Pre-Season Comes to a Close with Opening Night Around the Corner

Tonight the Blazers faces the Denver Nuggets in the last game of pre-season. Marcus Camby who had rarely played this pre-season was finally back to help lead the Blazers to a win.


Box Score:











Brandon Roy was on point tonight and was the team's high scorer with a whopping 23 points, the most he's scored all pre-season. He also contributed 3 rebounds and 2 assists to the mix. I have to say this was the Brandon Roy we've been waiting for. He was cutting to the basket, drawing the fouls and distributing the ball. The RoyBot has been pretty quiet this pre-season but he showed tonight he's been saving it all for the regular season. Marcus Camby made quite a contribution tonight as well with 8 points and 17 rebounds! Camby was all over the place diving and scrapping for the ball. He showed some serious hustle and it's clear how lucky we are to have him. LaMarcus put up a near double double with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. LaMarcus has been one of my favorite improvements so far. One of the biggest pet peeves associated with the L-Train is that he always settles for the fade away jump shot rather than battling for position and getting to the hoop. This pre-season we've seen a major improvement in LMA's game down low, he gets to the basket and he gets to the line. He shot 4-6 from the line tonight and it looked good. I'm really excited to see him continue to progress.

The Blazers went on to win 90 - 83. It was such a great game and can only give the Blazers positive momentum going into Tuesday's season opener game against Phoenix. We battled the Nuggets and really gave them a run for their money. What I liked best about the play tonight was that we made the Nuggets earn their points sending them to the line 28 times and we contested everything. Defense was a big factor tonight as the Blazers walked away with 7 steals and 5 blocked shots.

Photo of the Night:

Doin' Work.

The Blazers next play the Phoenix Suns in the regular season opener, Tuesday 7 PM at the Rose Garden! It's going to be a great game and a great season so be sure to get yourself some tickets!

•  Phoenix ousted Portland from the 2010 NBA Playoffs with a 4-2 series win in the First Round. The Suns outscored the Trail Blazers, 103.3-93.0, in the series, shooting 47.2 percent from the field while holding Portland to just 43.0 percent shooting. 

•  The Trail Blazers won the 2009-10 regular season series between the teams, 2-1, with all three games decided by seven points or fewer. Portland’s win was its first in the season series against Phoenix since 1999-2000 (3-1). 

•  The winning team has scored 100-plus points in 20 of the last 22 regular season 

games in the series. 

•  In three 2009-10 games between the teams, Portland shot 46.1 percent from the field and 32.6 percent from 3-point range, while Phoenix shot 44.6 percent and 37.9 percent, respectively. 

• The Suns committed 41 turnovers in the three head-to-head matchups last season to the Blazers’ 26 (averages of 13.7 and 8.7 per game, respectively). Portland held a 22-11 advantage in steals and a 19-6 edge in blocks during the three meetings.