Blazers take first place by rolling Warriors

Survive injuries to Roy, Blake

By Kerry Eggers

LocalNewsDaily.com, Jan 9, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Last time out, it was Martell Webster who turned the basket into his personal playground.

On Wednesday night at the Rose Garden, it was Steve Blake’s turn to seize the role of the second coming of Reggie Miller.

Blake scored 20 of his season-high 24 points in the first half as the Trail Blazers laid waste to Golden State 109-91, the Warriors serving as road kill for Portland’s 12th straight home victory.

It was a grand night for the Blazers (22-13), who moved into sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division with their fourth straight win and 17th in the last 18 outings.

It’s the second greatest one-loss run in franchise history — only a 19-1 roll to begin the 1990-91 season was better — and the Blazers are reveling in it as they embark on a seven-game road trip that begins Sunday at Toronto.

“It feels great,” said Brandon Roy, who turned out a splendid poker hand with eight points, eight rebounds and eight assists in 29 minutes. “We’ve worked hard to get to this point. We know what it takes to be in first place, and we know have a big test ahead of us.

“We’re playing great team basketball. Steve carried us the first half. We play unselfish. If the guy’s going, we keep getting that guy the ball.”

Against Golden State (20-16), that guy was Blake, the oft-reluctant-to-shoot point guard who got his 24 points on only 10 shots. He hit eight of them, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, and was also 3 of 3 from the foul line while contributing four assists, two rebounds, two steals and no turnovers in a remarkable 23 minutes.

Blake did all his scoring from outside, much as Webster had done in a 24-point third-quarter barrage against Utah last Saturday.

“We’ve been telling our guards to look to shoot coming off screens,” Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “Tonight Steve was looking to be aggressive and got his rhythm going. It was pretty much like Martell the other night. The basket was pretty big for (Blake). That was good to see.”

Blake surely would have surpassed his career high of 25 points, but his night ended with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter when Golden State’s Monta Ellis inadvertently kneed him in the calf from behind. Blake went down and was helped to the locker room, suffering from a calf contusion.

“The knee hit me square in the calf muscle,” Blake said. “Right now it’s really sore. I’ll put on a lot of ice, keep it elevated and try to make it better.”

Disappointing not to get a chance at a career high?

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit