Blazers cool Heat in Oden's return to action

MIAMI - Greg Oden returned to the Portland Trail Blazers for Wednesday night's matchup with the Miami Heat, following a six-game absence because of a sprained right foot sustained in the season opener.

The hard-luck center was the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft, then missed all of last season following knee surgery and only managed to play 13 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers in his long-awaited debut last month. He was not in the Blazers' starting lineup Wednesday, coming off the bench to score 3 points and grab 2 rebounds in 16 minutes. Portland beat Miami 104-96.

He acknowledged Wednesday night that he's got plenty of work to do.

"It will come," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "He was aggressive. He made some plays."

At times, Oden appeared winded and seemed to lag off the pace during transition play.

"I have to get back on defense, get back in shape," he said. "That's my big thing right now."

The Blazers say they'll act cautiously when it comes to how Oden will be worked back into the rotation.

"We are adding him to what we're already doing and have to fit him into the things we're doing, make those adjustments again," Blazers coach Nate McMillan said. "He's a part of what we want to take advantage of on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively, and having him back in the lineup will be somewhat of an adjustment. So we'll try to work him in slowly."

Oden's first NBA points came with 49.4 seconds left in the opening quarter, when he leaped over Miami's Joel Anthony for an offensive rebound, spun and threw down a fierce right-handed dunk as several Portland reserves bounded off their bench.

His first basket came 504 days after getting drafted and after collecting a bit over $5 million in salary.

"We're different with him because we have a low-post presence," said Blazers guard Brandon Roy, the 2007 rookie of the year, who also was in Wednesday's lineup despite a bout of back spasms earlier this week. "Without Greg, we're a perimeter-oriented team. We take a lot of jump shots. With Greg, we've kind of got that low-post presence. He's so strong."