媒体行报告：开拓者89，76人85

The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers, 89-85, at the Rose Garden on Saturday night, improving to 15-14.

从日历的情况下，这一意义受到了严重影响，这是完成的。即使有一个受伤的中锋，恢复时间表未知，即使有两名后卫的后卫，即使是第二次艰巨的公路旅行，开拓者们也包裹着2012年的2012年满足和不后悔。

Looking back on the last 12 months, one could argue that, despite a demoralizing loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, Portland enters January at a point higher than any other over the last 10 months. As of New Year's Eve's Eve, the 15-14 record is a few games ahead of expectations, the summer's big contract decision (Nicolas Batum) has paid off nicely, the Draft's biggest decision (Damian Lillard) currently has virtually zero second-guessers, the offensive system is playing out essentially as expected, and the defense, still not superior, is improved a tier or two from November. There's been a pleasant surprise in J.J. Hickson, an interest piquer in Will Barton and some highlight reel action from Meyers Leonard.

With the benefit of hindsight, an ultra-condensed rundown of the 12 months of Portland's 2012 look something like this. January: Hype. February: Controversy. March: Blood-stained. April: Pointless. May: Empty. June: Hope. July: Titillating. August: Crotch punch. September: Feeling out. October: Halloween surprise. November: Trying. December: Promising.

“承诺”是正确的词对于短期的和longer-term developments. The Blazers went 9-4 in December after a 5-10 November, reeling off five straight wins following a month that featured two four-game losing streaks. The play was increasingly steady throughout the month, thanks in large part to homecourt advantage against weaker teams, but there were earned peaks: beating the San Antonio Spurs, beating the 76ers at their own slower game, beating the New Orleans Hornets in the game's final second, and tearing apart the Toronto Raptors. Injury adversity hit on multiple occasions but merely rocked the boat rather than sinking it. That's all promising.

利拉德（Lillard）持续强大的表现更大，是所有人中最有前途的指标。他的十二月数字与他的十一月的数字非常相似，他处理了大量的时间和责任，没有受伤或严重的疲劳，他从遗愿清单中检查了比赛冠军，他已经成为最高得分的选项，而没有任何羽毛，他也是表明他将成为反对多种防守计划的能力球员。他的三分球命中率略有降温，但总体上仍然非常好，他通过更频繁地进入罚球线，包括两场10次以上的罚球尝试，从而帮助补贴了这一点。他将很容易获得他的第二个月份新秀奖。

拉马库斯·奥尔德里奇（Lamarcus Aldridge）的戏剧也大得多。他的十二月得分和篮板数字都比11月份都增加了，他的射门分配更好，而且作为副产品，他的射门得分率显着增加。他正在挖掘一个相当难看的漏洞。他的一些最好的工作与最糟糕的比赛有关，但事实很长。

The fit between Lillard, Aldridge and Batum is coming together fairly naturally. Batum's shooting numbers have come back to Earth in December but he's distributing far more than he did earlier in the year -- or at any point in his career -- and he's making a larger impact defensively through aptitude as well as energy.

这两项发展都在周六对阵76人队展出，当时巴图姆接管了Jrue Holiday的防守责任，后者实际上是在Lillard与Lillard一起走。在四分之三的情况下，假期得到27分，7个篮板和6次助攻，在18杆射门中得到了12分。

“他很坚强，”利拉德谈到假期时说。“他做出了正确的比赛，确实使进攻篮板崩溃，表现非常艰难，射门很艰难。他是一个非常出色的球员。”

In the fourth, with Batum checking him for the majority of crunch time, Holiday shot one-for-five and the Sixers shot just seven-for-25 as a team in the final quarter.

开拓者队教练特里·斯托茨（Terry Stotts）谈到巴图姆（Batum）时说：“他很难摆脱比赛。”“他在第四季度担任最艰难的外围防守任务，他正在促进，他得到了篮板。他真的能够将事情融合在一起，尤其是与韦斯[马修斯]一起。”

Holiday, aggressive and physical all night, seemed ill at ease with Batum on him. Batum's quickness and length can give point guards problems and here he was influencing not only shots but decisions, as Holiday couldn't figure out exactly how he wanted to unlock the new defensive puzzle being thrown at him.

“他是我们最好的外围防守者，”斯特茨继续说。“就像我们过去所做的那样，当有一个球员去时，尼克通常会落在他身上。与他一起做。

这场胜利在很大程度上感到“完整”是因为波特兰以聪明和信心处理了另一场比赛防守状况。据说，在整个赛季中没有明星中锋安德鲁·拜纳姆（Andrew Bynum）的球队76人教练道格·柯林斯（Doug Collins）大步走了，好像相对接近的比赛的结束实际上是一种形式。

他说：“我们还没有成为今年第四季度回来的球队。”“我认为当三分之后我们落后时，我们赢得了一场比赛。”

The Blazers have already gotten in plenty of repetitions in crazy finishes this year, including some wins to their name, and they did well to keep their heads despite some late misses and a tough turnover -- not to mention the gut punch of losing Leonard to an ugly ankle injury with nine minutes left in the fourth. They put themselves in a position where they were able to concede five straight points in the final two minutes and still win the game thanks to one bad decision on Philadelphia's part.

