Andre Miller Does It Big In Dallas

Tonight, the Blazers finished their back to back road trip in Dallas. The Blazers had just suffered a close loss to Houston and were looking for redemption to return home with. Dallas on the other hand has been playing extremely well this season and likely didn't forget that the Blazers beat them last at home. This match was another must win for the Blazers to keep them in playoff contention after three rough losses in a row.

Starters:

LaMarcus Aldridge
Andre Miller
Juwan Howard
Jerryd Bayless
Martell Webster

Get out the party platters because it's a holiday. Dre Day is in full effect today as high scorer of the night, Andre Miller went for a career high 52 points! Not only was this a career high for Dre (his previous career high was 37 points, he beat that by 15 tonight) this was also a Blazer high. Dre is the third highest scoring Blazer in a single game tied with Brandon Roy and right behind Damon Stoudamire who holds the number one spot with 54 points. After forgettable performances in the past couple games (Dre has scored 54 points over the last 5 games *via-Ben Golliver*) Miller exploded out of the gate and attacked the paint like his life depended on it. Shawn Marion was quoted on Miller's performance,"He already had 45 points. What am I gonna do?" said Marion, who got the assignment to guard Miller late in the fourth quarter. "He already got it going. "(Via Dallas Mavericks Blog on ESPN) Miller went for 52 on 22 field goals in 42 minutes. Anyone think he's still not fitting in?

Of course this was a team win though...nah who are we kidding, Dre's back must be sore because the guy carried this team to a win. But, I will mention LaMarcus Aldridge who was making a return to his home town. LMA went for 21 points, only 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Not exactly a spectacular home coming.....not to mention he only shot 1 - 4 from the free throw line and two of those missed free throws came at a crucial point when he could have taken the lead. Not all was bad though, we did see a much more aggressive LaMarcus down low in the post, he was able to get to the block and make things happen but we need more from LaMarcus. I will be the first to come to LMA's defense, I'm a huge Aldridge fan but if he wants to be an all-star he needs to become a bigger force in the post instead of settling for fade away jumpers. Jerryd Bayless had a great night as well tallying 17 points shooting 7 - 11 from the field and putting up a +20 on his +/-. Steve Blake went for 10 points on 4 of 10 from the field and made some big shots down the stretch for the Blazers.

The Blazers won this game 114 - 112 in overtime after a slew of clutch "Moneytime" Miller shots followed by Dirk Nowitzki classic clutch twos. Luckily for the Blazers, Batum played excellent defense on Dirk for the final possession causing him to miss the jumper and give the win to Portland. This win couldn't come at a better time. The Blazers were suffering a three game losing streak, two of those losses coming at home and with a tight race for the playoffs in the pacific division, Portland needed this to keep them in post season talk. The Blazers are now 6th in the western conference.

Photo of the Night:

Way to go fellas, congrats on bringing home the win.

The Blazers next head home to face the Charlotte Bobcats.

•  Behind a game-best 25 points (9-16 FG) from Brandon Roy, Portland counted an 80-74 victory in Charlotte on Nov. 14 in the first meeting of the series. The Trail Blazers limited the Bobcats to 36.6% field goal shooting, but Portland tied a franchise low with eight assists.
•  A win Monday would give Portland its third series win in the six-year history of the series.
•  Portland has defeated Charlotte by an average of 12.6 points in its seven wins in the series. The Bobcats have never defeated Portland by double digits.
•  The Trail Blazers and Bobcats each won at home last season, splitting the series for the first time since 2005-06.




