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12.30.08 TRAIL BLAZERS VS. CELTICS
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BY MIKE ACKER
PORTLAND, ORE -- The Portland Trail Blazers (20-12) overcame the loss of their leading scorer and their worst first quarter of the season to pull out a 91-86 victory over the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics (28-5) in front of a vocal 20,651 at the Rose Garden on Tuesday night.
Brandon Roy, who is 11th in the NBA in scoring averaging 23 points per game, was relegated to the bench due to a sore hamstring. Tuesday’s game was the first career start for Rudy Fernandez, who started in place of Roy, who missed his game of the season.
Steve Blake knocked down the first of his five three-point field goals with 8:27 to play in the first quarter, giving the Trail Blazers a 7-4 lead, but it was all Celtics for the rest of the period. Portland shot 6-of-18 from the field, and finished the first period trailing 23-13.
The Trail Blazer’s began their long climb back into the game in the second quarter. Lifted by eight points from Blake, Portland outscored Boston 27-22, entering the halftime locker room down 45-40. Blake led all scorers at half with 13 points.
“We had to step it up a notch,” Blake said. “If you want to win a championship, you’re going to have to step it up.”
Portland continued to step-up their intensity in the second half. The Trail Blazers held the Celtics to 19 points in the third quarter, keeping the defending champs to 7-of-19 from the field. Portland out paced Boston for the second straight period, scoring 24 points, and tying the score at 64 a piece heading into the final 12 minutes of the night.
LaMarcus Aldridge was the difference for the Trail Blazers in the fourth and final period. Aldridge played the entire quarter, and finished with 10 points.
Aldridge put home a seven-foot turn-around fade-away jump shot with 59.4 remaining, giving Portland the lead 85-81 and bringing the Trail Blazer faithful to their feet. Boston closed the gap to 87-86 on a made free throw by Paul Pierce.
Boston was forced to foul, and the Trail Blazers were able to maintain their lead with four made free throws, two each from Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez. Rodriguez’s two free throws were his only points of the night.
Ray Allen missed a 25-footer with 4.9 seconds remaining. Travis Outlaw corralled the rebound, giving the Trail Blazers their most important win of the season.
Outlaw finished the game with 17 points. Blake led Portland for the second time in the season with 21 points. Aldridge added 20 points, and Greg Oden collected his 10th double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Rookie Jerryd Bayless tied career highs with two assists and 16 minutes played.
“We got together and played big like Coach said,” Bayless said. “It shows how much heart the team has, it was a very important win.”
Portland held Boston to a season-low 13 assists, and a season-low tying 27 field goals.
“This was a great win for us,” head coach Nate McMillan said. “You have to beat them, they don’t beat themselves.”
The Trail Blazers return to the Rose Garden on Friday January 2nd to face the New Orleans Hornets.
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NATE MCMILLAN
“This was a great win for us. And now we have to build off of that. Before the game it was no secret what we had to do. They don’t beat themselves. You have to beat them. You have to make shots, you have to outrebound them and out scrap them. And I thought we did a great job on all of those things. And we did it with a lot of poise. It was especialluy encouraging to get this win without Brandon. I knew if we played together, did a good job of bodying them to make it tough for them to get good shots and if our guys would step up and play we had a chance.
“As I said, everybody played well. After the game, in the dressing room, I tried to go over and mention everybody’s name who made a big contribution. LaMarcus, for example, didn’t play well early but gave us a big game in the second half. Sergio probably hit the two biggest free throws of the game in a situation where he usually doesn’t find himself. And Rudy stepped up into the rotation as a starter didn’t shoot well tonight but certainly made some of the big plays down the stretch as did Travis, who delivered when we needed points to keep the lead. I thought Greg (Oden)---he’s the physical player on our team---stood up to the Celtics like a veteran. We want to respect them but we don’t want to fear them and I think that’s what we got tonight from everybody."
STEVE BLAKE
“We had to step it up a notch. If you want to win a championship, you’re going to have to step it up. We go out there together. We support each other and its nice to know your teammates have your back.”
About playing without Brandon Roy
“It feels good but hopefully he’s going to get back sooner rather than later. I didn’t feel it was on me tonight. I just went out and played ball. We have a lot of talented guys that come to play every night and get involved. Tonight wasn’t any different. We didn’t have one of our main weapons but we had others who stepped up.”
DOC RIVERS
“Portland came in and wanted to be physical. I thought that was great for us because all they were doing was fouling in the first half. But in the second half, I thought they were the more physical team, especially on the glass. I said it before the game – the key to the game was that if we rebounded that we’d win the game and if we didn’t, we’d lose the game. I thought they absolutely destroyed us on the boards. Our bench had two rebounds – the entire bench had two rebounds… it’s very difficult to win.
On the fourth quarter
“Well we didn’t score, that’s for darn sure. They played harder. They got all the loose balls, they went over our backs and got rebounds. I thought the officials allowed it. I do, but there’s not much you can do about it. You give them credit. I thought they played harder – I thought they went after every loose ball and they came up with it – give them credit.
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• The last time Portland started three rookies in the same game was November 26, 1971 (Sidney Wicks, Larry Steele, Bill Smith).
• Rudy Fernandez started the game for the first time in his career … He replaced Brandon Roy, who missed his first game of the season.
• Portland’s 20-12 start is its best since matching that record in 2002-03.
• Eight of the Trail Blazers’ 15 home games have been decided by five points or fewer (Portland is 6-2).
• The Trail Blazers grabbed 13 offensive rebounds, compared to a season-low tying five for Boston, leading to a 20-7 advantage in second-chance scoring … Portland nabbed 44 boards while holding Boston to a season-low 29 rebounds … The Celtics earned a 43-31 edge on the boards in the first game between the two teams, including a17-9 edge on the offensive glass.
• Steve Blake led Portland for the second time this season with 21 points … He led all scorers with 13 first-half points … Blake now has five games of 20-plus points, two more than he totaled all of last season … He has hit double figures in 19 games and five of the last six ... Blake has now hit four or more threes in four of the last six games and eight overall.
• Greg Oden notched his team-leading 10th double-double of the season … His 11 rebounds were a game high ... He added a career-high three steals and a career-high tying and team-high tying three assists.
• LaMarcus Aldridge has now scored in double digits in 21 straight games ... He has scored 20 or more points in 12 games, including four of the last five and eight of the last 11.
• Portland’s 13 first-quarter points are the fewest it has scored in any quarter this season … It was the first quarter of fewer than 25 points in the last 10 games for the Trail Blazers.
• The Trail Blazers’ bench missed a shot in the opening quarter for the first time in four games … Portland was 11-for-11 in the first quarters of the three previous games.
• All six of Portland’s fastbreak point came in the fourth quarter.
• The Portland bench outscored Celtics reserves, 29-9.
• The Trail Blazers scored 22 points off 13 Boston turnovers … Portland committed 15 turnovers, but they only led to nine points.
• Nicolas Batum tied a career high in rebounds (seven) and blocks (two).
• Jerryd Bayless tied a career high with two assists in a career-high 16 minutes.
• Boston made all 17 of its free throws through three quarters, and finished the game 29-for-31, after Toronto went 12-for-12 in Portland’s last game … Portland’s opponents have shot a higher percentage from the foul line than any other team’s opponents this year.
• The Celtics made a season-low tying 27 field goals (27-67, 40.3%) and dished a season-low 13 assists.
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