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Aldridge, Roy help Trail Blazers beat Wallace, Pistons

Nov 14, 2007 - 7:07 AM PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- The Portland Trail Blazers have a new big man that is making fans forget about Rasheed Wallace.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Brandon Roy added 20 points as the Trail Blazers posted their fourth straight win, a 102-94 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday.

A second-year forward, Aldridge shot 9-of-16 and hit several shots over the 6-11 Wallace, who was traded by the Trail Blazers in 2004 after parts of nine seasons in Portland.

"Rasheed is a great player, he's a go-to-guy on offense and can lock you down on defense," Aldridge said. "Going up against him is always tough. You have to be on your toes, but I think I did all right against him tonight. He's always going to get his numbers. I just try and slow him down."

Aldridge credits much of his game and style to Wallace, whom he watched growing up in Texas.

"I used to watch film of him when I was young," Aldridge said. "His high release point and being able to shoot around the perimeter. I think he is a big-time player and watching him has made me more versatile."

Jarrett Jack scored 20 points off the bench for the Blazers, who had lost all four meetings in Portland against Wallace's Pistons since the trade.

"We're taking it in stride as a ball club and as individuals," Jack said. "To go 4-0 in the past week says a lot. We've beaten two of the top teams in the league now (Detroit and Dallas) after they've had our numbers. You can have one big win but consistency is the thing."

Wallace, who was the go-to guy in Portland, was traded to Atlanta and then ended up in Detroit a week later. He scored 13 points in the first half, but was silent in the second - tallying just two.

"He had it going a little early shooting them (3-pointers), but that is something that you can't live with," Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said of Wallace. "He started going inside and had it going a little down there as well. Maybe, we should have gone back to him a little later in the game looking at it now."

The teams entered the final period tied at 74-74 after Flip Murray hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third.

Portland used an 11-4 run capped by a 3-pointer by Jack at the 5:58 mark that put it up 90-84. The lead grew to seven at 94-87 on a shot from the arc by Roy with 3:29 left.

"I feel like my shot is coming around now that I've gotten my legs under me a little more," said Roy, who missed much of the preseason nursing a sore heel. "The more we play, the more I feel like my legs are stronger, which means I feel better about my shot."

However, Detroit cut the lead to 94-91 on a layup by Tayshaun Prince with 2:11 left, but Jack hit a layup and Aldridge and Travis Outlaw hit a free throw apiece to seal the win.

Outlaw scored 13 points off the bench for the Trail Blazers, who shot 54 percent (40-for-73).

"If you look at the stat sheet, you'll see it was a total team effort," Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "Jarrett once again did a nice job of the bench and Travis and Joel (Przybilla) really helped us."

Prince scored 20 points and Billups added 19 and nine assists for Detroit, which shot 44 percent (37-for-84) from the field.

"We missed a lot of easy, easy shots," Billups said. "In the fourth quarter, it kind of catches up to you when you're missing chip shots like that."

"They totally outplayed us and shot the heck out of the ball," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "It was one of those games where we never felt like we had control of the game."