Portland’s streak is ended by Utah

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Portland Trail Blazers had to settle for a near-perfect December.

The Trail Blazers’ 13-game winning streak ended Monday night with a 111-101 loss to the Utah Jazz, their first defeat since Dec. 2.

“It was a great month for us. We lost the first game of the month and the last game of the month. Any time you do that, I think that’s a sign of a young team maturing,” said Brandon Roy, who scored 17 points. “You can’t win all of them. It’s an NBA season. We’d like to, but Utah played great tonight.”

Andrei Kirilenko had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. Carlos Boozer had 19 points and nine rebounds, and Deron Williams added eight points and eight assists. The Jazz also got a boost from newcomer Kyle Korver, who scored 11 in his Utah debut.

The Trail Blazers were three wins away from tying the franchise record and had beaten Utah twice already during the run.

Portland Coach Nate McMillan was attending a family funeral and not with the team to see the streak end. The Trail Blazers were outrebounded, 40-31, and outscored in the paint, 62-22.

“They dominated us on the boards tonight and they got us,” Roy said. “We weren’t able to make up for it.”

LaMarcus Aldridge scored a career-high 36 points, but he and Roy were the only Portland starters to score in double figures.

The Trail Blazers couldn’t overcome a cold stretch during the third quarter, going scoreless for almost three minutes and without a basket for 4:34 as the Jazz pulled away on a 20-3 run.

Portland also failed to capitalize on a huge advantage from the foul line.

The Trail Blazers were 33 for 43 from the free-throw line, including four for nine in the fourth quarter.

The Jazz made 20 of 27 free throws.