From: edrury@3cpu.rain.com (Ed Drury)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Blazer Week
Date: 15 Nov 92 14:24:38 GMT
Article-I.D.: 3cpu.4315
Reply-To: edrury@3cpu.rain.com (Ed Drury)
Organization: Garden Lane Software


        
Denver  104  at Portland 123
        
 Portland  played their first game of the season at  home  against 
Denver  and for Clyde Drexler, it was only his second  game  after 
his  knee surgery. Clyde looked a little stronger than he  did  in 
the  Hall  of  Fame game against the  Hornets,  but  still  played 
somewhat tentatively. His first shot of the year was a three which 
he  converted and his outside shooting was very good the  rest  of 
the  night. Clyde lead the Blazers with 29 points and 9  rebounds. 
Kevin Duckworth got off to a good start holding Mutumbo to 1 of  5 
from  the field while he was in there. Duck put in 23 points on  9 
of 16 shooting from the floor in 25 minutes.

 An  11-2  run ending the first quarter after Rod  Strickland  was 
inserted with around 3 minutes left in the period put the score at 
34-20  to  start the second. Second quarter, Portland held  on  to 
it's advantage to end the half with the score 65-47. In the  third 
quarter,  Jerome Kersey blocked a dunk attempt by Mutumbo  ignited 
the  crowd. Portland went on a 22-10 run late in the third  pushed 
their lead up to 28, but a 9-0 run by Denver cut the lead and when 
Denver  opened the forth with a couple of unanswered  baskets  the 
lead  was  down to 15. However a 13 point margin was as  close  as 
Denver could get and Portland won going away.

Phoenix  89  at Portland 100

 Mario  Elie  scored  13 of his team high 17  points  in  the  4th 
quarter as Portland survived one of the strangest Portland/Phoenix 
games in memory. The game, which was slow paced and close  through 
out, was tied after one, tied at half and Portland trailed by 2 at 
the  end  of  three. Danny Ainge went 1 of 10 for  the  night  and 
Portland's bench out scored their Phoenix counter parts 45-25. The 
shooting  was awful for both teams. Charles Barkley had 21  points 
on  8  for 13 while the rest of the Suns combined for  25  of  64. 
Portland's  Clyde Drexler was totally off on his shots as was  the 
Sun's Majerle, Chambers and Ainge. The final margin was the result 
of  Portland out rebounding Phoenix and the momentum  provided  by 
the  combination  of Strickland and Elie in the final  stanza.  It 
would  be charitable to call the game a defensive battle.  Phoenix 
was  without  their super guard Kevin  Johnson.  Knight,  starting 
point  guard in KJ's absence, contributed 20 points and 9  assists 
for the Suns.

Cleveland 109 Portland 115

 Portland started off sluggishly and quickly found themselves down 
by  11 points in the first quarter. Duckworth carried the  scoring 
load  to  keep  Portland  within  reach  until  Mario  Elie,   Rod 
Strickland,  and  Cliff Robinson came in and started  pushing  the 
ball,  grabbing rebounds and playing tough defense. It was a  very 
good  game  from  that  point on. Cleveland, playing  without Brad 
Daugherty and coming off a double overtime win the night before at 
Golden State, put on a gutsy performance. Even after Mike  Sanders 
fouled,  out about half way through the forth  quarter,  Cleveland 
kept  coming  at the Blazers with clutch  shooting.  So,  Portland 
dodges a bullet to preserve their perfect home record.
 Duckworth  led the Blazers with 26 points and 11 rebounds.  Clyde 
Drexler  narrowly escaped failing to score in double  figures  for 
the  first time in two years with a double double comprised of  10 
points and 11 assists.

Portland 130  Golden State 116

 Portland won this game on the back of Terry Porter's 25 point 4th 
quarter.  Terry set an NBA record by making all 7 of his  3  point 
shots and finished the game with 40 points. Clyde Drexler scored a 
season  high  31  points  and added 10  rebounds  for  his  second 
consecutive  double double. For Golden State, this was  the  third 
consecutive  home  loss  in as many home games  this  year.  Terry 
Porter's 25 point 4th quarter broke a all time Trailblazer  record 
for  points scored in a quarter. The old record was 22, scored  by 
Geoff  Petrie.  This  was the 4th straight win  by  Portland  over 
Golden State.


 Some unofficial statistics to chew on from the first week :

Name       G  MPG  FG%    FT%  3PT%     PPM    RPG     APG   PPG
Porter     4  34  50.0%  93.1%  64.3%   0.65     4.5    6.5 21.8
Drexler    4  35  41.9%  76.0%  20.0%   0.59     7.0    6.3 20.5
Duckworth  4  25  52.0%  57.1%    N/A   0.61     6.3    1.5 15.3
Kersey     4  30  53.3%  57.1%    N/A   0.47     6.0    2.0 14.0
Elie       4  21  64.5%  88.9% 100.0%   0.65     2.5    2.5 13.5
Robinson   4  24  41.0%  75.0%    N/A   0.43     5.8    1.3 10.3
Strickland 4  26  40.0%  70.0%  33.3%   0.37     4.8    5.0  9.5
Williams   4  30  57.7% 100.0%   0.0%   0.30     5.5    0.5  8.8
Bryant     4  15  54.5%  50.0%    N/A   0.19     2.5    0.5  2.8
Murray     2   4  25.0%    N/A   0.0%   0.25     1.0    0.0  1.0
Johnson    2 1.5  50.0%   0.0%    N/A   0.67     0.0    0.0  1.0
Smith      2 1.5   0.0%    N/A    N/A   0.00     0.0    0.0  0.0
==================================================================
TEAM       4      48.6%  75.0%  53.8%          45.25    26  117.25

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Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro