the portland trailblazers
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Los Angeles Clippers’ fans may have been excited to see the debut of their long awaited forward Blake Griffin, but the party was bitter sweet.
Portland withstood seven lead changes and an explosive debut by Griffin to win its second consecutive game in the regular season, 98-88, over the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center Wednesday night.
Brandon Roy, who led Portland in scoring for the second night in a row, tied the Clippers’ Eric Gordon in all scoring with 22 points.
Three Trail Blazers finished the night with double-doubles. Roy added 10 rebounds, LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Marcus Camby had 11 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.
Portland’s starting lineup, which consisted of Andre Miller, Roy, Nicolas Batum, Aldridge and Camby, ended with double-digit scoring. Miller posted 14 points and a high of seven assists while Batum added 15 points.
Roy heated up at the end f the first half, scoring 11 points and hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Portland to a 54-49 lead at halftime.
Griffin made a big impact for the Clippers, totaling a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds in his debut.
“Overall, I was pretty relaxed,” said Griffin. “I was really excited but for the most part but when I got out there, I felt relaxed.”
It was an impressive showing from Griffin, who proved that he could throw down devastating dunks, hustle for rebounds, run the floor and dish the ball like a point guard.
Portland held the advantage on the offensive glass, 21-14, giving the Trail Blazers second-chance opportunities despite Portland shooting just 40 percent from the field.
In the third quarter, Gordon erased Portland’s nine-point lead after scoring 14 points to put the Clippers ahead 71-70 in the final quarter. The Clippers outhustled Portland on fastbreak points 16-6.
“I thought toward the end of the third quarter we started to look like we had heavy legs, “ said Portland head coach Nate McMillan. “We weren’t getting any stops defensively.”
Portland responded with a tight zone defense, which forced 15 Clipper turnovers in the game. The Trail Blazer made another late 13-0 rally to pick up a crucial road win.
Gordon finished with 22 points. Rasual Butler added 12 points.
The Portland Trail Blazers (2-0) will travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks (1-0) on Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 4:30 PM.
Good Fucking win Oberto was a good pickup for us lets keep it up.
Portland withstood seven lead changes and an explosive debut by Griffin to win its second consecutive game in the regular season, 98-88, over the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center Wednesday night.
Brandon Roy, who led Portland in scoring for the second night in a row, tied the Clippers’ Eric Gordon in all scoring with 22 points.
Three Trail Blazers finished the night with double-doubles. Roy added 10 rebounds, LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Marcus Camby had 11 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.
Portland’s starting lineup, which consisted of Andre Miller, Roy, Nicolas Batum, Aldridge and Camby, ended with double-digit scoring. Miller posted 14 points and a high of seven assists while Batum added 15 points.
Roy heated up at the end f the first half, scoring 11 points and hitting a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Portland to a 54-49 lead at halftime.
Griffin made a big impact for the Clippers, totaling a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds in his debut.
“Overall, I was pretty relaxed,” said Griffin. “I was really excited but for the most part but when I got out there, I felt relaxed.”
It was an impressive showing from Griffin, who proved that he could throw down devastating dunks, hustle for rebounds, run the floor and dish the ball like a point guard.
Portland held the advantage on the offensive glass, 21-14, giving the Trail Blazers second-chance opportunities despite Portland shooting just 40 percent from the field.
In the third quarter, Gordon erased Portland’s nine-point lead after scoring 14 points to put the Clippers ahead 71-70 in the final quarter. The Clippers outhustled Portland on fastbreak points 16-6.
“I thought toward the end of the third quarter we started to look like we had heavy legs, “ said Portland head coach Nate McMillan. “We weren’t getting any stops defensively.”
Portland responded with a tight zone defense, which forced 15 Clipper turnovers in the game. The Trail Blazer made another late 13-0 rally to pick up a crucial road win.
Gordon finished with 22 points. Rasual Butler added 12 points.
The Portland Trail Blazers (2-0) will travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks (1-0) on Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 4:30 PM.
Good Fucking win Oberto was a good pickup for us lets keep it up.
Camby is beasting for being 37 or however old he is. He is always beastin on the boards back tapping rebounds out to center court for our guards to get. I love how he crashes the boards. He is/was a GREAT addition. Just dont know what we're going to do when greg and Joel get healthy. whats ya'll thoughts?
A little too early to make a final decision yet. Right now I think we should stick with what we are doing, when those guys come back we can bring them in slowly and rotate them in on certain situations, Prizybilla supposed to come back Nov, Oden doesn't have a set date to come back due to the severity of injury. These guys don't have big egos so it shouldn't be an issue.
