Portland Trailblazers 96, Houston Rockets 87
The Trailblazers did what they should do to poor teams like the Rockets last night…..beat them up. The Blazers outrebounded the Rockets 51-33 last night and they held them to 37% shooting from the floor. The Blazers led this game 75-56 after three quarters before calling off the dogs. If you bet on the Blazers last night though you might be a tad upset with them as they were a 9.5 point favorite. Travis Outlaw led the way for the Blazers with 23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in 33 minutes off the bench. Brandon Roy had a terrible shooting night hitting only 5 of 18 shots from the floor but he still finished with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists last night. Martell Webster looked solid in his first game in almost a year with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Greg Oden and Joel Pryzbilla put up a interesting combined line last night at center. They only scored 4 points between them but they had 22 rebounds, 2 assists and 7 blocked shots. The Blazers have enough scorers on the team that they would likely be pleased with that kind production out of the center position. The Trailblazers are off to a 1-0 start on the season.
Greg Oden does not need to score to impact the game, and he proved that last night with 12 rebounds, 5 blocks, and a steal in 26 minutes. Still, the Blazers would like to see a better effort on the offensive end from the big man. He had 2 points and 7 turnovers, which is unacceptable for any player especially a center who doesn’t handle the ball much. The Blazers should have won by a lot more and should not let teams back in the game, but it was still a good dominant win for them.