Thoughts on Portland 122, Utah 108

Portland was at home against the Utah Jazz tonight and took care of business, winning 122 to 108. At times it felt like it was Portland versus Deron Williams, but he didn't get any help from his teammates. Utah was missing Kirilenko and Boozer while Portland was short Blake and Webster. Portland was aggressive all night and had a lot of dunks. Portland had 28 assists for the 43 made baskets so they were definitely moving the ball around. A lot of folks called this game a big game, but I think they're all big. You play to win.

Individual observations:

• Brandon Roy had a quiet 30 points and 5 assists. Sometimes you don't realize how many points he has until you check the boxscore. He also kept his mouth shut and didn't hassle the refs too much.
• Sergio Rodriguez got the start again for Blake and had a terrific first quarter. I'm not sure why McMillan has to take him out after six minutes, but he does. Sergio ended up with 9 points, 7 assists and 2 steals. He shot well and had a couple of nice alley-oops to Rudy.
• Greg Oden had a pretty miserable game with 5 points in 11 minutes. He was hampered by foul trouble from the beginning and never really got into it. He will need to learn to fight through early foul trouble, keep his position and keep his bleeping arms up.
• LaMarcus Aldridge didn't shoot well, but scored 14 points, grabbed 6 boards and had 4 assists. He seemed a little more aggressive going to the hoop, but that mainly happened when Millsap got into foul trouble.
• Nicolas Batum had a great first quarter and showed why Portland cannot trade him. He ended up with 16 points in 25 minutes. He usually only plays about 18 minutes, but McMillan let him run a bit more. I'd like to see him play as much as he can. He's young, he has long arms and he can defend slashers. Williams didn't do much after Batum picked him up.
• Joel Przybilla showed why you can never have too many talented big men. With Oden in foul trouble, he needed to step up and he did with 14 points and 17 boards. He also played tough defense and scored a "dunk" with his right wrist/forearm. He plays hard and doesn't complain much. When Oden is rolling, Joel rides the pine, but I think he's ok with that. We'll see when his contract is up in a year or two.
• Rudy Fernandez finally had a good shooting night and scored 13 points and had 4 assists. He threw down a couple of Sergio's passes so he should be ready for the dunk contest. He seemed more active tonight and didn't just hang around the three point line.
• Jerryd Bayless had a rough night and didn't seem to slow Williams down much. He scored 4 points and had 4 assists, but also drove into traffic a few times. He needs to work on keeping his head up to find the open teammate.
• Travis Outlaw had 11 points and had a good fourth quarter, but he needs to play well all game long if he wants to stay with Portland. He's not as good around the basket as he should be given his height and jumping ability.
• Channing Frye, Ike Diogu and Shavlik Randolph got garbage time burned and each scored two points.

A good win by Portland against a decent team. Utah has a pretty poor road record though and seems really soft. Portland heads out for a tough road trip.