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03.23.09 TRAIL BLAZERS VS. SIXERS
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BY MIKE ACKER
The Portland Trail Blazers (44-27) climbed back from a 16-point deficit before falling 114-108 to the Philadelphia 76ers (36-33) in overtime in front of 20,620 fans at the Rose Garden Monday night.
Portland lost to Philadelphia for the second time this season, making the 76ers only the third team that the Trail Blazers have failed to beat at least once in 2008-2009.
The Trail Blazers started out slowly, hitting only 11-of-28 from the field in the opening quarter. Philadelphia hit its first six shots, shooting 81.3 percent from the field in the first 12 minutes, leading 31-26 after one quarter.
Portland continued to struggle in the second quarter, falling behind 56-40 on a Lou Williams free throw with 1:19 remaining in the first half. The 76ers took a 58-44 lead into the halftime locker room, the Trail Blazer’s largest halftime deficit at home this season.
“I thought we started off slow, but I thought we would snap out of that fairly quickly,” head coach Nate McMillan said. “But it didn’t happen until the second half.”
The Trail Blazers opened up the second half with 12 straight points. Steve Blake hit a 25-foot three-pointer with 48.9 seconds left in the third quarter, closing the gap to 74-72 in favor of the visiting team. Blake connected on three deep balls in the third, helping Portland to shot 5-of-9 from downtown in the third after hitting only 1-of-14 three attempts to open the game. Blake finished with 12 points in the third quarter.
Rudy Fernandez gave Portland a spark at the beginning of the final quarter of the evening. The Spanish rookie, who has struggled to find his shot since the hard foul incident in the Los Angeles Lakers game two weeks ago, scored 11 of the Trail Blazer’s first 13 points in the fourth quarter. Fernandez made a steal that turned into Portland’s first two fast break points of the contest, giving Portland the lead 80-79 at the 9:48 mark of the fourth quarter.
Greg Oden, playing in front of the home crowd for the first time since the All-Star break, hammered home two points, giving the Trail Blazers a 98-96 edge with 30.9 seconds left in the game.
“I thought Greg was active,” McMillan said. “Blocking some shots, cleaning up the offensive glass, and just being a presence in the paint. It’s the best we’ve seen him play in a while.”
Andre Iguodala tied the game at 98-98 on two free throws with 20 seconds remaining. Brandon Roy got the final look, but his 16-footer fell short, and the Trail Blazers found themselves facing overtime for the fifth time this season and the second time in three games.
Fernandez came up big in the extra period, hitting a three-pointer with 2:13 remaining to give Portland a 103-102 lead. The Trail Blazers would not score again until a driving lay-up by Blake with 19.9 seconds left to play made the score 110-105 Philadelphia.
The Trail Blazers were outscored 16-10 in the overtime, dropping their fourth straight overtime game. Portland’s last overtime victory was the second home game of the season.
“It hurts me, I hate to lose,” Oden said. “Every loss hurts. It so close in the standings that you go down every time you lose.”
Portland now sits in the seventh position in the Western Conference, but trail second place Houston by only two and a half games.
LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 24 points while grabbing a season-high and career high tying 10 offensive rebounds, led the Trail Blazers Monday night. Aldridge leads Portland in double-doubles with 17 on the season. Blake added 22 points, Fernandez scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to finish the game with 19, Oden chipped in 13 points, and Roy rounded out the Trail Blazer’s top five with 12 points.
Portland returns to home action Thursday March 26th against the Phoenix Suns.
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NATE MCMILLAN
“Tonight, for the most part, we played the perimeter instead of going to the basket and it cost us. One of the keys of the game every night is to win the battle of the free throws. They took 39 and we took 17 which means they were aggressive in taking the ball to the basket and we weren’t.
“The referees called this game like the playoffs. That is, its been physical play for the last two games---a very physical game, lots of contact---and they let a lot of things go.
“But the story of the game really was in the first half when we couldn’t make shots and they aggressively took the ball to us. Their playing us very physical with a lot of pressure on the ball but we did get back in the game in the second half and briefly got control of it. At the end of regulation we wanted to get the last shot and put the ball in Brandon’s hands but tonight Brandon really didn’t have his rhythm.
“I thought Greg was very active and made some nice plays for us on both ends that helped us turn the game around in the third quarter. But in all its hard to win when you rely so much on threes and don’t take the ball hard to the basket. Thirty-four threes is a lot of threes. I won’t say its too many but I will say it’s a reflection that we couldn’t drive against their defense. Yet there were some openings. We just didn’t take advantage of them.
“As for the two plays at the end when we thought LaMarcus and Brandon were fouled, I did think there was contact on both plays. But the fact that there were no calls was consistent with the way the game was called.”
BRANDON ROY
I feel I struggled tonight so I’m not going to point any fingers at the refs. I didn’t play a very good game tonight. It was questionable but they didn’t call it. Its tough (about not getting to the line as much as they did). We drove and tried to be aggressive. They just didn’t give us the calls. So hopefully we’ll bounce back.”
JOEL PRZYBILLA
It was a big game for us. We expended a lot of energy. They were the ones who played last night. I don’t think it was anything about energy. It was about effort.”
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• LaMarcus Aldridge grabbed a career-high tying and season-high 10 offensive rebounds and tied a season high with five assists … All five of Aldridge’s rebounds in the first half were offensive, more than the entire 76ers team ... Aldridge now leads the team in double-doubles with 17 (Oden, 16).
• 17 of Rudy Fernandez’s 19 points came in the fourth quarter and overtime … Rudy Fernandez scored 11 of Portland’s first 13 points in the fourth quarter … His four three-pointers in the game tied a career high.
• Portland’s 20 offensive rebounds and 30 second-chance points are new season highs … Its 20 defensive rebounds were just one more than a season low … Portland took 101 shots, its second-most this year and 27 more than the 76ers.
• Portland has pulled down 10-plus offensive boards and at least as many offensive rebounds as its opponents in 10 straight games.
• The Trail Blazers’ 94.1% (16-17) free throw percentage marked its best of the season.
• The Trail Blazers have lost their last four overtime games and are 1-4 on the season.
• Philadelphia became the third and final team to sweep Portland this season (Portland has defeated every team but Cleveland, Dallas and Philadelphia) … The Trail Blazers have already swept 11 teams on the year.
• Portland’s record when playing a team in the second game of a back-to-back falls to 17-4 … Every team coming to Portland on the current four-game home stand will be playing its second game in as many days.
• Brandon Roy did not reach 20 points for the first time in 13 games, ending his career long streak at 12 games, the second-longest active streak in the NBA entering tonight’s games.
• Portland’s 14-point halftime deficit marked its largest at home this season.
• The Trail Blazers opened the second half with a 12-0 run … The 76ers did not score until the 6:35 mark of the third quarter.
• Philadelphia made its first six shots from the field and finished the first quarter 13-for-16 (81.3%).
• The Trail Blazers missed their first six three-point attempts and hit just one of their 14 tries in the first half (7.1%).
• The 76ers outscored the Trail Blazers on the fastbreak, 13-0, in the first half, 19-0 by the end of the third quarter and 21-0 before Rudy Fernandez’s breakaway dunk in the fourth quarter … 11 of Portland’s first 13 fourth-quarter points came on the fastbreak ... All of Portland’s 14 fastbreak points came in the fourth quarter.
• Reggie Evans tied a season high with 12 points (10 in the first half).
• Thaddeus Young made a career-best nine free throws (of 11).
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