Im officially on the fire Nate bandwagon after watching his bullshit zone leave Deng unguarded on EVERY god damn possession leading to his new career high. Not to mention he has no idea what offense is. Iso, iso, iso, high pick n roll iso, stand around dribble and force a contested shot at the end of the shot clock - Nate McMillan's entire offense.
WOW...fire the trainining staff too while were at it...
the curse continues...
http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/ArticleDisplay/tabid/120/itemid/2024/Default.aspx
Elliot Williams donr for the season with, you guessed it, a season ending knee injury
the curse continues...
http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/ArticleDisplay/tabid/120/itemid/2024/Default.aspx
Elliot Williams donr for the season with, you guessed it, a season ending knee injury
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers center Fabricio Oberto abruptly retired Thursday because of a previously diagnosed cardiac condition that caused heart palpitations.
Oberto, in his sixth year in the NBA, was signed as a free agent by the Blazers one day before the start of the season to help the frontcourt while centers Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden heal from knee surgeries.
Oberto experienced dizziness in Portland's game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
"I made this decision to put my health and my family in front of basketball," Oberto said in a statement. "It was a tough decision to make after playing for so many years, but it was the right one."
Oberto, a native of Argentina who played on the team that won the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, played in each of the first five games for the Blazers, averaging 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.0 minutes.
Blazers coach Nate McMillan said he understood the decision.
"It wasn't worth the risk of something serious happening," he said.
Oberto played for four seasons with San Antonio, starting at center for the Spurs' NBA championship team in 2007. He spent last season with the Washington Wizards.
He has averaged 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 14.5 minutes over 336 career games, including 128 starts.
He was used off the bench to help Marcus Camby, who has served as Portland's starting center in the absence of Oden and Przybilla, who were both injured last season and required surgery.
Przybilla has already started contact practice and is expected to be back by Thanksgiving. There is no timetable for Oden's return.
McMillan said Przybilla's return would not be pushed up in light of Oberto's retirement.
"We just have to be patient, we really do, and not put him at risk," McMillan said.
The Blazers will look outside for help at center, he said.
The Blazers had planned this season to back up Camby with second-year forward Jeff Pendergraph. But Pendergraph was injured in the preseason and required season-ending surgery. The Blazers waived him.
Portland also announced Thursday that rookie guard Elliot Williams would have surgery to repair a dislocated right patella. He will likely miss the rest of the season.
The team knew Williams would eventually need surgery, but he wanted to play on it while he could, McMillan said. Williams was sore after practice on Wednesday.
Portland selected Williams with the 22nd overall pick of the draft this June. He averaged 17.9 points, four rebounds and 3.8 assists as a sophomore at Memphis last season.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
Oberto, in his sixth year in the NBA, was signed as a free agent by the Blazers one day before the start of the season to help the frontcourt while centers Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden heal from knee surgeries.
Oberto experienced dizziness in Portland's game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
"I made this decision to put my health and my family in front of basketball," Oberto said in a statement. "It was a tough decision to make after playing for so many years, but it was the right one."
Oberto, a native of Argentina who played on the team that won the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics, played in each of the first five games for the Blazers, averaging 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 9.0 minutes.
Blazers coach Nate McMillan said he understood the decision.
"It wasn't worth the risk of something serious happening," he said.
Oberto played for four seasons with San Antonio, starting at center for the Spurs' NBA championship team in 2007. He spent last season with the Washington Wizards.
He has averaged 3.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 14.5 minutes over 336 career games, including 128 starts.
He was used off the bench to help Marcus Camby, who has served as Portland's starting center in the absence of Oden and Przybilla, who were both injured last season and required surgery.
Przybilla has already started contact practice and is expected to be back by Thanksgiving. There is no timetable for Oden's return.
McMillan said Przybilla's return would not be pushed up in light of Oberto's retirement.
"We just have to be patient, we really do, and not put him at risk," McMillan said.
The Blazers will look outside for help at center, he said.
The Blazers had planned this season to back up Camby with second-year forward Jeff Pendergraph. But Pendergraph was injured in the preseason and required season-ending surgery. The Blazers waived him.
Portland also announced Thursday that rookie guard Elliot Williams would have surgery to repair a dislocated right patella. He will likely miss the rest of the season.
The team knew Williams would eventually need surgery, but he wanted to play on it while he could, McMillan said. Williams was sore after practice on Wednesday.
Portland selected Williams with the 22nd overall pick of the draft this June. He averaged 17.9 points, four rebounds and 3.8 assists as a sophomore at Memphis last season.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
