Thunder Hits Portland--Up Next Toronto

Thursday night the Oklahoma City Thunder rolled into town to take on the Blazers. This was the first home game after the Blazers successful 3-1 road trip and with OKC being a conference rival it was an important game to say the least.

Starting 5:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Marcus Camby
Nicolas Batum
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy

LaMarcus Aldridge once again was the player of the game. The beard man scored 22 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist. He shot 11-19 from the field. LaMarcus has been one of the most consistent guys on the team! Night after night he is getting the job done and in the first few minutes of the game, he was the only Blazer who scored any points at all. The only thing that I'm not too happy about was that LMA shot 0-0 from the line. I was actually shocked looking at that stat. The L-Train has been doing a much better job at getting to the line but just couldn't get there on Thursday. Brandon Roy had a nice game with 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. He shot 6-17 from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the line. I have to say though, this game really belonged to Nicolas Batum. Nico has been struggling to keep a rhythm so far but Thursday that rhythm finally came back. He scored 16 points alonf with 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Batum was all over the place that night working hard on both the offensive and defensive ends. Nico guarded Kevin Durant for most of the night and though KD was able to score 28 points, he was only 2-5 from beyond the arch, showing that Nicolas made Kevin go to the hoop and work for those points. It was good to see Batum really get back into the swing of things and I hope he's able to take that game and only build on it Saturday.

Box Score:

Oklahoma City won the game 107-106 in OT.

This game was won at the free throw line. Oklahoma City shot 24-26 from the line (92%) and Portland shot 16-20 (80%) with some players (cough, LMA, cough) not making it to the free throw line at all. When a game is won or lost by such a small number I always look at the free throw percentage. In a close game, free throws are HUGE. Next, I look at rebounds. Extra possessions can make or break a game. OKC out-rebounded POR by 9 (47 rebounds to our 38). The Thunder out-rebounded us on the defensive end with 32 to our 23. Those extra possessions allowed Oklahoma to break the Blazers 12 point lead and eventually take the win in OT.

Photo(s) of the Night:

The team officially announced the dedication of this season to Maurice Lucas Thursday night with Lucas' family in attendance.

Homeless Sonics mascot. 

The Blazers next take on the Toronto Raptors at the Rose Garden Saturday night.

• The Trail Blazers have won four straight games in the series, tying for Portland’s longest win streak over Toronto (2002-03). 

• Portland has swept Toronto, 2-0, each of the past two seasons. The Trail Blazers have also won the last three matchups at the 

Rose Garden with the last loss coming Dec. 22, 2006 (101-100 OT). 

• Toronto’s top two scorers (Chris Bosh, 28.0, and Hedo Turkoglu, 19.0) from last year’s season series against Portland are no longer 

with the Raptors. Andrea Bargnani (13.0) averaged the most points against Portland last season among Toronto’s returning players. 

• Four Trail Blazers averaged at least 15 points vs. the Raptors last season. Brandon Roy led the way with a 20.0 scoring average 

while LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum and Andre Miller each averaged 15.5 points per game. 

• Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani and Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge were selected fi rst and second overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. 

• Brandon Roy logged his fi rst career double-double on Dec. 22, 2006, against the Raptors, with 16 points and 10 rebounds to go 

along with eight assists. 

• Portland shot 51.4 percent (18-35) from 3-point range against Toronto last season. Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum each 

hit six total shots from downtown in two games against the Raptors last year. 

• Portland committed only 18 turnovers against the Raptors in two meetings last season while forcing Toronto into 27 turnovers. 

• With a 105.0 scoring average against Toronto last season, Portland’s average margin of victory over the Raptors was 12.5 points 

in two games last season. 

• Toronto’s last two victories over Portland have both come in overtime. The last time Toronto won a game in regulation against the 

Trail Blazers was Feb. 12, 2006, in Toronto. 

• Marcus Camby was drafted second overall by the Toronto Raptors in 1996. Camby played 126 games in two seasons for Toronto 

while blocking a total of 360 shots. 

• 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. 

ALSO: The Portland Trail Blazers have announced that they signed C Sean Marks today to replace Fabricio Oberto who retired Thursday due to a pre-diagnosed heart condition.


Sources: Yahoo Sports Media Notes

The Enforcer 1952-2010

I wanted to make a special post to commemorate Maurice Lucas, the Enforcer.

Maurice had been battling bladder cancer and sadly lost his battle Sunday October 31, 2010. His legacy will always be remembered by the Blazer community. He was apart of the 1977-1978 championship winning team and went on to play for the Blazers for a total of five years. He was known for being a tough guy on the court but a real sweetheart off of it.

