If you had told me the Blazers would beat the Jazz in Utah WITH LaMarcus Aldridge I would have questioned it. If you then told me they would come home on a back to back and hold the Warriors under 100, also without Aldridge, and win I would have been even more doubtful. And finally, for them to beat the Jazz twice in a week without Aldridge...well, that just isn't going to happen. Sure, I am optimistic...I am the only person I know who in the preseason predicted a potential playoff birth for the Blazers, a possible 45 win season, and so forth...but even I was not this optimistic!
So how did Portland beat the Jazz again? It started with defense as they held the Jazz to under 40% shooting. Boozer was 10-20 but other than that the Jazz shot very, very poorly. Meanwhile, Roy, Jones and Outlaw all had very good games, shooting well enough and getting enough help from players like Webster to make things happen.
Once more Portland struggled on the boards, giving up 18 offensive rebounds (and fifty total), but they also turned back 6 Jazz shots.
Once more a scrappy effort by a team few people expected much out of this year.
6 years ago
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