I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game until this morning. I got home around halftime and did the liveblog for just the 2nd half. It was well worth it, and while I'm glad I went back and watched the first in order to flesh things out (it's on now while I type, and while it's bad it's actually not quite as ugly as I imagined except for the O-reebs), it's certainly not the 24 minutes Blazer fans want to focus on from this game. While I was out last night during the first half, I was following by text. It looked a lot like this: Rudy for three misses West layup (Paul assist) Sergio bad pass (Paul steals) Paul layup Outlaw personal foul Paul misses 1 of 1 West offensive rebound Stojakovic three, yes. ...etc. (that's not exactly what happened, but it's a pretty reasonable proxy) Yet and still, the Blazers hung in there for most of the half, just on the outside of competitiveness, a couple of steps away from blowed-out-ness. The first half of the first quarter things actually looked OK on offense and not yet dire on defense, although Chris Paul was able to find his man and the man he found was able to drop--usually in the paint. The Blazers even closed to within two during the earlier portions of the second quarter, to 29-27, but the Hornets put on a burst and closed out the half leading by 9, 48-39. New Orleans by then was fully in control, and the Blazers had no answers for either West or Paul, and Peja was getting the same open looks that have burned Portland in the past. Any hopes the Blazers had about making a run stopped dead there, as Portland entered the "try one thing over and over, alignment be damned, until it works until we lose" phase. Here's how I described the darkest minutes of the game in the liveblog: 6:29 | Oden another quick foul, guess he only had 1 for the half which is good. He stays in, which turns out to suck because West gets it down low and Oden decides to deny. He does, but that's four and here comes Joel. See ya in the 4th, Greg. Plus that's at least four PF with over 8 [min left] in the quarter. West makes both, 43-55.
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6:30 | Wow, getting ugly, just harrassing Portland now. Paul was WAY out top on Sergio, and he got no help whatsoever. Paul stole as the clock got down to three or four seconds...and Sergio gets another foul, penalty. Paul misses one, 43-56. Help!
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6:36 | Rudy hears the call! Three from the key, just the team's 2nd of 11. LA plays well on West and works hard to keep position and get the bound. Not gonna be Portland's night, I can tell immediately. Roy has a typical drive, but it doesn't go. Joel gets the rebound all by himself...and clangs it. Gets it back--and throws it over the hoop to the other side. Fast break, 2 on 1, Peja for three yes. Portland turns it over again. New Orleans thankfully misses, Roy drives and misses, tip no. Portland turns it over again. Peja for three no, NO rebound. Butler open three, yes. 46-62. That got ugly FAST>
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6:37 | Nate takes a TO, and off that LA takes a terrible shot at the buzzer that goes in, and there's your Portland lucky break for the game. 48-62. Rudy pushes Paul over on the wing, two easy. 48-64, 10/13 for Paul.
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6:38 | LA takes another awful shot, no movement. NO misses, rebound out to Rudy, LA takes yet another awful shot, this time with West all over him, manages to drop it. 50-64.
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6:39 | It's Awkward Foul night, what's that--eight for the quarter?, as Rudy pushes Paul over on the OTHER side fo the court. Makes both, 50-66.
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6:43 | My heavens, this is the hoop equivalent of 2-yd dives by the fullback, play after play after play. Yet another Rudy toss in to LA, yet another terrible off balance high difficulty shot, no.
Outlaw throws it away off another NO miss, and Roy goes out of the game. Roy was IN the game? My God. He was, he and his 2 points for the game. Portland turns it over--their fifth, and the fast break bucket is a fait accomplit. Nate another what-else-can-I-do timeout, 2:35 left in the third, Blazers 50, Hornets 70. |
And then, the skies parted and the gods realized that this was a little TOO much adversity for their favorite basketball team to handle. All that running circles around Sergio (and nearly everyone else, frankly) backfired when Chris Paul strained his nuts trying to feint into the lane. Remember when Dennis Dixon crumpled to the turf last year, seemingly untouched but grasping his knee and grimacing like he'd signed Bernie Madoff as an agent? Move the hands up a foot or so, and you've got a handle on what happened to Paul. So after that is when it got fun. REALLY fun. The change was nearly immediate, palpable and infectious. You could see it in the faces--the Blazers were all like, "HEY now!!," and the Hornets were all like, "Uh-oh." It actually started the trip before Paul went down, as finally someone thought to help LA out rather than leaving him on the block to try another fadeway hook. Did someone say we need to manufacture offense? Cue Jerryd Bayless. Bay came over and got the bounce from LA, rolling past him along the baseline and to the hoop for two. Travis missed the next time down but so did West, who got the best of LA most of the night. On the transition Paul's absence was noticeable, as suddenly Antonio Daniels was MIA on D and J-Bay was OK going to the O. (Translation--he blew past to open space at the rim and laid it home for two). You could see the change, but the floodgates hadn't opened and I wasn't yet sure Portland could fully capitalize--Bayless drew a dumb foul out