Blazers Narrowly Escape a Loss Against Detroit

Tonight, the Portland Trail Blazers faced the Detroit Pistons back at home after a long five game road trip. The game was favored towards the Blazers seeing as how Detroit was missing both Tayshaun Prince and Rick Hamilton and after a tough loss to Atlanta on Monday the Blazers were definitely looking for an uplifting recovery back at home.

Annnd your starting five:

Brandon Roy
LaMarcus Aldridge
Greg Oden
Steve Blake
Andre Miller

Top honors go to not one but two, LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy tied for 20 points. LA also tallied 7 rebounds, 2 assists and shot 8 - 16 from the field and 4 - 5 from the free throw line. B Roy tallied 4 rebounds, 5 assists and shot 7 - 14 from the field and 4 - 4 from the line. These guys really stepped it up tonight. They played about 38 minutes a piece and got baskets when it mattered most. (Don't forget to vote for these two +Dre and G.O. for the All-Star game: HERE) LaMarcus has always been known to run the court and he really showed that tonight, filling in the lanes on fast breaks. Great work you two!

Steve Blake. You either hate him or love him, but he went to work tonight and hit some big shots for the Blazers. He tallied 17 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assits and shot 5 - 10 from the field (3 - 6 from beyond the arc). During pre-game antics, the Mikes talked about how Blake came early to shoot around and was practicing his shot over and over and you could see his determination and focus out there on the court. In the 4th when things were too close for comfort Blake shot, he missed (insert Blazer fans' groans here), got his own rebound, shot again and made a BIG 3 for Portland. I don't always love Steve Blake but if he really stepped it up when the Blazers needed it most tonight and was a big part of the win.

Basically, this game was another nail biter at the end. The Blazers had a consistent lead through the third, leading by 20 at one point but in the 4th started to slack and allowed the Pistons to come within 3. Detroit out scored Portland 31 - 17 in the 4th and out rebounded the Blazers 39 - 36. Moral of the story, for not only this game but many past games including most recently the Atlanta Hawks game, we need a closing strategy McMillan! The Blazers really need to sit down and look at what needs to be done to close out a game in the 4th. Listening to the post game show on 95.5 the Game, I absolutely loved the caller who said, "If we were in the NFL we'd win every game since they do 3 quarters," too true caller, tooooo true. We're extremely lucky Andre Miller and Steve Blake made some clutch free throws at the end of the 4th. Going up to his final free throws, Miller was 0 - 4 from the line so you could definitely hear the nervous breathing of EVERY Blazer fan in the stadium, but he was able to swish both shots contributing the the Blazers win.


Despite the alarming 4th quarter, the Blazers were able to come away with the win, 87 - 81. Here's some video of post-game interviews with LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy & Steve Blake:


The Blazers go back on the road to play the Golden State Warriors next, on Friday! Tip off is at 7:30 PM. Some keys to this game:

• Portland has tended to struggle in Oakland, the Warriors won the series 2 - 1 last year, so it'll be even more important for the Blazers to figure out their closing strategy, get a lead, keep it and close it
• The Warriors have won eight straight games in Oakland and 12 of the last 16 meetings
  in the series overall. Portland last won the series, a 4-0 sweep, in 2002-03.
• Despite this advantage, the Warriors are at a weak place right now, so hopefully the Blazers will be able to go in strong and take the win
• REBOUNNNDS it is more important now more than ever to work hard on the boards. We're working with a 3 - guard line up which makes rebounding a little more difficult and it's especially hurtful when the opposing team gets second chances on a possession and we completely fail with our own offensive rebounding
• Free Throws make or break a game. There's a reason why they're called free throws. Luckily we do have the best team percentage for free throws in the league right now but we've missed some important possible game winning free throws in past games, so it will always be a key to the game

If you are unable to watch the game on Comcast Sportsnet or listen to the call on 95.5 the Game you should definitely check out the live game chat held by Casey Holdahl of PortlandTrailBlazers.com! I was able to be in the chat tonight and it was loads of fun! You can find the link to the chats on the front page of trailblazers.com or simply follow pdxtrailblazers on Twitter!

(Pictures: Yahoo Sports)