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Wednesday April 29, 2009 7:08 AM

Blazers Rally At Rose Garden, Force Game 6

Roy, Aldridge lead Portland to 88-77 victory. Rockets lead series 3-2

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Portland - Prior to Houston’s Game 5 showdown with the Trail Blazers, Shane Battier had preached the importance of remaining resilient in the face of adversity. Portland, he said, was sure to feed off the energy of its home crowd and make an early run; the key to victory would lie in the Rockets’ response – stand up to Portland’s best shot, and the young Blazers might begin to get nervous.

Sure enough, Portland surged ahead shortly after tip-off and held the advantage through the better part of the first three quarters. Yet Houston refused to wilt amid the Portland pressure and when the Rockets finally clawed their way to a 4-point lead in the fourth quarter, Battier’s pregame words of wisdom appeared to be quite prophetic. But perhaps the Blazers had been eavesdropping as well because from that point forward Portland proved it possessed plenty of resilience too, responding with a 15-0 run which ultimately saved the Blazers’ season and ensured the series would shift back to Houston for Game 6 Thursday night. Leading the way for Portland were LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, who scored 25 points apiece to help lift the Blazers to a do-or-die 88-77 victory.

“Give them credit,” said Rockets’ head coach Rick Adelman after the game. “They came out like they should. Their backs were against the wall and they came out very aggressive with a lot of energy and took it at us. We turned it over, we only had five assists in the second half – we just didn’t play the way we needed to play.

“I was just disappointed with the way we played the fourth quarter. We had put ourselves in great position and we put them on the line by making some really silly fouls early in the fourth quarter – they were in the penalty with about 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter – and you can’t do that. It’s too tough against a team like that.”

Still, for everything that went wrong for Houston Tuesday night – the foul trouble (the Rockets were called for 24 fouls compared to just 12 for Portland), the turnovers (the Rockets committed a whopping 16) and a miserable night from long range (Houston shot just 3 of 15 from three-point land) – the Rockets were right in the thick of things until the final minute. In that respect, Game 5 resembled Houston’s Game 2 loss; one which also witnessed Roy and Aldridge exploding offensively while the Rockets made myriad mistakes. Houston responded quite well following that defeat, of course; coming home and taking care of business before its own rowdy fans. The Rockets will no doubt be hoping for a similar pattern to play itself out Thursday night.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” said Luis Scola, who led Houston with 21 points. “It’s going to be a close game and we just have to be ready to play 48 minutes. It will probably come down to the last minute and we have to be ready to compete, fight and finish the series at home. We fought all year for home-court advantage and now we have it, so now’s the time to use it.”

And for those seeking a hint as to the Rockets' Game 6 strategy, a frustrated but focused Yao Ming (15 points, 12 rebounds) had no problem divulging his team’s primary offensive objective for Thursday night's showdown at Toyota Center:

“Get ball inside. Get ball inside. Get ball inside. That’s it.”

Nothing more need be said.

RICK ADELMAN

I was just disappointed with the way we played the fourth quarter. We had put ourselves in great position and we just came out and put them on the free throw line really early in the quarter, and we didn’t execute very well. They made the plays they had to – they got offensive boards when they needed to. We put ourselves in good position and let it slip away, so we just have to regroup.

(turnovers): We have to play with composure and we didn’t do that – the fourth quarter especially. I thought early in the game they were just trying to push it up and down, push it at us, and we got in kind of a frenzied pace ourselves, and we’ve got to have more control and more patience that we showed tonight.

Give them credit: They came out like they should. Their backs were against the wall and they came out very aggressive with a lot of energy and took it at us. Offensively, we’ve got to have more patience. We just can’t come down and play at a frenzied pace. We turned it over, we only had five assists in the second half – we just didn’t play the way we needed to play. They played well enough to win and they were the better team tonight.

(Scola): He got in foul trouble which took him out of the game, which hurt us because he was playing very well. I think that group we had in the fourth quarter just didn’t play with the confidence and composure you need to play with in the fourth quarter. Like I said, we put them on the line by making some really silly fouls early in the fourth quarter – they were in the penalty with about 8 minutes to go in the fourth quarter – and you can’t do that. It’s too tough against a team like that.

SHANE BATTIER

They’ve got good players. You don’t think about how experienced you are in the middle of a game. Good players make good plays.

