The Portland Trailblazers were widely expected to be a scrappy No. 5 seed that would eventually succumb to the star power of James Harden and Dwight Howard in their series vs. the Houston Rockets. Many didn't count on Blazers big man LaMarcus Aldridge announcing his arrival at the elite level.
This is no mere overreaction to Aldridge's two incredible outings to open Portland's first round series in Houston. These two road games are more like exclamation points on the case he's been building all year as the NBA's premier power forward.
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In Games 1 and 2, Aldridge has dropped a combined 89 points, 26 rebounds, and five blocks. He's making NBA fans across the country take notice now, but they should've already been paying attention. He was the main reason Portland reached the No. 5 seed in a loaded West, and had the finest season of his career.
In 2013-14, Aldridge scored 23.2 points per game, and averaged 11.1 rebounds which were both career highs. After 46 points and 18 boards in Game 1, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said he would devote more focus on Aldridge, as the game plan in the opener was curbing the Blazers' 3-point shooters.
After Game 2, McHale just seemed flummoxed. "We tried changing it up tonight," McHale said. "Tonight, he was picking and popping and moving and we were having trouble running people at him. We were trying to get the ball out of his hands as much as we could."
Part of Aldridge's success this postseason seems to be that he's quite simply red-hot. Even Aldridge noted the difficulty of some of his shots. "I made tough shots," Aldridge said. "I don't think too much was easy tonight. I just got in that rhythm and started making shots."
That might be the case, but he's been a 46 percent shooter all season, and an 82 percent marksman from the foul line. Unless Howard channels his former self from Orland, Houston might get sent home sooner than expected.
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