2010 NBA Playoffs: Blazers block out the Suns in game 4

For those of us Seattle basketball fans who still haven’t fully recovered from our team being stolen, we should consider ourselves grateful for the proximity of Portland’s arena.  A short 3-hour drive, convenient parking at the Lloyd Center and taking the road car (MAX) to the arena make going to Trailblazers game a very accessible task.  Not an ideal situation, but with no alternative to watching live professional basketball, for those of us who still bleed green and gold (RIP Sonics) we’ll take what we can get. I was lucky enough to land a pair of tickets to a first round playoff game this past weekend.

The Phoenix Suns visited Rip City this past Saturday to take on the Trailblazers in game 4 of their first round playoff series.  With the Suns leading the series 2-1, the Blazers were looking to tie it up on their home court with the return of their star to the lineup: Brandon Roy.  Seattle native and UW alumnus, Roy, was just returning to the game after his knee surgery kept him out of the first 3 games of the series.  Excited to make a mark on his first return game, Roy came out scoring 10 points in 27 minutes of play to help his team blaze past the Suns to win 96-87.

Though all the fans were excited to see Roy return, the real star of the game was their 24-year-old power forward, LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridge made sure the Suns knew he was leading his team’s charge by scoring a career high 31 points and getting 11 rebounds. His double-double was exactly the momentum the team needed to keep the Suns at bay.  Play after play, he seemed unstoppable and had the entire crowd, from the courtside to the nosebleeds, on their feet, screaming their heads off.

With the combination of Roy’s and Aldridge’s offensive effort, and centers Marcus Camby’s and Juwan Howard’s defensive effort, nothing seemed to get in the Blazers’ way of stealing game 4 and evening up the series. Not even the combined efforts of the Suns’ all-stars, Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash, was enough to slow down the Blazers.  Stoudemire scored 26 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.  Nash had 15 points and 8 assists, but also turned the ball over 6 times, with a few late in the 4th that proved especially costly as the Blazers took control of the game.

The series returns to Phoenix today where the Suns will attempt to use their home court advantage to regain the series’ lead.