Down three with the ball and 40+ seconds remaining in the game, the Sixers opted not to go for a quick two towards the basket and instead put the game in the hands of center Spencer Hawes, who launched a corner three with 26 seconds remaining. While it was a wide open shot, Hawes is a career 30.5 percent three-point shooter, he has made only 11 three-pointers combined since the start of the 2011-12 season, and he hadn't made a three-pointer in four games (eight days).

"Those are opportunities you look forward to," Hawes said. "To be able to be in the game and have the opportunity to take those kinds of shots and make those kinds of shots. Unfortunately, tonight it didn't go in."

假期的喂食霍斯的决定似乎受到他自己无法产生干净外观或找到对巴图姆的清晰驾驶道路的影响。几乎就像较早的毯子覆盖范围窒息了这些想法。

柯林斯对射门或导致它的决策没有任何问题。他说：“我们跑了一件好事，斯宾塞得到了一个宽敞的三分，这本来可以捆绑的。”“我们有机会。”

我猜。任何。通过这张照片生活和死亡是一种相当不错的损失方式。在霍斯（Hawes）的错过比赛和十二月的霍斯（Hawes）错过之后，76人被迫犯规。

"Other than the Sacramento loss, we couldn't have done much better I don't think," Stotts said. "It was one loss at home in December, right? So yeah, I would say we took advantage of [the schedule]."

Brandon Roy weighs retirement? Best wishes but, more or less, someone else's problem.格雷格·奥登（Greg Oden）失去体重尝试卷土重来? Deep background noise. Raymond Felton isn't shooting well and could miss a month due to injury? 3,000 miles away physically; light years away on the priority scale. The calendar flips on Tuesday but the page turned, for good, this month thanks to the emergence of a "new team" that was only a marketing slogan until a strong December offered tangible flickers of the future.

Random Game Notes

• This game was announced as a sellout. The crowd's most memorable moment came when Meyers Leonard went down in the fourth quarter. A collective cringe and gasp swept the Rose Garden when the replay was shown on the jumbotron.
• The official word on Leonard: he sustained a sprained right ankle and post-game X-rays were negative for a break. He did not return to the game, obviously, and did not speak to reporters post-game. Note: LaMarcus Aldridge did speak to reporters recently when he suffered his sprained ankle. The Blazers announced that Leonard will not travel with the team to New York City on Sunday. His availability for the road trip -- which also includes games against the Raptors, Grizzlies and Timberwolves in the next week -- is to be determined. One school of thought would be for Leonard to rest up at home for the week-long trip. The sprain looked to be the type that would require a walking boot.
• 奥尔德里奇说，他不能让自己看着伦纳德受伤的重播：“我不想看到它。我不知道为什么人们喜欢看那些东西，但我听说这很糟糕。”
• Damian里沃德没有注册的协助first time this season, finishing with 20 points on eight-for-18 shooting. He also had no rebounds. Lillard continues to play off the ball for stretches alongside Ronnie Price. Nicolas Batum, as mentioned, has also taken on new distributing responsibilities.
• 这是Lillard Outlook在球上踢球：“我想我可以有效。M离开球，他们很难进入他们想做的事情，当我离开Pindowns，放映，进行握手时。。”
• Many have compared Lillard to Brandon Roy and there are definitely some similarities. Make no mistake, Roy was not afraid to share his desire for having the ball in his hands as often as possible.
• Lillard on the zero assists: "I knew I didn't have one. I made the same plays I always make, the same passes. All I do is make the pass. The times that I did, the shots just didn't go in. What's important is that we won the game."
• Two of Twitter's NBA diehards --内特·琼斯（与Lillard的代理商合作）和Haralabos Voulgaris(a professional gambler) -- were getting after Blazers broadcasterMike Rice在广播期间误认了费城的球员。一些例子这里和这里。当我们在这个主题上时，奥尔德里奇实际上将贾鲁假日称为“科里森”（指达伦，我假设，而不是尼克）在他的赛后采访中。
• 当晚最好的玫瑰园标志：“费城是奶油奶酪。”
• 您必须为J.J.不断的“双打”运动而值得称赞。希克森。即使是超级陶醉的豪华盒子居民现在也意识到希克森12月的“壮观”和“历史性”。对于周五与湖人队结束的比赛相当合适。
• 肯定您最近在游戏框中得分+/-数字的精神错乱。在第二季度的某一时刻，Batum根据“混乱的盒子得分”为+44，尽管这是八分球，而且两支球队都没有得到44分。我发誓，John HollingerleavesESPN.com两周内，所有的都打破了统计数据。（是的，我知道雅虎的盒子得分也已经升起。）
• 维克多·克拉弗（Victor Claver）的职业生涯最高八分，第一季度其中七分。我以为他当晚最好的进攻性比赛是在攻击油漆时阅读防御队友在街上或胆怯地踢出去。选择和选择这些机会对他来说很重要。
• Nick Young has been a player I've been hard on in previous years because of his lackadaisical approach to warm-ups and games. He didn't leave a huge imprint on this one: he finished with seven points on three-for-seven shooting. For the first time I can remember, he went through a rigorous pre-game routine.
• I chatted with Young for a few minutes for an upcomingsi.com球员圆桌会议，他说“珍惜游戏的同时有机会”的消息，他听到了一些年长的队友听到的消息，一路上沉没了。当被问及如果他是专员一天的专员，他会改变什么，他确实建议2-3天的休假“每个月”，以便球员可以回家和“寒意”。要爱诚实。
• Will Barton will be included in the roundtable too. He said that if he were commissioner, players would be paid higher salaries across the board. He also expounded on his appreciation of Kobe Bryant's game.
• Sixers coach Doug Collins was the talk of the media room for casually referring to Young by his "Swaggy" nickname in his pre-game comments.
• This message was on the Blazers' locker room white board after the game: "Remember to bring passports tomorrow or you won't get in to Canada."

