With the Philadelphia 76ers in control, Portland Trail Blazers announcer Mike Barrett exclaimed, “Philadelphia is just having fun now” while their star guard Andre Iguodala sprinted down-court and lobbed a pass near the rim. Two Sixers converged on the alley-oop, and crashed into each other. The ball fell to the ground, and the Blazers nabbed possession and ran to their end. They had a 3-on-1, and because they were down by a fourteen at this late juncture of the fourth quarter, ex-Sixer Andre Miller passed to Steve Blake, who had ran directly to the corner. Momentum could have turned into Portland’s favor with a potential five-point swing, but Blake missed a three-pointer from his favorite spot. Philadelphia grabbed the rebound and proceeded to have some fun.

The Blazers entered their contest with the Sixers having won six of their previous seven games, including their last four, three of which against tough Western Conference opponents–Dallas, San Antonio, and Denver. Aside from the first five minutes of the Dallas game, Portland had played without a center against all three foes. The three teams have some size, but not the combination of power and length of Philadelphia’s Elton Brand and Samuel Dalembert, a duo that rarely plays together but terrorized the Blazers tonight.

Brand, who is angrily coming off the bench, was a excellent talent earlier in his career before suffering some debilitating knee injuries, injuries Portland is all too familiar with. Since signing a huge 5-year deal worth near $80 million dollars in 2008, he hasn’t fit in the Sixers Princeton-style offense orchestrated by head coach Eddie Jordan. But you wouldn’t know that by watching his performance against Portland.

After Dalembert, who is not known for his offense, hit two flat, Miller-esque jumpers as part of his eight-point first quarter, Brand took over beginning with a dunk from Iguodala to begin the second period, one of the many easy scores by Philadelphia in the game. He followed with a hook shot, then a few minutes later, dunked again.

Meanwhile, a Blazer answered his individual run with one of his own. Jeff Pendergraph, playing his fourth NBA game, has brought toughness to the Blazers, a grit they had previously lacked. In this game, which would turn out to be the best of his career, he grabbed offensive rebounds, created tough and ill-advised attempts by Philadelphia, forced a few turnovers, and blocked some shots. But he also brought something few expected, a sound offensive game.

While Brand provided a spark for the Sixers, the fierce-looking rookie out of Arizona did his best to pick up his drained Blazers. He dunked upon grabbing an offensive rebound for Portland’s first points on the second, then bent down to haul in a low pass from Jerryd Bayless and made a layup, confidently hit 20-foot jumper that was woeful in Summer League, and snagged another offensive rebound and converted on the first two free-throws of his career after taking a hack. Thanks to this surprising spurt as well as a three-pointer by Blake that followed, the Blazers had a six-point lead, 36-30, four minutes into the second period.

The Blazers held a lead of that same margin entering halftime, made possible by a 11-2 run anchored by the energy of another rookie, Dante Cunningham, who had four points and an assists during the spurt. But, the lead would have been eight if not for a unacceptably easy layup by Brand from Dalembert to end the quarter on a sour note for Portland and a high note for Philadelphia.

Brand’s basket was a sign of things to come for the Sixers. Portland’s lack of size had kept Philadelphia in contention throughout the first half, and ultimately led to the Blazers downfall in the second half. The duo of Dalembert and Brand scored 19 points in the two periods, and shot 9-13 in the process. That translates to 69 percent, a percentage not too far off what the Sixers would shoot for the game.

Portland used Juwan Howard and LaMarcus Aldridge at the center position during their four-game win-streak, and the tandem performed admirably. But they had no chance of holding down the Dalembert-Brand strong and athletic fort. They were a whole new beast.

The Rose Garden crowd was silent for a better part of the second half because they had little to cheer about. Seemingly everything Philadelphia threw up went in. The team, mediocre percentage-wise on the season, put on a remarkable shooting display over the final two periods. Portland could do nothing about it.

Brand hit a hook-shot over Aldridge with a minute remaining in the third quarter, cutting a deficit that was just ten not five minutes earlier down to two, 73-71. This basket notched the Sixers 43rd and 44th points in the paint for the game, a startling number, and was their 13th made field-goal in 16 attempts in the period. The Sixers were so hot that seldom-used point guard Royal Ivey, who didn’t play in the first half, hit a step-back 22-footer from the left wing under duress as the buzzer sounded, notching a four-point lead for Philadelphia.

The Sixers only added to this lead, as their hot shooting and Portland’s cold shooting carried over to the fourth. The Blazers just didn’t have any pizazz, any life. Nothing was going right for the home team; shots clanged off the rim, barely nicked the rim, and some entirely missed the rim. Meanwhile, everything was clicking for the Sixers, an opponent that entered the contest with only seven wins on the season and a 1-13 record against teams with an above-.500 record.

Philadelphia continued to make a majority of their shots, while Portland struggled to even get good looks at the basket. The Sixers scored from both inside and outside with ease, putting away the Blazers after Blake’s missed three-pointer by keeping their field-goal percentage around 60 percent. They finished off Portland with dunks, layups, and three-pointers, all part of a second half that featured 26 made field goals in 40 attempts.

Portland didn’t have an answer for Philadelphia. It was just one of those very rare, scorching hot nights for the Sixers, and one of those very rare, woefully played and lackluster nights for the Blazers.

They were on a roll entering this game, but sooner or later, they would have to suffer defeat. A loss to this team wasn’t expected, though Barrett sensed it was coming, but the slip-up is out of the way, and now the Blazers can splash some cold water on their faces and get back to playing inspired basketball, something they have done often to make this season full of injuries miraculous.

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Game Notes:

Portland shot 43 percent in the first half and 43 percent in the second half. They missed eight free-throws as a team; Brandon Roy, who had his 13th straight 20-point performance, scoring 24, missed four of his seven attempts, and Aldridge, who notched another double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, missed three of his six attempts.

Brand finished with 25 points on 11-16 shooting, and grabbed 9 rebounds. Dalembert added 14 points on 7-9 shooting, and snagged 8 rebounds.

Portland made just two three-pointers over the final three quarters. Philadelphia outscored them 60 to 40 in the paint.

The loss was ugly, but there was one bright spot: Pendergraph had the best game of his career. He scored 11 points, making 4-5 field goals and 3-4 free-throws. He also grabbed 5 rebounds, including 2 offensive, and blocked a shot in his 19 minutes of play.

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