The Portland Trail Blazers have shocked the NBA universe once again, winning the first two games of a series for the first time since they won the championship in 1977. This time, however, the Blazers won both games on the road against a higher seeded opponent.

LaMarcus Aldridge made his encore to his franchise record 46 points, with 43 points in Game 2. Damian Lillard also chipped in to the scoring, but also had 11 assists matching a career high.

What the Blazers Did Right:

LaMarcus Aldridge was incredible tonight. His performance cannot be put into words. Aldridge capped off his 46 point 18 rebound performance in Game 1 with a 43 point performance in Game 2. Aldridge has done more than the Blazers could have possibly asked of him, diffusing comments that he wouldn’t be able to be consistent in this series. If Aldridge continues this play, it will no longer be an alien concept that the Blazers could beat the Rockets in 4 games.

Bench scoring was key in the Blazers’ win. The Blazers' bench contributed 30 points to the team total of 112. Dorell Wright led the bench with 15 points, going 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Mo Williams scored 13 points in 23 minutes, going 4 of 8 from the field. Thomas Robinson came up big for the Blazers tonight, after a stellar performance in Game 1. Robinson blocked 2 shots, while giving Robin Lopez a much needed rest.

What the Blazers did Wrong:

In the future, the Blazers need to see more production from Damian Lillard in the first three quarters of the game. Lillard again scored most of his 18 points in the 4th quarter. Lillard needs to score in the 4th quarter, but he needs to be scoring more than 18 points to be able to give the rest of his teammates a rest.

Wesley Matthews’ lack of scoring is understandable, considering he has to guard James Harden on the defensive end, but he needs to be scoring at least 15 points in each game of the series. Nicolas Batum has absolutely no excuse for his lack of scoring. Even though he is guarding Chandler Parsons, the Rockets don’t run their offense through him. Batum scored 14 in Game 1, and 6 in Game 2. Batum needs to be scoring 20 points per game to stop the Blazers from playing their starters so much late in the game.

What Houston Did Right:

Houston’s starters put on a scoring show tonight, Howard finishing with a team high 32 points. Terrence Jones even scored 13 points in the game. Houston’s starters were not the problem in this game. The starters put forward their best play, and scored enough to win a game.

What Houston did Wrong:

Houston’s bench scoring was terrible. Omer Asik led the bench with six points. Jeremy Lin had five points, and Francisco Garcia scored two points. That was it for the bench scoring. Houston’s starters played well enough to dominate the Blazers, however there was absolutely no life in the bench. If Houston wants to advance to the next round, their bench has to score at least 25 points per game.

Dwight Howard, believe it or not, was one of the reasons that Houston lost. Howard had a great game, scoring 32 points, and grabbing 14 rebounds. After Howard started the game hot, the Rockets decided to run the offense through him. Dwight Howard is not a player that a team can just dump the ball to and expect to win. Howard is too unpredictable for the rest of the offense to be effective while Howard works by himself. Howard tired out early in the game, and when he came back he wasn’t the same. The Rockets realized this too late in the game, and it cost them dearly.

Portland leads series 2-0