Terry Stotts' Post-Game Comments

Opening comments

昨晚后反弹并打得更好是很好的。回家很好。我以为我们在大多数情况下都没有太多的让步。我以为尼古拉斯·巴图姆（Nicolas Batum），他很难摆脱比赛。他在第四季度担任最艰难的外围防守任务，他正在促进，他正在篮板。他确实能够将事情融合在一起，尤其是与韦斯（Matthews）一起。

Jrue假期

I thought he made some tough shots. He hit a three I thought was well contested. He hit a baseline shot with one on the shot lock. I thought he made some tough shots. The reason to put Nic on him is that he's our best perimeter defender. Like we've done in the past, when there's a player going, Nic usually ends up on him. Nic with his athleticism and length makes it difficult. Those shots that he made, he may not make with Nic on him. Nic has the ability to control penetration, contest shots and stay with guys. I thought he did a terrific job on Holiday.

Nic shooting more

I've talked about this a little bit in the past, at the beginning of the season it seemed like he was trying to score a lot. Now when he has eight assists, it used to be a career high, now nobody thinks of it. Now it's blending them both and doing what the game dictates. He's doing what the team needs, whether it's facilitating, scoring or rebounding.

Slow pace

费城在决定自己的节奏方面做得很好。很难出去奔跑。我们试图进行篮板和过渡。我们只能决定游戏中一半的财产。我们要做的是，当一个团队放慢他们的一边时，我们不能让那影响我们的身边。我们必须在防守上保持坚实的防守，但我们不能拿到球并握住球并将其抬起。您在防守上花费大量的能量，以一支球队的比赛缓慢，倾向是喘口气，但我们负担不起。

迈耶斯·伦纳德（Meyers Leonard）

He's getting X-rayed.

迈耶斯·伦纳德（Leonard）

我没有看到重播。我想这听起来像是扭伤。我还没有看过。我以为迈耶斯（Meyers）在玩一场出色的比赛，这是他过去几周中更充满活力的游戏之一。当一个人倒下时，你永远不知道问题是什么。希望这只是扭伤的脚踝。你总是讨厌看到一个男人倒下。

Did you take advantage of December schedule?

I would think so. We're 11-4 at home. Other than the Sacramento loss, we couldn't have done much better I don't think. It was one loss at home in December, right? So yeah, I would say we took advantage of it.

Going on the road

道路是一项挑战。这条路是NBA每个人的挑战。我们有一个很好的主场纪录。联盟前十名。我认为我们的道路记录大约是第20位。有很多团队挣扎。我们已经挑战了。我们在路上打了四支好的球队，在五个晚上比赛中四场比赛。我们需要每天晚上携带它。回到这里，我不想说赢了多少胜，希望我们赢得所有胜利。

Ronnie Price defense

Ronnie was good. He was very active and he came up with some loose balls. He covered some ground on rotations, he came up with the ball. Defensively he took his individual challenge. I don't think he necessarily got scored on. We did some switching. His activity and alertness, aggressiveness, toughness, made an impact on the game in the fourth quarter.

背靠背的第二场比赛4-2

有时最好不要质疑事情。4-2，我喜欢它。我们可以在家中谈论4-10的道路记录，以11-4的速度，背靠背4-2，无论如何。有些事情就是它们。您只需要去尝试赢得下一个即可。

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com |Twitter