Portland Trail Blazers Overcome 15-Point Deficit To Defeat Denver Nuggets 110-105.
Earlier tonight, The NBA All-Star starters were unveiled, which featured a mixture of familiar and fresh faces for next month. One player that didn’t make the final cut was Portland Trailblazers superstar, LaMarcus Aldridge. The Blazers were host to their Northwest rival, Denver Nuggets following consecutive losses to the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Video highlights and more on Portland’s victory after the jump.
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Aldridge essentially used the snub as motivation to avoid their third consecutive loss and most of all set a new career in points with 44 and 13 boards to add. Brian Shaw had his usual 10-man rotation spreading wealth of scoring, as Kenneth Faried was the only starter not in double figures with 8; but the will of LaMarcus was just too much for them down the stretch.
With Portland erasing a 15-point deficit in the 3rd quarter, Aldridge would go on to score his team’s final 15 posts netting eight from the stripe. The Blazers are currently 1 win shy of their season total last season and look to be a lock for April’s playoffs. Aldridge has missed the postseason the last two years and has never gotten past the first round.
While we expect that to change this year, the team has all of the potential to give Oklahoma City and San Antonio a legit scare heading forward. Most will look at Aldridge’s 44 points as a statement about all-star snub, but the Blazers are looking ahead for Western conference finals aspirations later this spring.