Just Blazin'... [Trade, Recaps]

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Cleveland 61, Portland 65
Nick The Quick Leads Portland

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 1 (Ticker) -- Nick Van Exel and Derek Anderson scored 11 points each as the Trail Blazers won in the Rose Garden over the Cleveland Cavaliers, 65-61.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 10 points and 3 rebounds; Theo Ratliff grabbed 10 rebounds with 9 points, and Zach Randolph scored only 9.

"We needed this win," Randolph said. "We are very happy."

For Cleveland, LeBron James and Drew Gooden scored 16 and 12, respectively.

Photo Gallery

Gooden watching Randolph
Darius Miles celebrating!
Randolph got injured in the third but returned in the fourth
Van Exel shooting over Jeff McInnis

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Philadelphia 66, Portland 72
Recently Acquired's Unstoppable

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 3 (Ticker) -- New adquisition Quentin Richardson scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76Ers, 72-66.

Richardson made 6-of-7 field goals (2-of-2 3-pointers) in the fourth.

"I feel great here," Quentin said. "I love this city and I hope to play here for a lot of time."

Zach Randolph and Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 17 and 12.

Allen Iverson, Chris Webber and Samuel Dalembert posted 22, 13 and 12 for the Sixers.

Photo Gallery

Abdur-Rahim over Matt Barnes
Shareef celebrating the win
Reef with the dunk

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Memphis 68, Portland 64
J-Will Blast Blazers

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 5 (Ticker) -- Jason Williams scored 24 points and had 6 assists as the Memphis Grizzlies won against the Blazers in Portland: 68-64.

Mike Miller added 15 points, and Lorenzen Wright 10 rebounds.

"I couldn't stop him," Nick Van Exel (13 points) said. "He made all for his team."

Quentin Richardson and Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 13 and 10, respectively.

Zach Randolph scored 11 and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Photo Gallery

Van Exel over Stromile Swift
Derek Anderson
Nick again
Quentin over Shane Battier

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Portland 78, Seattle 76
Derek Leads Portland to a 3-2 Record

SEATTLE, Nov. 7 (Ticker) -- Derek Anderson scored 13 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers as Portland defeated the Seattle SuperSonics, 78-76.

Keon Clark, off the bench too, added 12 and 5 rebounds.

"The bench was incredible today," Phil Jackson admitted. "Derek and Keon were very helpful."

Zach Randolph added 12 points.

Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis scored 21 and 16, respectively, for Seattle. Ronald Murray added 9 off the bench.

Photo Gallery

Clark...
Randolph with the awesome dunk...
Theo Ratliff scored 6 points
Anderson led the team this time!

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Title Up For Grabs

Western Conference


The Phoenix Suns, who finished the 2003-04 season with a 29-53 record, are starting this season with a 4-1 record. Shawn Marion is leading the team with 10.4 points per game, followed by Steve Nash, with 8.4. Marion and Amare Stoudemire are in the top of rebounding with 4.2 each.


Not a surprise. The Dallas Mavericks are in the 2nd seed of the West with a 5-2 record. Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley are scoring 10.0 and 6.6 points, respectively.


The Minnesota Timberwolves are in the 3rd seed today. Reigning MVP, Kevin Garnett, is not having MVP numbers. He's scoring 6.7 points and grabbing 5.4 rebounds, all in 15.8 minutes. In the second place, Sam Cassell, starting point guard, is adding 6.4 points and 1.7 assists to the T-Wolves mix.


The Memphis Grizzlies, maybe the last season surprise -taking the 6th seed in the West-, is now in the 4th seed, with a 4-2 record. Mike Miller is averaging 12.3 points per game (6th in the league), and Pau Gasol (injured) didn't show yet.


The LA Clippers (week side of Los Angeles)... is with a 2-1 record, taking the 5th seed. Elton Brand is averaging 9.7 points and 4.7 rebounds (10th in the league). Corey Maggette? 8 points per game.


Houston is in the 6th seed with a Tracy McGrady on fire!: 12.0 points (6th in the league), shooting .431 from the field, grabbing 4.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists. T-Mac + Yao = 3-2.


