SB Nation - Brandon Roy

Game 27 Recap: Portland Trail Blazers--W00T! Phoenix Suns--Dagnabbit!

Dave — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:01:53 -0000

Little-known NBA etiquette: Free hugs any time you score your age or higher.

Rejoice, rejoice believers, your Blazers pulled one out against the Phoenix Suns tonight. It was not only an entertaining game, it was an entertaining "W". Gotta love it.

The Blazers leapt out the gate like a ballet dancer on Red Bull, looking for all the world like they were going to beat the Suns at their own game. LaMarcus Aldridge ran like a gazelle, beating Phoenix down the court and converting chip shots. Andre Miller was also zippy. The Suns, meanwhile, seemed content to loft from distance. Even they can't get away with trading layups for 20-footers and they found themselves down 6-0 before Steve Nash caught Grant Hill for a layup of their own. Apparently that kindled something in Hill because he went on a tear and almost singlehandedly wrested control of the game away from Portland. It was like that time your grandpa caught you smoking and took you out behind the woodshed. You knew he was capable, you knew you probably deserved it, but it's still pretty bad getting beaten by an 80-year-old man. Aldridge continued scoring and Jerryd Bayless came in for some late-quarter offense and Portland found themselves down 3 when the buzzer sounded.

The early part of the second quarter went well enough. Aldridge had a dunk. Blake hit his second three-pointer of the evening. Bayless scored again. But then Amare Stoudemire started hitting mid-range jumpers. He spread the floor which opened up opportunities for the Suns' ancillary players, including Channing Frye who hit 3 threes in the period. Brandon Roy responded with a 6-point mini-run and Martell Webster hit a couple of shots, but the Suns bigs had done their damage and Portland walked into the locker room down 7. On the up side they had balanced offense, few turnovers, and plenty of energy. On the down side the Suns had all of these things as well plus marksmanship. The Blazers weren't getting regular offensive rebounds either. You started to wonder if this was going to be one of those games where we played well but just got outclassed.

The third period confirmed that impression. It started well enough with Martell Webster showing some aggression on the drive and the Blazers drawing a ton of free throws but for every point Portland scored Phoenix had an answer. Amare continued to hit, Hill made back-to-back layups, Frye hit more threes. Other than a couple bad turnovers you couldn't pinpoint anything obviously wrong with the Blazers' offense. They just didn't have quite enough of it compared to the Suns. Phoenix won their third straight quarter, this time by 4, and took an 11-point lead into the fourth.

The Blazers didn't give up, however. The guards started penetrating and passing, leading to 3 made threes within the first 3:15 of the quarter, 1 each by Webster, Roy, and Blake. This wasn't entirely surprising as those three were playing with Bayless in an ultra-small lineup with Joel at that point. The Blazers climbed instantly within 5 but then Amare reared his ugly head again, pushing the lead back to 7.

Then the entire arena froze as a primal, bloodthirsty shriek echoed through the seats and rafters. Beer vendors dropped their glasses, fans cowered, whistles fell out of refs' mouths, Coach Nate fell backwards into his seat, Monty Williams grew hair, watched it turn grey, and then sobbed as it fell out again all in an instant, and the Suns' blue and orange road uniforms suddenly included a conspicuous amount of yellow. B-Rex had arrived. And he was angry.

Well, maybe it wasn't exactly like that, but it should have been.

Jerryd had been handling the ball in a considerable number of sets up until the fourth quarter, getting a shot at playing the true point guard role even when Blake was on the court with him. He had acquitted himself quite well. But now the Blazers put the ball in Roy's hands more and had Jerryd play as the off-guard more. They'd switch up as opportunity presented itself. Any way the play developed--whether Roy drew attention and flipped the ball to Bayless for a jumper, Roy found Jerryd on the wing for a dribble penetration opportunity, or Jerryd initiated from the top--Mr. Bayless delivered. He turned in a career night, setting the Suns back on their heels with his array of offense. They couldn't stop him driving without fouling him. They wanted to concede the jumper to him but he hit those too. He also showed energy on the defensive end, crossing the lane to make plays from the weak side several times and grabbing rebounds as well. Bayless scored 15 points in the final 7 minutes of the quarter. As the Phoenix defense got divided by the barrage Roy took advantage and poured the ball in as well.

