NBA wRap: Aldridge surprise return leads Portland to victory

MANILA, Philippines – Who needs surgery? Apparently not LaMarcus Aldrige. The power forward was supposed to miss close to two months due to a hand injury. Instead, the Portland All-Star returned on Sunday, January 25 (PH time), to lead his team to a win over a resilient Washington Wizards club.

All about that and more in today’s NBA wRap:

Portland Trail Blazers (32-13) 103 – 96 Washington Wizards (29-15)
POR: LaMarcus Aldridge: 26 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
WAS: John Wall: 25 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds

What was an uneventful NBA day was saved by a matchup between two of the best teams in the league today.

A few days ago, Portland announced Aldridge would have to miss 6 to 8 weeks due to a torn ligament in his left hand. Before their game on Sunday, the team announced he’d be in uniform against Washington.

Confused? So were a lot of other people. But Aldridge did return and played well, helping steer the Trailblazers to a much-needed win after they had dropped their past few games. The Wizards led by double digits to end the first and second quarters, but an 8-0 run late in the game allowed a Trail Blazers squad to snag the victory.

Okay, seriously, why does everyone love to dunk on Kris Humphries?

Charlotte Hornets (19-26) 76 – 71 New York Knicks (8-37)
CHA: Brian Roberts: 17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
NYK: Tim Hardaway Jr.: 25 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists

The Kemba Walker-less Hornets beat the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks to win for the 9th time in their last 11 games. Charlotte looked out of the playoff picture not long ago, but couple their recent surge with the Brooklyn Nets’ fall over the past few weeks, and the Hornets are now the 8th eight seed in the East.

And for Knicks fans, well here’s something that might cheer them up (just a few more months until the NBA Draft!):

Milwaukee Bucks (22-21) 101 – 86 Detroit Pistons (17-27)
MIL: Khris Middleton: 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists
DET: Brandon Jennings: 16 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds

The past few weeks had been great for the Pistons. After waiving (Yes, waiving. No one wanted to trade for him) Josh Smith, Detroit went on a winning streak and suddenly entered the competiton for the last seeds in the East’s playoff race.

And then Sunday happened. Sure, they lost big to Milwaukee. But they lost something even bigger when their point guard Brandon Jennings went down and  unfortunately tore his achilles:

Jennings is expected to be out for the rest of the season. He was averaging 15.4 PPG and 6.7 APG.

Memphis Grizzlies (31-12) 101 – 83 Philadelphia 76ers (8-36)
MEM: Zach Randolph: 17 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists
PHI: Michael Carter-Williams: 10 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds

The Grizzlies started the newly-acquired Jeff Green, and he responded by putting up 18 points in 28 minutes. Since attaining the former Boston Celtic, Memphis has gone 5-1.

Utah Jazz (16-28) 108 – 73 Brooklyn Nets (18-26)
UTA: Gordon Hayward: 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals
BKN: Jarrett Jack: 16 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals

When a team nowhere near the playoff race in the West beats you pretty easily, you know things are bad.

The Nets have now lost 9 of their last 12 games, and even the potential return of Deron Williams for their next game doesn’t seem like it’s going to help. Time to blow things up in Brooklyn and start a rebuilding phase. The Knicks did it as well already. Their neighbor team might as well follow suit.

– Rappler.com