(USA TODAY sports)
Today’s big winner: The Portland Trail Blazers
Well, that was a crazy game of basketball.
LaMarcus Aldridge did something remarkable in Game 1 of the Blazers-Rockets series. Aldridge became the first person since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1987 to notch 46 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks in a playoff game. Aldridge also became the first player in franchise history to put up at least 30 points and 15 rebounds in a playoff game.
Aldridge was doing a lot. Then he fouled out with a minute left in overtime, and Damian Lillard stepped up.
To be fair, Lillard had been getting the job done all night. But he shone brightest in that last minute of overtime. In his first career playoff game , Lillard had 31 points including the two go-ahead free throws in overtime of the Blazers’ 122-120 win.
“When you’ve got your best player playing like that, it fires you up,” Lillard said. “When he went out of the game, I felt like our team … had to have L.A’s back and come through for him.”
Lillard had 31, Aldridge had 46, and on the other side of the ball, James Harden and Dwight Howard each had 27. If there were barns near the Toyota Center, said barns would have been burned. While there was no arson, there was an alleged robbery.
Houston’s best play of the game came from the Rockets’ Twitter handle, who fired this deft blow to Robin Lopez.
Portland walks away with precious home court advantage. Houston limps away with questions about Patrick Beverley’s health and James Harden’s capacity to play defense. One is getting an MRI on Monday, while the other appears to be suffering from a chronic lack of interest in preventing the other team from scoring.
Game 2 is on Wednesday, and the responses of each team will be telling. Should the Blazers go up two games on the Rockets heading back home to Portland, the series is all but over. Despite the loss of Beverly and their struggles on defense, it took a performance that has happened only once since 1987 to beat the Rockets.
Fortunately for us, there is still much to play for.
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More of today’s winners …
Gregg Popovich gave the best sideline interview you will ever see.
Charles Barkley gave a normal Charles Barkley analysis of the Indiana Pacers.
Jeremy Lin hit an astounding, playoff-caliber, airball.
Boston Marathon survivors were honored at Fenway Park last night.
Zdeno Chara thinks it’s adorable that the Red Wings want to fight him.
