NEXT GAME
Season opener: Suns at Blazers, 7 p.m. Tuesday
TV: Channel 8. Radio: 95.5 FM
On the web: www.columbian.com/blazers
PORTLAND — The Blazers’ nearly staged a shutout in their preseason finale Thursday, in which the goal was to suit up 12 players and allow zero injuries.
Then Nicolas Batum blemished the figurative scoreboard in the third quarter, when he left the game with a sore right trapezius muscle and did not return.
The Blazers did go on to defeat the Denver Nuggets 90-83.
Considering Batum had surgery on his right shoulder this past offseason, the ice pack slung over his neck in that second half seemed an ominous sign. But before tape-recorder-wielding reporters could ask him a single question after the game, Batum preemptively stated: “It’s not the shoulder.”
Turns out the affected area is located closer to the neck, and Batum insists he would have re-entered the game if it were the regular season. In other words, Portland’s win couldn’t have gone much smoother.
And now the Blazers have nothing to focus on but Tuesday’s regular-season debut against Phoenix at the Rose Garden.
“I thought we played basketball tonight. You know, the first unit, those guys flipped the switch, which is something we’ve been waiting for,” said Blazers coach Nate McMillan, whose team held Denver to 35 percent shooting. “Defensively we were really good … and then being the aggressors — winning the free-throw line, attacking the basket.”
The game was likely the most indicative of the Blazers’ capabilities this preseason, as each team placed four of its five starters on the court for the final nine minutes (Batum started for Portland, while Nene, who left the game with a sore calf muscle in the first half, was part of Denver’s starting unit). McMillan told his players beforehand that he planned to simulate a regular-season rotation, and the intensity in that final period rivaled the kind displayed in games that actually count.
Same could be said for Brandon Roy’s play — perhaps for the first time all preseason.
Roy had been lackluster at best through the first six exhibition games, averaging less than double digits points-wise and only once taking more than nine shots. Thursday, he scored 23 points on 6 for 20 shooting and spent most the night guarding Carmelo Anthony, who finished just 6 of 23.
“I wanted to get as much work as I could out there and I felt good,” said Roy, adding that he “wanted to take a lot of shots tonight. “It wasn’t quite regular season, but it was the toughest preseason game … We’re as ready as we’re going to be.”
Blazers center Marcus Camby wasn’t supposed to play Thursday due to a sore hip. However, after Portland released big men Steven Hill and Raymond Sykes, McMillan called Camby at 9 p.m. Wednesday and told him he needed to play.
“Coach said, ‘I need about 20 minutes from you,’ ” said Camby, who had eight points and 17 rebounds in 33 minutes. “I don’t know how many I got, but that adrenaline was going tonight.”
LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Blazers, while Andre Miller posted 12 points and seven assists. Anthony led the Nuggets with 21.
Reach Matt Calkins at 360-735-4528 or matt.calkins@columbian.com
