PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Trail Blazers had their worst defeat of the season at Phoenix earlier this month. They returned the favour on Friday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 23 points and seven rebounds and the Trail Blazers blew out the Suns 109-71 for their sixth straight win at home.
“They looked like we did when we went to Phoenix,” Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. “I think crowds and your home court certainly motivates you and brings energy to your building.”
Gerald Wallace added 17 points, Wesley Matthews had 16 and Nicolas Batum added 14 for the Blazers. Marcus Camby had 20 rebounds and was the only Blazers player who didn’t score on a night when both benches were emptied early.
Grant Hill had 12 points for Phoenix, which was held to a season-low in scoring and suffered the third-worst defeat in its history. Sebastian Telfair had 10 and Hakim Warrick had nine.
The Suns shot just 32.8 per cent from the field, made four of 13 3-pointers and were 9 of 18 from the free-throw line.
Portland has been a much different team at the Rose Garden than out on the road this season. The Blazers are 9-1 at home, tying them with San Antonio for the best home record in the Western Conference. Portland is 3-7 on the road, including a loss Wednesday at Golden State, when the Blazers struggled against Stephen Curry’s 32 points and seven assists.
“To take that next step, we’ve got to bottle this up,” said Jamal Crawford, who finished with nine points and 10 rebounds for Portland. “There’s no way around it, no tip-toeing around it. To be a really good team, you have to win on the road.”
Phoenix has lost four in a row and was coming off a 99-96 defeat against Toronto.
The Suns led after the first quarter, but fell way behind after a horrid second quarter in which they made just four of 19 shots and scored just nine points. Portland took a 47-33 lead into halftime.
It just got worse for Phoenix in the second half, which had the feel of a Blazers scrimmage — full of alley-oops, breakaway dunks and cross-court passes. The Suns scored only 12 points in the third and the Blazers breezed their way to a 35-point lead before the end of the quarter.
“The thing that was surprising was that I thought we kind of folded,” Hill said. “We stopped competing there as soon as they came out and hit us hard.”
Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry sat his starters for much of the second half, including Victoria’s Steve Nash, Hill and Marcin Gorat. Both teams played bench players almost exclusively in the fourth quarter.
Nash finished with five points and seven assists in 24 minutes. He could have passed Mark Price to become the NBA career leader in free-throw percentage but went 1 of 3 from the line. Gorat finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
“Tonight was one of those nights where they revealed that we have our deficiencies,” Nash said. “We have to keep digging and find some different ways to score.”
Notes: Phoenix C Robin Lopez sat out after being suspended by the league for bumping an official in Tuesday’s game. … Portland recorded a season-high 58 rebounds, a season-high 28 assists and a season-high 62 second-half points… The Blazers have won the last seven meetings with the Suns in Portland. … Phoenix is 0-11 this season when trailing at halftime.