1. Take Down Captain Jack - Stephen Jackson has been playing tremendously for the Bobcats averaging 24.9 points per game and has scored in double figures in all games since coming to Charlotte. If we can keep Jackson at bay and force him to move the ball, we stand a fighting chance.
2. Charlotte's First All-Star - Gerald Wallace has also been huge for CHA. Wallace has been averaging 18.6 points and 11 rebounds per game. Keeping his production low will also help us but that means we need serious work from LMA and Howard on the boards.
3. Low Scoring Game For Them Not Us - The Bobcats have been averaging 102.3 points per game and have been keeping their opponents at 93.8 points per game, lowest in the league. We are allowing 94.8 ppg, lowest in the west. If we can keep Charlotte under 100 but allow ourselves a chalupa night, odds would be most definitely in our favor.
4. Guards Go To Work - Andre Miller's performance tonight was spectacular but a big reason why we lost in Houston  was because of the poor production from our guards. We need Dre Day to continue and we need Blake to step up his game and make things happen. I refuse to see Steve Blake take the ball down the court in a 3 on 2 fast break and pass it off to an unprepared player or dribble in and then dribble back out and look to McMillan for a play. Get aggressive Blakey! Bayless.....just keep getting to the hoop.


On a side note, big shout out to my boys at U Dub for a big win over the Washington State Cougs today! Watched the game on TV and who was there but Brandon Roy and his Anti-Blazer hamstring! The cameras caught him enjoying some ice cream and wearing his ol' Husky jersey! (P.S. if anyone wants to get me an early birthday present.....a Roy Husky jersey would be awesome.....)

(Pictures: Yahoo Sports)

The Houston Curse Continues for the Blazers

The Blazers played at the Toyota Center in Houston tonight. It was the first stop on on a back to back in Texas and after a horrible loss against Utah on Wednesday, Portland was looking for a big win to start this road trip. Houston was also on a three game losing streak and wanted a big win at home to get back on track.

Starters:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Andre Miller
Jerryd Bayless
Juwan Howard
Martell Webster

The big winning scorer of the night was none other than Rudy Fernandez! Felicitaciones El Machetero! Rudy tied a career high with 25 points, and 5 rebounds with 3 assists. Rudy shot 9 - 14 from the field and 5 - 6 from 3-point range. LaMarcus Aldridge has continued to step up with the absence of B Roy. He tallied 20 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a BIG 4 of the Blazers 5 blocked shots. LaMarcus has been showing more and more aggression in the paint as of late and that's something we can only hope continues. When LMA has a hot hand you can bet we will be playing well. After a forgettable performance Wednesday night, Steve Blake rebounded well serving up 14 points and 9 assists while shooting 6 - 10 from the field and 2 - 4 from 3-point range. Nicolas Batum is continuing to make a big difference for the Blazers. He tallied 12 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting 4 - 7 from the field.

After a horrific start Wednesday night, the Blazers were definitely looking to start this game strong, which they did. Portland led 28 - 18 at the end of the 1st quarter but after a weird referee foul call mistake the Blazers seem to cool off and allowed Houston to blow them out of the water after half time. They kept it close allowing Houston to at most lead by 12 but some bad turnovers and poor decisions allowed Houston to take control of the game. Portland lost 104 - 100. This is the 4th of 5 games in which Portland has lost by 5 points or less.

Photo of the night:

Careful Scola, Steve Blake might go UFC on your behind.

The Blazers continue their Texan back to back in Dallas tomorrow night.

Series Notes:

•  Dallas had won 11 straight home contests over the Trail Blazers (Portland’s longest current road losing streak against any team), before Portland earned an 85-81 win in Dallas on Dec. 22 in the first series meeting between the teams. The Mavericks led in the fourth quarter by as many as seven points, but Portland used a 27-16 edge in the final period to claim the victory.
•  The Mavericks outscored the Trail Blazers, 99.7.0-94.0, outrebounded Portland, 40.0-35.3, and held a 22.7-16.3 advantage in assists in three wins last season. Dallas won all three games by single digits.
•  The Trail Blazers shot 47.7% (21-44) from three-point distance while holding the Mavericks to 31.4% (16-51) from long range in three meetings last year.

1. Low Scoring Game - We need to keep the Mavs under 100 points if we want to take away a win. Dallas is 17-4 when scoring 100+ points and lost 10 of 12 games when scoring 96-or-less
2. Slow Terry and Dirk Down - When Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki have big nights the Mavs flourish, the Mavericks are now 10-2 when both Dirk Nowitzki (28) and Jason Terry (21) score 20+ points. We need to slow them down if we want to stand a chance, which really means LaMarcus or Juwan and probably Martell and Nico need to keep their defense solid. 
3. Gotta Make Your Free Throws - If we can beat Dallas to the line and shoot well, we can take away a win, but that means we need to get to the hoop instead of settling for jump shots. 

