Trail Blazers vs Pistons Wednesday, 11/18/09 AT 07:00PM

Trail Blazers survive 4th quarter rally to top Pistons

11/18/09

Written by: Max Mandel  / avg. rating: 5.0



For those of you who struggle with nail-biters and intense finishes, Wednesday night's game was not for you. After building up a 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers (9-4) withstood a huge fourth quarter rally from the Detroit Pistons (5-7), holding on for the 87-81 victory. With this victory, the Trail Blazers have now won the last three meetings between these teams, and 15 of the last 23 overall.

Portland played some of their most beautiful basketball of the season while building what seemed like an insurmountable lead in the third quarter. Each of the starters made an impressive mark on the game, and it's clear that the chemistry on the team is at a very high level.

With ten points and a team-high 11 assists, Andre Miller again showed why he is considered one of the best pure point guards in the league. In his eight assist first half, Miller repeatedly found open players, particularly LaMarcus Aldridge, on the fast break and in the half court offense. Aldridge routinely found himself open on the fast break, and he took advantage of the open looks by scoring 20 points. With his great size and athleticism, there are very few forwards who can keep up with Aldridge in transition.

Despite having nearly every member of the Pistons try and slow him down, Brandon Roy put together another versatile and productive game. Roy shot 7-14 from the field and scored 20 points, while also dishing out five assists. As Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan pointed out after the game, when Roy and Aldridge play well together, this is a very hard team to beat.

"Those are the guys," McMillan said of Roy and Aldridge. "We have got to get them going. Tonight, to see both of them score-we haven't seen that this season."

When the game was on the line in the fourth quarter, Steve Blake again displayed the grit and toughness that he has become known for. Blake hit a clutch three pointer in the last minute, which put the Blazers back up by four points. Although he struggled with his decision making during the second half, Blake can routinely be counted on to deliver with the game on the line.

"He stuck with it. You can tell Blake is tough," Roy said of his teammate. "When he turned the ball over, you could just sense that he had to do something to make up for it and I'm happy he made that three to give us a cushion."

Although they would have preferred to leave the Rose Garden with the win, the Pistons certainly made a valiant comeback. Despite playing only 16 minutes because of foul trouble, Charlie Villanueva scored 20 points and routinely made big shots to keep his team in the game. Rodney Stuckey provided a nice spark from the point guard position, scoring a team-high 21 points and dishing out 5 assists.

After a day off tomorrow, the Trail Blazers head back out on the road for a game on Friday night against the Golden State Warriors. Opening tip is scheduled for 7:30 at Oracle Arena. After the game in the Bay Area, the Trail Blazers will return to the friendly confines of the Rose Garden for their next four games.
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