April 25th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
Depending on your point of view, the game played Friday night between the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets at Toyota Center could be described as either a great defensive effort by both teams, or a game where neither team could shoot the broad side of a barn. Any way that you look at it, the Rockets shot 46% while the Trail Blazers shot a measly 42%. Bottom line: Houston held off a late rally in edging Portland 86-83, taking a 2-1 lead in their series.
Most of the Blazers’ problems came, courtesy of 4-of-16 shooting early on; Rockets center Yao Ming sat out early on the second quarter and Luis Scola converted a 3-point play. Houston would hit six consecutive shots, capped by a dunk by Von Wafer, to stretch their lead to 34-22; they would shoot 12-of-15 in the quarter as they would take a 48-37 cushion into halftime.
Scola would get whistled with his fourth foul and hit the bench with 6:57 left in the third quarter and a LaMarcus Aldridge jumper cut the Rockets’ lead to 54-44; unfortunately for the Trail Blazers, they could never quite catch up to the Rockets.
Houston’s high scorer was Scola with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal while Shane Battier added 16 with 4 rebounds, an assist, 2 steals and 4 blocks; Ming, despite scoring only 7 points, grabbed 13 boards along with an assist and 3 blocks.
Portland was led by Brandon Roy with 19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block while Rudy Fernandez came from off the bench to add 17 (including five 3-pointers) with 3 assists and 2 steals; Steve Blake chipped in 16 (including four treys) with 3 rebounds, 10 assists and a steal. Houston and Portland meet again on Sunday at Toyota Center as the Rockets look to enhance their 2-1 series lead.
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