With a playoff berth clinched and the season winding down, now is crunch time for the Portland Trail Blazers. Home court is within reach, and if they want to have a chance of attaining it, they are going to need to start racking up the wins. Luckily, they have done just that recently, winning their last four.
While basketball is and always will be a team sport, LaMarcus Aldridge’s play has been exemplary as of late. Damian Lillard is a rising star in his own right, and will continue ascending, but as I have written before, this team is currently Aldridge’s. Rarely has this been as evident as during the ending moments of these last few games.
Against the Utah Jazz last Wednesday, Aldridge had nine points in the fourth quarter while shooting 3-4. Against the Phoenix Suns on Friday, Aldridge scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, on otherworldly 6-6 shooting.
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On Saturday against the Denver Nuggets, Aldridge had a more modest fourth quarter showing, scoring just two points on 1-2 shooting. He had 30 before that point, however, and assisted on a key Nicolas Batum three-pointer. Finally, against the Suns yesterday, Aldridge did not even have to play in the fourth quarter because the Blazers were so far ahead.
In total, in the three fourth quarters Aldridge has most recently played in, he is shooting a combined 10-12 while pouring in 23 points. In particular, Aldridge’s performance in the fourth quarter of the first game against Phoenix was incredible. It seemed like he couldn’t miss, and in fact, he didn’t. This isn’t to say that the Blazers couldn’t have won in some other fashion, but Aldridge decided that he was not going to let them lose.
As previously stated, basketball is truly a team sport, and there are limits to what a single player can do. But, it is an enormous luxury to have a player like Aldridge available to help close out games. Let us not forget, it was Aldridge who almost single-handedly spotted the Blazers a two game lead against the Houston Rockets in last year’s playoffs with two monster performances – 46 and 43 points.
I do not think many would argue that without those Aldridge scoring outbursts, the Blazers would not have won that series. In a seven-game series, one player taking over a game and securing the win for his team can be the difference between moving on to the next round or going home.
Against a competitive Western Conference foe in the playoffs, you can bet that there will be plenty of close games on the horizon for the Blazers. The Blazers are fortunate to have Aldridge in these moments. He can’t do it alone, but he has proven himself capable of being the go-to guy when the team needs a bucket in the clutch.
If Portland wants to advance, certainly everyone will have to play well, but having a closer like Aldridge at the end of tight games will go a long way toward deciding how far the Blazers can make it in the playoffs.