Very interesting game. In the first quarter, LMA was unstoppable, and then for the next 2 quarters decided to go away from him because hey, Lillard, Matthews and Mo Williams had to go for a combined 16 for 41. In the end though, Portland survived a dreadful James Harden game and thanks to an all-world performance from Aldridge. He was getting a little bit of MVP ballot buzz early in the season, but that dropped off despite him not really playing any worse. He's a top 10 player right now.
As for Houston being unlikeable, I get why people don't like Howard, and I'm in that boat, but Harden is very fun to watch and although he gets to the line too much, I think he plays with a lot of charisma and has kind of a carefree attitude towards offense that is kind of a throwback. Beverley is a scrappy guy, but I feel like all of a sudden he is becoming a media darling. Listening to Webber and that other guy talk about him tonight, you would think he was defending all 5 portland players by himself.