Trail Blazers vs Bulls Monday, 11/23/09 AT 07:00PM

Bulls continue road trip in Portland

11/23/09

Written by: Max Mandel



The Portland Trail Blazers (10-5) can certainly understand how the Chicago Bulls (6-6) are feeling right now. The Bulls are currently in the middle of a long six game road trip which has seen them fly across the country to take on some of the better teams in the Western Conference, including the Trail Blazers Monday night at the Rose Garden. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm.

While the Trail Blazers had a very successful five game road trip earlier in the season, the Bulls have struggled and are coming off of back-to-back blow out losses in LA and Denver. Portland will be hoping to sweep the season series with Chicago for the third straight season, with the Trail Blazers having won their last four match ups against the Bulls.

After trying out a three guard lineup for the past two weeks, Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan elected to return to the rotation he started the season with. In the win over Minnesota, Martell Webster returned to the starting lineup with an impressive individual performance. Webster put on a shooting clinic from beyond the arc, hitting 4-7 shots, while scoring a team-high 21 points.

While his scoring was impressive, Webster made an even bigger impact on the boards. Using his tremendous explosiveness to grab both offensive and defensive rebounds, Webster pulled down a career-high 13 boards, and recorded the first double-double of his career.

Although it was only one game, the insertion of Webster into the starting lineup seemed to allow the rest of the guys to return to their normal roles in the offense. Steve Blake looked very comfortable running the team and hitting the open looks that he was given. Blake scored 14 points and dished out a team-high 9 assists. With Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge repeatedly kicking the ball back out to the perimeter, Blake took advantage of his open looks and hit 4-6 from behind the three point line. In the 106-78 win, the Trail Blazers matched their season-high with 10 three pointers made.

"We did take a big step in the right direction," Blake said after the game. "Guys played their role really well and I think we had a good flow to our offense. Our bigs were making great passes out of the post when they got doubled, and the guards were able to make plays with them."

If last season is any indication, the Trail Blazers will be very excited for the Monday night match up with the Bulls. In the two games last season, the Trail Blazers won by an average of 28 points, which was their highest average margin of victory against any team. The 112.5 points per game that they averaged against Chicago was also the highest scoring average against any opponent last season.

Portland will have to keep an eye on Luol Deng, who has been excellent in his return from injury. Deng is averaging 16.8 points and 8.5 boards for the season, and he does a tremendous job of using his length to score around the rim.

Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum, Jeff Pendergraph, and Patty Mills remain sidelined because of injury for Portland. Opening tip on Monday night is scheduled for 7:00 PST at the Rose Garden. The game can be seen on Comcast SportsNet, with Mike Rice and Mike Barrett on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on 95.5 FM The Game. Antonio Harvey and Brian Wheeler will provide the broadcast for the radio audience.
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