The Portland Trail Blazers beat the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden 94-90 Wednesday night. The Blazers improve to 35-14 on the season and 16-9 on the road. Portland will also sweep the season series against the Knicks for the season year in a row.

Wow, offense much? I do not know what to talk about more. The fact that Portland continues to have struggles from the field in the second half or the fact that the Knicks missed almost every shot in the fourth quarter. I am exaggerating, but it felt like that. Portland came out ready to go in the first half as they have done for the past few games. Head coach Terry Stotts continues to stick to his strategy of putting Batum on opposing point guards to start the game. Tonight’s point guard was none other than a Portland favorite Raymond Felton. You can probably already tell how it went.

Portland outscored the Knicks 26-23 in the first quarter with the help of Nicolas Batum who went 3-for-3 in the quarter. Wesley Matthews also had it going and he went 3-for-5 in the quarter. You see two players missing from this explanation, LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard. They both had horrid and, dare I say, disgusting shooting nights. Combined they went 9-for-29 (that could be a Carmelo shooting stat) from the field. Lillard continues to struggle from three-point range going just 1-for-6. Despite all of that, they still had an effect on the game. LA hit a big shot over Tyson Chandler at the end of the game to close it up and Lillard still demands a lot of respect even if he isn’t shooting well.

The third quarter was a different story tonight. Portland outscored the Knicks 30-22. Batum went 3-for-5 and Portland finally got some contributions from the bench. Mo Williams would hit a bucket, and then Wesley Matthews would be able to get a bucket. Then the fourth quarter happened. The Blazers took a 7-point lead into the final twelve minutes and didn’t score again until 7:16 on a Mo Williams corner three. Sounds like bad news, but the Knicks were flat out awful from the field. Even with the Blazers going through a massive drought, New York was only able to come up with three points. Three-pointers, mid-range shots and even simple layups were hard to come by for both teams. It was that kind of night.

This was probably the most frustrating quarter of the season. The Blazers had multiple opportunities to blow it wide open, but the ball just would not fall in. There was even a point where Matthews was in a fast break situation and it seemed like it was going to be a simple lay-up. Wrong, it rolled around and out and into the hands of the Knicks. Normally, you would be frustrated, but New York was shooting as bad if not worse than Portland. It was unbelievable. Finally, Portland was able to grab an 8-point lead with 1:07 remaining. Game is over right? Nope, a J.R Smith three pointer into a Batum turnover into a Tim Hardaway Jr. three-pointer made it a one possession game with just 0:50 remaining. Again, it was that kind of game. LA, like I said above, had an awful shooting night, but came up big when he hit a 13-foot turnaround fadeaway shot over Tyson Chandler to seal the deal for good.

Portland’s offense is in a slump, there is no question. However, tonight demonstrated that this team can find ways to get it done even if the shots aren’t falling. With LA and Damian having off-nights, some players had to step it up and fill a slot. The bench is still in question. They were able to contribute 20 points, but it wasn’t pretty. Terry Stotts switched up the rotation and brought back Dorell Wright in off the bench. C.J. McCollum was doing great for his situation, but I do not blame Stotts for this move. The bench was having a hard time scoring and Wright brings defense and the threat of the three-point shot. You even saw the return of Meyers Leonard, which was underwhelming. He picked up three fouls in five minutes and still looks hesitant. Meyers just needs to go out there and play basketball and stop over-thinking everything.

Here are some disgusting offensive stats for you. New York went 4-for-21 from beyond the arc including 1-for-6 from Carmelo Anthony. The Blazers shot 30-for-79 from the field and went 26-for-33 from the line. New York was also having trouble at the line as they went 14-for-20. Another glaring stat is turnovers once again. Portland registered 14 while New York had 9. Take care of the basketball.

The statistical stand-out for Portland was Nicolas Batum who has had a nice little run over the past few games. He ended the night with 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting, 2-for-5 from three, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. This Batum is what people want. He has turned up the aggressive meter and has started finding his own shot rather than being overly unselfish. This game would have been different if all Batum had done was decide to pass. He defense on Raymond Felton early was solid as always and it seems to be an effective weapon going forward for Stotts.

Even with a bad shooting night from LA he still recorded another double-double. He finished with 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Blazers will get a day off before heading to Indiana for a rematch against the Pacers. Hopefully the Blazers’ offense comes alive because a performance like tonight will most likely not get it done. Indiana has only lost a measly two games at home. They will tip off on Friday at 4:00 p.m. PST at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Stay tuned!