PORTLAND, Ore. – In the final, raucous redemptive seconds, LaMarcus Aldridge had to stop and listen to something belonging to him here. All these years, and someone else was the most beloved Blazer. All these years, and someone else was the star. All these years, and it had become a matter of time until management found a trade for him.

And then this on Wednesday night: "MVP…" they stood and screamed in the old Rose Garden.

"M-V-P."

Out of all the bad breaks and bad knees here, out all the hard feelings and hard losses, LaMarcus Aldridge closed out one of the most peerless performances in the NBA this season: 38 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. All around him, the din was downright deafening.

"Humbling to have that moment here," Aldridge said later. "I've been here so long and I've had very few of those types of chants here."

"M-V-P," they screamed and swayed into the night. All around him, Rip City.

Again.

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"The best power forward in the game," Blazers guard Wesley Matthews declared. "He's always been the centerpiece but now, he's embracing it."

They embraced Aldridge the way he embraces them now, the way he embraced ownership of this franchise and perhaps the NBA's proudest, most invested city. The Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-104 the way they had beaten the Indiana Pacers on Monday, the way that they had beaten the San Antonio Spurs.

Best record in the Western Conference now, 16-3, and everyone stood and screamed and wondered to themselves: What in the world's going on here?

"No one saw this coming," Aldridge said.

Outside his locker, Aldridge sat for a moment and smiled. The way these Blazers share the ball and the praise, the way they so ruthlessly defend, it comes back to trust. And when Aldridge would've been grateful to get a trade out of here a year ago, here was another new general manager telling him: Trust me.

Only this time it's been validated. All these smaller moves, one by one, have created a sum so much greater than the parts. No one saw these Blazers coming, the way no one saw general manager Neil Olshey coming in his career as an executive.

Perhaps no was impressed when Olshey came into Portland and delivered Aldridge a two-time fired journeyman coach, Terry Stotts, and a point guard out of Weber State, Damian Lillard. Perhaps no one cared much about a strategic summer of bringing Robin Lopez and Mo Williams and Dorell Wright onto the roster.

Only now, Lillard is the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, Stotts is the frontrunner to be Coach of the Year, and all these players have fit into framework to create a sum far greater than its parts.

"Neil has done great job," Aldridge told Yahoo Sports. "I mean, he's done … great."

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