Starting Five:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marcus Camby
Nicolas Batum
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy
The MVP of the night was without a doubt Brandon Roy. Roy completely carried this team through 3 whole quarters and came away with a remarkable 41 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists (Assist count is low when you're the only one who can get the shots to drop if you know what I mean) and 2 steals. Roy shot 14 - 22 from the field and 13 - 17 from the line. This is why B Roy is an all star, his team was struggling on both ends of the court so Brandon took it upon himself to keep the Blazers in the game. Roy had been struggling trying to come back from his hamstring injury but I think his performance in the last couple games, this one especially proves Roy Bot is back with a vengeance and we couldn't be happier. Andre Miller took the silver spot with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and even a blocked shot. Money Miller shot 4 - 15 from the field and 7 - 8 from the line. LaMarcus Aldridge, despite a dismal first three quarters was able to sneak into third place with a huge 4th quarter! Aldridge scored only 4 points in the first three quarters, allowing Brandon Roy to take over but in the 4th, LMA gave his co-captain a break and went on to outscore the entire Golden State team with 10 points. The L-Train tallied 14 points, 8 rebounds and 1 assist. Thankfully LaMarcus got his stuff together in the 4th but we really need LaMarcus early in the game. We were lucky to scrape out this win but we can't simply depend on Brandon Roy to dig us out in future games and especially not in the playoffs.
Here's a Look At The Rest of the Box Score:
The beginning of this game made it seem as if the Oracle Arena curse had struck again and we would be looking at a big fat loss but thanks in large part to our all-star and undisputed leader, Brandon Roy we were able to scrape out a win. The fourth quarter is when this team came alive and realized they needed to start playing some serious basketball if they wanted to come out with the W. I don't know if someone kicked over the Gatorade cooler or something but some serious sense got knocked into the Blazers and they started playing with urgency and intensity. A big contribution to this win was getting the Warriors in foul trouble. Portland was able to get Ellis AND Maggette to foul out of the game and brought Stephen Curry to 5 fouls nearly fouling out himself. The Blazers got to the line 37 times and shot about 84%. All this contributed to a 110 - 105 win for Portland.
Photo(s) of the Night:
Just look at Rudy throwin' the three in Nelly's face.
You might have arrived 4 quarters late but you did arrive LMA.
The Blazers next played the second of back to back in California against the Sacramento Kings, whom we only just played at the Rose Garden earlier this week. Afyer a big come from behind win in Oakland the night before, Portland was looking for a blow-out to give them a 2 - 0 California road trip and give Coach McMillan his 400th win.
Starting Five:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marcus Camby
Nicolas Batum
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy
Roy is our MVP for the second night in a row with 28 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists. The RoyBot shot 10 - 13 from the field and a perfect 2 - 2 from beyond the arch and 6 - 6 from the line. Not too shabby considering he was coming off a 41 points in 42 minutes night. LaMarcus Aldridge stepped up his game (in the fourth quarter) and reclaimed the silver spot with 18 points, 6 rebounds and 1 blocked shot. Once again it took some time for LMA to find his rhythm but when he did it was smooth sailing to the finish line.
Here's a Look At the Box Score:
This game was a pretty smooth win for the Blazers. We took the lead early and were able to maintain it through to the end. There were some spots when the Kings made a run but the Blazers were able to keep their momentum and grab the win. We even got to see a little bit of newest Blazer, Travis Diener! The 6-1' point guard we acquired from the Indiana Pacers clocked his first minutes as a Blazers and showed that he's an extremely unselfish guy as he made plays and passed the ball instead of trying to get points on the board for himself. The guard didn't tally any points but he did come away with one assist. Diener seems like a pretty good guy but I'm not going to lie, I wanted some Patty Mills out there. Regardless, the Blazers were able to shut the game down and come away with a 110 - 94 win making this head coach, Nate McMillan's 400th career win! Congrats to the coach and the team!
Photo of the Night:
I can almost hear the infamous BayWatch: "HEEEEY?!" scream through this picture.
The Blazers next come back home to face former Blazer Jarrett "JSquared" Jack and the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.
• The Trail Blazers have won three straight games in the series. Neither team has won more than three games consecutively in series history. A win Sunday would provide Portland with back-to-back season sweeps and its longest win streak vs. Toronto, all-time (four).
• Portland led by as many as 17 points in a 101-87 victory in Toronto in the first game of the series. Brandon Roy (20 points) and Andre Miller (18 points) led the way in scoring for the Trail Blazers. Miller’s 10 assists tied Roy’s record of 10 assists (Jan. 13, 2008) for the most by a Trail Blazer against the Raptors in series history.
• The Trail Blazers and Raptors had split the last five season series before Portland nabbed its first series win last year since 2002-03 and its fifth two-game sweep overall. Toronto only has one sweep over Portland in 13 series contested (1996-97).
• Portland outrebounded Toronto, 88-67, including a 30-16 margin on the offensive glass last season. The Trail Blazers gained a 35-23 edge in second-chance points.
• Brandon Roy notched team highs of 23.5 points (57.1% FG) and 8.0 assists in two contests vs. Toronto last year.
• Chris Bosh led Toronto with 24.0 points (15-15 FT) and 7.0 rebounds in two games vs. Portland a season ago. Bosh’s 38 points in Toronto’s Jan. 13, 2008, double overtime win are the most ever scored by a Raptor against the Trail Blazers.
• The Raptors did not miss a free throw against the Trail Blazers last season, shooting 25-for-25 from the line. Portland went 29- for-36 (80.6%) in two meetings.
• Brandon Roy logged his first career double-double on Dec. 22, 2006, against the Raptors, with 16 points and 10 rebounds to go along with eight assists.
• Rudy Fernandez plays on the Spanish National Team with Toronto guard Jose Calderon. Calderon matched the record for assists by a Raptor against the Trail Blazers with 13 on Dec. 7, 2008.
• Toronto guard Jarrett Jack posted 9.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in three seasons with the Trail Blazers from 2005-08.
(Pictures: Yahoo! Sports)
No comments:
Post a Comment