On the other end Amare started missing which put extra pressure on the Phoenix supporting cast. They couldn't deliver. Steve Nash tried to take over late but Bayless hit enough free throws to put the Suns down by 3 on the last possession and LaMarcus Aldridge forced Nash into an awkward shot that clanged off iron. Confetti drops. Everyone on the team, including some players in suits, pats and rubs Bayless' head like it was Buddha's belly, huge grins on their faces. Jerryd and Roy do the post-game interview together, looking for all the world like they're locked at the hip. And there you have it...another memorable Rose Garden victory over the Suns.

Besides the heroic scoring, Portland did a couple of things to cement this win. The disparity in field goal percentage was huge in the first half but the Blazers narrowed it to roughly 3% by the end of the game, Phoenix shooting 48% and Portland 45%. Portland matched Phoenix shot-for-shot at the three-point arc, which probably isn't a repeatable experiment but it worked tonight. The Blazers were 10-20 from distance. Most of all, the Blazers dominated at the foul line. They attempted 35 shots to the Suns' 22, hitting 25 compared to their 16. Combine that with not giving away too many easy shots via turnover and you have the margin. The Suns also helped out a little by not taking advantage of Steve Nash until too late. He obliterated both Miller and Blake at will and the best Bayless could do was try and channel him somewhere. Under no circumstances were the Blazers stopping him until that final shot. Yes, Nash had 13 assists but this looked like one of those classic "I think we're going to win this so I'm going to lay in the weeds until needed, which may be never" games from him. He shot 7-11 from the field. It probably could have been 14-22 without affecting the rest of Phoenix's game too much. It's not like he would have been taking away Frye's threes. Those came from Amare. Nevertheless, I'm perfectly happy with the way things worked out.

Click through for Individual Observations, Links, Jersey Contest Scores, Final Thoughts, and such...

Individual Observations

Brandon Roy had a nice game tonight. He didn't force too much, he drew 11 foul shots, he was 2-5 from the three-point arc, and even though 9-22 overall doesn't look that impressive whenever you can turn 9 made shots into 27 points you're doing something aggressive. Add 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

LaMarcus had a stellar opening three minutes then faded offensively. Frankly the guards were playing with each other tonight and given the results that's the way it should have been. Aldridge also spent the whole night guarding scorers which may have distracted his attention. The only disappointing thing was that he didn't take full (or really any) advantage of Channing Frye's poor post defense. Had Portland not drained all of those threes we might have a different tone when discussing his contributions. He did go 5-6 from the foul line to ameliorate his 5-15 from the field. 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 15 points.

Jerryd Bayless: 9-15 from the floor, 2-3 from distance, 9-12 from the foul line, 29 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio. It was his best night as a Blazer. I saw three things that gave me hope that he can continue pressing for minutes and a bigger role. The 29 points and the drives weren't among them. Those were great but you also have to figure Phoenix played into that a little as did Sacramento the other night. It's not going to happen like that against every team. However...

1. He functioned well with the ball in his hands, finding people and setting the offense without looking confused or having to take over in order to have an impact. This may be the best he's looked ever in that vein.

2. He hit the catch-and-shoot outlet jumper just as well as he drove. That shot is his key to staying on the floor and he looks like he knows it. He's giving Brandon a look like, "You know I'm going to hit it if you give it to me." Brandon is starting to give him a look back saying he knows that he knows. It's not just the points, it's the opportunity for synergy between those two guards that the made shot creates.

3. Bayless looked good on defense tonight. He was aware of his position and what was going on around him. He helped appropriately and found something to do even when the ball wasn't with his assigned man or in his area. He was active. He moved his feet. Combined with being quicker and bigger than the other two guards that gives him an edge.

Martell Webster mixed up his game tonight and is one of the quiet heroes. Have you noticed how much better the offense functions for everyone, including the players we have just mentioned, when Martell can score a little? He's the straw that breaks the camel's back, making the defense focus in so many directions that they can't contain anymore. He went 6-10 from the floor, scoring on jumpers and at the rim both, for 15 points. Add 7 rebounds, 3 offensive, and 2 steals.

Steve Blake shot only threes tonight, which is normally something I'm not in favor of. But he hit 4-7 of them for 12 points off the bench and provided yet another guy the Suns had to watch. Again, much of the fourth-quarter heroics were enabled by these guys draining those shots and making Phoenix worry about them.

Andre Miller played only 18 minutes tonight but he had 5 assists in that limited time. He didn't get many shots up, scored 4 points, and had 2 turnovers. His defense wasn't up to the task though he did look like he could have scored on Nash more given the opportunity.

