The Trail Blazers are back in a familiar spot. After Sunday's exhilarating 102-84 rout of San Antonio, Portland must prepare for a lesser opponent -- Indiana -- as the Pacers come calling to the Rose Garden Wednesday.
"We can't take too much from this win," Portland point guard Steve Blake said after the win over the Spurs. "We have to keep repeating, and we realize we have another tough one coming up against Indiana." The Pacers (26-36) were impressive in a 100-94 win at Denver Sunday, and the star was ex-Blazer point guard Jarrett Jack, who had 28 points and eight assists.
"Jarrett is playing well for them, and you know he'll be motivated coming in here," Blake said.
BLAZERS 102, SPURS 84: Portland put it all together in running up a 64-37 halftime lead and coasted from there.
Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points apiece as Portland (37-22) moved to within 2-1/2 games of San Antonio (39-19) in the bunched-up race for the Western Conference playoffs.
The foundation of Sunday's win came through a first half suitable for framing. Portland shot .610 from the field and .625 (5-for-8) from three-point range, out-rebounded the Spurs 22-17 and committed only four turnovers in the half.
"We did all the things we need to do," McMillan said. "We played a physical game defensively, did a better job controlling the paint. And offensively, we had good ball movement as opposed to one pass, a shot as we saw (on Wednesday). Just a great first half."