Our thoughts are prayers are with Lucas' family.

The memorial for Lucas will be held on Monday November 8 at the Memorial Colliseum where Lucas brought the NBA championship to Portland so many years ago. Doors open at 11 AM and the service starts at noon.

Feb. 18 1952 - Oct. 31, 2010

The Enforcer

Chicago Fears the Beard--Up Next Milwaukee

The Blazers have had a spectacular start to the 2010-2011 season going 3-0 for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Yesterday, the Blazers travelled to the windy city to try and boost that streak to 4-0.

Starting Five:
LaMarcus Aldridge
Nicolas Batum
Marcus Camby
Andre Miller
Brandon Roy

The high scorer of the night and all other recognition goes to none other than LaMarcus Aldridge (and his beard, I'm a fan). LMA came close to a career high and double-double with 33 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot. The man was nearly flawless. He was perfect from the free throw line shooting 9-9 and  12-19 from the field. LaMarcus was the absolute leader of this team last night. We struggled out of the gate but LaMarcus caught fire and never slowed down. Brandon Roy had an extremely slow start but still finished the game with 17 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Roy shot 4-12 from the field and 0-2 from beyond the arch. In the bronze position for the night was rookie, Armon Johnson with 10 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. Johnson, who had family present at this game, was a surprising spark late in the 4th quarter. Nate took the starters out, flew the white flag and put in the rookies with 4 minutes to go. Johnson led that rookie unit to bring the Chicago lead down to 9 with an 8-0 run. The run was cut short but it made this loss a little less painful knowing our rookies were the type to go out there and try and make something happen.

Box Score:

The Blazers came out slow and tired in the first half. The Bulls were able to kill us on transition and get easy lay-ins and buckets but what was the real dagger was field goal shooting. The Bulls  shot a steady 60% from the field to our 41% and a big 38% from 3-pt range to our shocking 0%. Luol Deng was huge for the Bulls win with a career high 40 points, shooting 14-19 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arch. The Blazers lost the game 110-98.

Photo of the Night:

Thankfully Gibson forgot which way the hoop was on this play.

The Blazers next travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks tonight! Tip off is at 8 PM EST, 5 PM PST.

• Portland and Milwaukee split last year’s season series,1-1, with each team winning at home. 

• The Trail Blazers have won six of the past seven meetings. 

• Portland had won fi ve straight against Milwaukee until the Bucks’ double-overtime win, 108-101, Dec. 12, 2009, in Milwaukee. 

• Portland has defeated Milwaukee in four straight meetings at the Rose Garden. The Trail Blazers have won 15 of the last 22 games between 

the teams overall. 

• Milwaukee’s last two wins over Portland have come in overtime. The Bucks’ last win in regulation over the Trail Blazers came on March 20, 

2006, 100-93, in Portland. 

• Nate McMillan became the second-youngest NBA coach in the last 20 years to reach 350 career wins after a 96-84 victory at Milwaukee on 

March 21, 2009 (Jeff Van Gundy). 

• LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 26 points per game in two contests against Milwaukee last season to lead Portland while playing 

an average of 45 minutes per game. Brandon Roy added 22.5 points per game against the Bucks in 2009-10. 

• Marcus Camby did not play against Milwaukee last season as Portland’s games against the Bucks were before Camby was traded to the 

Trail Blazers. The Los Angeles Clippers’ games against the Bucks came after Camby was traded to Portland. 

• Portland shot 49.1 percent from the fi eld in two contests against Milwaukee last season. The Bucks shot 47.5 percent from the 

fl oor and 41.7 percent from 3-point range against Portland in 2009-10. 

• Each team turned the ball over 29 times in last year’s matchups. 

• The Trail Blazers attempted 60 free throws during last year’s season series while Milwaukee attempted 42. Andre Miller shot a 

series-high 18  total free-throw attempts during the meetings. 

• Wesley Matthews played at the Bradley Center during his collegiate career at Marquette. 

• Milwaukee Head Coach Scott Skiles is 10-13 (.435) in his career vs. the Trail Blazers as coach of Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee. 

• Bucks assistant coach Joe Wolf played 21 games for Portland during the 1992-93 season, averaging 2.5 points and 2.1 rebounds. 

• Joel Przybilla played for the Milwaukee Bucks from 2000-03. Przybilla totaled 141 games played with averages of 1.9 points and 3.6 rebounds 

before being traded to Atlanta during the 2003-04 season. 


Sources: Photo-Yahoo Sports Notes-Blazers Media Notes