| That's what Spurs star Tony Parker said about the victorious Blazers after they had stunned San Antonio and their crowd, coming back from 19 down to win handily by 12--he said the Spurs played a team "younger and more athletic than us." There's no arguing the younger part, but for the most athletic Spur to admit that they don't match up in quickness, agility and endurance is high praise. On the other hand, what was he going to say? All he can do is think about the fading window on his team as they blow a strong 2nd seed in the West and are now fighting a three way tie--Blazers included--behind the L$kers and Denver, who seem to have clinched their spots. Meanwhile, as the Spurs slide down the leaderboard they're passing the Blazers on their way up. You may remember the Blazers as that team that invited San Anton up to the great PNW, where they promptly opened up an astonishing 64-37 halftime lead on the visitors enroute to an 18 point victory, 102-84. Sorry, them's the breaks; say hi to Utah and New Orleans on your way down. And maybe you can still see Phoenix from Dallas' house in 8th place--sort of like Sarah Palin, across the playoff-nonplayoff border! Where was I? Oh yes, younger and more athletic. What a happy place to be in, where the teams that are as young and athletic as you are aren't as talented, and the experienced and more talented teams aren't as young or athletic! And that's basically where the Blazers stand right now: when they step on the court, if they execute their game plan properly and perform to their abilities for even 30-35 minutes a game, not even the Clevelands, the Bostons or the LAs represent an unwinnable challenge. Now is that execution a given every night? Not yet, but you can teach mental toughness and earn it through experience--and I would aver that we're seeing this process develop beautifully right now. You can't, however, teach Travis Outlaw to jump like the Geico money stack is under his feet, like he did last night in the 3rd quarter, getting some serious vertical not once but TWICE to grab a mid-lane rebound before any Spur even managed to jump once. More evidence that the only remaining stumbling blocks to a championship are physical repetition and mental adjustment: in Jason Quick's excellent "behind the locker room door" series, Brandon Roy put the blame for the Houston loss and first half of the Memphis game on his own shoulders, telling Quick he was in a personal "what now" kind of netherworld after being told the Blazers had made the playoffs. {should I talk about the game? OK, maybe a little, below} |
I'll admit up front that I didn't believe. Oh, BEFORE the game I was thinking the Blazers could take advantage of the waning Spurs and steal one in San Anton, figuring they'd pulled out of their made-the-playoffs mini funk after Memphis. But as the game developed in the first and the Spurs just kept making open jumper after open jumper (and then uncontested layup after uncontested layup), I lost faith. I said to myself, "Maybe they can come back down 18 against a young, unconfident team like Memphis--but the Spurs will take that opening and put their feet on Portland's neck." Why was I so pessimistic? Because that shit just doesn't happen against good teams. When good teams get up by 20, they don't lose those leads except under strange or highly unusual circumstances. It takes so much energy to stage a comeback drive that inevitably the leading team can marshal their resources late in the game and hold on like the Russians in Stalingrad--on the verge of despair, but still with the advantage as the defenders rather than the usurpers. To borrow an apt analogy, what the Blazers did to the Spurs is--for all the literary romance it conjures--what the Mexicans did to the Texans at the Alamo: they crashed the gates and took over. You could see the Spurs trying to hang on, trying to outlast the Portland charge and maintain their advantage...but to mix metaphors, the holes in the dike kept getting bigger. Try to patch the Oden gap, Rudy will kill you. Stay out on Outlaw, LaMarcus will start removing bricks and mortar inside. And the whole time, Brandon Roy is buzzing around, slapping Spur fingers out of the holes no matter what they tried to keep them in. The second quarter was just a thing of beauty, capped by the ridiculous half-court heave by Blake as the stanza expired, that amazingly cut a 19-point lead 9:45 previous to just two. Notably, that was just one of five jumpers made by the Blazers, for 10 points (Rudy also had a three to go with Blake's). Every other made shot, the other 21 points, came on layups (5), dunks (3) and free throws (3). In contrast, the first quarter featured no dunks, just one layup and four FT. Sure, the Blazers only had 16 points, but among their misses were eight shots from at least 10 feet out. Which should make you wonder: did the Blazers simply adjust their game--much as they did the previous night by going zone to break their defensive slump against Memphis--and the Spurs just didn't have an answer? I think the answer is a fairly decisive yes: the Blazers put a body on Mason, who was draining threes like Shawn Kemp drains truck stop condom machines; they stood up Tony Parker and mostly ignored the other bigs besides