Perhaps the biggest challenge of the season comes Thursday night for the Trail Blazers, who visit Cleveland to face LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
Cleveland owns the NBA's best record at 54-13 and is a remarkable 30-1 at home. The Cavaliers beat Orlando 97-93 on Tuesday behind James, who went for 43 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Portland is on the fourth game of a five-game road trip that concludes Saturday at Milwaukee. "We can't let LeBron go wild, and we have to keep a handle on Mo Williams defensively," Blazer coach Nate McMillan said.
BLAZERS 95, PACERS 85: Portland celebrated the return of Greg Oden with a wire-to-wire victory at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Oden had four points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench. The 7-foot rookie and Indianapolis native had missed the previous 15 games with a knee injury.
"The knee is OK," said Oden. "I still have work to do to get it back, but it feels good. I look forward to it feeling even better."
Brandon Roy scored 20 points to lead six players in double-figures for Portland (43-25), which improved to 2-1 on a five-game road trip that continues Thursday at Cleveland.
