December 26th, 2009 
Stephen Rhodes 
Posted in 
The Portland Trail Blazers, as of this posting, are the NBA version of a MASH unit. Greg Oden? Out. Joel Przybilla? Out for the year. Even Brandon Roy is hurting with a shoulder injury. The funny thing is that in the Trail Blazers’ game against the Denver Nuggets Friday night, Roy went crazy by scoring 41 points, leading Portland to the 107-96 win over Denver at the Rose Garden.
Carmelo Anthony helped Denver get off to a quick start. His second-quarter dunk gave the Nuggets a 35-26 lead but Portland closed to 51-49 at halftime. The Nuggets led 76-74 after three quarters but couldn’t stop Roy and Steve Blake in the fourth. Roy hit a 3-pointer from the corner, LaMarcus Aldridge powered in a layup and Roy added another 3 to put Portland up 93-85 with 6:01 remaining. Blake’s three 3s in the final minutes helped the Trail Blazers extend the lead.
Roy lead the Trail Blazers with 41 points (including three 3-pointers), 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal while Blake scored 17 (including 5 treys)with 2 rebounds and an assist; Andre Miller chipped in 14 with a rebound, 8 assists and a steal. Denver was led by Anthony with 32 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists while J.R. Smith added 20 with 3 rebounds; Kenyon Martin earned a double-double, scoring 12 with 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Portland (20-12) plays again on Monday as they continue their home stand, hosting the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday while Denver (20-10) returns home to host the Dallas Mavericks Sunday night.
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