Trail Blazers-Warriors Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Feb 15 2012 2:15AM

The Portland Trail Blazers were already struggling. Without LaMarcus Aldridge, things are likely to get a lot tougher.

Aldridge will be sidelined Wednesday night when the Trail Blazers attempt to avoid another loss to the surging Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena.

Portland (15-14) has lost four of five after falling 124-109 at home to Washington on Tuesday, but suffered perhaps an even greater blow when Aldridge suffered a sprained left ankle early in the game.

"I think when he went down the life went out of us," center Marcus Camby said. "It's sad but true."

X-rays on the ankle were negative, but Aldridge won't be with the team in Oakland. That leaves the Blazers without their leading scorer (22.6 points per game) and rebounder (8.3). His status beyond Wednesday remains unclear, meaning Aldridge's first All-Star game appearance later this month could be in jeopardy.

"I'm going to get back as soon as I can!"' Aldridge wrote on his Twitter account after the game.

With Aldridge out, Portland - 4-10 on the road - could use another strong performance from Nicolas Batum, who earned a rare start at guard Tuesday and tied his career high with 33 points - more than 20 above his average of 12.9.

The Blazers could also use increased production from second-leading scorer Jamal Crawford, who averages 14.3 points but scored a season-low three in the loss to the Wizards.

Crawford and Batum combined for 32 points in a 101-93 loss at Golden State (11-14) on Jan. 25, the Blazers' fourth consecutive loss to the Warriors overall and 12th in their last 13 visits to Oracle Arena.

Portland has also dropped five of its last six road games overall.

The Warriors have won a season-high three straight games and are trying to win four in a row for the first time since Jan. 14-21, 2011.

Golden State has also won five of seven at home after losing six of its first nine games there. The recent success at Oracle Arena continued Monday with a 102-96 victory over Phoenix.

"The significance is that we need to get back in this race, and all we can do is win games," said forward David Lee, who had 28 points and 12 rebounds against the Suns.

"We need to protect our home court better than we did at the start of the year. We've had some games that we've played that could've gone either way, teams that are around us in the standings like Houston, like Phoenix, we've got another one with Portland coming up that are really going to separate whether we can be in this thing or whether we're going to fade."

Lee shot 12 of 21 and finished with 26 points against Portland last month.

Monta Ellis leads Golden State with 22.5 points per game on the season, but was held to four on 2-of-9 shooting in the Jan. 25 win. He'd averaged 32.3 points the previous four times he faced the Blazers.

Crawford's clutch shots lift Blazers over Warriors

Posted Feb 16 2012 1:54AM

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Jamal Crawford stepped to the foul line with 44 seconds left in a tie game and needed some extra time to shake off the pain in his right wrist following a hard fall.

He spent those few seconds listening to former teammate Nate Robinson, who was trying to distract Crawford with trash talk, before calmly knocking down both shots to give Portland a two-point lead.

Gerald Wallace scored 24 points and Crawford hit a key 3-pointer just before his clutch free throws to lift the Trail Blazers over the Golden State Warriors 93-91 Wednesday night.

"He's like a little brother to me," Crawford said, referring to Robinson. "We went to high school together and were teammates for three years in the NBA. I'm still the big brother. Heck, he had a pretty good game, too."

Nicolas Batum added 17 points for the Trail Blazers, who had lost 11 of their last 12 in Oakland. Marcus Camby added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

"The thing we've been missing in a lot of games is finishing down the stretch," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought we did that tonight. Gerald hit a big basket, Jamal hit a big shot and Marcus made a key stop. That's what we need to win these close games."

David Lee matched his season high with 29 points to lead the Warriors, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Lee also grabbed 11 rebounds.

"There were times we had an opportunity to close them out," Golden State coach Mark Jackson said. "They made a couple of dagger 3s with the clock dwindling down and that really hurt. So, a tough loss, but we move forward."

Crawford, who finished with 14 points, hit a long 3 to put Portland ahead 91-90 with 1:03 left. Robinson made one of two from the foul line to tie it with 51 seconds remaining before Crawford sank his free throws for the final points of the game.

"A win like this can catapult us," Crawford said. "Those guys play good at home and we haven't won here much. We were the aggressors and usually the aggressors win."

Robinson had the ball with 6 seconds remaining but lost control of it driving to the basket and kicked it out to Brandon Rush, whose 3-point attempt missed.

"Nate was getting whatever he wanted to do on the floor," Jackson said. "It was a high pick-and-roll, and when he came off he had options around the court in shooters. We did get what we wanted."

Portland All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge missed the game with a left ankle injury sustained early in Tuesday night's game against Washington.

"To see a guy like LaMarcus go down like that shakes you up," Crawford said. "We had to regroup after last night and focus on this game. It was a huge win for us."

Robinson finished with 21 points for the Warriors. Dorell Wright had 12, but Monta Ellis was limited to 10 and did not play in the fourth quarter because of an illness.