Joel Przybilla had 10 rebounds and 2 blocks after his usual fashion.

Final Thoughts

It's not often you lose 3 of 4 quarters and win the game. I wouldn't want to try it again but it sure was exciting tonight. But this is like the point of the movie when the hero has just escaped from peril by the skin of his teeth and stops to celebrate. He's smiling, laughing, maybe bragging a little, then he falls silent as he looks into the distance and sees even a bigger baddie on the horizon. Cue the scary music because the Blazers now go out on the road for 4 games: Orlando, Miami, Dallas, San Antonio. Under normal circumstances you'd hope to come away with 2 of those and call it good. Right now I'm thinking any win would make a good trip and somehow taking two would be fantastic.

Boxscore

See what the Phoenix guys think of Jerryd Bayless at BrightSideofttheSun.

Check out your Jersey Contest results at the scoreboard page and enter the next game here.

Oh, and enjoy the whoopin' and hollerin'!

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Poll

My reaction to Jerryd Bayless' career night is...

Blazers Mount Comeback, Edge Kings 95-88

Ziller — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:02:27 -0000

More photos » by Greg Wahl-Stephens - AP

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As Paul Westphal told the media and the cameras, the Kings did not play smart basketball in the fourth quarter, particularly on offense. But there's an asterisk: the Blazers threw something at the Kings that the players on the floor were unable to adjust to. Portland so wanted to stop Tyreke Evans (who was murder in sneakers all night) they pulled Joel Przybilla all the way across the lane to provide help on just about every Evans touch. The Kings tried to clear a side to allow Evans to go one-on-one against Brandon Roy or Andre Miller, but the help came anyways. Evans was unable to get the ball efficiently to the other side of the floor, and the Kings offense went blank.

The Kings ran a couple picks-and-rolls to create space, and it worked a bit. But not enough. It wasn't the only problem for the Kings, that fourth quarter offense, but it was the one most directly tied to Sacramento's defeat. Defensive rebounding was (surprise!) the problem. Portland had 12 offensive rebounds in 37 opportunities, and every last one came from a Blazer starter. You can't blame Jason Thompson (eight defensive rebounds in 40 minutes) or Evans (seven in 33 minutes). You can, however, blame Spencer Hawes (one defensive rebound in 28 minutes), who had perhaps his worst performance of the season on both ends. I don't remember one good possession on either end for Hawes. He couldn't keep LaMarcus Aldridge from his favored spots. He couldn't keep Aldridge or Joel Przybilla off the glass. He couldn't help facilitate the offense. He couldn't score. If not for Kenny Thomas's inability to make even the most clear lay-ups and Jon Brockman's shoddy free throw stroke, Hawes would have had no reason to be on the floor. Just a massive drain. I'm sorry to rip the kid, he's one of my favorites to watch when he's on. But he was off, way off, and it needs to be written.

The problem is that when players like Thompson or even Brockman are off, they still matter. On the defensive boards. On loose balls. On defense. On the offensive glass. It's just not the case right now with Hawes, and that's both a huge personal/personnel disappointment and also a gaping hole on the court. Przybilla is mostly an offensive zero (except on the glass). But he plays great defense, and boards like a beast. When Hawes is an offensive zero, he needs to be a wall to justify playing time.

Beyond that, the Kings can find more silver lining in the 10th road loss of the year. Sacramento owned most of the game. Before Evans drew the instant doubles, he did whatever he wanted. Nate McMillan told the media he thought Evans "has a little Magic in him." The Kings competed on the road against a good team without Sergio Rodriguez adding anything, with Donte Greene and Andres Nocioni playing iffy on offense, and with Hawes a disaster. It's still progress. It's not progress we long for -- a road win, .500 again -- but it's the progress we've got. It's hard to complain too much at this juncture.

