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Trivia question to start you off: how many NBA arenas do NOT carry the name of a corporate sponsor? Answer: just four--the Palace at Auburn Hills, the New Orleans Arena, and the two "real" Gardens left...Rose, and of course Madison Square. There used to be a Boston Garden; now there is a TD Banknorth Garden, which I think is about as real as Macy's Yankee Stadium, so they don't qualify anymore despite clinging to the word. Yet, I wonder how many come up for renewal this recession year, and how many go back to being named after a town or an owner due to budget cuts. Ahem. Trivialities aside, the Blazers snuck the brooms by the Knickerbockers in the Rose Garden tonight, completing the Garden Cup Sweep with a pretty hair-raising (and thus damned exciting) 109-108 win. No cookie for that lads; 50 wins means you have to do things like that to lesser teams--but it's nice to see it anyway and it's a good confirming sign of a team that is still working with properly screwed on heads, and enough talent to take out most teams most nights. Can't ask for a whole lot more than that. The rest is just the same bounce of the ball that makes each year's titlist a surprise at the ultimate. From the media report by Blazer's Edge Ben, the mood in the clubhouse was actually quite somber, either through exhaustion or intensity and refusal to be satisfied with an effort that could still benefit from improvement. He says he would have predicted Nate would carry the same kind of mood postgame, but instead reported that coach was in a "take it and run" mood, accentuating the positive to great degree. I have to say I don't disagree with Nate on this one; I think it's a much more valid win than say, New Orleans, and it was a damn sight better than the effort against OKC. That was putrid--Portland clearly took a personal day for that game, and they seemed to realize it afterwards and redouble their focus for the Knicks. Instead of playing like ass for 2-3 quarters and mounting a major comeback to make it interesting at the end, against New York the Blazers played hard, plus basketball for those same 2-3 quarters and suffered through minimal (very) low spots. And after every such low, they held their poise as if they had felt in control the entire game. They did what you hope they do every time they're close with a little time left--make almost every time down the floor, and get good defensive stops. Whereas against OKC those trips were turnovers or bad jumpers, and they gave up makes with poor coverage at the other end, against New York everything clicked, and suddenly they were the same team that could not miss to open the game. {more, below}
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