It was Coach Stott's birthday and everyone in Blazersland wanted to give him a win. The Blazers had returned from a punishing east coast road trip during which they lost four out of five, including one to this same New Orleans team. Fortunately things turned out better on this night and the Blazers beat a hot Pelicans team 119-104, earning their 2,000th all time win and giving their coach a nice little birthday gift.
The Pelicans are all about big man Anthony Davis. He dropped 38 points on the Blazers last time and from the start didn't appear to have much trouble with whatever defender the Blazers threw at him on this night. Every time the Blazers seemed poised to make a run, Davis brought his team back. Ex-Blazer Tim Frazier also gave New Orleans a little spark and it was interesting to see him and CJ McCollum get chippy early in the game. It was hard to tell if there was actually bad blood between them or this was just old friends being competitive. Either way, they both got called for technical fouls after a brief shoving match in the first quarter. I'd say McCollum ended up winning whatever grudge they had between them, scoring 24 points to Frazier's 11 and making it clear why Frazier was a third string guard when he was a Blazer.
Another interesting subplot was New Orleans' recent acquisition of power forward Terrance Jones, who was a star baller at Portland's own Jefferson High School. Jones had an okay night, and I noticed a few fans cheering on the hometown guy. Apparently the Jones family hosted the entire Pelicans team for a Thanksgiving dinner in Portland the day before. This reminds me to show you the clever sign which my wife and daughters made for the game:
For some reason this sign didn't make it onto the jumbotron. We ate turkey actually, but I've heard the two birds taste somewhat alike.
Moe Harkless had a nice game with 19 points and 11 rebounds, one of three Blazers to record a double-double on the night. The other two were Lillard (27 points, 11 assists) and Mason Plumlee (12 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists). Plumlee, who just missed getting his first ever triple double, apparently leads all NBA centers in assists right now, a nice statistic, but I for one wouldn't mind seeing him be quite so eager to pass which he gets the ball close-in. My friend Max, who went to college with Mason Plumlee, has been trying to promote the nickname "Plumlord" for our starting center. Interesting...
The Blazers led 66-57 at the half. Neither team was playing great defense, but Portland's was slightly better. Anyway, let's check out some of the fan action at the Moda Center during this game, shall we? This woman here said she's been following the Blazers "since their first game".
These two were wicked stoked:
This guy here can be seen at many Blazer's games. On this night he was holding a sign which read, "Pluck The Brow!", a reference to Anthony Davis' awesome unibrow.
These folks just looked happy:
Same with this family:
And this kid!
The second half started well for the Blazers as they built their lead up to 17 points. For some reason the PA person played the riff from "The Joker" every time Moe Harkless scored. I'm guessing he's a joker? There was a lot of Ducks vs. Beavers stuff going on at the game as well on account of the big "civil war" football matchup scheduled the following day. During one break the duck and beaver mascots flew off trampolines and tried to dunk basketballs. The beaver nearly decapitated himself and the duck fell woefully short. The crowd liked the efforts though.
After the Blazers built that big 17 point lead some of us dared to wonder if this might be the first Blazer blow out win of the season. But old Anthony Davis wasn't going to let that happen. At one point in the fourth quarter he brought the game back to within 4 points. He's a one man wrecking crew, that guy. He had 5 blocks on the night, and he's extended his shooting range to beyond the 3 point line so now he's a threat from all over. It's really too bad he's stuck on that New Orleans team because his huge games are going for naught this season. Such was the case tonight.
Lillard caught fire in the fourth, the way we like to see it, and the Blazers eventually ran away with the game. It wasn't the first blowout win of the season, but it was a solid win all the same. Next up come our old nemeses from Tejas, the Houston Rockets. We'll go from taking on The Brow to battling The Beard. It should prove a tough game for these Blazers, who lost badly when in Houston earlier this month. Come cheer on the good guys, why don't you?