We can (make corrections). Our offense is fine when we played at home and it was less than stellar tonight. I’m not concerned. We’ll play better at home.

We’re going back and we’ve played well at home. We’re excited. It’s not a pressure situation.

We really aided their run by putting them on the foul line. They got in the bonus pretty early and that was really the difference in the game. We did a great job in the half-court against their offense, but once we put them on the line they got a rhythm and got going, and it was a struggle.

We knew they were going to come out with this crowd and have a great first quarter. Our concern was to take their best hit and keep it close. They opened it up in the second quarter a bit, but we knew once we settled in and played our defense that we’d get back in the game.

We made so many mistakes, bad fouls, that you just can’t make on the road and expect to win.

LUIS SCOLA
We got them where we wanted, we got up by four, but they just played better from then on. They’re a pretty good team. We keep saying that. We knew before the game it was not going to be easy and we know that now.

It’s pretty much a battle. It’s going to be a tough game, it’s going to be a close game and we just have to be ready to play 48 minutes. It will probably come down to the last minute and we have to be ready to compete, fight and finish the series at home. We fought all year for home-court advantage and now we have it, so now’s the time to use it.

YAO MING

Obviously the first half wasn’t good. That was probably the worst half in the series I’ve played but still we were only down seven. We still had a chance. The third quarter we played good and got back and it looked like we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter. Obviously those early fouls in the fourth quarter hurt our defense and we let them step up to the line too much.

I was just running up and down the court – I didn’t know anything. I just ran baseline to baseline seven or eight times and that’s it. What I mean is that we were not organized. We did not execute. We did not know what to play. We did not know what is called. And because of the foul trouble we had, it limited our defense.

We leave frustrated today but tomorrow is a new day. We still have a home game and it’s another day.

(Game 6): This is our best chance right now. This is our best chance.

(how important is it to not return for Game 7?): You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

(Goal for next game): “Get ball inside. Get ball inside. Get ball inside. That’s it.”

RON ARTEST

“I don’t really know what happened out there, they played a good game. They played a great game. They played really hard… we just couldn’t play a solid game for 48 minutes…They are playing great at home. If we could get the next one at Houston that’d be big, get our crowd behind us…we just want to win the series…we’re going to try and close it out in Houston.”

ON LOOKS

“I don’t really worry about looks, I just worry about winning… I’m not really considered individually. I’m just worried if we win or not.

NATE McMILLAN

“Our guys came out and played their hearts out. I’ve never doubted them. All season I’ve never doubted their resilience and the way they play when the game’s on the line.

“ Brandon was still suffering from flu-like symptoms and had to take a lot of fluids before the game. You just never know how that works out when a player is under the weather. Sometimes though guys play great games when they’re not in the best of health. When guys come in that way, sometimes they have great nights. Brandon had one of those tonight. He played like a champion. LaMarcus, too, was not in the best physical shape with his elbow but he also delivered a great performance. But it wasn’t just those two. We got good production from everybody who played.

“I brought Rudy in early in the first half then started him in the second half because I thought we needed to get some ball movement. I went with that rotation early because I thought our offense needed a lot of players who could score on the court. Rudy really helped but I think he wore himself out running and trying to defend bigger Houston players.

“Earlier Scola was hitting all those shots and our close-outs were slow. They took advantage of our defense and moved the ball to get open shots. We had a much better second half defensively in getting to their shooters.

“They need just one more game. For us, it’s still a one-game season. They need only one and we need two. I know it’s different buildings and homecourt advantages and all that, but so far we haven’t won there and they’ve won here so the pressure is still on us.”

STEVE BLAKE

“Coach said we needed to follow through on plays on both ends of the floor and not turn it over. We wanted to hold them to one shot when they missed. All the little hustle plays, all that stuff was a factor.

“He’s a game changer (Greg Oden). To have his presence out there is huge for us. If its just to change a shot, block somebody out or just that threat to catch in finish in the post. He’s huge for us. He really changes a lot.

“We prepared for a close finish. We expected it to be close at the finish so we went over some game situations like this at the shoot around. We definitely were prepared for tonight.”

BRANDON ROY

“I think the IV (the shot he had before the game) really helped me. I came in early and they gave me the IV. I think it helped more than anything in the fourth quarter of the game. I struggled throughout the game to get my second wind but late I finally felt good and had some bounce in my step and was able to make some baskets to try and help my team win this game tonight.