top right after his move, Travis did make two frees, but they had the chance for last shot and turned it right back over. New Orleans missed a three to end the quarter, and while the lead was now six points larger at 15 than after two, you could see that crack: New Orleans wasn't anywhere near as sharp without Paul. Which should be a truism for any team that loses its All-Star, but instructively the Blazers looked a lot less lost when theirs went out for four big games. Perhaps it was because they had time to gameplan for it--I say the change seemed palpable because the Hornets clearly weren't sure how to play with each other in their roles after Paul went down. They looked like a basketball chicken whose head was off getting its groin taped. (Parse THAT image, willya!) My fourth quarter keys to the game were these: "The Blazers will have to keep driving, as Bayless has done the last couple trips. And tighten up a little!" Pardon me while I pat myself on the back...Bayless drove hard their first trip of the quarter and got the foul, making both (anyone noticed that FT have really been a key strength for Bayless lately?) Rudy then poked the ball away to Bay, who was off for the hoop like he'd left his finger on it last time, rolling up to slam with authority and much Simbatude (and to get his finger). Pyrzbilla had already begun taking care of key #2, making none of the mistakes Oden continues to be prone to in big games against good teams (although he really should have done more against Hilton Armstrong, not one of the shining centers of the Association). His showcase moment was a nice pickup of the charge, even though from my angle he was moving. Fortune continued to smile as Rudy opted not to take the three, faking his man jockless and dishing to Joel at the hoel, who plopped it in. Outlaw was the third segment of the triangle in the great White Unit Whitewash, dropping an 18 footer contested right after I admonished in the liveblog "better get something going soon." And that's about when the dam broke, and the Hornets stopped a) getting looks or b) getting fouled: Bayless layup, And One good Roy steal, Bayless jam LA in the lane over Butler, not as successful as West on him Roy drive LA over Butler no, but tip yes Rudy the three, Portland 81-79. As I said above, it was obvious the Hornets weren't sure how to run the offense without Paul--Daniels was hopeless--and that indecision fed right into the crazed, nearly out of control tempo that Bayless and Outlaw love. From there the Blazers just kept hammering, relying in particular on a couple of Travis classics, totally contested by money from midrange. Should it be of concern that without Tyson Chandler but with Paul and West, the Hornets were almost completely in control on their court against the Blazers? If they were to meet in the playoffs (a pretty reasonable scenario, since right now they're the 4th and 5th seeds by standinds) and both Hornets had their full stingers, how many games does Portland win here? One? My response would be sure, it's something to be concerned about and remain dilligent in trying to fix. But at a certain point, it starts to get a little silly always harping on the dangerous deficiencies in Portland's game--perimeter D, foul shooting, offensive stagnation via iso fever--when it hasn't managed to prevent them from winning 30 of 47 games. That's right, 30-17. Thirty-five games left, meaning 20-15 is what's needed the rest of the way to make it to 50. And there are still TEN games against Oklahoma City, Memphis and the Clippers. They've got 10 home games in March. When are these deficiencies going to start hurting Portland in terms of losses? Maybe they just...won't. OK, maybe it will cost a game here, one there--but it turns out that even Boston and the Lakers drop one here, one there. But is it instead possible that as a team, the Blazers are learning to do what all elite teams can do--win ugly, win playing the opponent's game, and take advantage of an opponent's weakness without mercy? For all intents and purposes, Nate was "without" his All-Star just like New Orleans; Brandon Roy had one of his worst statistical nights and really could find his shot at all. The key to this game turned out to be right there: the Blazers go deep enough, and are versatile enough, to compensate for weakness and find someone to spark the rest of the team. Oden acting the rook? Joel will save you. Sergio not getting a flow? Go to Jerryd. Batum quiet? Rudy will hit those threes. LMA a little off? Travis will bail ya out. I think Bayless definitely gets the gold star in this game for providing exactly the boost that was needed. He's a perfect example of attitude and energy overcoming raw stats--you don't see the infection of aggression showing up in the box score, but Jerryd got his teammates hyped. It was as if he was too young to understand the Blazers had no chance, and everyone suddenly realized he was right. The point is that they play like a team, fairly exemplifying the concept of gestalt--sum being more than the parts. These are obviously not the 9 or 10 best players in the NBA, but these 10 are looking like they can outplay 8 o 9 other, more talented and experienced guys. And that's exciting--because in a couple of years THEY will be the more talented and experienced guys. Hats off to Joel as well; when he started to get matched up with West in the lane, he stood his ground time after time, pulling down the bound time after time and starting the transition with a good forward pass. I finished Saturday's recap with an Homer-homage to the difference making third quarter against Utah. Since they did exactly the same thing--but differently--tonight in the 4th, I'll finish this one the same way... Mmmmmmm....38. |
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