NBA scores 2015: Blazers follow LaMarcus Aldridge’s lead, beat Wizards in 103-96 comeback win

Portland couldn’t have won with Aldridge, who played excellent after choosing to forgo surgery for now.

Jan 25, 2015, 2:00 PM UTC

Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday, LaMarcus Aldridge was prepared to have surgery to fix a torn ligament in his thumb and miss two months. On Saturday, he was being showered with “M-V-P” chants as he secured a 103-96 win against the Washington Wizards at the free-throw line.

After making the decision to wait out the surgery, Aldridge was every bit his normal self Saturday. His impact went beyond the 35 minutes played, 26 points scored and nine rebounds grabbed -- after two straight losses without him, the Blazers played visibly better basketball. Aldridge is at the heart of everything Portland does on both ends of the floor, and his return brought a jolt.

It didn’t happen immediately. Portland fell behind early, even while Aldridge hoisted up 10 shots for 10 points in the first quarter. Instead of the proposed splint, Aldridge played with only tape around his left thumb and hand. If you didn’t know about the injury, you could never have guessed.

There were moments that made you wonder if his hand might have come into play, like a missed tip dunk or a left-handed finger roll that drew a foul but missed badly, but it’s impossible to know for sure.The camera never caught him wincing, never found him holding that injured mitt in pain. Down 12 at halftime, Aldridge hit back-to-back shots to open the second half as Portland began its climb out of the hole.

Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews both contributed big moments, too -- Lillard scored 20 and dished seven assists while Matthews hit five three-pointers, including one that gave Portland the lead for good late in the fourth quarter. Dorell Wright hit three threes and even Meyers Leonard contributed to the effort from long range.

This might not last. Aldridge admitted before the game that while he hopes it goes well, surgery is still a possibility. Only he truly knows how he felt on the court and how much the bad thumb hampered him.

But his comeback allowed the Blazers to get an important win against a team at home right before making a tough Eastern Conference road trip and it showed how much Aldridge means to this team. In fact, the Blazers’ upcoming schedule is brutal, and every win is important with a surging Thunder snapping at their heels. On Saturday, it was fitting that the Blazers, as a team, rallied together a comeback win against Washington, almost in tribute to the way Aldridge did so himself.

3 other things we learned

Jeff Green displays why he's valuable to Memphis. In 28 minutes, Green scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting with just one turnover. In his six games with the Grizzlies since being traded from Boston, Green has made an impact, but Saturday's game finally saw him with an efficient night, shooting more than 50 percent. Besides a couple of made three-pointers and a long miss, Green spent all of his time at or around the rim. With Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph (who was fantastic in this game, too, with 17 points and 14 rebounds), Memphis already dominates the paint area. With Green's size and quickness, Memphis just has another option to force the ball inside and wear opposing teams down.

Brandon Jennings leaves with an ankle injury, which could be devastating for the streaking Pistons. The play it happened on was as routine as you'll ever see -- all Jennings did was take a step backwards while planting his foot. Unfortunately, Stan Van Gundy said that the injury "doesn't look good" and the fear is Jennings might have an injury to his Achilles tendon. Although they lost to the Bucks, 101-86, Saturday, the Pistons have won 12 of their last 16 games. Jennings has been at the heart of it, and the qualms he has to throw an off-the-backboard alley oop to Andre Drummond in part shows why. If Jennings misses any time at all, it's a huge blow.

The Nets' uninspired performance leads to historically bad game. Utah crushed Brooklyn, 108-73, Friday in every possible way. The Nets were beat in every quarter and, as a team, only outscored the Jazz starting five by a single point. Brooklyn has now lost 10 of its last 12 games and, with a loss and a Charlotte win, have fallen out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture for now.

Nets make some dubious history. They lose back to back games by 35+ points for the 5th time in NBA history.
— Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch) January 25, 2015