Jazz

Wasatch Welter: Blazers Shoot 60%, Smooth Jazz 125-104 by: torridjoe Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 01:39:32 AM PDT Is this even the same team? The group of faces seems familiar to who I remember from back in, mmmm...early March. As you recall, it wasn't a great February for them, or at least the persistent troubles (help D, consistent perimeter shooting, quality road wins) still existed. The Blazers did a lot of losing to West teams good (Houston, Spurs) and bad (OKC, GSW) at their place, displaying each of their championship-preventing maladies in ample measure.  And then San Antonio came to town March 1, fresh off a controlling win in the AlamoCarRentalSoRememberItDome days earlier, as noted. Tony Parker had gone off for 39, and Blazer fans held their breath for the rematch. They got to exhale pretty quickly, as the team exploded on the Spurs for 33 points in the first quarter, building a 12 point lead with both Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge hitting their feel-shots early, helped by 10 first-quarter assists. As we wistfully remember, that was a shellacking that ended up as an 18-point blowout of an elite team. Then the L*kers came to town, and what happened? The Blazers nailed three dunks in a row then three layups in a row en route to a 25-16 first quarter edge. Did they hit from outside? Oh mercy yes. In the second quarter--which was really the blowout period, as the Blazers whipped LA 36-22 in the 2nd--Portland hit five treys, three of them from Travis Outlaw, who blew up for 17 in the quarter. Aldridge had an average-ish point total of 16, but worked extremely hard on Pau Gasol for 13 rebounds, something that had been sorely lacking most of the rest of the year. Are you feeling the pattern yet? {More help, below}    There's More... :: (1 Comments, 1442 words in story)

Non-Dwelling on Utah Loss, Welcome to Rose City, Clips! (w/ Oden/Quick notes) by: torridjoe Fri Dec 12, 2008 at 17:27:04 PM PST Being on sick leave today is kind of double edged sword for the blog: I'm at home rather than at work, which means I can post whenever I like...but I'm at home sick, meaning I'm more likely to prefer sleeping or moaning quietly in a chair while mourning Bob Barker's departure as I watch the new host of Price is Right not being as good as Bob Barker. So like me, perhaps the Blazer-afflicted among you are ready to move on from a thoroughly disappointing and reality-calibrating loss at Utah's "EnergyCenter" arena. It certainly was no center of energy for the Blazers, who were as kinetically diffuse as they were off-kilter. "A step late and two inches off center" would about describe the way Portland played on defense and offense last night, respectively. Forty-four Jazz points in the paint, six-of-27 shooting from distance for the Blazers are the data backing up the sentiment.  {kvetchin', previewin' and gosspin', below} There's More... :: (0 Comments, 1727 words in story)

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