Starting Five:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marcus Camby
Nicolas Batum
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy
MVP of the night goes to my main man, LaMarcus Aldridge! Aldridge had a fantastic double-double kinda night with 22 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 blocked shot and 1 very nasty dunk. Aldridge came out of the gate with aggression and a sense of urgency. He was all over the place scrappin' for the ball, getting to the hoop, crashing the boards and throwing it down with authority. LMA has been pretty quiet in the first halves of recent games but tonight he made sure he getting things done for this team from tip off. It's really nice to see LaMarcus getting the swing of things down low and making teams pay, especially in light a great article in the Columbian today, done by Brian Smith, where LaMarcus talked about his role on this team and his need to be aggressive down low. You can read that article HERE. Nicolas Batum had a big game as well also scoring 22 points to go with 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots. Batum is getting more and more skilled every day and boy is it exciting to watch! Honorable mention goes out to Rudy Fernandez who had a great night with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists while shooting 3 - 5 from beyond the arch.
Here's a look at the rest of the box score:
This was a great game for the Blazers. They played aggressive, scrappy and with loads of intensity and got themselves a nice win. Going into this game we were all curious as to how Hedo Turkoglu would be accepted by the Portland crowd and they definitely let him know he is not welcome by booing during not only his introduction but every time he touched the ball. To the crowd's delight, the Blazer did an excellent job containing Turkoglu holding him to 14 points and getting him in foul trouble. The Blazers controlled this game from start to finish by keeping up with Toronto taking the lead and never looking back. The Rapotors were able to get within 2 during the fourth but the Blazers locked it down, got stops and came out with a 109 - 98 win. The Blazers are still in the 8th spot for the playoffs but they are now half a game out of the 7th spot and only 2 games out of the 5th spot! Hopefully this team really takes advantage of this 5 day break and gets work done so we can move on up in the standings!
Photo of the night:
L TRAIN COMING THROUGH.
The Blazers get to enjoy a nice 5 day break before taking on the Washing Wizards at the Rose Garden on Friday.
• The Wizards bested the Trail Blazers, 97-92, on Jan. 18 in the first game of this season’s series behind 28 points (10-16 FG) from former Wizard Antawn Jamison. LaMarcus Aldridge notched 22 points (9-17 FG) a game-best 15 rebounds (nine off.).
• Portland has won six of the past eight contests in the series, including four straight wins at the Rose Garden. Washington last won in Portland, 114-106, on March 28, 2005.
• Portland swept the two-game series between the teams in 2008-09, but the Wizards outshot the Trail Blazers 49.3% to 45.9% from the field and 48.4% to 41.9% from three-point distance.
• Brandon Roy led all Trail Blazers with 22.0 points to go with 6.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 5.00 steals in two games against Washington a season ago. Roy’s 10 steals on Jan. 24, 2009, in the last meeting between the teams at the Rose Garden, tied the franchise record for steals in a game.
• The Trail Blazers have never scored fewer than 80 points in 94 contests between the two teams.
(Pictures: OregonLive)
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