“We had to be aggressive. Coach said everybody has to go out there and be aggressive. Last game I think I shot 13 out of 17 free throws and coach said we need more guys to attack (like that). LaMarcus did a good job of setting the pace for us. He was attacking all night. Rudy and Travis and Blake were getting to the paint so it opened up a lot of things that got us into the bonus. We were shooting free throws down the stretch and I think that’s what helped us keep the lead because they weren’t able to be aggressive defensively.

“We still haven’t won in their building. Hopefully we put the pressure back on them tonight. We’re just taking it one game at a time. That’s all we can do. We have another chance to play with our backs against the wall. We’re going to go out there and play loose and hopefully we can play like we did tonight. I felt I didn’t have the ball in my hands as much tonight and I felt like we had a better rhythm because of that.

LaMARCUS ALDRIDGE

“We can’t talk about it any more, we just got to go out and play and that was my whole mental state tonight, was to just to go out tonight and leave it all out on the line. Try and make all those plays, do those things I didn’t do last game, if I did those things then we should win…

ON LATE RUN

“Guys played like this was a game we had to have I think, everybody stepped up tonight. Rudy made big shots, everybody came to play tonight, and that gave Brandon time to feel better and once he got his rhythm, and he felt better, then he came through in the fourth quarter like he always does.”

GREG ODEN

ABOUT THE BLOCK ON VON WAFER:

“It was good. I was working off the spirit of the crowd. I was getting in to it. They (the crowd) got everybody playing hard. We played really good team defense. It felt good (playing the extra minutes). I had the chance to be physical with Yao. I think I did a better job of moving my feet which kept me in the game longer. We definitely didn’t want the season to end; we live to play another day.”

NOTES

Portland’s 11-point win marks its largest in any game against the Rockets since April 8, 2003 (81-66 at Houston).

The Trail Blazers’ 77 points allowed were Portland’s fewest in the postseason since Portland beat the L.A. Lakers, 106-77, May 22, 2000, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

The team that has won the first quarter has taken all eight games in the series, including the five games in the postseason ... All eight times, the winning team also led at halftime.

Portland has now won 34 straight games when leading at halftime at the Rose, including both regular season and postseason games, dating back to the 2007-08 season.

If the Trail Blazers were to win the series, Portland would be the ninth team in NBA history to win when trailing 3-1 in a seven-game playoff series (8-176, 4.3%).

Brandon Roy has at least shared the team lead in scoring in all five games in the series.

Houston’s three offensive rebounds mark an all-time Trail Blazers opponent low in the playoffs … Houston had 16 offensive boards in Game 4, including 10 in the fourth quarter.

Portland’s 12 fouls marked a franchise playoff low and a low for the season.

Portland’s 23-13 first-quarter lead marked its first double-digit advantage in the playoff series and matched its largest lead against the Rockets all season (Nov. 6) at the time ... The Trail Blazers used a 12-2 run to take the 23-13 advantage.

Joel Przybilla matched a high for any game with four assists, a career high for a playoff game … He led Portland in assists for the first time this season … Przybilla had a team-high three assists in the first quarter alone.

Steve Blake shared the team lead with seven rebounds, marking the first time he has been the high man in rebounding for Portland all year.

Portland used a 15-0 run from the 9:34 mark of the fourth quarter to the 4:48 mark to take Houston’s biggest lead of the game, 68-64, to a 79-68 advantage and never trailed again … Before the run, Portland had just 14 points in the second half.

The Trail Blazers have now blocked 36 shots in the series compared to 16 for the Rockets.

Portland’s starters shot 27-for-50 (54.0%), while the Portland bench went 6-for-22 (27.3%).

In all three games in the series at the Rose Garden, a Rocket has scored 15 or more points in the first quarter, just shy of Houston’s playoff record for any quarter of 18 (16, Yao Ming, first quarter, Game 1; 15, Ron Artest, first quarter, Game 2; 15, Luis Scola, first quarter, Game 5) … Scola’s 15 first-quarter points (7-9 FG) tonight were more than twice as many as any other player in the game.

Aaron Brooks only missed seven three-pointers in the first four games of the series (10-17) before missing seven in tonight’s game alone (1-8).

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