Aldridge paces the surprising Blazers

PORTLAND – The late-game “M-V-P!” chants are now the norm in Portland for LaMarcus Aldridge, and the Trail Blazers’ forward is putting up numbers worthy of such adulation.

The two-time All-Star is averaging a career-high 23.5 points and 10.6 rebounds. He’s leading the way for a surprising Portland team that sits atop the Western Conference with a 19-4 record. It’s the Blazers’ best start since they opened the 1990-91 season 21-2.

“He’s playing at a crazy-high level,” teammate Wesley Matthews said.

The latest victory came Thursday night against the Houston Rockets, 111-104. Aldridge had 31 points and a career-high 25 rebounds, becoming the first Blazers player with 30 or more points and 25 or more rebounds.

There were no clues that Aldridge was going to have a monster game.

He missed his first five shots and was 1 for 7 from the floor in the first quarter. But he was quickly picking up rebounds, grabbing 10 in the first half.

He poured it on in the third quarter with 14 points and nine rebounds.

“He’s a load,” Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I don’t think I can remember seeing someone who takes so many hard, contested, fallaway jump shots and consistently makes them. He’s really, really good.”

Only Minnesota’s Kevin Love has better averages this season for points and rebounds combined, with 23.9 points and 13.8 rebounds.

Aldridge has been the Western Conference player of the week twice this season. In a 111-104 win against Oklahoma City earlier this month – a victory that snapped an eight-game Thunder winning streak – he had a season-high 38 points and 13 rebounds, becoming just the third Blazer with as many points and rebounds in one game.

“He was shooting turnarounds from almost the 3-point line on top of our bigs and knocking them down,” Kevin Durant said afterward. “That’s what great players do. They come through in the clutch and make shots and he’s a shot maker. I’m sure he practices those shots all the time. It looked like it was great defense on our part but better offense.”

Aldridge has two games this season with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. Before the Rockets, he also had 30 points and 21 rebounds in a 113-101 victory over Golden State on Nov. 23.

A seven-year NBA veteran, Aldridge was drafted out of Texas by Chicago with the second overall pick in the 2006 draft and immediately traded to Portland.

In his early years in Portland, the soft-spoken Dallas native was overshadowed by guard Brandon Roy, who was also in the 2006 draft class. Roy went on to become the league’s Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star before knee problems cut short his career.

Aldridge has been named to the All-Star roster for the past two seasons by vote of the coaches. He understands that in the talent-laden West, it’s difficult for players on smaller-market teams – especially one tucked away in the Pacific Northwest – to get All-Star fan votes. He was ranked eighth among Western Conference frontcourt players in the first returns of All-Star balloting released on Thursday.

Aldridge also understands that his game is a lot like his personality: quiet and unassuming.

“People probably don’t know who I am, or what I do up here. Some people probably just don’t like my game. I’m not flashy. I don’t dunk. I don’t do anything really exciting, you know?” he said.

Earlier this week a young fan in Utah treated the 6-foot-10 forward to his first “M-V-P!” cheer on the road. In return, the fan was granted an autograph.

“All those M-V-P chants, he deserves it,” teammate Nicolas Batum said.