Jazz run Blazers out of Rose Garden

McMillan; 'We have to get to work'

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Oct 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Utah's Carlos Boozer contests a driving shot by Brandon Roy of Portland in Tuesday's exhibition game at the Rose Garden.

sam FORENCICH / getTY IMAGES

Several of the Trail Blazers didn’t show up for Tuesday’s exhibition game against Utah at the Rose Garden.

That’s not counting the players who missed the game due to injury.

Very little was promising about Portland’s 108-97 loss to the Jazz except for the fact it doesn’t count in the standings.

But with the regular-season opener against Houston just a week away, Nate McMillan doesn’t like the looks of things.

“Right now, some of us think we can flip a switch and all of a sudden it’s going to happen when the 27th comes,” the fifth-year Blazer coach said. “We have to get to work.”

The score wasn’t at all indicative of Utah’s opening tipoff-to-final horn dominance in this one. The Jazz (5-2 in the preseason) never trailed, jumping to a 19-6 advantage, and held a 25-point fourth-quarter lead before a belated surge by Blazer reserves made the final count more respectable.

Portland (3-4) was shorthanded. Center Greg Oden (bruised quad) and guard Rudy Fernandez (sore back) were pronounced out on Monday. Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was expected to play, but a bruised shin suffered during Monday’s practice made him a late scratch. Then small forward Nicolas Batum suffered a bruised quad in the first minute of Tuesday’s game and departed, never to return.

Portland’s depleted ranks weren’t anywhere good enough to compete with the Jazz, who got a sensational performance from point guard Deron Williams (25 points in 30 minutes) and ruled nearly every statistical category.

“If Utah lost (Andrei) Kirilenko, Williams and (Carlos) Boozer, I’d hope we’d pound them, too,” said Portland’s Brandon Roy, who had his best performance of the preseason with 15 points and five assists in 30 minutes. “We expected to play some other guys.

“But I don’t want to make excuses. We have to be more prepared next time. We’re a professional team. Guys have to be ready to step in and play.”

Utah shot .531 from the field and .837 from the foul line and won the points-in-the-paint battle 46-30. The Jazz won despite 23 turnovers, primarily because Portland had 22 of its own, shot .413 from the field and was only 2 of 15 from 3-point range.

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