Portland Trail Blazers batter Utah Jazz 110-90: NBA Preseason Recap
Portland Trail Blazers have started their NBA preseason in style by downing Utah Jazz 110-90 at their home court, the Rose Garden.
The Trail Blazers fired right from the very beginning and outscored Jazz in the first quarter 32-19, which proved to be the difference between both teams tonight. Jazz fought well until the end but the first frame lead never allowed
them to get close to Blazers.
Wesley Matthews, the star of the night scored 9 out of his total 17 points in the decisive first frame, which included an outstanding three on an assist from Raymond Felton in the second minute.
Nicolas Batum pounded 13 points, dished out 3 assists and forced 4 rebounds. Rookie Elliot Williams, who came off the bench late, also accumulated 13 on 3 for 3 shooting from the three point range while Gerald Wallace had 10 for
the winners.
Utah came into this game without Paul Millsap who is nursing an injury at the moment and their Rookie Josh Howard also failed to make an impression tonight missing all his 5 shots in the 4 minutes he played, which hurt the team
massively in the end.
Only Derrick Favors managed to produce a decent tally from Jazz. He paced them with the game high 25 points including 10 for 15 from the floor and 12 rebounds, however he was alone in the cause as no other senior players in the
team supported him.
Felton opened the scoring for Blazers with a jumper in the first minute.
After that Matthews, Batum and Wallace took over and in partnership, propelled the team to a commanding position, by contributing an 11-1 run midway through the frame.
After finishing the first frame at 32-19, Blazers carried the momentum into the next frame and had completely turned the game to their side, midway through the frame, when the lead reached 20 points 48-28.
The Portland lead was still 20 at 54-34; however Jazz showed some urgency and reeled off an 8-0 run in the last two minutes of the first half to finish it at 42-54.
Raja Bell, Devin Harris and Al Jefferson then combined for a 10-6 in the early period of third frame to bring down the lead to single digits at 52-60, however Batum and Wallace again keyed an 11-4 run that took Jazz away from the
game.
Staring at a huge deficit, Jazz succumbed to the pressure and failed to make a comeback. They gave up the fight midway through the deciding quarter and played the remaining game as a formality.
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