LaMarcus Aldridge, Trail Blazers beat Pacers, 95-85
LaMarcus Aldridge earned his 12th double-double this season, scoring 19 points and registering 14 rebounds, to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Indiana Pacers, 95-85. Portland (18-6) has now won seven of their last 10 games.
Aldridge finished 8-23 from the field. Other key performers for Portland were Nicolas Batum with 14 points and five assists, and Chris Kaman with 10 points and six rebounds. Despite the loss, C.J. Watson scored 23 points for Indiana on 8-11 shooting, including 4-5 from behind the arc. David West contributed 12 points and six assists and Roy Hibbert finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
As expected, the Pacers offense did not have its best game, struggling to score against the elite Trail Blazers defense that ranks fourth in the league with a defensive efficiency of 99.0. They registered just .879 points per possession in this game, and rank 28th in the NBA with an offensive efficiency of 97.5 on the season. The Pacers posted an eFG% of just 40.9%, including 26.7% from 3-point range. This year, they are winless (0-5) when they record marks below 45% and 30% in those respective categories. On the other hand, the Trail Blazers are 8-1 when holding their opponents to such low percentages.
Indiana (7-17) has now lost eight consecutive games.
Coming up, the Trail Blazers take on the San Antonio Spurs, who are 17-7 on the season. The Pacers go up against the Los Angeles Lakers, currently sitting at 8-16 this year.
