NBA Special: LaMarucs Aldridge shines bright, Portland wins at home to Milwaukee
Big-Name of the game- - LaMarucs Aldridge played best game of his career and scored game-high 29 points to go along with a career-high 19 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers trounced the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks, 106-80, at the Rose Garden.
"This is the best I have played, Points in the paint, going to the basket, getting free throws, all those things are pretty high right now" Aldridge said.
Wesley Matthews registered 22 points and 6 rebounds. Rudy Fernandez added 17 points, and seven assists for Portland, who have won three in a row. Nicolas Batum contributed 10 points for the Blazers, who have won eight of nine in this season.
John Salmons led Milwaukee with 23 points in the season’s 16th defeat. Keyon Dooling scored 12 and dished out five assists. Drew Gooden and Larry Sanders posted 10 points apiece in the defeat.
Game Story
The Trail Blazers are athletic, long and compete on defence. They block shots. They clog the middle. Nerves become ragged. Frustration reached all the way to the rafters as who would reign. It did not take long for the Portland to thrash Andrew Bogut's scanty
Milwaukee.
Matthews made his first five shots, including three 3-pointers in a row and the Portland went up by a 25-18 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Blazers took it offensively and their lead quickly ballooned to 15, 41-26 with Batumi’s three-point play at 7:42 in the second.
Matthews hit two from the line to further expand the lead to 17, 47-30. Both teams went cold for close to two minutes, Batum's reverse layup at 4:24 accelerated the game extended the margin to 19. With 34.9 seconds remaining, Luke Babbitt's short hook shot
gave Portland a 59-35 lead at the intermission.
In the third quarter, Aldridge's jumper at 6:33 widened Portland's lead to 67-41. However, a short 6-1 run for the Bucks capped by Salmon’s free throws put the game at 72-53. Salmons ended the quarter with a triple and layup with 25.9 seconds left to trim
the Blazers lead to 78-60 heading to the fourth.
With the clock running down, two Matthews’s free throws and an Aldridge alley oop dunk gave Portland a 87-67 lead. At Matthews' driving layup the Portland’s lead became 103-78.
"(The Blazers) dominated the game, every facet, from start to finish. We didn't start out well enough and they kept the pedal to the metal," Dooling said.
Unsung Players
Milwaukee played the game in the absence of guard Brandon Jennings, who had surgery of a broken left foot. Jennings will be sidelined for 4-to-6 weeks due to the injury.
"Obviously, we missed Brandon tonight. His scoring and his penetration helps keep the floor spread. Teams are starting to really pound us now and we have to adjust," centre Andrew Bogut said.
Portland had injury issues of their own as they were without Joel Przybilla (ankle) and Marcus Camby (shoulder). Both of the players are under day-to-day observation.
Shining-Star
Although Patty Mills is not the leading scorer for Portland, however continues to blink as a striving NBA player, helping the Trail Blazers to take down the visiting Milwaukee in front of 20,406 basketball fans. Mills had 8 points, including 2-of-4 from
three-point territory, three assists and a steal in just 17 minutes.
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