It's L.A., Roy and Rudy, and Blazers roll

Portland beats Phoenix at its own game

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Mar 27, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

Brandon Roy gets by Shaquille O'Neal and looks for an open man.

JONATHAN HOUSE / THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE

The Trail Blazers needed a victory Thursday night at the Rose Garden.

The Phoenix Suns really needed a victory.

“I told our guys before the game, ‘We play our way into the playoffs or we play our way out,’ “ Portland coach Nate McMillan said. “They came out and (showed) they wanted to get there.”

The Blazers beat the Suns at their own game, fast-breaking their way to a 129-109 win before a sellout crowd of 20,628.

It was an important win for Portland, which improved to 45-27 and moved into a virtual tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with New Orleans (44-26).

It was a colossal defeat for Phoenix (40-32), which saw the end to a six-game winning streak. The Suns are 3 1/2 games back of eighth-place Dallas (43-28) with 10 games to play.

“We need to win out the rest of the way,” said Phoenix center Shaquille O’Neal, whose 20 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes weren’t nearly enough.

The Suns were on the second of back-to-back games after a huge win at Utah Wednesday night, and they were no match for the energetic Blazers, who had played uninspired ball the last time out – an overtime loss to Philadelphia Monday at the Garden.

“We rose to the occasion,” McMillan said. The Blazer players “showed the effort on both ends of the floor. Our ball movement was great, and defensively we did a good job.”

The teams employ a contrast in offensive styles. Phoenix, which runs at any opportunity, leads the league in scoring (109.0) and field-goal percentage (.507). Portland, which normally looks to run only occasionally and gets most of its offense off the halfcourt set, is last in the league in fast-break points.

On Thursday, the Blazers set season highs for points and field-goal percentage (.602), shot .500 (9 for 18) from 3-point range and outscored Phoenix 19-10 in fast-break points.

“They’ll give you open looks, but sometimes you can get caught up their game,” McMillan said. “We did a good job of playing their tempo, but a controlled tempo. It wasn’t like a run-and-gun. We were moving the ball against their defense. A lot of the shots that didn’t fall in the Philly game were falling tonight.”

There were plenty of Portland standouts, but none bigger than LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored a season-high 29 points, sank 11 of 16 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots in 36 minutes.

The 6-11 Aldridge was matched up with 6-7 Matt Barnes, who had been sensational offensively coming off the bench in Portland’s 124-119 win over the Suns on Dec. 18 (22 points on 7-for-8 shooting, including 5 for 6 from 3-point range). Barnes had no chance trying to guard Aldridge and had a terrible night offensive (1 for 8, two points).

“We knew we had an advantage there coming in,” Portland’s Brandon Roy said. “It was a matter of LaMarcus taking full advantage of it. He had Barnes guarding him, so he could get what he wanted. L.A. was great tonight. He was knocking down shots, running the lanes, playing great defense.”

“We told LaMarcus and Greg (Oden) to get down in the paint,” McMillan said. “We wanted to go inside, whether it was posting up our bigs or penetrating. LaMarcus did a great job of penetrating, working the post position and establishing the paint for us.”

Then there was Rudy Fernandez, who had his second big offensive game in a row. The Spanish rookie was in a zone, scoring 23 points while making 8 for 10 from the field and 5 for 6 on 3-pointers in only 21 minutes.

“That first three he hit, I could see it in his face, that Rudy was ready to have a big night,” Roy said.”

Fernandez had struggled offensively after suffering chest and hip injuries against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 9 until Monday, when he exploded for 19 points against Philadelphia. He was even better against the Suns.

“I feel good now,” said Fernandez, who notched a season-high for treys and moved into seventh on the NBA’s rookie list with 138 this season. “After I got hurt against the Lakers and I didn’t feel good, but every game I feel better. This is the time of the season, the moment for me to produce something every time I play minutes.”

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