The Portland Trail Blazers (47-27) came out hot, and didn’t let up, beating their division rival the Utah Jazz (46-28) 125-104 in front of 20,675 at the Rose Garden Tuesday night.
Portland collected their 31st home victory of the season, the most wins at the Rose Garden since the building opened, and moved within two victories of the postseason.
The Utah Jazz scored the first bucket of Tuesday’s contest, and Portland responded with nine unanswered points. LaMarcus Aldridge converted two free throws at the 3:33 mark of the opening period, putting the Trail Blazers ahead 32-13. Portland finished the first period leading 39-25 on the strength of 10 points from Aldridge and 13 points from Brandon Roy.
The Trail Blazers used strong defense to hold off a charging Utah team in the second quarter. A fast break dunk from Andrei Kirilenko cut the home team’s advantage to 46-38 with 6:52 remaining in the half. Portland responded, closing out the second quarter on a 17-foot pull-up jumper from Travis Outlaw, and entered the halftime locker room leading 61-48.
Roy finished the opening half with 17 points; Aldridge added 16 points, and Sergio Rodriquez contributed eight first half points, connecting on his first two three-point attempts.
“I thought our guys played great,” head coach Nate McMillan said. “(Aldridge) established the paint and he’s just playing great down there lately. Brandon from the beginning of the game seemed to have his rhythm.”
The visiting team came out aggressive to start the second half, but before the third quarter ended both teams went through a few personnel changes. Utah power forward Carlos Boozer took exception to an offensive foul drawn by Joel Przybilla with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter and the Trail Blazers on top 80-59. Przybilla and Boozer shared bards at mid court, and each were assessed a technical foul. Neither player wanted to concede, and both were given second technical fouls and sent to their respective locker rooms. Boozer left the game leading Utah in scoring through three quarters with 20 points.
“We let that motivate us,” Roy said of Przybilla’s ejection. “We said ‘Joel we’ve got you’.”
Utah head coach Jerry Sloan was the next person to be sent to the locker room early. Roy fouled Utah sharp shooter Kyle Korver on a fast break lay-up, and Sloan, wanting a flagrant foul called, came on to the court to protest. Sloan was tossed after being given only a single technical foul. In all the third quarter saw three ejections to go with three technical fouls.
Portland entered the final quarter of the night leading 94-75, and pushed their lead to 109-80 on a jump shot from Outlaw with 7:32 remaining in the game. Korver closed the gap to 109-90 on back-to-back three-pointers, but the Jazz would get no closer. The Trail Blazers cruised to victory, with every active player getting action.
“I think the guys came to the gym focused today,” Aldridge said. “This is great for us going on the road. We’ve got some tough games coming. Right now we’re playing good basketball and great defense.”
Aldridge led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 10-of-16 shots from the field. Roy had an impressive outing, scoring 25 points, handing out a season-high 11 assists, and collecting six rebounds. Roy also added two steals and a blocked shot.
Nicolas Batum and Outlaw contributed 17 points each, splitting the playing time load of the Rudy Fernandez, sitting out the game with back spasms. Batum reached double figures in scoring for the 13th time in his Trail Blazer career. Greg Oden added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Steve Blake added 10 points and nine assists, to be the sixth player in the game for Portland to reach double figures in the scoring column.
“We wanted to come out and play with energy,” Roy said. “Play hard, and play a game we can be proud of.”
Portland’s next game, the first of four on the road, is Friday April 3rd in Oklahoma City against the Thunder.
NATE MCMILLAN
“I thought our guys played great. I knew they (the Jazz) would come out and be physical because that’s what we expect from a team like Utah. So we had to match that and I thought we did. That style of play we must bring to every game now down the stretch and so far on this home stand we’ve done that, except for the Philadelphia game and that’s probably why we lost that one.
“It was good to see LaMarcus and Brandon both have great games. L.A. established the paint and he’s just playing great down there lately. And Brandon from the beginning of the game seemed to have his rhythm. I think you have to be pretty aggressive against teams now because they are all raising their level of play. Utah, for example, is a very good team and we know that Jerry Sloan-coached teams really come at you. We wanted to be just as physical with them, put pressure on them and force them to get back. I thought we controlled the tempo from the outset and scored a lot of easy baskets by pushing the ball before they could set there defense.
