Portland proved themselves tonight with an upset win over Oklahoma Cty. They came in as heavy underdogs in the major sports lines, as well as most pundits' predictions, but that hardly mattered to coach Bob and his team. "All they hype was 'Oklahoma Cty this; Oklahoma Cty that' coming into the game. It's like we didn't even exist. I think we proved our point." That they did, led by the spectacularp play of their star, Smith.

"Coach said that all we had to do was go out and play our best and we could win, and we knew he was right," he said later. "So that's what we did, and we showed that we can play with anyone."

Losing coach Bob was disappointed with his team's effort. "I think we started believing our own press," he said. "Everyone was saying we'd come away with the easy win, so we went in expecting it to be handed to us on a silver platter. But you've got to give credit where it's due, and Bob had his team playing as well as they've played all year."

Portland was led by Smith (23 points, 10 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Vanderveer (13 points, 21 boards, 1 assists, 2 blocks), Kimbell (14 points, 2 blocks). Oklahoma Cty was led by Golden (11 points, 14 boards, 1 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks), Stanford (25 points), Johnson (13 points, 9 boards, 0 assists, a block).

Portland stand at 35-27 and 20-12 at home after today's victory. They hold at #3 in the Northwest and remain at #7 overall in the Western Conference. Oklahoma Cty drop to 40-24. They remain at #2 in the Northwest and hold at #5 overall in the Western Conference.

box score Portland roster Oklahoma Cty roster