The Portland Trail Blazers kicked off the second half of the NBA Season last night at home against the San Antonio Spurs. It was a back-and-forth, hard fought contest that was ultimately won by San Antonio 111-109. Patrick Miller came off the bench to lead the Spurs in scoring with 29 points while Damian Lillard proved that playing in all five All Star events wouldn’t burn him out just yet by scoring 31 for Portland. LaMarcus Aldridge was scratched with a groin strain. Before the game, the Blazers put this picture out on Facebook for the pregame:

YES! There you go CJ! I absolutely love seeing this. A big reason for CJ’s inclusion in this picture is because NBA.com announced their newest Rookie Rankings in which CJ moved up to 8th. CJ’s play last night was not up to that level, however. CJ played just over 14 minutes going 1 for 4 from the floor (0 for 2 from 3pt range) scoring 2 points, grabbing 1 rebound, 1 turnover, and 3 personal fouls. All four of CJ’s shots came during the first half so there was hope that he could turn it around in the second half and even potentially reach double figures; we saw him do that in the Blazers’ last game. CJ only played about 5 of his 14 minutes in the second half, most likely due Lillard’s hot-hand.

The Blazers return to action tomorrow night at home against the Utah Jazz. Utah currently sits at 19-34, 5th in the Northwest Division. CJ will most likely be guarding Gordon Hayward who averages 16.2 points per game in about 36 minutes per game. The Blazers and Jazz tip off at 10pm tomorrow night.