The Blazers give the fans a going away present

Have you ever been in a really good relationship where everything is going better then you could have ever imagined? Then work comes calling and you have to go across the country and you hope it does not affect your relationship. As the Trail Blazers prepared to embark on there longest road trip of the year they wanted to make sure they left the Portland fans something to remember them by.

On Wednesday night Baron Davis and the Golden State Warriors came into the game knowing that they were behind Portland in the conference standings and that this would make an excellent opportunity to make up some ground in the battle for a playoff spot. With every thing that the Warriors had to play for it was the Blazers that came out with all of the energy and and pulled out to an quick lead. Just as the last time these two teams played Joel Przybilla got off to a quick start scoring six of the Blazers first twelve points. With the Blazers having their way inside the Warriors started to pack the inside. Blake made them pay for that by scoring 10 of the next 12 points going 4/4 on all jumpers including two three point baskets. Martell then got into the act and hit a couple of three pointers and the Blazers lead 14-30 at the end of the first quarter.

The scariest part of the game was during the second quarter. Brandon Roy was penetrating in the middle and jumped to make a pass but when he came down his leg got caught underneath him and he fell to the ground. As he sat on the ground writhing in pain, the Rose Garden went dead silent. You could feel the anxiety in the arena, and you could see it on the faces of Team Owner Paul Allen and General Manager Kevin Prichard. Roy was helped to the locker room and the Blazers went into halftime leading 41-56.

As the second half was getting ready to start Brandon came out of the locker room and came back onto the court. He was able to return in the second half but played sparingly because of the lead that Portland had. Golden State played most of there second and third string players heavy minutes as starters like Davis and Stephen Jackson where largely ineffective.

The offense during the second half was very sloppy by both teams. Golden State stuck almost exclusively with a zone defense which the Blazers are not used to seeing a lot of. There were times that the offense was ineffective because the Blazers did not know how to attack the zone. The Blazers were still playing good defense and the Warriors could not make a deep run in the forth and the Blazers won the game 91-109

So the Blazers are going to be heading out to Toronto for a 9:30 am game on Sunday for the first game of the trip. The affair that the City of Portland is having with the Blazers will have it's tests during this road trip. Portland will be playing 7 games in 11 days all on the east coast away from the friendly confines of the Rose Garden where the Trail Blazers are undefeated when there is a sellout. So say your goodbyes but do not forget about these Blazers because there is something special about this team.