tlongII
12-03-2013, 11:02 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2013/12/trail_blazers_continue_torrid_play_with_tough_vict .html#incart_flyout_sports
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2013/12/-1290b6ff084212e5.jpg
Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) celebrates the victory as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Indiana Pacers at the Moda Center.
At first, the Trail Blazers’ stunning early-season success was dismissed as just a hot start.
Then, after the wins piled up against so-so opponents, it was simply a byproduct of a soft schedule.
But now, after another impressive victory against another top-notch foe, it’s hard to find too many flaws in what is unfolding in the Northwest.
It’s time to hop aboard the bandwagon, Rip City.
In one of their most impressive and rugged performances of the season, the Blazers outlasted Paul George and out-toughed the gritty Indiana Pacers, steamrolling their way to a 106-102 victory before 19,023 Monday night at the Moda Center.
The win, which came in a playoff-like atmosphere before an energized crowd, improved the Blazers’ record to 15-3, their best after 18 games since the 1998-99 season, when they also opened 15-3.
“We’re a pretty damn good team,” Wesley Matthews said, when asked what Monday night’s win showed. “And we can beat anybody.”
And for the better part of three quarters, rough and rugged outmaneuvered fun-to-watch. The Pacers controlled the tempo and the flow early, grinding their way to a nine-point lead as Roy Hibbert and David West owned the interior and Paul George hit shot after shot after shot.
But then Mo Williams started hitting pull-up jumpers. And Thomas Robinson battled and banged down low against the Pacers’ vaunted frontline. And Joel Freeland started finishing improbable plays with dunks.
The Blazers closed the third quarter with a 12-4 run to even the score at 72-72. Then they took over in the fourth, outscoring the Pacers 26-10 during one dominant stretch between the third and fourth. Damian Lillard gave them their first lead, 75-72, when he swished a deep three-pointer early in the fourth, and it would grow to as many as eight points as the Blazers made clutch play after clutch play.
Williams hit three consecutive Blazers field goals during one stretch, Matthews nailed a clutch three in front of the Blazers’ bench and LaMarcus Aldridge, who was nails all night, swished a pretty 18-foot jumper. Suddenly, the Blazers were on fire.
But so was George.
Before the game, as he lounged on the bench waiting for the court to open so he could go through his pregame warmup regimen, Nicolas Batum marveled at the ability of last season's breakout star. Batum praised George’s poise, the way he makes scoring look so easy, so effortless.
“It’s like he’s playing pick-up,” Batum said of George's game.
He might as well have been Monday night as he finished with a career-high 43 points. George, who made 16 of 30 shots, including 7 of 15 threes, looked like he was toying with the Blazers. And on multiple occasions, he taunted them, too.
In the second quarter, as the Blazers were scrapping to stay in the game before halftime, George canned a 19-foot jumper, stifling a simmering crowd. As he walked back on defense, he put his finger to his lips, as if to say, “Shhhhh,” to the crowd. Later, after finishing an alley-oop dunk, George turned to the Pacers bench and saluted.
“One of those nights in the NBA,” Batum said, smirking, about George’s play. “When one guy (is hot) you can be on him, you can make him work, you can do whatever you want, and he’s going to make his shot. He’s one of the best players in the league right now.”
But the Blazers had the last laugh. George kept the Pacers close in an entertaining fourth quarter, scoring 17 points on a barrage of threes — five coming in the final 2:56 — and highlight-reel plays, but the Blazers never wilted.
In the end, it was a George miss that ultimately ended any hope of a Pacers comeback. After George swished a three with 21.9 seconds left, George Hill picked off the Blazers' in-bound pass, and the Pacers had the ball, trailing 103-99. Hill instantly found George in the corner, he launched an open shot and it seemed like the Moda Center would host a Reggie Miller-like ending.
But the shot bricked. Lillard gathered the rebound, made two free throws and then blocked another George three-point attempt on the other end to ice the game.
Aldridge finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, becoming just the fourth player this season to top the 24-point mark at least 10 times. Lillard scored 14 of his 26 points in a gutsy fourth quarter, Williams added 13 points off the bench and the Blazers added another impressive win to their impressive early season.
After beating up on the NBA’s also-rans, the Blazers have now earned credible wins over the Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls — with Derrick Rose — and now the Pacers. And Monday's victory against the brawny, rugged Pacers showcased a Blazers trait often overlooked:
Toughness.
"That was a 48-minute fight," Batum said.
The Blazers will face two more challenging opponents this week — including the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday — but they way they see it, they've already proven their early-season hot streak is no fluke.
