Houston 103, Portland 87

Wasn't this same exact game played just Friday night?  It sure had the same kind of flow to it.  Geez, this one was ugly.  And I had to take a shower after the game.  And not because the Blazers lost the game.  It was because I had to watch Luis Scola on my television set and felt dirty afterwards.  It's my routine for whenever I watch a Rockets game.

It's sort of my way of combatting all the Luis Scola-ness that is out there in the world today.

It's probably a positive thing that the Blazers play the second game of a back to back tonight against Sacramento.  That way, there isn't much time to sit and dwell on "what's wrong with the Blazers?" or "which way is this team headed?"  So let's chalk up Portland's last two games as "glorified practices", and hope the team can actually put something together tonight that resembles a competitive effort.

We're not the only ones today that think this, but Coach McMillan needs to stop playing around and put Gerald Wallace into the starting lineup already!  He's never been a bench player, that's not who he is.  We're not so worried about long term team chemistry or any of that stuff.  We just think that Wallace will find his comfort level faster if he's inserted into the starting lineup.

Quickie Game Summary: Portland 103, Houston 100

In my opinion, this game was the best game of the season so far.  Not because the Blazers executed the offense to perfection or the defense shut the Rockets down.  Because they didn't.  As a matter of fact, they nearly gave the game away by getting down by 13 late in the game, and only a late scoring run saved them.

It was just fun to watch a close game down the stretch that Portland actually won.  It was great.

LaMarcus Aldridge was the offensive catalyst again tonight, scoring 27 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.  The rest of the Blazers contributed evenly though, as everyone that played scored in double figures, except Wesley Matthews, who only had 9 points.

Nobody could stop Kevin Martin all night as he scored 45 points.  During the 4th quarter, the announcers mentioned how many free throws Kevin Martin shoots every year.  They mentioned it like it was some kind of talent.  But in reality, it because the dude flops like a European white boy.  Maybe he grew up in Europe?  I don't know, but he learned it from somewhere.  Martin was grunting like Monica Seles tonight.

Oh and the funniest part about tonight is when the Rockets went up by nine at 85-76, I turned the channel.  Damned if I was going to watch another close road game slip away.  I just can't take that kind of pain, to be honest with you.  But, a few minutes later I flipped over to check the score and it was 90-89, Portland was leading.

And so that's when I decided to watch the rest of the game.  The team didn't break my heart tonight, and it was just a lot of fun to watch tonight.

Quickie Game Summary: Portland 100, Houston 85

Patty Mills scored a career-high 14 points and had a career-high 5 steals.  And that's all you need to know.