| 26 February 2011
Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy returned to form against the Denver Nuggets, bringing back memories of old in delivering late to help his team sneak by for a 107-106 victory.
Portland dominates first half behind balanced scoring, rebounding advantage
The Blazers, sporting a starting lineup of Andre Miller, Wesley Matthews, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolas Batum, and LaMarcus Aldridge, shrugged off a slow start to control the tempo in the first half, getting solid production from these five as well as contributions from a slimmed bench.
Portland shot 45 percent in the opening two quarters to take a ten-point lead at halftime, while holding Denver, the highest scoring team in the NBA, to 31 percent shooting. A key to their success was a surprising rebounding edge, which was ten at intermission despite having only one true frontcourt player in Aldridge.
They were extremely active in the first half, with their assortment of guards crashing the glass. Andre Miller was one of them, snatching eight rebounds.
Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari catch fire for Nuggets
In the first half Denver made only 13 field goals. Aside from Gallinari, who had 14 points, the team shot 9-34 from the field. Their fortunes changed in the second half, as Gallinari stayed hot and others joined him. Chandler, in particular, teamed up with his fellow newcomer, combining to score 13 of the Nuggets first 15 third quarter points.
They scored from inside and out, outplaying the Blazers in the third to tally 25 points in all to give Denver a seven-point cushion entering the fourth. At this juncture, Gallinari had 25 points, five off his career-high, while Chandler added 16.
Nene takes Aldridge out of comfort zone
Aldridge didn’t make nearly the impact he is accustomed to, primarily because he was going up against Nene’s strength. The Nuggets bulky power forward bodied him continuously in the post, making every attempt difficult. Drives through the lane were particularly contested.
He had only four points in the third quarter on 2-6 shooting, which helped Denver take the lead. And though he scored 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked three shots, committed only one turnover, and played all but three minutes, he missed eleven shots. His scoring didn’t come in bunches either, a testament to Denver’s game-plan against him.
Blazers make comeback behind Roy, force OT
Denver stretched their lead to eleven early in the fourth, as Gallinari had a hand in their first six points, but if the Blazers could lose a double-digit lead so could the Nuggets.
Even though they went through a drought of over four minutes, Denver still held a seven-point lead with under four minutes remaining. Then Roy checked in, the player who has won many games for Portland throughout his esteemed career. He would lead the Blazers back once more.
He was aggressive to the rim, and his teammates followed suit before a three-point barrage forced an extra session. Three three-pointers were hit by Portland in the final 40 seconds, two by Roy and one by Fernandez. The final, a step-back trey from the wing, was swished through by Roy over Ty Lawson with five seconds after Gallinari missed just his second free-throw in 45 attempts.
The Rose Garden erupted. At that moment everyone knew Roy was back.
Lawson’s miss and a thrilling overtime
After Lawson left a layup short at the buzzer, Aldridge and Matthews picked up where Roy left off, scoring eight of the team’s 10 overtime points.
The duo compiled the game’s final three in the back and forth battle, and Portland prevailed after playing superb defense on the Nuggets final possession. Aldridge and finished off the win, but it was made possible because of the fourth-quarter contributions of Fernandez and Roy: El Mago and The Natural.
photo: espn
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