Rip City R!SE Entry 2 - d11king's Dynasty

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Rip City R!SE Entry 2

Posted on December 3, 2012 at 07:01 PM.

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Aldridge Explodes in Season Opener

Thomas's first points of the season was a steal that led to a breakaway dunk

Los Angeles Lakers at Portland Trailblazers
Oct 31, 2012	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Los Angeles (1-1)	29	24	29	28	110
Portland (1-0)	28	28	28	37	121

Los Angeles Lakers
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Steve Nash	35	6-8	0-0	5-5	2	8	2	0	0	17
Kobe Bryant	40	15-28	0-2	5-6	3	5	1	0	1	35
Metta World Peace	35	2-10	1-2	1-1	4	3	0	0	0	5
Pau Gasol	34	4-12	0-1	2-3	7	4	0	1	1	10
Dwight Howard	38	10-12	0-0	3-3	13	3	1	0	1	23
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Antwan Jamison	18	4-10	1-1	0-0	5	0	0	0	0	9
Jordan Hill	13	1-3	0-0	0-0	7	0	0	0	0	2
Darius Morris	8	0-1	0-0	1-2	0	1	0	0	0	1
Jodie Meeks	10	2-3	1-2	1-1	1	0	0	0	0	6
Devin Ebanks	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Duhon	3	0-0	0-0	2-2	0	2	0	0	0	2
Steve Blake	4	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	0	0	0	0
TEAM TOTALS		44-88	3-8	19-24	42	27	4	1	3	110

Portland Trailblazers
STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Damian Lillard	33	5-13	1-4	0-0	4	11	0	0	0	11
Wesley Matthews	29	2-6	1-2	5-5	6	0	0	0	0	10
Donte' Thomas	35	12-28	0-2	0-2	10	8	1	0	2	24
J.J. Hickson	30	2-7	0-0	1-1	8	3	0	1	0	5
Lamarcus Aldridge	36	14-18	0-0	6-6	11	3	0	0	0	34
BENCH	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PTS
Randy Foye	23	7-14	6-10	0-0	3	0	0	0	0	20
Jajuan Johnson	18	2-3	0-0	1-2	5	5	0	0	0	5
Nolan Smith	15	2-3	0-0	0-0	1	3	0	0	0	4
Tyler Honeycutt	13	2-5	1-2	3-4	2	2	1	0	1	8
Meyers Leonard	14	0-1	0-0	0-0	6	0	0	0	1	0
Elliot Williams	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Will Barton	-- DID NOT PLAY --
TEAM TOTALS		48-98	9-20	16-20	56	30	2	1	4	121

Michael Wilbon
ESPN.com
October 31, 2012

PORTLAND -- When somebody on the team has it going.. when somebody on the team has the hot hand, you feed them the rock, and that's exactly what the Blazers did with Lamarcus Aldridge. Aldridge finished the game with 34 points on 14-18 shooting, and pulled down 11 rebounds in the process, 5 of them being offensive, in the Blazers home win against the Lakers 121-110.

The game was back and forth all night as neither team was able to get a comfortable lead. Kobe did what Kobe does, 35 points on 15-28 shooting, but just couldn't get enough from his teammates. In the fourth quarter, Portland put their best perimeter defender, Thomas, on Bryant and it paid off, as Bryant went 3-9 in the quarter, as the Lakers gave up 37 points in the 4th with little offense.

Thomas, in his first regular season game back from injury, was 12-28 from the field, but managed to post his usual 'almost triple-double' numbers doing posting up 24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. Coach Stotts had this to say about his team's performance.

"I'm proud of our guys, we did an excellent job holding off a good team, especially a team like the Lakers, but we have to look at the bigger picture and that's we're not going to win many games giving up 110 points. We would like to keep teams in the 90-95 range, so we'll continue working on defense in practice, and possibly slowing the tempo down offensively. Our transition defense needs to get better, and we absolutely have to contest every shot that's taken.

Outside of that, offensively we did a good job getting offensive rebounds and second chance points. Foye gave us a spark off the bench, Honeycutt came in and provided too, our bench did exceptional today. As a whole, if we can tighten up defensively, we should be alright.

The Trailblazers are off for a 3 game road trip, starting Friday against the Western Conference champions, Oklahoma City Thunder.

Game Notes
The Trailblazers had 56 rebounds (15 offensive) out-rebounding the Lakers by 14. The Trailblazers also had 37 points off the bench, 20 from Foye.

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Interviews

[On-Court Post Game Interview with Aldridge]

Doris Burke: Lamarcus, you put up 34 points on Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard tonight, also hitting a high percentage of your shots... what made you so effective against those bigs tonight?

Lamarcus Aldridge: I just played my game. I played Lamarcus Aldridge basketball, we played Portland Trailblazer basketball, and we came together tonight and wanted to start the season off right, and that's what we did. My teammates put me in a good position all night, and I was able to capitalize...

DB: It just seemed like every offensive rebound opportunity was going your way, you racked up 5 tonight, especially in critical moments, is that something you've been working on this off-season.

LA: It is! I wanted to get easy opportunities, and I wanted to be a better rebounder, so spent the summer just fighting in the trenches, just going after the ball. Coach says our 120% effort given will be 20% better than what our opponent will be giving, so we come out and fight, and tonight it paid off for us.

DB: What did you think of the new guys? Thomas, Lillard, Foye....

LA: They came up big tonight. I think Foye hit like five 3's or something like that, and Thomas and Lillard for being young guys did extremely well. I'm expecting big things from them this season. We have a good team here.

DB: Is this something we'll see all season from you?

LA: Definitely.

+++++

[Media Room]

Thomas: I wasn't nervous, it's what I do, there's nothing to be nervous about when you know what you're doing, and you have to do is go out there and execute. They doubled hard on LA {Lamarcus Aldridge} tonight, and I got alot of open looks and they just didn't fall... Nothing else to say about that. Just gotta knock them down..."