Greg Oden's home debut for the Blazers was a success. 116-74 was the final result, but the game was over not long into the first quarter. The home crowd loved having their prized centre in the Rose Garden finally and the game turned into one big party, with the Chicago Bulls the ugly girl sitting in the corner on this occasion.
Heart didn't feel like it could take another Trail Blazers nail-biter?
Coach Nate McMillan felt the same way.
So before Wednesday night's game against Chicago, the Blazers coach planted a seed within his team.
"Coach wanted us to get one (a blowout)," LaMarcus Aldridge said. "You know, every win for us has been heroic shots, or grind-it-out. ... He said we need to get a real good win."
Well, that "real good win" came to fruition in the form of a 116-74 victory over a Bulls team that at times looked like an expansion team.
The 42-point win was the largest victory in the McMillan era, and the third-biggest in Rose Garden history. The Rose Garden record for largest victory -- a 45-point whipping of Dallas in 1997 -- was threatened when the Blazers led by 47 at 115-68 with 1:24 left, but the Bulls (5-7) closed on a 6-1 run.
Oden finished the match with 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in 17 minutes, continuing his promising form. It has already become apparent that a healthy Oden on court means a double-double with a·couple of·blocks, at minimum. Most of the naysayers and Sam Bowie comparisons have quietened for now.
A sellout crowd of 20,599 fans showed up at the Rose Garden watch Greg Oden make his home debut with the Portland Trail Blazers.
By the time Oden, sidelined all of last season by a knee injury, entered the game with 4:28 left in the first quarter, the show was already on in the Trail Blazers’ 116-74 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.
When Oden entered to a standing ovation, the Blazers had a 23-7 lead. Oden didn’t wait long to contribute, dunking 21 seconds after coming off the bench.
“It was good for me to finally be home,” Oden said. “Just to be home and finally have my people see me play was great.”
Brandon Roy scored 20 points to help Portland improve to 6-2 in its last eight and 7-5 overall. Chicago has lost four of its last six to fall to 5-7.
Meanwhile in Chicago, the Windy Citizen's Bullish Thoughts blog had this:
After getting absolutely abused by the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, there are many things to be sad about.
A 42-point loss, Derrick Rose's first real stinker-of-a-game as a pro and, well, just watching the darn game was enough to make any Bulls fan cry.
If LaMarcus Aldridge had exploded for a monster game it would've been too much. He graciously played a relatively quiet game, but that was probably thanks to the widely spread minutes the Blazers lavished on all 12 of its active players.
Aaron Gray started at center, but what a horrible night for that happy event. He played 20 minutes and pulled down six rebounds to go along with two points.
Rose finally looked like a human rookie. In a game featuring five rookies, Rose was probably the fourth most impressive out there last night.
Yeah, well, we’re not going to go into any great depth about this one. It wouldn’t be polite. We’ve seen plenty of 42-point halves for the Blazers in the last few years, but 42-point wins? Odds bodkins! When your fans are getting chalupas and the other team hasn’t hit 60 yet, you know things are going right.
I know everybody will want to focus on the dunk-fest, but concentrate on the defense first in this one. We came out harrying the Chicago guards, using Lamarcus Aldridge’s length to disturb their rhythm with the press. This also forced quick shots. They couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn at that point and never recovered. We held the Bulls under 35% for the game, 13% from the three-point line.
Blogabull has called us out as fools ("April Fools Day!!" or "Opposites Day!!"), saying that this game didn't count:
Didn't count. You see...Vinny started Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes.
Aaron Gray. And Larry Hughes. Hughes at SF! Gray at a basketball position! In a regular season NBA game!
So, yeah...think of that as preseason. Didn't count.
I came home with about an hour of saved game to catch up on. I saw that Larry Hughes and Aaron Gray were starting, thought: "what the hell". Then the Blazers clowned a team starting Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes. Expected. The Bulls couldn't quite match up, because they had Aaron Gray and Larry Hughes in their lineup.
After seven and a half minutes, the first substitution. Noah for Gray. The Bulls are down 23-7. Why it took that long to realize that it wasn't working....well I guess if you don't go into the game realizing it won't work in the first place, the chance that a few minutes will change one's mind is remote, no matter how bad it looked.
The Bulls looked awful in every aspect of the game tonight.
Did Derrick Rose make the trip to Portland?
Greg Oden had a very nice debut in his home town.
The things Brandon Roy continues to do, blow my mind.
Haha, Joakim Noah. I really wanted someone to foul out in one half.
Nice to see Channing find a rhythm again.
Joel Przybilla is probably the second most important piece to this team.
Sergio is possibly solidified his spot as the future point guard.
Nocioni's hair really does scare me.
Aldridge showed signs of his normal self, but we are still waiting.
There was a Larry Hughes sighting!
Poor Bayless.
Yahoo boxscore is here. No major surprises there, but worth noting that the efficiency of Joel Przybilla at centre continues to outstrip Oden's. This is to be expected and I think that this will continue for a good 30+ games until the rookie gets his fitness and experience up. It's clear watching him play that he is not in the same synch as the other players on the Blazers. Very clear. However the potential is so tantalising.
I e-mailed a friend to ask if its possible for a game to be over at half-time ... this one was pretty much done by then. Ugly (unless of course you're a Portland fan)
I like the comment about Przybilla (we nicknamed him The Gorilla). I just picked him up off the FA list in my fantasy league and he's been rock solid so far. I own him at least once a season and he's handy when he gets minutes.
I love Przybilla's workman-like attitude. He just gets the job done. Particularly until Oden gets his feet he will be a very valuable commodity to have fantasy-wise...
Another thing we talked about ... is the Blazers bench stronger than their starting line-up?? Fernandez, Outlaw, Oden and Frye all coming off the pine ... thats solid!
Firstly, congratulations to the Blazers on a good, close win today against the Kings.
Secondly, how right was I about the comment above?? Check out the +/- numbers in the yahoo boxscore from today's game. When Gorilla and Outlaw were on the court the Blazers were killing it. Check the Kings numbers, when their starters were on they were ahead but their bench did nothing for them. The second line-up for Portland gets it done for them.
Spot on Dodge. I think there is a long way to integrating Oden into the lineup. I'll be interested in watching that Kings v Blazers game (ilp.nba.com) to see how Oden played as a starter. It's pretty amazing to see that the Blazers could only win by 1 at home after thrashing the Kings on the road just recently...
Outlaw and Przybilla bring so much energy to the lineup -- I think that's why McMillan is reticent to change that second lineup. It really is the best in the league in my opinion. As you say, most of those guys could be starters around the league, or very close to!
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Comments
I like the comment about Przybilla (we nicknamed him The Gorilla). I just picked him up off the FA list in my fantasy league and he's been rock solid so far. I own him at least once a season and he's handy when he gets minutes.
Dodge
I love Przybilla's workman-like attitude. He just gets the job done. Particularly until Oden gets his feet he will be a very valuable commodity to have fantasy-wise...
Secondly, how right was I about the comment above?? Check out the +/- numbers in the yahoo boxscore from today's game. When Gorilla and Outlaw were on the court the Blazers were killing it. Check the Kings numbers, when their starters were on they were ahead but their bench did nothing for them. The second line-up for Portland gets it done for them.
Outlaw and Przybilla bring so much energy to the lineup -- I think that's why McMillan is reticent to change that second lineup. It really is the best in the league in my opinion. As you say, most of those guys could be starters around the league, or very close to!