BRANDON ROY
On Przybilla being ejected “We let that motivate us when he was kicked out. We said ‘Joel, we’ve got you!’ LaMarcus said, ‘lets just finish pounding them.’ They were upset. I think they were a little frustrated. He (Boozer) threw the ball at Joel while he was on the ground. The coach said. ‘don’t play in to that. Just finish playing ball. You guys are doing a great job.’
On the last three games “Honestly, we weren’t thinking about anyone else but Utah tonight. We were trying to play hard against Utah because our games are similar. We’re trying to the best we can to win our division. We wanted to send a message to them. This means nothing tomorrow. We just need to continue to play good basketball. We’re going to take it one game at a time (on the road). This isn’t the last road trip for us.”
LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE
“Yeah, we knew they were coming off a back-to-back. I think the guys came to the gym focused today. I want to give coach credit because he’s been doing a good job of letting us rest. I think guys are still getting in work but he’s been letting us rest our bodies and we’re feeling fresh. (It helps) us jump on the team’s early.
“My whole thing lately has been going to the basket. I think coach has been going to me more so I’ve been trying to deliver. Wow! (about the 31 home wins). This is great for us going on the road. We’ve got some tough games coming. Right now we’re playing good basketball and great defense.”
• Portland’s 31 home wins are the most by any Trail Blazers team since moving to the Rose Garden ... Portland’s 31-7 home record is the franchise’s best 38-game home mark since 1991-92 (31-7).
• The Trail Blazers’ 47-27 record is their best after 74 games since equaling that mark in 2000-01.
• Portland has won three consecutive games by 20-plus points for the first time since Mar. 24-28, 1992 (109-83, Mar. 24 vs. Dallas; 128-106, Mar. 26 at Sacramento; 115-95, Mar. 28 vs. Houston) ... Portland’s 10 total wins of 20-plus points are the most of any team in the Western Conference .. The Trail Blazers had just four wins of 20 points or more last season.
• The Trail Blazers shot a season-best 61.8% (47-76) from the field ... Portland shot at least 57.1% from the field in every quarter … Portland’s 125 points were its second-most all season.
• Brandon Roy’s 11 assists are a new season high and one shy of a season best… Roy has scored 20 or more points in 15 of the last 16 games.
• The Trail Blazers finished March with an 11-5 record, the fifth consecutive winning month this season … The last time Portland had at least five straight winning months in a single season was 1991-92, when it posted a winning record in every month … The 2008-09 Trail Blazers have closed out each month with a win.
• Portland improves to 10-3 at home vs. the Western Conference’s top nine teams in the standings.
• The Trail Blazers are now 20-4 against teams playing in the second game of a back-to-back … Every opponent on Portland’s four-game homestand came to Portland for the second game in as many days.
• The Trail Blazers are now 6-0 at home against Northwest Division opponents (8-5 overall).
• Portland is now 24-0 when leading at halftime at home and 21-2 at home when leading after the first quarter ... The Trail Blazers have now led by nine or more points after the first quarter in 11 games this season, including five times by 14 points or more ... Portland led by as many as 19 in today’s first period.
• The Trail Blazers finished with 32 assists (on 47 field goals), their second-highest total of the season.
• Tonight’s game marks the 65th consecutive sellout at the Rose Garden, dating back to Dec. 21, 2007.
• Portland has now won the last six games vs. Utah at home … The Trail Blazers scored 125 and 122 points in two home wins vs. the Jazz this season and won by an average of 17.5 points.
• The Trail Blazers’ 39 first-quarter points (14-22 FG, 4-5 3-PT, 7-8 FT) tied a season high for a quarter and set a new season best for the first quarter … Portland converted on 11 of its first 13 shots from the field, including all three of its three-point attempts.
• Portland has pulled in 10-plus offensive rebounds in 13 straight games.
• Nicolas Batum scored in double figures for the 13th time this season ... His 17 points were tied for the second-most he has counted this year, with 12 coming in the second half.
• Carlos Boozer had 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting in the first quarter before finishing with a team-high 20 ... Boozer matched a season high with six turnovers.