Notes:

Greene's bucket with a minute left ... wow. When you see such smooth, confident moves from The Show, you can forget a lot of turnovers or quizzical drives.
The next possession, the Kings down three: Greene plays basically perfect defense on Roy, forcing him into a leaning jumper from 15 feet, in which Roy attempts to draw the foul after failing to get a step, but Greene essentially pulls the carpet out. Blazers get an offensive rebound which essentially seals the game (or at least leads to the Jerryd Bayless baseline drive which seals the game). How did Portland get that offensive rebound? Like they get most other offensive rebounds, of course! Evans, who was guarding Aldridge on the possession (seriously), got possession for the board, but didn't turn around to box out. When the shot bounced off the rim, Aldridge grabbed Evans's left arm, holding 'Reke to the ground, effectively. Aldridge released in time to grab the board himself. Mario Elie and Bryan Gates EXPLODE on the Kings bench at the no-call. I would call it a travesty of justice if a) Portland didn't do something similar on basically every missed attempt (which means the Kings need to sell it or strike pre-emptively) and b) Thompson does the same thing. You get offensive rebounds in this league by being aggressive and a bit dirty. Portland is a lot dirty. It's why they win.
On to actual travesties of justice: those two Przybilla charges drawn? PFFFFTTTT. We have this thing in the NBA called a restricted area. Dick Bavetta should look it up on Wikipedia.

Game 26 Recap: Blazers 95, Kings 88

Dave — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:43:18 -0000

More photos » by Greg Wahl-Stephens - AP

Cue the M.C. Hammer song.

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A win! And a fairly nicely fought one too! Good news for the Blazers right now. The bad news is that it feels so good to win at home against the Kings, but what they hey. Beggars can't be choosers. And it was a nice win.

The game started out with a really nice offensive run keyed by Brandon Roy. Portland was setting screens on everything--two, three in every set--and players were running off of them on and off the ball. Roy looked sharp every time he came off of a pick, which confounded the Sacramento defense. With at least half an eye on him the Kings let Joel Przybilla and Martell Webster slip. Often that's a good bet but Joel slipped through for a couple of dunks and Martell hit a three and assisted on another to Brandon. Smackety-smackety and the Kings are down 9 before the halfway mark of the first quarter passed by. It was a textbook example of what the Portland offense looks like when it's running right. Everybody moved, everybody was ready to score, nobody held the ball, the team was almost unselfish to a fault, a high percentage of shots went in which made Sacramento stick close to their men which spaced the floor for penetration which in turn set up even more open jumpers. It was fluid, flexible, and fun.

The Kings, meanwhile, ran their offense through Andres Nocioni and Donte Green. They're nice enough players, but that has to be considered a victory for the Portland defense which was also working pretty hard, especially in the middle.

Then, as has been the story frequently this year, Portland got a little comfortable with the lead. They started shooting jumpers first, thinking of other plans later. Predictably misses ensued. When Joel Przybilla went to the bench for a rest the defense also lost its anchor. Beno Udrih and Ime Udoka connected on a couple shots each and the lead evaporated leaving the teams knotted at 23 after one.

The second period continued the way the first had ended. Portland got 4 free throws and a layup in the quarter but every other score was a jump shot. Meanwhile Przybilla started the period on the bench then came in and collected two quick fouls and had to sit again. The Kings' second unit began attacking from everywhere. They penetrated, pushed, stroked shots, shared the ball. The Blazers weren't rotating crisply or getting back in numbers. All of a sudden they're staring down the wrong end of a 31-20 period and the crowd is moaning.

Let's talk about those rotations for a minute. People wonder sometimes why this is so hard to get. A guy needs help, another guy goes to help him, a third guy is supposed to pick up for that second guy, and so on. But that third-guy position is darn tricky. Sometimes you have to pick up the open man immediately. Sometimes you have to shade over and watch how the play develops. Sometimes leaving your own man at all is more dangerous than helping and it's really more someone else's responsibility to cover. It's really easy to make the wrong decision. Sometimes if the opposing team is good enough there is no definitive right answer except for the original guy not getting beat in the first place. Any way you go, though, it requires that you keep watching your man while also being aware of what is happening in at least two other places on the court, processing all of that information quickly and acting.

On occasion we've watched the Discovery Channel series Deadliest Catch at home. It's the one about the crab fishermen in Alaska...a documentary/reality series following life on the crab boats during the winter season. The most interesting part of the show for the producers, and often for the audience, is the struggles of the greenhorns on the deck. The camera never gives them a break, catching every slip-up, chew-out, and frustrated moment. In the process a couple things become clear. The greenhorns aren't bad guys, nor even substandard workers most times. Their great limitation is that they are only able to do one task at a time because they only see the job in front of them and not how it relates to the whole. An experienced deckhand does his own job but is also able to see what else needs to be done and efficiently slide over to pitch in and keep the whole show running smoothly. That's why the old salts are infinitely more valuable even if they and the rookies do a single task at roughly the same level of competence. The second thing that's clear is that it takes multiple seasons for a greenhorn to develop that kind of vision and confidence. Learning six individual tasks is one thing. Learning how they all fit together and timing the need and your participation in each is quite another. Apparently it takes years to become a full-share deckhand on those boats.

