Red Hot Blazers beat undermanned Knicks

Things didn’t look good for the Portland Trailblazers in the first few days of the new NBA season.  Rookie Greg Oden injured his ankle in the opening game after missing all of last year.  The Blazers were pasted by the Los Angeles Lakers in that game, and quickly stumbled to a 1-3 mark.  Despite the adversity, the team’s fortunes quickly changed for the better.  Since that point, Portland has gone 12-3 and is one of two NBA teams still undefeated at home.  Oden has started to fulfill his considerable promise and, at the very least, has stayed healthy.  On Tuesday night, the Blazers won their 5th straight game with a come from behind 104-97 victory over the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

New York started quickly and led 31-24 after one quarter, though the Blazers would cut into the lead in the second.  At the half, the Knicks led 51-49 and held a slight edge in the third quarter where they outscored Portland 24-22 to take a precarious 75-71 lead into the 4th period.  From that point on, it was all Portland as they tightened up on the defensive end and turned these stops into easy baskets.   The Blazers would outscore New York 33-22 in the final period en route to the victory.

Brandon Roy led the way for Portland with 23 points, with Rudy Fernandez adding 18 and LaMarcus Aldridge 17.  Chris Duhon was the offensive star for New York, with 23 points and 13 assists.  David Lee added 19 and 12 boards for the Knicks who once again dressed the NBA minimum 8 players due to injuries and the ongoing Stephon Marbury soap opera.  For the game, Portland held a 51-36 rebounding edge over the Knicks as they improved their record to a perfect 5-0 against the Eastern Conference this season.

The Knicks short bench eventually fell prey to the deep and talented Blazers.  Portland coach Nate McMillan suggested that could have been the decisive element of the game, and particularly as it impacted the play of Chris Duhon:

"We had a group to come in and they got aggressive and we were able to gain control of the game. And you know, when you're playing nine, 10 guys, if we play the way we condition ourselves to, we should be able to wear down some teams. I thought tonight, Duhon, in the third quarter he played well, but he looked like he wore down a little bit."

McMillan made sure that this advantage wasn’t lost on his players, including Brandon Roy:

"Yeah, we seen it. Coach said they're wearing down, they've got heavy legs, so let's keep trying to push it at them. Duhon played great tonight. They've got a number of guys that play hard, but in that fourth quarter you could see that our depth kind of outlasted them."

Portland has three games remaining on their current east coast jaunt, traveling to DC for a game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night then to Boston on Friday and Toronto on Sunday.  The Knicks will play at Cleveland on Wednesday and Atlanta on Friday before returning to Madison Square Garden for a game against the Detroit Pistons on Sunday afternoon.