“Coach wanted us to get one (a blowout),” LaMarcus Aldridge said. “You know, every win for us has been heroic shots, or grind-it-out. … He said we need to get a real good win.”
Well, that “real good win” came to fruition in the form of a 116-74 victory over a Bulls team that at times looked like an expansion team.
The 42-point win was the largest victory in the McMillan era, and the third-biggest in Rose Garden history. The Rose Garden record for largest victory — a 45-point whipping of Dallas in 1997 — was threatened when the Blazers led by 47 at 115-68 with 1:24 left, but the Bulls (5-7) closed on a 6-1 run.
Oden finished the match with 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 17 minutes, continuing his promising form. It has already become apparent that a healthy Oden on court means a double-double with a·couple of·blocks, at minimum. Most of the naysayers and Sam Bowie comparisons have quietened for now.
By the time Oden, sidelined all of last season by a knee injury, entered the game with 4:28 left in the first quarter, the show was already on in the Trail Blazers’ 116-74 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
When Oden entered to a standing ovation, the Blazers had a 23-7 lead. Oden didn’t wait long to contribute, dunking 21 seconds after coming off the bench.
“It was good for me to finally be home,” Oden said. “Just to be home and finally have my people see me play was great.”
Brandon Roy scored 20 points to help Portland improve to 6-2 in its last eight and 7-5 overall. Chicago has lost four of its last six to fall to 5-7.
A 42-point loss, Derrick Rose’s first real stinker-of-a-game as a pro and, well, just watching the darn game was enough to make any Bulls fan cry.
If LaMarcus Aldridge had exploded for a monster game it would’ve been too much. He graciously played a relatively quiet game, but that was probably thanks to the widely spread minutes the Blazers lavished on all 12 of its active players.
Aaron Gray started at center, but what a horrible night for that happy event. He played 20 minutes and pulled down six rebounds to go along with two points.
Rose finally looked like a human rookie. In a game featuring five rookies, Rose was probably the fourth most impressive out there last night.
Dave at Blazersedge was contrite:
Yeah, well, we’re not going to go into any great depth about this one. It wouldn’t be polite. We’ve seen plenty of 42-point halves for the Blazers in the last few years, but 42-point wins? Odds bodkins! When your fans are getting chalupas and the other team hasn’t hit 60 yet, you know things are going right.
I know everybody will want to focus on the dunk-fest, but concentrate on the defense first in this one. We came out harrying the
Blogabull has called us out as fools (“April Fools Day!!” or “Opposites Day!!”), saying that this game didn’t count:
Didn’t count. You see…Vinny started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes.
Aaron Gray. And Larry Hughes. Hughes at SF! Gray at a basketball position! In a regular season NBA game!
So, yeah…think of that as preseason. Didn’t count.
I came home with about an hour of saved game to catch up on. I saw that Larry Hughes and Aaron Gray were starting, thought: “what the hell”. Then the Blazers clowned a team starting Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Expected. The Bulls couldn’t quite match up, because they had Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes in their lineup.
After seven and a half minutes, the first substitution. Noah for Gray. The Bulls are down 23-7. Why it took that long to realize that it wasn’t working….well I guess if you don’t go into the game realizing it won’t work in the first place, the chance that a few minutes will change one’s mind is remote, no matter how bad it looked.
Kellex at Blaze of Love had this to say:
Yahoo boxscore is here. No major surprises there, but worth noting that the efficiency of Joel Przybilla at centre continues to outstrip Oden’s. This is to be expected and I think that this will continue for a good 30+ games until the rookie gets his fitness and experience up. It’s clear watching him play that he is not in the same synch as the other players on the Blazers. Very clear. However the potential is so tantalising.
Game highlights courtesy of the tube of you:
