LaMarcus Aldridge's Career Game Last Night Helped His Case For The All Star Game

SI.com's Zach Lowe actually picked LaMarcus Aldridge for the all star team last week, with the rest of the basketball writers at Sports Illustrated.  But Aldridge's career night yesterday evening seemed to have vindicated his choice.  And it should also prove some of the doubters wrong too.

And still, I went with Aldridge for two reasons:

1. He has turned into a monster over the last six weeks as injuries have robbed Portland of Brandon Roy, Marcus Camby and others. Aldridge averaged 25 and 10 in January, maintained a 50 percent mark from the floor and got to the line more often than he ever has. Circumstances had thrust Aldridge into a larger role, and he flourished in a scenario in which many players see their shooting percentages and overall efficiency drop. He gets major points for that.  

2. He means everything to the Blazers now, and that extends to their defense, too. That was ultimately the selling point to me. Nash has an equally heavy burden in Phoenix — the team often crumbles without him — but he only helps you on one end of the floor. The difference in production between Randolph and Aldridge is negligible overall and has tilted in Aldridge’s favor over the last month, and Randolph does not have Aldridge’s versatility on defense. 

I can make an argument for Aldridge over Anthony on stats alone, without even getting into the fact that ‘Melo’s defense too often veers toward mediocrity. 

Aldridge isn’t a star on defense yet. He still doesn’t rebound well enough on that end, and he’s not a major producer of blocks and steals. He’s not quite an at-the-rim intimidator.

Yahoo's Kelly Dwyer, who runs the Ball Don't Lie blog, put LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin on his all star team as reserves. 

"LMA, I'm sorry for sounding so flighty, but Tuesday's 40-point performance pushed it over the top for me. The Blazer big man is averaging over 25 a game since Brandon Roy went down, with more than 21 points and nine rebounds overall. I wouldn't be too upset if he were left off the team -- the first month of the season counts as much as January did -- but I'm sticking him on my list of reserves."

As we said earlier, just put LaMarcus Aldridge in the damned game.

[ Aldridge makes strong case for All-Star bid -- Zach Lowe ]
[ The should-be Western All-Star reserves -- Kelly Dwyer ]