(Photos Courtesy Of: Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images & Yahoo! Sports)

Roy's Hamstring is Anti-Blazers, Nico is BACK & Greg Oden's Not So Little Friend Makes Its Presence Known

I know I know, it's been a long while Blazer Nation, miss me? No don't answer that... Anyway, a lot of crazy mayhem has gone down. First off let's take a moment to pay homage to the injured Blazers since my sabbatical:

No, I did not include Brandon Roy but that's because *knock on wood* Roy's injury should only be putting him on the bench for a couple weeks total and he should, hopefully, be back on the court after this next road trip.

Huge congrats are in order though for Coach McMillan, Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum who have all made healthy recoveries from their injuries and are back on the court!!

And what a difference their return has made. Rudy took a game or two to get back in the swing of things but my oh my, Nicolas Batum was HUNGRY to get back on the court and immediately was back to his old Batuuuuum-Shaka-Laka self! In his game debut, Batum posted 6 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound while shooting 3 - 5 from the field. In Wednesday's game against Utah, Batum was a HUGE factor. In our almost scoreless first quarter Nico posted 7 of our 9 points. He went on to score 16 points, shooting 7 - 9 from the field and a perfect 2 - 2 from beyond the arch. Rudy has been playing extremely well (we'll not talk about the incident at Boston where Rudy threw a bad three up that could have tied the game even though he had 3.5 seconds to get set....). Though we all love a good RUDY POR TRES, I think we are all even more excited about the new inside game El Machetero has been playing. He drops floaters in the paint like a pro and boy are they pretty.

Unfortunately I have to report our first two home game losing streak of the season. The Blazers lost against New Orleans at home after a close game that the Blazers just couldn't close in the end. The Blazers led for most of the game, albeit not by much but towards the end everything fell apart. A lapse in defense and a Hornets run ending with a wide open jump shot for Chris Paul allowed the Hornets to come away with a one point win. On wednesday, the Blazers faced the Jazz at home and the beginning of that game was one Blazer fans and players probably want to erase from memory completely. The Jazz were able to take an early 10 - 0 lead and it didn't get much better. I haven't heard a Blazer crowd boo that loud since the Jail Blazers era. The referees seemed a little protective over Utah in the first half, if a Blazer breathed on a ?Utahonian? a foul was called. You know I never blame games on the refs but man were they brutal in that game. The Blazers were able to slightly redeem themselves towards the end with a big run that brought them within 5 but nothing could be done, our 4th quarter finisher was still resting his hamstring on the bench and there was no more energy left to take a win. The Blazers ended up losing 106 - 95. Dre and Blakey combined for their worst games of the season (I bet) shooting 2 - 17 from the field. LaMarcus Aldridge did his best to carry the team tallying 25 points and 9 rebounds and even attempting three 3 pointers at the end. Nicolas Batum (as stated earlier) was a huge part of keeping the Blazers in the game with his 16 points and Martell Webster has a big game himself. Prior to the game, Marty announced that he would be donating $1000 for every point he scored to Haitian relief. Martell ended the game with 14 points, 2 of which were big threes when Portland needed them most. Marty ended up donating $14,000 to Haitian relief, way to go Marty!! The #MartyParty never ends!

Tonight the Blazers take on the Houston Rockets in Houston as they start their Texan Back-2-Back. We really need these wins on the road to make up for our recent misfortune at home if we want to to still be contenders in the playoff hunt. You can catch the game on Comcast Sportsnet and 95.5 FM the Game on the radio if you're in the Portland area.

AND I'M BACK! Now that finals are over and I have a little more free time, I'm hoping to be making more frequent posts when news arises and after every game! And though I addressed it in the title, I will not say anything more on the subject of Greg Oden's nude pictures. You can't make me.