And here comes our team. The Blazers made some good moves to compete in the West. First: they acquired Quentin Richardson [11.7 points (9th in the league), 31 field goals made (2nd in the league)]... Second: they have last season MIP Zach Randolph with basically great stats [14.2 PPG (2nd), 6.0 RPG (3rd)]... Third: they signed Phil Jackson as their new head coach. Fourth: Portland is the only team to have 3 players with 10.0 PPG or more (Randolph, Richardson, Abdur-Rahim). All of this is equal to a 3-2 record, enough to take the 7th seed. But the best part hasn't happened yet.


Sac-Town is in the 8th seed right now. Peja Stojakovic and Brad Miller are leading with 9.8 and 9.4 points respectively. Enough said.

Other News

• Orlando signs Eddie Robinson.
• Minnesota signs Walt Williams.
• Chicago signs Jelani McCoy.
• Golden State signs Vladimir Stepania.
• Portland trades Ruben Patterson, Richie Frahm and Joel Przybilla to Phoenix for Quentin Richardson.
• Sacramento signs Kendall Gill.
• Phoenix signs Quincy Lewis.
• Atlanta signs Shawn Kemp.

[Mark.]

Funny choice in usign 2004, but good luck, dont slacken off in the heat one though

[kibaxx7]

dont slacken off in the heat one though

Don't worry man.

[mixo]

great dynasty bro - good move to bring in richardson

[c0nr4d]

good stuff here nice player articles and recaps

[kibaxx7]

Thanks to both mixo and c0nr4d. The recaps will be coming in Monday...

[kibaxx7]

Atlanta 72, Portland 88
Blazers' Teamwork Takes Hawks Down

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 8 (Ticker) -- Quentin Richardson's adquisition is paying off.

Richardson had 14 points shooting 5-of-6 from the field (3-of-4 3-pointers) to lead the Portland Trail Blazers over the Atlanta Hawks 88-72 Saturday night.

"If I'm open I'm going to shoot it."

The Blazers led by as many as 11 points in the first half but struggled through the second, even briefly surrendering the lead when Al Harrington's jumper put the Hawks ahead 62-60.

The Blazers regained the lead, but the Hawks pulled to within 80-70 on Tony Delk's 3-pointer with 1:25 left, but Portland hung on for the final margin.

Harrington had only 8 points for Atlanta.

"We lost. That's about all I have to say," he said.

The Blazers, coming off a 78-76 win at Seattle, jumped out to an early 17-10 lead on Randolph's 16-foot jumper and went on lead 49-43 at halftime.

Zach Randolph had 10 points and two rebounds.

"Our execution against the zone was not good, but we scored when we needed to," Blazers coach Phil Jackson said.

The Blazers tied it again on Nick Van Exel's jumper before Randolph's layup gave them the lead, in the 3rd quarter.

"A lot of times you learn more from losing than you do from winning. We learn again what we have to do and we can get good at and what we have to improve on," Hawks point guard Tyronn Lue said.

Lue led the game in scoring with 30 points (12-of-19 FGs), in 16 minutes.

Photo Gallery

Darius Miles (6 points) shooting...
Derek Anderson (10 points) with the shot
Sebastian Telfair scored 12 points
Reef
Telfair again

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Toronto 90, Portland 93
Bench Leads Portland

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 8 (Ticker) -- Derek Anderson led again Portland with 17 points.

Anderson had 17 off the bench and Portland overcame a big game from Rafer Alston, in an 93-90 victory Tuesday night.

Alston scored 15 of his 23 points in the last quarter for the Raptors.

"Rafer is really tough to guard," said Nick Van Exel (with 10 points), who was assigned to Carter most of the game. "We guarded everybody else."

The Raptors got little scoring other than from Alston. Jalen Rose had 18 points and Milt Palacio added 12.

Zach Randolph added 14 points and 3 rebounds for Portland. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 13 points, and Quentin Richardson scored 12 (all in the first half).

"It was a grind-it-out game," Blazers coach Phil Jackson admitted. "We're going to be playing these games, just grinding them out."

Morris Peterson, who had only 9 points, missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer to take the game into overtime but he failed it.

Theo Ratliff had 11 points and 5 rebounds for the Blazers.

Photo Gallery

Van Exel shooting...
Randolph
Sebastian Telfair scored 8 points this time.
Q
Abdur-Rahim