“We’re right there,” Batum said, referring to the Blazers’ standing among the NBA’s elite. “This was a big win.”
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2013/12/-1290b6ff084212e5.jpg
Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) celebrates the victory as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Indiana Pacers at the Moda Center.
At first, the Trail Blazers’ stunning early-season success was dismissed as just a hot start.
Then, after the wins piled up against so-so opponents, it was simply a byproduct of a soft schedule.
But now, after another impressive victory against another top-notch foe, it’s hard to find too many flaws in what is unfolding in the Northwest.
It’s time to hop aboard the bandwagon, Rip City.
In one of their most impressive and rugged performances of the season, the Blazers outlasted Paul George and out-toughed the gritty Indiana Pacers, steamrolling their way to a 106-102 victory before 19,023 Monday night at the Moda Center.
The win, which came in a playoff-like atmosphere before an energized crowd, improved the Blazers’ record to 15-3, their best after 18 games since the 1998-99 season, when they also opened 15-3.
“We’re a pretty damn good team,” Wesley Matthews said, when asked what Monday night’s win showed. “And we can beat anybody.”
And for the better part of three quarters, rough and rugged outmaneuvered fun-to-watch. The Pacers controlled the tempo and the flow early, grinding their way to a nine-point lead as Roy Hibbert and David West owned the interior and Paul George hit shot after shot after shot.
But then Mo Williams started hitting pull-up jumpers. And Thomas Robinson battled and banged down low against the Pacers’ vaunted frontline. And Joel Freeland started finishing improbable plays with dunks.
The Blazers closed the third quarter with a 12-4 run to even the score at 72-72. Then they took over in the fourth, outscoring the Pacers 26-10 during one dominant stretch between the third and fourth. Damian Lillard gave them their first lead, 75-72, when he swished a deep three-pointer early in the fourth, and it would grow to as many as eight points as the Blazers made clutch play after clutch play.
Williams hit three consecutive Blazers field goals during one stretch, Matthews nailed a clutch three in front of the Blazers’ bench and LaMarcus Aldridge, who was nails all night, swished a pretty 18-foot jumper. Suddenly, the Blazers were on fire.
But so was George.
Before the game, as he lounged on the bench waiting for the court to open so he could go through his pregame warmup regimen, Nicolas Batum marveled at the ability of last season's breakout star. Batum praised George’s poise, the way he makes scoring look so easy, so effortless.
“It’s like he’s playing pick-up,” Batum said of George's game.
He might as well have been Monday night as he finished with a career-high 43 points. George, who made 16 of 30 shots, including 7 of 15 threes, looked like he was toying with the Blazers. And on multiple occasions, he taunted them, too.
In the second quarter, as the Blazers were scrapping to stay in the game before halftime, George canned a 19-foot jumper, stifling a simmering crowd. As he walked back on defense, he put his finger to his lips, as if to say, “Shhhhh,” to the crowd. Later, after finishing an alley-oop dunk, George turned to the Pacers bench and saluted.
“One of those nights in the NBA,” Batum said, smirking, about George’s play. “When one guy (is hot) you can be on him, you can make him work, you can do whatever you want, and he’s going to make his shot. He’s one of the best players in the league right now.”
But the Blazers had the last laugh. George kept the Pacers close in an entertaining fourth quarter, scoring 17 points on a barrage of threes — five coming in the final 2:56 — and highlight-reel plays, but the Blazers never wilted.
In the end, it was a George miss that ultimately ended any hope of a Pacers comeback. After George swished a three with 21.9 seconds left, George Hill picked off the Blazers' in-bound pass, and the Pacers had the ball, trailing 103-99. Hill instantly found George in the corner, he launched an open shot and it seemed like the Moda Center would host a Reggie Miller-like ending.
But the shot bricked. Lillard gathered the rebound, made two free throws and then blocked another George three-point attempt on the other end to ice the game.
Aldridge finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, becoming just the fourth player this season to top the 24-point mark at least 10 times. Lillard scored 14 of his 26 points in a gutsy fourth quarter, Williams added 13 points off the bench and the Blazers added another impressive win to their impressive early season.
After beating up on the NBA’s also-rans, the Blazers have now earned credible wins over the Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls — with Derrick Rose — and now the Pacers. And Monday's victory against the brawny, rugged Pacers showcased a Blazers trait often overlooked:
Toughness.
"That was a 48-minute fight," Batum said.
The Blazers will face two more challenging opponents this week — including the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday — but they way they see it, they've already proven their early-season hot streak is no fluke.
“We’re right there,” Batum said, referring to the Blazers’ standing among the NBA’s elite. “This was a big win.”