It was one of those games where not much went right for either team early on in the match. Brandon Roy’s face in the picture above about summed it up. However the Blazers pushed away in a decisive fourth quarter run to demolish and embarass the Washington Wizards 100-87, to the cheers of home fans who will be enjoying chalupas.
Roy’s performance was pure class as always. Clyde Drexler’s 26 point, 9 rebound, 11 assist, 10 steal outting at Milwaukee back in 1986 has always been the gold standard for Portland Trail Blazer statistical lines, but Roy certainly pushed into that territory tonight. B-Roy finished with 22 points, 7 assists, 10 steals and 5 rebounds. One of his steals was only awarded after a review of tape after the final buzzer. The steals mark tied Clyde the Glide’s all-time Blazer record.
Recovery from hand and hamstring injuries has clearly stifled Roy’s play of late, reducing his overall effectiveness and putting his shooting off-balance. He shot 7/18 from the field. The entire team shot .438 on the night, whilst the Wizards managed to improve their field goal percentage to .478 by the end of the game, despite an awful 31 point first half.
The Blazers won the game on hustle with only 10 turnovers to the visitors’ 26, whilst also winning on rebounds (40-38) and blocks (6-4) in what was a lacklustre game for the most part.
Greg Oden again imposed his dominance, particularly on the offensive boards (nine). He finished the game with 18 points, 14 rebounds and two steals, doing most of his damage cleaning up the boards in the messy first half. The big fella was also the recipient of a handful of nice passes from teammates for powerful dunks.
Sergio Rodriguez was again promising as the starting point guard in Steve Blake’s absence. The Spaniard contributed 12 points and eight assists in 33 minutes and appeared in control for the most part, the Blazers being +20 in his time on court. There was a marked difference in the style of play when Jerryd Bayless spelled him for his 15 minutes of action. Rodriguez clearly gives the Blazers a pass-first mentality at the point.
Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison tried their hardest to hold together a team of bit players, many of whom are one step away from the D-League. Butler put up 31 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, but also committed nine turnovers (helping Roy to his handy stat line). Jamison contributed 19 points and only four rebounds as the team clearly lacked direction with Mike James at the point not being the answer.
LaMarcus Aldridge had one of his solid games in what has been a season of ups and downs. He scored 18 points on 6/12 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds. He was particularly effective in stifling Jamison for the most part.
Travis Outlaw was the only strong contributor off the bench. He had three steals and two blocks and a couple of late game dunks to secure tasty treats for the crowd as the Blazers hit 100 points. Rudy Fernandez, Bayless and Joel Przybilla combined to shoot 2/14 from the field, with Fernandez’s baskets only coming late in the game once it all was decided.
