Trevor Ariza wasn’t sure how he would be received by fans at the Moda Center Thursday night.
Eleven years before joining the Portland Trail Blazers this week, Ariza was trying to chase down Portland’s Rudy Fernandez in the open court while competing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Ariza caught Fernandez in the air as he went up for a shot, sending him crashing to the floor at the Moda Center. Fernandez left the game on a stretcher with a back injury and spent the night in the hospital.
But the fans didn’t hold the notorious play against Ariza Thursday night. The 34-year-old small forward received a round of applause when his name was announced in the Blazers’ starting lineup for the first time.
“It was a great,” Ariza said. “It was a surprise. I thought they were going to boo me. It was good, it was cool.”
Ariza repaid the fans for their support with his performance Thursday night. He scored a season-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. He also tied his season-high with four three-pointers.
But his performance and a 47-point outing from Damian Lillard weren’t enough to lead the Blazers to a win as the team fell 133-125 to the Dallas Mavericks on their home floor.
“I’m more of a ‘I like to win guy,’ rather than how I play,” Ariza said. “So, it means nothing because we didn’t win.”
Still, Ariza’s coaches and teammates liked what they saw.
While Ariza admitted that he only was able to learn five of the team’s plays before the game and was a bit confused with some of the sets, he showed well on the offensive end and looked decent defensively, even though the team struggled to contain the Mavericks for much of the game.
“I thought he played really well,” Lillard said. “He was flying around, he was active, he made shots, he was aggressive on the offensive end as well. For his first game, I thought he had a pretty good performance.”
Before joining the Blazers earlier this week, Ariza was fighting through a difficult season with the Sacramento Kings. For the first time since 2013, he wasn’t starting and he was struggling to produce off the bench. Ariza averaged 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 32 appearances for the Kings, shooting just 38.8 percent from the field.
But the Blazers believed that Ariza, who has carved out a nice role for himself as a 3-and-D player over his 16 seasons in the league, still had plenty to offer. They felt that a new environment would serve the 34-year-old well. On Tuesday, the Blazers officially announced that they had acquired Ariza, along with Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan, from the Kings in exchange for Kent Bazemore, Anthony Tolliver and two second round picks.
In his return to a starting lineup Thursday, Ariza looked as comfortable as he has looked all season as he shot 63.6 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three-point range.
“Well, (starting) is what I’ve been used to,” Ariza said. “So, when I’m back in my natural habitat, I just try to play the right way and hopefully, things work out.”
-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg
Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.