Blazers dump starless Spurs in 137-97 home rout
If Portland continues to play their bipolar game plan of being blown out on the road the first night, then coming back the next night to blow out a visiting team, my heart will go out once the season is over. Branding the 2011-2012 season as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is literally an understatement when the Trail Blazers (18-16) scored just seven points in the first quarter on the road to the Lakers, welcomed the San Antonio Spurs (23-10) who were in the middle of riding the league’s longest winning streak at 11 games. It was panned to be an interesting match against Hall of Famer Tim Duncan-LaMarcus Aldridge and recently named All-Star point guard Tony Parker, but just before the game Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich announced that he (smartly) was planning on resting his starters. This lead to an all out bloodbath as Aldridge, Jamal Crawford and Gerald Wallace pounded the Spurs all night long to win 137-97 in Portland’s last game before the All-Star break.
Portland against the Lakers managed to score just 30 points in the entire first half and came home to score not only 41 points in the first quarter, but 66 in at halftime. The Spurs were hanging around early in the opening minutes but the Blazers pulled away and quick, coach Nate McMillan changed the starting lineup again by sending Raymond Felton to the bench and Jamal Crawford at starting point, and much to the approval of the fans, it actually seemed to work quite well. Everyone was scoring, everyone was hitting threes and getting steals, it was actually nice to have Felton come off the bench to lead and when he did, he hit two threes in a row and so did Crawford. The Blazers led 41-23 after one and from there it was no going back.
Portland hit the 100 mark halfway through the third period and it was time for the rookies to flex their muscles:
LaMarcus Aldridge ended the first half of this season with a team high 21 Pts, 7 Reb, 3 Ast, 2 Stl, Jamal Crawford followed with 20 Pts, 4 Reb, 8 Ast and 5-7 from three. Nicolas Batum had 19 Pts, 6 Reb and 3-5 from three, Gerald Wallace also had 19 Pts, 10 Reb, 6 Ast, 3 Blk and 1-2 from three. Elliot Williams led the bench with 17 Pts and two monster slam dunks, Raymond Felton with 16 Pts, 4 Ast and 4-8 from three, Wesley Matthews had 11 Pts, 4 Reb, 4 Ast and 1-4 from three.
- Blazers shoot 59% from the floor to Spurs 38%
- Blazers shoot 54% from downtown 15-28.
- Blazers 31 assists, Spurs 13.
- Blazers scored 52 points in the paint.
- Blazers 47-33 on the boards.
Thanks to Blazersedge for the statistics. Have a good break everybody and enjoy LA at the All-Star Game!
photo courtesy of oregonlive.com/blazers
Nicholas Filipas