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Trail Blazers Defeat Lakers At Rose Garden -- Again

04/11/09

  1. Written by: trailblazers  / avg. rating: 5.0

    BY MIKE ACKER

    The Portland Trail Blazers (51-28) got big games from Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, and overcame 32 points from Kobe Bryant, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers (63-17) 106-98 in front of 20,681 at the Rose Garden on Friday night.

    Portland defeated Los Angeles at home for the second time of the 2008-2009 season, and for the eighth straight time at the Rose Garden, evening the season series at two games apiece.

    Roy got going early, hitting a 24-foot three-pointer with 5:01 to play in the opening quarter putting the Trail Blazers ahead 15-13. Roy finished the first quarter Friday night with seven points. Rudy Fernandez also provided an early offensive spark, missing only one of his first three shots, finishing the first period with six points. Los Angeles closed the first quarter with a 6-to-2 scoring run, but Portland still managed a 24-23 lead after 12 minutes.

    Roy continued to generate offense in the second quarter, finishing a drive with a dunk to put the Trail Blazers on top 34-27 with 9:44 remaining in the first half. The Lakers responded, putting together a 12-to-1 run, taking a 50-40 lead with 2:09 remaining in the second quarter on the second of two made Bryant free throws. The home team closed out the first half on a 9-to-3 run of their own, and entered the halftime locker room trailing 53-49.

    “(Kobe’s) going to make shots, he’s Kobe,” Aldridge said. “The thing is that when he scores you can’t get rattled, you got to stay solid and make shots too.”

    Aldridge struggled in the first half, shooting 2-of-8 from the field, and finishing with only six points. Roy led all scorers at the break with 16 points, and Fernandez added nine points.

    Aldridge came out in the third quarter looking for an opportunity to get his shot going, and get back in the game. His time came with 9:37 remaining in the third quarter when he dunked home an alley-oop pass from Roy to cut the gap to 57-56 in favor of the Lakers. Aldridge put home a four-foot hook shot on the Trail Blazer’s next offensive possession, giving Portland back the lead at 58-57.

    “We don’t look at it as (Aldridge) starting out slow,” Roy said. “They wanted to take LaMarcus out right away. Once I put him in pick and rolls we made them change their defense and he was able to get going.”

    Aldridge finished the third quarter with 10 points, helping the Trail Blazers take an 81-77 lead into the final period of the night.

    Portland never trailed in the fourth quarter, pushing their lead to 89-84 on a 19-foot jumper from Roy with 7:12 remaining in the game. Bryant connected on two free throws with 3:02 left on the clock pulling Los Angeles to within a single point, but the visiting team would get no closer. Fernandez and Travis Outlaw finished the game out from the free throw line. Outlaw made three of four free throws in the final 18.7 seconds of the game.

    “I thought we played a good game tonight, it was a battle,” head coach Nate McMillan said. “We are an up and coming team, and we need to beat teams like this and continue to show growth.”

    Roy led Portland in scoring for the 50th time this season, recording 24 points. Aldridge and Steve Blake each tallied 16 points, Fernandez finished with 15 points including a reverse ally-oop dunk on a feed from Sergio Rodriquez, and Outlaw and Greg Oden each collected 10 points.

    “I think as a team everybody’s stepping up, and everybody’s playing well,” Aldridge said.

    The Trail Blazers take to the road for the final time in the regular season on Saturday April 11th to meet the Clippers in Los Angeles.
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