Gerald Wallace & LaMarcus Aldridge lead as Portland Trail Blazers beat Los Angeles Lakers: NBA Pt 1
On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were unable to hold off a surging Portland Trail Blazers side and ended up losing 107 – 96 at the Rose Garden. The Lakers were more than competitive in the first half but the Trail Blazers stormed through in the third quarter to secure a win in front of a buoyant crowd.
Portland were led by some excellent play by forward Gerald Wallace. The gritty star was near unstoppable on offence netting 31 points, the game high, and grabbed 5 rebounds to go with some solid defence as well.
Portland head coach Nate McMillan was very pleased with Wallace’s season high scoring display and said the player could do a lot of damage if he kept on playing the same way.
"That's his game. You have to let Gerald go and allow him the freedom to play. His hustle, his energy -- we feed off of that. We've been good when he's played like that."
Wallace though wanted to share the limelight with his teammates after the game, whom he credited with playing an exceptional match.
"This was a great team effort. [The Lakers] came out running -- we're not used to seeing a Lakers team like that -- but our defence settled down in the second half, we were able to get some stops, get out into transition and force them into our style of play."
Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was also on song, grabbing a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Wesley Matthews had 16 points, Jamal Crawford came off the bench for 17 and point guard Raymond Felton pulled the strings with 10 assists.
For Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant top scored with 30 points and grabbed 8 boards. Centre Andrew Bynum continued his good run with a double-double, 21 points and 12 boards while Pau Gasol scored 19.
No other Lakers player made a notable contribution but head coach Mike Brown decided not to focus on that aspect. Instead, he conceded that the Trail Blazers were the better team on the night and deserved the win.
"Give Portland credit. [The Blazers] played a heck of a game. They came out the second half and pushed the pace, and we kind of came apart."
A hard fought first quarter was close for the most part until the Lakers used an 8 – 2 to get their ahead a little. Portland though weren’t in the mood to fall behind too much and kept them in check, going into the second quarter trailing by just 4 points at 31 – 27.
A 9 – 3 run early in the second period by Portland made the game interesting as both teams once again resorted to high intensity basketball. The Lakers were able to retain the lead when the first half ended though, going into the break at 56 – 52.
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