The Portland Trail Blazers have found themselves in sticky situation coming into the home stretch of the regular season. Facing six games against three of the top four teams in the Western Conference, the Blazers needed to find an answer. After Saturday night's win over the San Antonio Spurs, that answer was Nicolas Batum.
The last time the Blazers faced the Spurs, LaMarcus Aldridge flamed them, scoring 40 points and giving his team a 13-point home victory. But when you dismantle an elite head coach like Gregg Popovich, he never forgets. Even without Tim Duncan, Popovich devised a game plan, holding Aldridge to a mere 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the floor. Wes Matthews had 15 points, and Gerald Wallace played a well-rounded game, finishing with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and three steals.
But with 0.9 seconds left in regulation, the Blazers did not go to Aldridge, nor did they go to Wallace or Matthews. No, in a last second attempt to win the ball game, coach Nate McMillan drew up a play for Nicolas Batum; he did not disappoint. Andre Miller faked a pass to Brandon Roy and threw up a Hail Mary lob to the cutting Batum who leaped up and tipped the ball in ...
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Article written by Kristian Winfield
Portland Trail Blazers Claim Dominance with Win over Spurs
March 26th, 2011 by Kristian Winfield Leave a reply »
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