Game 1 - Portland @ Atlanta
Saturday, October 29th, 2005
The game was hard fought on both ends of the court. Both teams played exceptionally well on defense. If it wasn't for both teams shooting over 50%, we would've probably seen a much lower scoring game. In the first half the Blazers and the Hawks kept it close and were neck and neck the whole time with the lead never exceeding four points for either team. At the end of both the first and second quarter the difference in the score was by only one point. The difference was made when the third quarter rolled around, that's when it started to go downhill for the Blazers. Coming out of the locker room, Portland immeadiately started making costly mistakes. They were taking bad shots and weren't controlling the boards like they did in the first half. Because of this, Atlanta took advantage of Portlands mistakes and started to gain momentum, ending the third quarter with a six point lead. From then on until the end of the game, Portland would not be able to take over the lead. At one point, in the fourth quarter the blazers were down fourteen points. In the end Atlanta would come out on top, 102 to 96. Overall, this game shows a lot about Portland, they are a very young team and they showed that through their mistakes. Hopefully in the next game, they can learn from this and get a win.
Score
First Quarter: Portland 27, Atlanta 26
Second Quarter: Portland 52, Atlanta 51
Third Quarter: Portland 70, Atlanta 76
Fourth Quarter:Portland 96, Atlanta 102
Winner:
Atlanta Hawks
Leaders
Points
POR-Sebastian Telfair 30
ATL-Tyronn Lue 27
Rebounds
POR-Zach Randolph 11
ATL-Al Harrington 17
Assists
POR-Sebastian Telfair 4
ATL-Josh Smith 5
X-Factor
Al Harrington lead his team to victory against the Blazers tonight and definitely made a difference on the court for the Atlanta Hawks that would give them the win. Because of Al Harrington's outstanding performance he is tonight's X-Factor.
Al Harrington: 20 Points, 10/15, 17 Rebounds, 2 Assists
Game Highlights
Z-Bo goes up for a score while Harrington tries to defend.