For the second straight home game, LaMarcus Aldridge scored over 40 points and helped carry the Blazers to a victory over a top five team in the NBA. Last night, he topped his career high of 40 points (scored this past Monday against the Spurs) with an equally impressive 42 points, coupled with 8 rebounds for good measure.
There really isn't too much you can say about Aldridge and the way he's playing right now. It's just flat out amazing. And sort of unexplainable, to be honest. But we're not complaining. We'll take it for as long as he wants to keep dishing it out.
Look, I don't care if Aldridge got snubbed for the All-Star game or not. I just would like to point out that when LaMarcus Aldridge scored 34 points and grabs 11 rebounds, it actually helps the Blazers win the game. Contrast that with Blake Griffin. Blake Griffin may score 34 points and pull down 13 rebounds, but more often than not, it doesn't help his team win games. I think that's a very important point to make in the discussion of who is the better player and/or all star worthy.
Some may say that the top to bottom, the Blazers have the better team. Not so fast though. They both are currently the best player on their team. We can all agree on that, right? And they both are surrounded by a lot of good (but not great), talented guys. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't say that one guy has a significantly better supporting cast than the other. But that's another part of this argument for another day.
Veteran NBA writer Sam Smith, who writes for Bulls.com, compared Aldridge's game to Kevin Love's on Twitter, after seeing Aldridge up close and personal:
"I've mentioned it before, but it's pretty amazing Love is an All Star over Aldridge as Love doesn't have a fraction of Aldridge's game"
Fact remains, LaMarcus Aldridge is balling out of his backside, folks. And it's truly beautiful to watch.
