Aldridge, Blazers too much for Bobcats

Off a hard fought and physically draining double OT win in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, the Charlotte Bobcats entered Portland’s Rose Garden Arena on Wednesday “ripe for the picking”.  The Blazers showed no mercy, rampaging to a 32-18 first quarter advantaged against the fatigued and injury depleted visitors before coasting to an 88-74 victory.

LaMarcus Aldridge led all scorers with 25 points, including 12 during the decisive first quarter.  Brandon Roy added 17 points and rookie center Greg Oden continued his impressive play of late with another “double/double” consisting of 14 points and 14 rebounds.  Jerryd Bayless added 11 off of the bench for the Blazers.   Portland coach Nate McMillan, noting the Bobcats’ marathon contest in Los Angeles, said that the buzzer to buzzer pressure was by design:

"We knew they played last night probably got in here really late, so we wanted to keep the pressure on them both ways, offensively and defensively"

Aldridge was unstoppable during his first quarter run, though he gave much of the credit for his performance to his coach for exploiting a matchup advantage inside:

"Coach talked to me about going inside. He felt like having Boris Diaw smaller big on me, I should be able to get deep post position and go to the basket. So I just did what he told me to do."

The double OT victory against the Lakers not only took its toll in the Bobcats’ energy level, but cost them the services of leading scorer Gerald Wallace for the immediate future.  Wallace suffered a partially collapsed lung and a fractured rib after a hard foul by the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum, and the timetable for his return remains unclear.

Emeka Okafor led the Bobcats with 18 points, with Raja Bell (14) and Boris Diaw (12) the only other Charlotte players scoring in double figures.  For the game, the Blazers held a 45-26 rebounding advantage.  After the game, Bell admitted that his team had trouble getting started following the draining contest on Tuesday night at The Staples Center:

"As hard as we tried that first quarter, it just wasn't clicking. Our bodies weren't ready to go. It took us a while to warm up, and they exploited that."

Portland will host the Utah Jazz on Saturday night before heading out on the road for games against the New Orleans Hornets on Monday and the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.  Charlotte continues their west coast swing with games at Denver on Friday and in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz on Monday.  They’ll return to North Carolina’s “Queen City” for their next game, on Friday 2/6 against the Atlanta Hawks.