Roy Solves All Problems...Tonight Anyway, 102-89 B's

by: torridjoe

Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 22:52:54 PM PST

Once again I'm covering the Blazers game on my own little road trip--thanks to the Blazer internet faithful as usual for finding the pirate feed of the tilt against Toronto at the Gahden. Or as Keith Olbermann might have put it Christmas night, the "Guhhh"-den. And for the first half, it looked like "guhhh" might be the order of the evening once again, as a generally inferior Raptors squad found the shooting magic and threatened to run the better-rested home team off the court.

It's not entirely fair to compare the effort in the two games however, because while there were still plenty of open looks and bad defensive lapses, the effort was 100x better from almost everyone. The smartness of the execution may have been lacking at times, but it wasn't because players were dogging it or standing around looking confused.

Tonight by contrast they got AFTER it, and in the second half it finally began to show--but in the end, some of the same problems remain as they head into the big Boston rematch, and the overriding truism is that when Brandon Roy is on in the 4th quarter, head to the ticket window and put your money on the Blazers. If he's not, put your head between your knees and breathe. 

{the "whew!" recap, below} 

The most notable things of the first half, beyond the high-energy effort to the ball, were the insane shooting of the Raptors outside (75% from downtown for the half!), and the return of Greg's "good" O-face as a result of perhaps his best game of the season. In Toronto O'Neal was not particularly bothered by Oden and mostly had his way with him, and it seemed tonight as if Greg was determined to show that, like a batter facing a hot rookie pitcher for the second time, he wasn't going to get dominated again.

In the early going it was all Oden at both ends, scoring six of the team's first eight points in the first three minutes, with two buckets coming off O-reebs. LaMarcus was also quick in getting off the schneid, driving deep and getting his own dunks and jumpers. By the time he sat down for his regular rotation halfway through the first, he had eight points and three rebounds, all offensive--each of which led to 2 points. The ovation when he sat down was, as you might expect, thunderous.

Nonetheless, the 2nd unit was not as effective, and with Bargnani and Parker hitting from outside, the Raptors surged ahead. When O'Neal dropped in a 10-footer to make it 38-31, The first unit came back in, but seemed to forget this key fact as Toronto rattled off a series of trips that resulted in head-smackingly easy buckets. On one trip where Roy's man leaked under the basket about 10 feet behind him, I thought Brandon was going to deflate the ball with his hands picking up the ball off the floor. It was his guy, but everyone was so far out top that if it was a soccer game Toronto would have been offside.

Oden and Roy were carrying the Blazers along through this bad stretch where the Raptors extended their lead to as much as 10 points at 50-40. Travis was keeping everyone's beers cold with four consecutive misses (including three treys) in the last 2+ minutes--although it should be said he did have a sweet jam right before that and a nice steal, and he was literally throwing himself around the court after loose balls. And just when it looked like Chris Bosh was going to push the fisrt-half dagger in at 57-46 with one second to go, Trout banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer to bring Portland within eight.

As hot as the Raptors were in the first half, that's how ice cold they got in the 2nd. Those threes stopped falling completely; Toronto was 0-7 from distance in the 3rd quarter and put up just 10 points, which might be a season-best Blazer defensive effort (although I think I recall an 8 somewhere). There were still a few lapses and open looks that shouldn't have been, but through the law of averages they were able to weather them and come out smiling. 

The other big difference from the Dallas game was that the 2nd chance opportunities were better controlled overall, after a shaky first quarter where Toronto leaked in more than they should have and got a couple easies. There was one particularly egregious trip where the Raptors got three chances and O'Neal sealed the deal with a layup, but while it put Toronto back up by 4 it seemed clear the tide was turning, and indeed it was. Chris Bosh scored the only two points for the rest of the quarter, and after three the Blazers led 69-67. When he hit the first of the 4th for the Raptors to tie it at 69, it looked like we might be in store for another pitched battle all the way to the wire.

It didn't happen. Toronto kept it close at 76-74 after Jose Calderon slid by everyone from the right and layed one in, but after that it was the Brandon Roy what-move-will-I-bust-on-your-ass-next show. Having hit a three before Calderon's layup, Roy then drew his man out, then blew by and hit one near the foul line before driving to the hoop on the next trip. LMA hit a 20-footer to put the Blazers up eight, and they finally had some breathing room.

At the other end, the energy on defense picked up dramatically. The guards were flying out on the shooters, and whereas in the third the misses were mostly lucky, in the fourth it was because Portland wasn't giving anybody anything uncontested. Everyone was ballhawking, and Oden had his "Not in MY house" moment against O'Neal. From the left side baseline, Jermaine backed in on Oden and tried to get one over him...BAM! Oden got his entire palm on the shot and smacked it nearly out of bounds. O'Neal got it back, tried it again, and BAM! same thing. (Roy got credit for the second block and I have no idea why, but it was Oden's).

LMA hit the jumper on the way back down, and then Roy finished them off with netjob after netjob from the field. Not until the one-minute mark did Brandon miss, and by then it didn't matter. Blake had a pretty drive with a short finish, and Travis had an aggressive power dunk to nearly finish them off. LMA did the rest with a couple of drawn fouls, making all four FT and putting the Raptors to bed.

This game did nothing to really change the situation the Blazers find themselves in--needing to find a way to play a consistent 48 minutes without lapses in execution, relying heavily on Roy's shot in the 4th, and tightening up on D.

But the energy was finally there from nearly everyone, and it was like a second coming out party for Oden. He was suddenly doing everything right...jumping straight up instead of into the body, keeping his arms high, catching balls securely, staying in position, making his shots, and making his frees. He really needed a confidence boost heading into the Boston game, and he got it. The rest of the team also seemed to get the message, flying around the ball at both ends and working as a team. 

One more to 20 in 2008! Can they get it against a Boston squad that lost two in a row in California and has to come up to our house and face a team that cannot wait to see them with the Blazer faithful behind them? Stay tuned...