PORTLAND — LaMarcus Aldridge made it look easy once again, leading the Trail Blazers to a 120-114 win over the Denver Nuggets, taking his team one step closer to clinching a playoff berth.
Aldridge was honored pre game by Paul Allen and given a piece of the 1977 championship court for becoming the franchise’s All-Time leading rebounder.
“I’m running out of room for the stuff,” Aldridge said of getting yet another franchise record. “I think that they definitely showed me how much I’m loved here. I appreciate it all. And I think to have a piece of that court makes me want to win my own championship here.”
In the third quarter, he was downright dominant again after a perfect fourth quarter Friday against Phoenix.
Again, the defense didn’t matter. Aldridge was 6-of-8 in the third quarter, scoring 16 of his 32 points to go along with 11 rebounds helping Portland push their lead to as high as 13.
Arron Afflalo has been in a little bit of a perimeter shooting slump but he worked hard to get out in transition for easy buckets.
His first 3-point shot of the game came in the corner via a wonderfully executed full court out of bounds play on an assist from Nicolas Batum who caught a full court toss from Aldridge.
“Me, Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers,” Aldridge listed off before bursting into laughter after the game. “I couldn’t even say it after that. We had that play in. Luckily it worked out for us tonight.”
“Finally we did it,” said Batum of the inbounds play. “We were working on that for two years now.”
Afflalo finished with 19 points, the most he’s scored in a Blazers uniform.
The Nuggets played with almost no consciousness. Almost everybody on their team appeared to have a green light and were letting the 3-pointers fly in transition. Their aggression kept the game close.
Lillard picked up his fourth foul with 9:20 left in the third quarter and sat for the rest of the period. He struggled from the field for the whole game though he did lead the team with 10 assists.
Aldridge carried the load, reaching 30 points before the fourth quarter as Batum ran the offense. Batum finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven assists, saying he felt better on Saturday as he said he wasn’t worrying as much about his back which kept him out of two games this week.
“I would have liked to have expanded the lead, but they made shots and they’re a potent offensive team,” said Blazers coach Terry Stotts, who continues to point to Portland’s team defense which has slipped since the All-Star break. “Their record doesn’t show it.”
Jameer Nelson had a team high 22 points for the Nuggets off the bench.
Will Barton, who was traded from Portland in the Afflalo trade scored 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists in his first game in the Moda Center as a visitor and helped cut the Blazers lead to two points in the fourth before the Blazers took control.
“It felt good,” Barton said of being back in Portland. “I was excited, my adrenaline was going. Bittersweet we took the loss.”
With Oklahoma City’s loss to Utah Saturday, the Blazers moved one step closer to clinching the Northwest Division and a top-four seed in the Western Conference. The magic number of Thunder losses and Blazers wins to clinch the division now stands at just three.
The Blazers are having what they call a “blackout day” on Sunday, meaning the team’s staff will not be at the practice facility, encouraging all the players to take a day away from basketball after nine games in 14 days.