Duncan when they tried to shoot; and perhaps most importantly they started pressing the ball more quickly upcourt, which eventually appeared to wear on the older legs of San Antonio. Another, more subtle adjustment came from coach McMillan, who seemingly played a hunch when he left Greg Oden in the game four minutes into the second quarter after drawing his second foul. Usually in the first half, when Greg picks up his second he earns a nice warm spot on the pine and Joel has to come in--even if he just sat down himself--and pick up the pieces. Against the Spurs, Oden began his first shift with 3 minutes left in the first, finished the quarter, and continued on for about seven more minutes with those two fouls. In between the second infraction and Joel's return, Oden notched two dunks and an easy layin, along with three rebounds as the Blazers began to pull closer. Did Nate sense that Oden's presence was turning the game around? It wasn't the whole reason, but I can't say it enough about Greg: for now ignore the raw stats; his value comes from just being in the game, changing shots and drawing the defense towards the rim so that perimeter players get more room. Why do you think the Spurs are/were able to get repeated open looks in the first quarter? Because Tim Duncan clogs the lane and draws attention, and of course Tony Parker commands movement towards him when he has the ball as well. That frees up people like Mason and Bonner for easy outside shots. Take Duncan out and attempt to play Parker one on one as much as you can, and suddenly their other shooters turn human from outside. Now grasp: Greg Oden is Tim Duncan, and Brandon Roy is Tony Parker. The Blazer offense is essentially unstoppable when the jumpshots are clicking, because when that happens defenses are up a creek--cover the perimeter, and Roy + Oden will KILL you. Leave them open, and Rudy, Blake and Outlaw will deflate you par avion.
Once the Blazers had caught up within two, the Spurs opened the second half with a little gusto and bravado from the first quarter, and pushed the lead back to eight. And that's really where the fulcrum of the victory lies I suppose, because as I noted earlier, just getting close after a big deficit takes a lot of energy out of you, and leaves you susceptible to a counterattack that basically puts you away for good. At 58-50 with seven and a half minutes left in the third, McMillan called time out to prevent that from happening. I'm going to assume it's some kind of nuclear Gatorade ('dat G2?) that they fed LaMarcus during the timeout, or they threatened to leave him in Texas--which actually he may have taken them up on, given that he's a Lone Star native, so I'll have to stick with the Gatorade guess. Whatever it was, they pumped him up good with it--here are the first five offensive possessions and what LMA did: jumper, jumper, jumper, assist to Blake, D-reeb, O-reeb/layup. Voila; game tied at 61. And that was it. Finley jammed one to put the Spurs back up briefly at 63-61, but it was the last lead they would hold. Roy drove the paint and got the And One to put the Blazers up 64-63, LaMarcus actually missed his next shot, and San Antonio called time. (Didn't help.) If Tuesday's headline was "Playoff team defeats non-playoff team," perhaps today's should be "Playoff team defeats other playoff team," a far more notable occurence. The fact that the win pulled Portland into a three-way tie for third is coincidental gravy; the point is that San Antonio is still an elite team that knows how to put the hammer down in crunch time, they are nearly unbeatable at home...and the Blazers overcame it all. Where does it leave Portland with four to play? On the good side of a 4-5 matchup, probably, although they may yet snare the #3 position. The Spurs win clinches the season series at 3-1 for the Blazers, which itself is pretty amazing, and it means that in reality San Antonio is a game behind due to tiebreakers. Given that both teams have two games left against West patsies and two against West playoff teams, and assuming that the Blazers are fairly confident of beating either Denver or the L*kers if not both, the Spurs need to be thinking about winning out in order to pass Portland. Houston is in the same situation--two chumps, two champs left--but they in turn hold the tiebreaker on Portland, so it's the Blazers who probably have to go 4-0 in order to take 3rd position. Doable? Yes; I'm expecting 3-1 but just on the law of averages. All four teams are definitely winnable games, not least because both Denver and LA appear to be firmly ensconced in the 1-2 slots, and have little to nothing to play for. Interestingly however, if I had to guess I'd say that it would not be the Rockets but these same Spurs who will slip to 5th...meaning Round 1 will start in the Rose Garden against San Antonio. Avoiding Houston for the first round would be really, really nice. Getting four home games against the Spurs--and three away games in an arena the Blazers now know they CAN win at--sounds like a pretty sweet scenario. A winning scenario, even! Pardon me as I wipe this pre-playoff anticipatory drool off my face. And let me close with a little RIP CITY, BABY!!!!!!! |
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