That's fairly similar to what's going on with the Blazers defense most nights, particularly when you have weaker defenders at the point of attack and less experienced guys (which in some ways still includes most of the roster when you figure the primary focus of many of them has been offense) in the help positions. You usually get one good rotation from Portland. You don't always get two. And you don't always get people recovering to the correct place at the right time. It feels like the enemy just has to show a strong thrust to our front ranks to make us react and then they have our flank exposed. They sure seemed to in that second period.

Back to the game...

The third quarter saw a couple of significant developments. First, Joel Przybilla remained in the game. Second, the Blazers fed the offense through LaMarcus Aldridge. LaMarcus ate the Kings' lunch for the first half of the period, scoring 10 of the 15 the Blazers put up before the 6:00 mark. Once again the bold attack opened up opportunities on the perimeter which Martell Webster and Brandon Roy happily took advantage of. The Kings, meanwhile, reverted to their Nocioni-Greene offense. The Blazers encouraged this by steadfastly refusing to let them run. Bingo-Bango-Boinko, the lead is erased and we have a ballgame.

And from the time the score got close around the midway point of the third it really was a good game. The Kings suddenly remembered that they had Tyreke Evans on their side and that we weren't very good at containing penetration. The Blazers started hustling both ways, scrapping for loose balls, and putting up decent shots. The Kings drew first blood at the end of the third when Evans put the Blazers back on their heels. Portland came back by repeating their first-quarter screen-pass offense with some penetration by Brandon Roy thrown in. Evans kept fighting and corralled the heretofore-quiet Jason Thompson into the fight. Portland responded with Aldridge and Roy, then Jerryd Bayless started driving and drawing fouls, exposing the Kings' weakness on defense they way they had exposed ours. In the end three beat two. Sacramento couldn't keep up on the foul line and they never strung together enough shots to make the difference. 95-88, Blazers win. Energy, unselfishness, and a little know-how about breaking down a sub-standard defense carried the day.

Click through for Individual Observations, Jersey Contest links, and other notes.

Individual Observations

Brandon Roy wasn't just the main scorer in this game, he was truly the main catalyst. He gave the Kings fits to the tune of 10-20 shooting and 25 points. But the bigger stat was his 10 assists. He used his influence to get his friends involved, particularly the big men early in each half. That doubled his effectiveness at least. He had 5 turnovers to go with those assists so it's not like the game was completely polished, but it was a Brandon you'd love to see every night. Of equal note: his teammates were ready to make this Brandon look good. They weren't standing. They converted the shots he gave them.

LaMarcus Aldridge matched Roy's 25, dominating the second half as we described. He kept Jason Thompson occupied which helped divert his attention from his strengths. Thompson had 1 offensive rebound on the night. Aldridge had 5. Having to protect the glass against LaMarcus and Joel kept the Kings from getting into their offense as quickly as they'd like.

I loved Joel Przybilla's game tonight. He led the defense in shutting off penetration, set the tone in taking charges (which the team did frequently tonight), grabbed 10 rebounds, and his 2 dunks off of feeds in the first period made the Kings a little leery instead of taking him for granted. He didn't force a thing. He just looked good.

Jerryd Bayless was the star off the bench with 14 points, 8-10 free throws, 3-6 from the field, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and even a block. This defense was made for him and he took advantage, making his bones in the fourth quarter when the coaching staff showed confidence in him by leaving him in until the game was done. He also played some nice defense down the stretch.

Martell Webster had a workman-like game. He kept the floor wide open by hitting a couple threes and came away with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists. When Martell is getting assists you know the offense is working.

Andre Miller did not have a good night. He had the usual defensive troubles but he also shot 2-10 from the field for 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in 29 minutes. He wasn't in synch with the offense. He was actually duplicating Jerryd's secondary-scorer role but he wasn't scoring.

Steve Blake got 24 minutes and blended in, hitting a couple shots (including a three) to keep the defense honest. 5 points, 2 assists, no big mistakes or awkward moments.

Juwan Howard hit all three of his shots for 6 points but he's no Przybilla on defense. The thing I like best about Juwan, something the other guys could learn from, is that his offense is so compact. You watch him and when it's time to shoot he doesn't mess around with the ball or the dribble or anything. He just takes the shot.

