The Official Site of Brandon Roy

Tue, Jan 27th 2009, 13:24

B Roy's monstrous dunk propels the Blazers past the Clippers

This game had the makings of another back-and-forth affair for the Blazers and Clippers. Despite shooting 56-percent in the first half, the Blazers held a slim 49-48 lead over the young, and battered Clippers team playing without Baron Davis, Zach Randolph or Marcus Camby.

The third quarter had the same flow as the first half, with both teams trading shots and the Blazers unable to pull away. That was until Clippers rookie Eric Gordon threw down a one-handed dunk over LaMarcus Aldridge, which sparked an immediate and emphatic response from Brandon Roy in the form of a driving, right-handed throw down in the face of 7-foot-1 center Cheikh Samb.

That dunk put a halt to the give-and-take feel and the Blazers’ inability to put the Clips out of this game. Roy’s dunk, with 3:41 left in the third, awoke the Blazers and fueled a 46-21 in the final 15 minutes of the contest. As it has many times before, the fourth quarter belonged to Travis Outlaw, who helped the Blazers more-than double up the Clips in the fourth with 16 of his 20 coming in the final period. Portland outscored Los Angeles 36-15 in the quarter.

Despite forcing four turnovers by the Clippers on shot clock violations, the Blazers defense was sub par for the first three quarters of the game. Too many easy shots and open jumpers by the likes of Al Thornton, Fred Jones and Steve Novak. Even without three of their starters, the Clippers (the worst shooting team in the league) were flirting with 50-percent shooting on the night.

Both Jerryd Bayless (five points and a season-high six assists) and Sergio Rodriguez (seven points and five assists) combined for a nice game when Steve Blake was shut down in the second half after hurting his injured shoulder late in the second quarter. Brandon Roy topped the 30 point mark for the sixth time this season with 33 (30 through the first three quarters). And don’t look now, but Greg Oden is averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds over his last four games thanks to another strong performance last night (16 points on 7-for-7 shooting and six rebounds in 26 minutes). The only head scratcher last night was LaMarcus Aldridge, who pitched in a mere 10 points (on 4-for-7 shooting) and three rebounds in 34 minutes.

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