 |
|
|
03.01.09 TRAIL BLAZERS VS. SPURS
|
BY MIKE ACKER
The Portland Trail Blazers (37-22) jumped out to an early lead, and cruised to a 102-84 victory over the San Antonio Spurs (39-19) in front of 20,627 at the Rose Garden Sunday evening.
The victory was Portland’s second against San Antonio of the 2008-09 campaign, and their ninth-straight home win.
The Trail Blazers played a three-man game in the opening period on Sunday. Brandon Roy opened the game with three straight field goals, finishing the first period with 12 points. LaMarcus Aldridge, who was held to 13 points in Portland’s loss at San Antonio on February 25th, hit five of his first six field goal attempts to finish the opening quarter with 11 points. Steve Blake added eight points in the first 12 minutes, helping Portland to a 33-21 lead after one quarter.
Portland continued to apply pressure, and that coupled with a San Antonio dry spell effectively put the game away.
The Trail Blazers scored the first 13 points of the second quarter. University of Oregon graduate Malik Hairston scored on a put back with 6:38 remaining in the opening period, giving the Spurs their first field goal of the quarter. Portland had built a 46-22 lead at that point. The Trail Blazer’s biggest lead of the first half came on a made Aldridge free throw. Aldridge finished with 10 points in the second quarter, and 21 points in the opening half to help Portland to a 64-37 lead at intermission.
“I remember them guarding me a certain way in San Antonio, and I was unable to make the shots, tonight I was ready to make that shot,” Roy said. “LaMarcus did a good job of bringing it tonight, and the rest of the guys followed. It was a big, big first half for us.”
Nicolas Batum hit two free throws with 3:54 left to play in the third quarter, giving Portland their largest lead of contest at 78-49. Although the Trail Blazers were outscored 21-16 in the third period, the home team entered the final quarter of the night with an 80-58 advantage.
Portland was able to hold off San Antonio down the stretch. Hairston put down a fast break dunk on the final offensive possession of the night, getting the Spurs within 20 points for the first time since the Trail Blazers established a 42-21 lead on a Channing Frye lay-up with 9:46 remaining in the second quarter.
“We did all the things we needed to do,” head coach Nate McMillan said. “We made it a physical game defensively, and did a better job controlling the paint. Offensively we got good ball movement. You don’t expect to blow out a good team like that, but we played good basketball.”
Roy and Aldridge led the way notching 26 points apiece, combining for 50-plus points for the ninth time this season. Blake finished with 15 points, and Frye contributed 12 points off the bench, shooting 5-of-6 from the field. Rudy Fernandez added six points on 2-of-6 from beyond the three-point line. Fernandez has at least one three-point field goal in all 30 home games, and has connected from deep in 56 of 58 games.
The Trail Blazers are back in action at the Rose Garden against former Trail Blazer Jarrett Jack and the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, March 4th.
Video Highlight and Interviews
|
NATE MCMILLAN
“We played good basketball. It was great. I wanted them to play a physical game, to have good ball movement and especially to control the paint on defense. In the game last week at San Antonio we didn’t do a good job of protecting the paint and thus let Tony Parker maneuver at will. Tonight I thought we closed that up. At the same time on offense I thought we attacked the paint aggressively and we had much better ball movement than was the case against them earlier this week.
“What we were doing tonight is picking up their players inside the three-point line and closing fast on shooters even when they spread the floor. I thought Joel did a great job on Tim Duncan, making him shoot over us and keeping him off the block. Even though he made some tough shots, we did a good job containing him there.
“Of course you expect they were going to make the run. We just kept that from happening. We had to be a physical team to counter that. I thought we came tonight with an attitude. What we need to do now is bring that attitude and that aggressive style defensively for every game.
“A lot of people contributed tonight but it was certainly good to see Channing Frye knock down some shots. When does that and also plays aggressively on the boards and on defense it helps us a lot against opponents who have size.
“I’m not encouraged that we’re going to get Greg Oden back real soon. In workouts recently that he couldn’t run at full speed. So we’ll see. Certainly his injury hasn’t healed as fast as we hoped it would.”
