Greg Oden impresses in belated NBA debut

After missing the entire 2007-2008 NBA season following knee surgery, it didn’t take Greg Oden long to make a thunderous impression on Portland fans.  He won the opening tip off in the Blazers’ first preseason game of the year and then scored their first basket on a thunderous dunk.  More importantly, he looked very comfortable playing within the team concept as the Blazers routed Sacramento 110-81 in Portland on Tuesday night.

Oden would add a couple of other strong dunks, one particularly impressive one off of an offensive rebound and another a two handed “monster jab” a la Shaquille O’Neal.  Oden would finish with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocked shots in just over 20 minutes of play.  His teammate and former rookie of the year Brandon Roy offered this assessment of Oden:

"The big fella is a beast, man”

Blazer coach Nate McMillan also sounded pleased about the debut of his team’s future superstar:

"This team tonight was already showing him some respect sending double-teams and trying to front him."

Oden himself was characteristically low key and humble about his impressive showing:

"It felt good to be out there playing against someone who is not on our team"

The game also marked Portland’s first looks at newly acquired Spanish point guard Rudy Fernandez.  Fernandez, who was a starter on Spain’s silver medal Olympic team this summer, displayed not only the much discussed offensive touch away from the basket but some slick playmaking ability as well.  He’ll split time with last year’s starter, Steve Blake, who is nursing a hamstring injury and didn’t play.

Despite giving extensive playing time to the reserves, Portland’s performance was downright electrifying at times much to delight of a near sellout crowd at the Rose Garden Arena.  The Kings actually led by 10 at the end of the first quarter before Portland blew the game open, outscoring Sacramento 32-19 in the 2nd quarter and 32-12 in the third.

The Trailblazers open the regular season on October 28th as they travel to the Staples Center to play the L.A. Lakers.  They’ll begin their home schedule on Halloween night as they welcome San Antonio to the Rose Garden.  The Kings will begin their season with a four game Eastern swing that will take them to Minnesota, Miami, Orlando and Philadelphia.  They’ll make their regular season home debut at Arco Arena on November 5th against Memphis.