Wallace scored 10 points in the second to help rally the Trail Blazers to a 57-54 halftime advantage.

Portland took a 72-70 lead into the fourth quarter as the Warriors missed their last six shots of the third and their first four of the final period before Klay Thompson hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 8:52 remaining, tying the game at 74.

Thompson's shot sparked a 16-6 run that gave the Warriors an 88-82 edge with 3:04 left. The Trail Blazers tied it at 88 with just under 2 minutes to play on Wallace's 3-pointer.

The Warriors scored the game's first seven points and shot nearly 58 percent to take a 27-20 lead after the opening quarter.

Notes: Of the seven games Aldridge has missed over the past three years, four have been against the Warriors. ... Robinson averages 15 points a game against the Trail Blazers, his second-best against any team. ... Jackson all but challenged the players selected for the NBA 3-point shooting contest to go up against Brandon Rush and Klay Thompson. "We can put something at stake and I'll take my guys," Jackson said. ... Warriors broadcaster Jim Barnett was an original Trail Blazer. ... Lee recorded his fifth consecutive double-double at home. ... The Trail Blazers scored a season-high 37 points in the second quarter. ... The Warriors fell to 1-5 in games decided by three points or less.

Notebook: Trail Blazers 93, Warriors 91

Posted Thursday February 16, 2012 2:05AM

By Geoff Lepper, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Gerald Wallace scored 24 points and Jamal Crawford had five in the final 63 seconds as the Portland Trail Blazers survived the absence of All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge to beat the Golden State Warriors, 93-91, on Wednesday. Wallace had 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Blazers beat the Warriors for just the second time in their last 14 trips to Oakland. Crawford finished with 14 points and six assists for Portland, which won despite shooting just 40.5 percent from the floor. Golden State's David Lee tied his season-high with 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, recording his fourth double-double in his last five games.

QUOTABLE: "It was a huge win for us. I think yesterday, we were taken aback with what happened to LaMarcus. Whenever you see your go-to guy go down like that, I think it shakes you up a little bit. We knew we had to band together, and there's no telling when he's coming back, so all we have is each other. We have to lean on each other to come up with victories."
-- Crawford.

THE STAT: Golden State came into the game as the NBA's best 3-point shooting team, converting 39.6 percent of their attempts from behind the arc. But Portland harried the Warriors into going 1-for-6 on treys in the fourth quarter -- and that doesn't include a final-possession miss from Brandon Rush that didn't count because it came just after the buzzer.

TURNING POINT: Crawford punished his former team in the closing seconds, first draining a 3-pointer over 5-foor-9 Nate Robinson -- who was forced to take Crawford on a switch -- to give Portland a 91-90 lead with 1:03 remaining, then slicing into the lane and drawing a foul on Dominic McGuire at the 43.7-second mark. Crawford hit both free throws for the final points of the game.

HOT: Wallace took over Aldridge's spot in the starting lineup as coach Nate McMillan went small at the outset. But Wallace came up huge as a stretch 4, stepping outside and knocking down all four of his 3-point attempts, setting a new season-high in the process. The last of those 3s forced an 88-all tie with 1:56 left as the Warriors were desperately trying to finish off the game.

QUOTABLE II: "I saw a couple of plays tonight where (I thought) that we're not losing this game, and also from a few guys where they were not going to lose this game tonight."
-- McMillan.

NOT: Monta Ellis, the Warriors' leading scorer, went 3-for-9 and didn't play in the final 13:02 due to what a team spokesman described as flu-like symptoms.

BAD MOVE: Robinson had 21 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, in Ellis' absence. But with six seconds left, two-thirds of the court to cover and down two points, Warriors coach Mark Jackson put the ball in the hands of Robinson -- a guy who had four turnovers and no assists on the evening -- instead of nominal point guard Stephen Curry, who had eight assists against just two turnovers. Robinson took the final inbounds pass and, rubbing off a screen from Lee, lost control of his dribble momentarily. The bobble cost the Warriors any chance of getting off a buzzer-beating shot that could have tied or won the game.

NOTABLE: The Blazers are now just 2-5 in games Aldridge has missed since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. . . . Neither team recorded a fast-break point in the second half. . . . Portland, which had been outrebounded by an average of 11.4 per game over the previous five contests, won that battle 41-39. The Blazers finished with 18 second-chance points to the Warriors' six.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Friday @ Oklahoma City, Saturday @ Memphis, Monday vs. Clippers. For the Trail Blazers, Thursday vs. Clippers, Saturday vs. Atlanta, Monday @ Lakers.

• Trail Blazers: Aldridge, Oden
• Warriors: Brown

• Trail Blazers: --
• Warriors: --

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 9

• Arena: ORACLE Arena, Oakland, CA
• Officials: #27 Dick Bavetta, #36 David Jones, #66 Haywoode Workman
• Attendance: 17934
• Duration: 2:24