A sellout crowd of 20,599 fans showed up at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., Wednesday night to watch Greg Oden make his home debut with the Trail Blazers.
By the time Oden, sidelined all of last season by a knee injury, entered the game with 4:28 left in the first quarter, the show was already on in the Trail Blazers' 116-74 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
When Oden entered to a standing ovation, the Blazers had a 23-7 lead. Oden didn't wait long to contribute, dunking 21 seconds after coming off the bench.
Playing 17 minutes, the 2007 first overall draft pick had 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Oden played in Portland's season debut in Los Angeles, then missed the next six games because of a foot injury.
"It was good for me to finally be home,"
Oden said. "Just to be home and finally have my people see me play was great."
Brandon Roy scored 20 points to help Portland improve to 6-2 in its last eight and 7-5 overall.
