PORTLAND, Ore. — Apparently, Reggie Evans doesn't need to be able to see to be effective.
Dealing with a virus that spread from one eye to the other and left him struggling to see out of both, Evans had the first 20/20 game of his career, finishing with a season-high 22 points — which also tied his career-high — to go along with a career-high 26 rebounds as the Nets rolled to an emphatic 111-93 win over the Trail Blazers last night in front of a sellout crowd of 20,127 inside the Rose Garden.
"If it was golf, it would be a problem," Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said with a big smile afterward. "But a basketball is a pretty big ball. He can see the basketball. ... That's all he has to see.
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BIG NIGHT: Reggie Evans, who scored 22 points and had 26 rebounds, shoots over LaMarcus Aldridge during the Nets' 111-93 win over the Trail Blazers last night.
"He's relentless. You see when he's not on the floor ... all of a sudden, it's an adventure. You get a little spoiled. You just assume, when he's on the floor and there's a miss, it's going to be a one-shot possession [for the opponent]."
The win moved the Nets (42-29) to 4-1 through five games of their eight-game, 17-day Circus Trip, and allowed them to keep remain 2 1/2 games behind the Knicks and Pacers in the battle for second and third place in the Eastern Conference.
"I thought they executed very well," Carlesimo said. "That's a very, very good win."
But Carlesimo, in his wildest dreams, couldn't have predicted the kind of offensive display he received from his starting power forward last night. Evans has forged a long career in the NBA, despite having a very limited offensive game, because of his ferocious rebounding ability.
That wasn't the case last night, however, as Evans — who was matched up against Blazers All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge — executed a variety of nifty moves in the post to get one high-percentage shot after another. His best move of the night, however, came against Blazers rookie center Meyers Leonard, who Evans managed to get to leap high into the air on a shot-fake, only to slip by him and flip the ball over the front of the rim and into the basket.
"I guess you could say I just had it going," Evans said with a smile after going 9-for-13 from the field. "I wish could have done better with my free throws (4-for-12), but whatever the defense gave me, I took it. Whether I hit my teammates diving or at the 3-point line, I just took whatever the defense gave me."
Evans did most of his damage in the first quarter, when he had nine points and 10 rebounds as the Nets put together one of their best quarters of the entire season. They shot 56 percent from the field (including 57 percent from 3-point range) in the first quarter, while outrebounding the Blazers 18-3 and outscoring them 16-0 on second-chance points.
From there, the Nets basically had the game on cruise control, maintaining a lead of more than 20 points for virtually the entire second and third quarters.
The Blazers managed to cut the deficit to as few as 14 points midway through the fourth quarter, thanks to a spirited push by their reserves, but Carlesimo put the starters back into the game and the lead quickly went back up to 20 points, officially putting it out of reach and sending the fans to the exits.
"When the starters came out, we gave up some points really quick and they got back into the game," said Deron Williams, who had six points and 10 assists. "But we pretty much dominated from start to finish."
Brook Lopez finished with a game-high 28 points to lead the Nets, who missing Joe Johnson for the second straight game. Johnson suffered a right quadriceps contusion in Saturday's loss to the Clippers when he ran into Blake Griffin, an injury that also held him out of Sunday's win in Phoenix and could potentially force him to miss the games tomorrow in Denver and Saturday in Utah.
But whether the Nets have Johnson or not, they will be hoping to build on the momentum they have created through the first five games of the Circus Trip — one that many predicted would define their season — as it finally begins to come to a close.
"It's a good start, but we've got to have a good ending," Williams said. "We've got two more games left [this week], we're ready to get home, but we've got to continue to focus and continue to play."
tbontemps@nypost.com
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