JOEL PRZYBILLA
“We were ready. We came out ready to play. We were disappointed with our play in San Antonio. We knew they had Duncan back in the lineup and they were going to play hard. I could tell we were going to bring it tonight. The guys were focused in the lockerroom. We didn’t give them an edge right from the start. They’re the type of team that usually does that to their opponents. For us to do that to them was huge.”
BRANDON ROY
“This was a big game for us. I remember them guarding me a certain way in San Antonio and when I turned I was unable to make the shots. Tonight I was able to do it. LaMarcus did a good job of bringing it tonight. There rest of the guys followed. It was a big first half for us. I didn’t make any big adjustments. I just concentrated more on my shots. I knew they were going to guard me the same way (as they did in San Antonio) because it worked there. I was upset at myself. I knew they were shots I could make and I didn’t do it. I said tonight it was going to be different. Right away I wanted to make them have to adjust.”
|
|
|
• The last season Portland swept San Antonio at home was 1996-97. The 18-point win marks Portland’s largest against San Antonio since Nov. 9, 2002 (95-76), the last time Portland won in San Antonio … Tonight was the Trail Blazers’ biggest win over the Spurs in Portland since Dec. 29, 1996 (110-86) ... Portland’s 102 points vs. San Antonio were the most in the series for the Trail Blazers since scoring 107 (107-99) on Jan. 24, 2005.
• Portland is a season-high tying 15 games over .500 for the second time this year and first season since 2002-03.
• The Trail Blazers’ 24-5 home record is second-best in the Western Conference (L.A. Lakers) and Portland’s best home start since equaling that mark in 1999-2000 ... Portland has won a season-best nine straight at home.
• Portland is now 30-6 when shooting 45.0% from the field or better, including 21-2 at home.
• The Trail Blazers are 26-3 when scoring 100-plus points and 33-8 when allowing fewer than 100 points.
• LaMarcus Aldridge scored 21 points in the first half (8-9 FG), notching his 27th 20-point game of the season.
• Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge combined for 50-plus points for the ninth time this season … They outscored the entire San Antonio team, 38-37, in the first half … Roy and Aldridge scored Portland’s first 17 points (8-10 FG) and combined for 23 in the first quarter (10-13 FG) ... Roy scored Portland’s first six points in the first half and its first six in the second half.
• The Trail Blazers have had fewer or the same number of turnovers as their opponents in six straight games.
• The Trail Blazers had 16 points off nine Spurs turnovers in the first half while allowing only two points on its own four turnovers.
• Portland has led and scored 50-plus points in the first half in eight straight home games … Portland has not lost (19-0) when leading at halftime at the Rose Garden.
• Portland’s 27-point halftime advantage marked its biggest of the season … It was the third time this season Portland led by 25 points or more at halftime at the Rose Garden ... Portland’s 64 points were one shy of a season high for the first half.
• Portland scored the first 13 points of the second quarter … San Antonio did not score until Tim Duncan’s free throw with 7:20 remaining … The Spurs first field goal of the second quarter came on Malik Hairston’s put back with 6:38 left in the period.
• The Trail Blazers have led at the end of the first quarter in eight of the last nine home games and now are 22-4 this when doing so, including 17-1 at the Rose Garden.
• Rudy Fernandez has made a three-pointer in all 30 home games this season and 56 of his 58 games overall.
• Joel Przybilla has grabbed eight-plus rebounds in every game since the All-Star break, including four of his 19 games with double figures in rebounds … He has led Portland in rebounds a team-high 27 times.
• The Trail Blazers have more wins (3-4) against Dallas, Houston and San Antonio (teams from Texas) than they earned all of last season (2-9).
• Nicolas Batum tied a career best with three steals.
• Tony Parker is averaging a series-best 26.0 points in three games vs. Portland this season.
• Malik Hairston tied a career high with five rebounds and set new career bests with three assists and three steals.
• Tm Duncan grabbed a season-high three steals.
|
|
|
