Blazers Go 4 - 1 On Their Final East Coast Road Trip

Tonight the Blazers traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to conclude their last east coast road trip of the season. Going into this game the Blazers were 3 - 1 and a win was vital to keep them alive in the 8th position of the western conference. Memphis, who will probably not be making an appearance in the playoffs, has done extremely well on the road but has struggled at home so the hope was that the Blazers could take home a nice win to close out this roadie.

Starting Cinco:

LaMarcus Aldridge

Nicolas Batum

Marcus Camby

Andre Miller

Brandon Roy

Top honors of the night go to Brandon Roy who brought his A game tonight and tallied 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 big steals. Tonight we saw the B Roy of old (before his hammy injury that it) who played scrappy, dove to the floor for the ball and put his head down and got to the hoop. He shot 7 - 18 from the field and 2 - 6 from three point range but depended on getting to line shooting a perfect 6 -6. The past couple games have shown a stronger, more confident B Roy and hopefully all the time off coming up in March will do him and his evil hamstring some good. Nicolas Batum continued to the BATUM-SHAKA-LAKA national tour with 21 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 big blocked shot. Third quarters are proving to be really good to Batum as most of his points were recorded then. Nico played with extreme aggression and precision once again and as I've said before, I will say again that I can not wait to see where this kid's talent leads him (he's got my all-star vote. just sayin'). Though Dante Cunningham only clocked in about 4 minutes and 5 points, I'm giving him a big shout out because let's face it, the Inferno came off the bench and was an immediate spark for the Blazers. The first half was extremely ugly for us but when Dante came in he provided energy on both ends of the floor and gave us some sweet dunks. Juwan had some high lights but most of his play was not good and it was disappointing that just because Dante had a little problem with Zach Randolph down low he was immediately taken out, despite the fact that in his short time he was making big things happen for us. Give the rook' a chance Nate (TEAM DANTE)!

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

The first half of this game was really rough for the Blazers. They were playing sloppy with little energy but luckily someone talked some sense into this ball club resulting in a complete turn around in the third quarter.  Jerryd Bayless made some good (and not so good) plays even though the poor kid couldn't buy a foul. Brandon Roy and Nicolas Batum went crazy scrapping for the ball and getting to the hoop and they started knocking down crucial shots. Marcus Camby also had a huge effect on the game because he was able to get us some much needed rebounds and hustle. LaMarcus had a pretty quiet night with 13 points and 2 rebounds but he made up for that with 4 big steals. Unfortunately foul trouble kept his minutes low in the third. Fast breaks were huge for us in the final stretch of the game. We outscored Memphis 23 - 17 on fast break points. In my keys to this match, I was correct that the first team to reach 100 would come out with the win as Portland took the game 103 - 93.

Photo(s) Of the Night:

The Spaniard Struggle. *Team Fernandez*

JBayWatch 2010 continues....

Oooh Infernoooooo!

The Blazers next travel back home to play the Indiana Pacers at the Rose Garden on Wednesday! NOTE: To any fans attending the game or who can make it out to the RG anyway (you don't need a ticket to attend this) there will be another Blazer Tweet-Up! We will be meeting by the fountains at the Ford Tent. There should be a tent with a sign that says Tweet-Up. Again, you don't need a ticket to the game to attend the tweet-up so go if you can make it because who knows, you might just win yourself a ticket to the game while you're there! More info HERE.

•  Brandon Roy’s 29 points (11-21 FG) guided the Trail Blazers to a 102-91 victory at Conseco Fieldhouse on Dec. 9. Portland led by just two points heading into the fourth quarter, but a 25-16 edge in the final period gave the road team its biggest win in Indianapolis since 1990. 

•  In 2008-09, the Trail Blazers swept the two-game series with the Pacers for the first time since 2002-03. 

•  Portland snapped its nine-game losing streak to Indiana, Portland’s longest losing streak against any team in the NBA at the time, with a 107-105 triumph March 4, 2009, in Portland. 

•  Brandon Roy’s 24.0 points were the most by any player who appeared in both games of the series last season. 

•  Indiana shot 46.1% from the floor and 41.9% from three-point distance while holding Portland to 43.9% shooting from the field and a 35.3% mark from downtown in 2008-09. 

•  The Trail Blazers gained 17 points from the foul line in two games last year, shooting 40-for-50 (80.0%) compared to a 23-for-31 (74.2%) mark for the Pacers.

(Pictures: Yahoo! Sports)