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11.08.08 TRAIL BLAZERS VS. TIMBERWOLVES
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BY MIKE ACKER
PORTLAND, ORE. – The Portland Trail Blazers (3-3) relied on a second half come back to secure a 97-93 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves (1-5) in front of a home crowd of 20,599. The win was the Trail Blazers fifth in a row over the Timberwolves, and the third straight at the Rose Garden, where they are perfect on the season.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the charge in the second half. After finishing the opening half with just six points, Aldridge came out hot after the intermission, going 4-for-5 from the field, finishing with 10 points in the third quarter. Aldridge finished the game with 24 points and 13 rebounds, his second double-double of the season.
Brandon Roy came through with the fourth quarter heroics for the second game in a row. With 31.9 seconds left in the game, Roy hit a 13-foot fade away jumper to give the Trail Blazers the lead at 95-93. On the ensuing possession the Timberwolves missed three shots in a row under the hoop. After an Aldridge rebound and a Portland timeout, Travis Outlaw knocked down two free throws to put the game away. Roy finished the night with 24 points, five rebounds, and 9 assists. Outlaw added 11 points in less than 20 minutes off the bench.
Portland trailed by six at half time but trimmed the lead to one to start the fourth period. Rudy Fernandez’s three-pointer to start the quarter put the Trail Blazer’s ahead 72-70, their first lead since going up 5-3 with 9:14 to go in the first quarter. Fernandez added 11 points from the bench, connecting on 3-of-8 three-point attempts.
The Trail Blazer’s struggled all night to defend the key, finishing the game with a 38-24 deficit in the paint. Portland did outrebound Minnesota 45-38. The Timberwolves were paced by their center Al Jefferson, who finished the night with 27 points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots. Kevin Love, a Lake Oswego High School graduate and last year’s Pac-10 player of the year, finished his second career start with just two points in 26 minutes. Love went 0-for-7 from the field, and 2-for-4 from the free-throw line.
Portland begins a weeklong road trip on Monday, November 10th starting with a game against the Orlando Magic.
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NATE MCMILLAN
“It seems like we didn’t want to win this one the right way, but then I thought we really fought threw it and hung together in the second half. LaMarcus really had a tough first half but we all tended to rally each other and challenge each other. They were telling each other at halftime, on the court during breaks and in the huddle to challenge each other to come back and win this one.
“I think defensively we made enough stops to win the game but we are getting breaks. Brandon is going to have the ball in his hands in two-point games at the end so when he goes to the basket we certainly have to have the breaks and we keep forgetting those. In the second half we also made shots.
“With us leading by two at the timeout, I looked at Przybilla, and said: ‘Big Joel, give me one stop.’ And he got that and we got advantage when Kevin Love rimmed out that follow shot.
“Now we need to get our first road win on our trip in Orlando beginning Monday. I think the key tonight in our turnaround in the third quarter is we took care of the ball, we were aggressive on the boards and we had really good ball movement. But you still have to hit shots, and we finally did that.”
JOEL PRZYBILLA
About guarding Jefferson: “He’s a load down there. He got the numbers but we got the win. That’s all that matters. It was a good win tonight. The first half, I don’t know what it was. We had a little funk going on. In the past it would have been a game we would have lost. But in the second half we picked it up and got away with a win.”
CHANNING FRYE
“Its huge (the win). We need to get these wins, especially at home where we’re comfortable. Not saying we’re not comfortable on the road but we have a lot more confidence here. Tonight we were able to run, the crowd’s always supporting us. What we need to now is be professionals and go out on the road and get some wins.
“Some games are going to be like that when we’re sluggish in the first half---or the second half. We’re going to need to come back. They’re just gonna be hard games.
“They’re (the T-Wolves) are coming off a back-to-back. They played great tonight but the ball went our way. Its been a rough week for us. We just hearted this one out.”
KEVIN LOVE
“It’s the best kept secret that people don’t always play their best in their hometown…0 for 7…I just got to bounce back, I had 20 and 8, now I had 2 and 7. Just got to come back with some more fire next game, and hopefully have a good one….We have been so close in so many games this season already, we’ve only played five or six games, so close, we just got to start grinding out wins.”
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The Trail Blazers have been perfect at home, but they sure aren't making it easy on themselves or the fans. This one could have gone either way.
But when Travis Outlaw hit two free-throws to put Portland up 97-93 with four seconds left, the Trail Blazers bench and the Rose Garden crowd exhaled in unison. And when Outlaw stole the inbounds pass on the ensuing possession, the chance of a miracle Minnesota comeback was squashed.
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