The Blazers won a humdinger of a final game during the opening weekend of the 2014 NBA Playoffs. LaMarcus Aldridge scored a Blazers playoff franchise record 46 points in Portland’s 122-120 overtime win in Game 1 of their first round series against the favored Rockets. LMA might as well stand for LaMarcus Motherf***in’ Aldridge at this point.
It was Aldridge, or second-year stud Damian Lillard, who scored the final 25 points in regulation for the Blazers, but it was Aldridge who tipped in the final bucket to tie the score in regulation. LMA would eventually foul out in the final minute after committing a silly foul at mid-court trying to set a screen for Lillard, but not before going 17-for-31 — including 2-for-2 from deep, after hitting just three 3-pointers all season long — for a record 46 points and 18 rebounds in the opening weekend slugfest.
But Aldridge’s most important bucket came with under five seconds to play and the Blazers down two. Wesley Matthews took a quick three-pointer off the inbounds for an attempt at the win, and after Dame missed the follow-up shot in the lane, Aldridge out-positioned Dwight Howard for the tipped bucket to tie the score with just 2.9 seconds left in regulation. James Harden missed a fadeaway to win it at the buzzer, and fans got free basketball.
In OT, the Rockets went up six in the first minute with a pair of three-point plays. But Aldridge started another comeback off with a contested three-pointer from the corner with the shot clock running down.
Although Dame was just 1-for-4 in the extra session, his lone bucket, a hesitation layup plus the foul, got pesky point guard Patrick Beverley to foul out. Dame also knocked down three free throw’s in the final minute — he hit the foul shot after the Beverley foul — and finished with 31 points (9-of-19), nine rebounds and five assists in his first playoff game, continuing to flourish after winning last season’s ROY and being named an all-star in his sophomore campaign.
The OT thriller served as a capstone to an already amazing opening weekend of the NBA Playoffs. We’re pretty sure LMA would have gotten a lot more All-NBA votes if people had just witness his Game 1 mastery, so keep that in mind when the voting results are released. The Blazers mid-range savant was fantastic for the Blazers on the road, and now Houston is faced with a must-win Game 2 if they’re to have any change at advancing further than last season’s first-round loss.
One bright note for Houston: Dwight Howard hit some clutch free throws down the stretch, but the Rockets big man was just 9-for-21 from the field (Harden was worse at 8-for-28) before fouling out in the extra session like so many other stars.
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