Stoudamire, O'Neal lead Blazers past Hornets
Portland 135, New Orleans 114 |
Top Performers
Portland - Jermaine O'Neal
42 points, 14 rebounds, 1 block
New Orleans - Jamaal Magloire
20 points, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks
O'Neal put up another 40 point effort
The Blazers topped the Hornets on the road for their 4th straight win. Jermaine O'Neal had 42 points and 14 rebounds for his 3rd 40+ point game in his last 4 games. The Hornets threatened the lead a couple times but never took over as Portland dominated the end of the game. Damon Stoudamire had 34 points and broke his season high record of 3PT shots made with 9 shots from the beyond the arc, breaking his previous high of 7. Mighty Mouse played a big part in tonights win. Travis Outlaw had another solid performance with 27 points and 9 rebounds plus 2 blocks. Outlaw saw some time at the Center position while O'Neal dominated the Power Foward spot. The Blazers shot 47% from the field while the Hornets shot 42%.
Jamal Magloire and Jamal Mashburn both led the Hornets with 20 points each. Magaloire grabbed 17 rebounds while Mashburn had 7. The Hornets dropped to 11-13 and the Blazers improved to 11-9 and are now in the 8th playoff spot of the Western Conference. If they playoffs were held now, Portland would face the Dallas Mavericks (14-7) in the first round. Here are some other notable performances from both teams.
Darius Miles: 14 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists
Joel Pryzbilla: 0 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists
Theo Ratliff: 4 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks
Shammond Williams: 13 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists
Baron Davis: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists
Rodney Rodgers: 11 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals
Jermaine O'Neal is now in the MVP candidate race. The Blazers are 4-0 with O'Neal and is clearly the MVP of his team. He has Two 40 point games and One 50 point game in this 4 games. Here is the list of MVP candidates as of now:
Kevin Garnett (MIN): 17.4 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.5 BPG, 1.5 SPG
Tim Duncan (SAS): 17.0 PPG, 10.4 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.9 BPG, 1.3 SPG
Jermaine O'Neal (POR): 20.3 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.7 BPG, 0.83 SPG
Shaquille O'Neal (MIA): 20.7 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.8 BPG, 1.09 SPG
Allen Iverson (PHI): 19.0 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 6.0 APG, 0.17 BPG, 2.04 SPG
The Blazers travel on the road to face the Boston Celtics (16-6) in the 3rd game of a 6 game road trip for Portland. The Blazers will try and extend their win streak to 5 against a tough Boston team.