Dante Cunningham got 2 points and 2 boards in 6 minutes.

Final Thoughts

24 assists on 36 made shots with only 11 turnovers is going to win you a lot of games. But the stat of the night was Sacramento with 2--count them...2--fast break points to their credit. Nice.

Boxscore

Read the reaction at SactownRoyalty.

Here's your Jersey Contest Scoreboard. You can enter the form for the Phoenix game here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Preview: Kings at Blazers

Ziller — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:00:20 -0000

by Don Ryan - AP

Greg Oden and Sean May, both bored for different reasons, break out the Twister game board. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

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THE OPPONENT

The Blazers have struggled, and not just because of the crippling injury to wonderbig Greg Oden. Portland struggled with Oden; losing him hasn't, as some argued it would, fixed things.

Actually, the whole matter of why the Blazers have struggled so much is a touchy subject, and I'd venture that 100 Portlanders would give you at least 25 or so different reasons. Steve Blake, Andre Miller, either or both. LaMarcus Aldridge's defense. A painfully slow method of offense. Not enough Jerryd Bayless. Injuries to Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez. Coaching. Energy. Faith. Confidence.

Whatever the case, strike before the toast cools. If you want that butter melted (in other words, if you want to win in Portland) you've got to act now (in other words, you've got to act ... oh, nevermind). Easier opportunities for road wins have come and passed. Others (Minnesota, Milwaukee) will come still. But this is a fine opportunity for traveling victory, insomuch as a healthy, correct Blazers team registers nearly unbeatable in the Rose Garden.

If there is one serious note of analysis I may offer, by which I mean stea, it is that the Kings are really bad in terms of giving up fast break points, but the Blazers are the team perhaps least likely to take advantage of that. (This might be doubly the case with Rudy out.) Regarding that second link, which regards the Blazers' habit of milking the shot clock for every last drip of time (MMMM ... time), do note that it is imperative (imperative!) for the Kings to

a) not bail Portland, or more specifically talented driver Brandon Roy, hesistant shooter Andre Miller and hesistant driver Aldridge, out with a foul with, say, six seconds or less left on the clock -- let them condemn their own bridge, aye,

and b) secure the defensive rebound, which is not something that cannot be said before all 82 games.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Brandon Roy	25	37.8	7.3	16.5	44.3	1.2	3.8	32.6	5.3	6.6	80.6	0.9	3.8	4.6	5.0	2.4	0.7	0.1	2.6	21.2
LaMarcus Aldridge	24	34.8	6.6	13.3	49.4	0.2	0.3	66.7	2.8	3.4	82.9	1.9	5.9	7.8	1.7	1.0	0.5	0.5	3.0	16.2
Andre Miller	25	27.4	3.7	8.9	41.4	0.3	1.3	25.0	3.7	4.6	80.7	0.8	2.0	2.8	4.5	2.2	0.8	0.1	2.1	11.4
Greg Oden	21	23.9	4.4	7.2	60.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.3	3.0	76.6	3.0	5.4	8.5	0.9	1.9	0.4	2.3	4.0	11.1
Travis Outlaw	11	21.0	3.5	9.2	37.6	1.1	2.8	38.7	1.9	2.2	87.5	1.2	2.3	3.5	0.7	1.1	0.6	0.7	1.2	9.9
Rudy Fernandez	20	23.3	2.8	6.6	42.4	1.6	4.0	38.7	1.5	1.8	82.9	0.6	2.1	2.7	2.3	1.9	1.6	0.1	1.4	8.6
Martell Webster	25	23.4	2.8	7.6	37.4	1.4	3.8	36.5	1.3	1.6	78.0	0.6	2.6	3.2	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.6	1.7	8.4
Steve Blake	25	30.4	2.5	6.9	36.4	1.5	4.3	34.3	0.6	0.9	69.6	0.3	2.4	2.7	4.0	1.6	0.7	0.0	1.3	7.2
Jerryd Bayless	18	10.6	1.8	3.4	51.6	0.1	0.4	28.6	2.1	2.8	76.0	0.2	0.7	0.9	1.1	0.6	0.2	0.0	1.8	5.8
Joel Przybilla	25	22.2	1.5	2.9	50.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	1.6	68.3	2.4	5.3	7.6	0.2	1.3	0.2	1.4	3.2	4.1
Juwan Howard	17	11.5	1.4	2.4	57.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.6	0.7	83.3	0.6	1.5	2.1	0.4	0.5	0.0	0.2	1.6	3.3
Dante Cunningham	15	8.1	1.4	2.5	55.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.5	28.6	0.9	1.1	2.0	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.9	2.9

