Blazers Go 2 - 0 With a Win Across The Border

Tonight the Blazers went across the border to Toronto to take on the Raptors. Newly acquired center, Marcus Camby was out for Portland with an injured ankle but Toronto had an ankle injury of their own with Chris Bosh, who also sat out. After a too close for comfort game last night against New Jersey, Portland was looking for a strong win to go 2 - 0 on this road trip so far.

Starting Five:

LaMarcus Aldridge
Nicolas Batum
Brandon Roy
Andre Miller
Juwan Howard

This was Portland's 14th different starting line-up this season! It's rough being unhealthy. Top honors of the night,
I'm happy to say, go to EL MACHETERO! That's right ladies and gents, Rudy Fernandez played, undoubtedly, his best game since coming back from back surgery earlier this season. No he didn't score the highest but his performance gives him the gold tonight. The 6'6 Spanish guard tallied 17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal. Tonight we saw a much more aggressive and confident Rudy who carefully calculated his movements and made things happen for this team, not to mention he clocked in a good 31 minutes of play. See Rudy, when you play like this you get minutes!!! When you play like you were playing...you don't get minutes. Crazy how things work like that. Brandon Roy was the top scorer of the night with 20 points that went along with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. It's great to see B Roy getting back in the swing of things and I'm sure that if he wouldn't have had a 20+ night tonight we would not have gotten the win ('specially since LMA had a forgettable night - 9 points, 2 rebounds). Andre Miller had a fantastic night as well with a near triple double, 18 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds. Miller has been such a vital player for this team, anyone who thinks otherwise is obviously not paying attention. The guy is putting up double figures in scoring and assists, so when you think about it, technically Dre had an extra 20 points on those 10 assists! Keep it up Dre, we need you!

Here's a look at the rest of the box score:

The Blazers got their act together tonight for this win but that doesn't mean there weren't spots of adversity. Once again, Portland saw themselves with a 15 points lead and watched that lead decrease quickly. Portland needs to sit down and learn how to get a lead and hold on to it! Besides that we played a pretty good game of basketball. The Blazers came out with a sense of urgency and got the job done. Portland won the game 101 - 87.

Photo of the Night:

GO GET IT OL' MAN! Juwan throwin it down, proving he's 37 years YOUNG.

The Blazers next travel to Chi-Town to take on the Chicago Bulls on Friday at 5 PM PST.

•  Portland has won five straight games in the series, tied for its second-longest active
streak against any NBA opponent (Minnesota, 11; San Antonio/New Jersey, 5).
•  The Trail Blazers won, 122-98, Nov. 23 in Portland in the first game of the series behind
double-doubles from LaMarcus Aldridge (24 points, 13 rebounds) and Greg Oden (24
points, 12 rebounds). Portland shot 57.5% (42-73) from the floor.
•  In 2008-09, Portland swept Chicago for the second consecutive season and the 10th
time in franchise history. The Trail Blazers won by an average of 28 points in two games
(112.5-84.5), their largest average margin of victory against any team last year, while the
112.5 points marked their highest scoring average against any opponent a season ago.
•  Portland’s 42-point win (116-74) against Chicago on Nov. 19, 2008, marked the Trail
Blazers’ largest margin of victory since Nov. 17, 1997 (120-75 win vs. Dallas), and Port-
land’s biggest win vs. Chicago, all-time.
•  The Trail Blazers held the Bulls to 38.9% field goal shooting and a 14.3% (4-28) mark
from downtown, both lows by a Portland opponent last season, in two Trail Blazers wins
in 2008-09. Portland converted on 48.7% of its field goal attempts (18-39 3-PT).


(Pictures: Yahoo! Sports)