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Blazers take their strong defensive game east

Five-game trip begins in New York

By Erik Gundersen, Columbian Trail Blazers Writer
Published: December 7, 2014, 12:00am

The Portland Trail Blazers start their longest road trip so far this season Sunday at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.

They’ve been good on both ends so far this season. Their defense has continued to trend up.

In fact, their defense is outperforming their offense so far this year. The Blazers are fifth in defensive efficiency according to NBA.com while they are seventh in offense.

“We’re pleased with our defense,” said Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “I think we’re making good strides with that. I’d like to see the ball go in the basket. I like the shots we’re getting, I like our execution. (The) key thing for us is being consistent and do what we do.”

Although they shot under 40 percent in Thursday’s win against Indiana, Stotts didn’t see anything wrong with the process on offense.

“We got a lot of good shots that we’d take any day,” he said. “We had talked about execution going into the Indiana game because they are a good defensive team. I thought they executed well as well.”

But winning ugly has been a little bit of a trend for the Blazers. LaMarcus Aldridge sees value in those types of wins.

“It’s growth because later in the season, there’s not many blowouts,” Aldridge said. “If you get to the postseason, every game is a grind-it-out game and every possession matters. Winning these games now is good for us.”

Of the five teams they face on the road trip, only the Chicago Bulls have a record above .500. Guard Wesley Matthews seems to already be guarding against the thought that success will be guaranteed against lesser opponents.

“It’s not going to be the easiest trip,” Matthews said. “On the road it’s all about defense. On the road it’s about taking teams out of their comfort zone, not letting the crowd in the game.”

Off the court, the Blazers received some good news. Further testing didn’t reveal anything damaging about Damian Lillard’s right hand. He has two sprained fingers on his shooting hand but the Blazers announced that he will play on Sunday.

Injured guard CJ McCollum seems to be making progress from a broken finger as he joins the team on the five-game trip. He missed the previous extended East coast trip prior to Thanksgiving.

However, Stotts said that there’s been no conversation about whether McCollum will return during the road trip.

Blazers center Chris Kaman and his wife are also expecting a baby boy, who could arrive almost any day now.

“Hopefully he comes when I’m home,” Kaman said. “I’m just going to wait and hopefully God’s plan is to come while I’m home. I don’t want to miss it.

If his wife goes into labor while the Blazers on the road, Kaman has a plan.

“I’ll try and get a plane and get home as soon as possible.”

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Columbian Trail Blazers Writer