Knicks Try, Sort of. Blazers Hold Off New York. 104-97

The Portland Trail Blazers rolled into New York this afternoon looking to win their 5th straight and actually managed to do it, convincingly. Nothing is surprising anymore with this team as they once again defied all odds to beat one of the highest scoring teams in the country by holding them 9 points under their average.

Quick Recap:

This game started out pretty ugly with the Knicks lighting it up front all corners of the arena. The "paint" which is usually foreign to D'Antoni teams, was dominated early on by New York giving them a quick 10 point first quarter lead. Luckily for Blazer fans, Brandon Roy picked up the entire team, tightened his Nike's, and kept the game manageable. A second half 15-0 run proved why the Blazers might be worthy of that Hollinger ranking we spoke of just yesterday. Within minutes, Portland almost turned this into a blowout but that becomes hard when your opponent continually tosses up 3's without a conscience.

Game thoughts in fantastical bulleted format:

Chris Duhon looked like the new Steve Nash tonight. Not good.
David Lee got punked by Przybilla soooooo many times!
And the game ball should go to Joel as well.
Did Oden even play in the second half?
When was the last time Brandon Roy missed a 4th quarter shot?
Batum disappeared and Travis showed up.
The Spanish crowd was amazing to listen to.
The Knicks really are shorthanded and it showed down the stretch.
Rudy's crossover-pullback is amazing to watch.
A hiccup tomorrow would be very bad before the Celtics game.

Plus/Minus sheet:

Highlights for those of you not functioning on east coast time:

Box score.

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