy at times on both ends of the floor, particularly in the final minutes.

"You've got to make plays when given those chances down the stretch," coach Nate McMillan said. "We just didn't execute very well when we had the game under control."

Guard Freddie Jones, acquired by the Blazers Thursday for Juan Dixon, took his physical and met his new teammates before the game but didn't play.

Game notes
Jones, who has been known as Fred during his five years in the NBA, told reporters he prefers Freddie, which is what he was called as a local high school and University of Oregon star. ... Przybilla had an MRI on Thursday, which was negative. He could miss three games. ... The Grizzlies had lost the last two matchups to Portland, including 135-132 in double overtime Jan. 27.