January 13th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Portland Trail Blazers obviously do not miss Darius Miles or the legal snafu that involves him; it has shown in their play as of late, winning 4 of their last 6 games without him. No Miles means no distractions and that credo was put to the test as they took on the Chicago Bulls at United Center on Monday; Travis Outlaw scored 33 points, in leading Portland to the 109-94 win.
Probably the main key in Portland’s win was the three-point shot as they made 11 to the Chicago’s 2; otherwise, the stats were similar. Neither team shot well in the first quarter as the Bulls outscored the Trail Blazers 28-21; however, Outlaw was just getting warmed up as he hit a trey at the end of the first half, capping an 11-2 run which gave Portland a 49-45 lead at halftime.
The Trail Blazers would pad their lead to 56-46 when Greg Oden dunked less than 2 minutes into the third quarter which allowed Portland to take control of the game from that point until the final horn. Outlaw led all Portland scorers with 33 points (including 4 three-pointers), 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots while Oden added 17 with 13 rebounds, an assist and a blocked shot; Steve Blake chipped in, scoring 16 (including 4 treys) with 3 rebounds, 10 assists and 3 steals.
Chicago was led by Drew Gooden with 22 points, 9 rebounds, an assist and 2 blocked shots while Ben Gordon added 17 with 3 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal; Derrick Rose notched a double-double, scoring 13 with 10 assists. Portland (23-14) plays again on Wednesday when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers while Chicago (16-22) travel north to Canada as they face the Toronto Raptors – also on Wednesday.
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