THE KEY BATTLE

Aldridge vs. Jason Thompson. Two lovely offensive rebounders, two friends who can match outside jumpers ... but our pugilist is definitely more of a brawler. Despite his length, Aldridge is a perimeter-oriented power forward. According to HoopData.com, Aldridge takes 5.1 attempts per game from 10 feet or closer, and 7.2 attempts per game from further out. Thompson takes 7.1 attempts from within 10 feet, and just 3.3 from further. All this while, again, both are considered among the league's best offensive rebounders. All weird, man.

INTERESTING SIDESHOW

Forget Kevin Pritchard. The Portland fans, or more accurately the Rose Garden experience, might be the most important northern blueprint for the Kings to follow. The Blazers tossed out the dirty pool from that awful post-2000 era, and the fans almost immediately returned. I hope we see that community re-engagement in Sacramento, though I fear the fact that Portland is more of an "only-game-in-town" scenario (due to the proximity of the Bay Area) and simple timing (with the economic crisis) makes it a bit uneven, or even unfair.

BOLD PROCLAMATION

Sergio Rodriguez will threaten either his top assist watermark (12) or his worst turnover standard (six). Perhaps both.

NUMERIC PREDICTION

Kings by 14,003. (The SRSS is back, batches!)

DETAILS

Portland is in the same time zone as us? Weird. 7 PM start. Game threads at 7 and 8, post-gamer at 9:45, recap sometime tomorrow.

Game 25 Recap: Blazers 101, Bucks 108

Dave — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:08:09 -0000

Arrgh. It stinks to have to write about another loss. But you kind of knew when the game went into overtime, let alone double-overtime, that this would be a hard one for the Blazers to pull out. Shorthanded and on the tail end of a road swing against a team that's been waiting isn't a good recipe for extra-period success. Nevertheless the Blazers had their chances but couldn't overcome their mistakes and in the end couldn't pull out the win.

The game started with both teams looking to their big men to provide scoring. LaMarcus Aldridge tore up the Bucks most of the night. Andrew Bogut returned the favor. Both were mobile enough and had enough range to their game that their counterparts couldn't stop them. Centers and power forwards were the order of the day early and the Blazers were fine with that. But when the various guards stepped up to the plate Portland got outplayed. Luke Ridnour did damage in the first half, carrying the torch for Brandon Jennings who didn't attempt a single shot in the opening 24 minutes of the game. Michael Redd chipped in a little bit. On the other side Brandon Roy was quiet and Steve Blake and Andre Miller were noisy in all the wrong ways...and in the clanging of loud rims. Nobody but Martell Webster could hit a three. By now you know what happens to the Blazer offense when nobody hits threes. Portland exited the first period down 5 and it looked like it could be a long night.

In the second period Roy went on a run, which in turn developed some shots for Martell and for Jerryd Bayless. Bayless didn't get many opportunities but he did well with what he had. Martell was still doing well in the first half, so it actually made a decent lineup. It's important to realize that many of these shots were coming off of movement and screens, which seems to be a consistent factor when Portland's offense is going well. The Bucks, meanwhile, suffered from a lack of backcourt scoring. Also Andrew Bogut sat out half the period. That was a bad combination for the Bucks. Portland made an enormous comeback behind their rejuvenated backcourt and turned the 5-point deficit into a 5-point lead at the half.

Apparently Brandon Jennings looked at the stat sheet at the half and realized it is really hard to win Rookie of the Year without attempting any shots whatsoever. Perhaps he looked at LeBron tape from last night's game as well. Whatever the cause, he came out in the third quarter firing. The Blazers had to know it was coming but they're a little shy on point guard defense at the moment. Once Jennings hit a couple of threes the court opened up for anything Milwaukee liked. It was like going through a pound box of See's soft-center candies for them. No matter what they picked, everything was good. Portland started the period by driving inside but after they were rejected at the rim they apparently decided that three-point shooting was the better part of valor. They got a couple of close shots but mostly it was Brick City. Only some well-timed free throws saved the period from total disaster. (You'll recall that giving up copious amounts of charity tosses is in Milwaukee's M.O.) The game's wobble increased again as the Bucks outscored the Blazers by 15. For those counting that means the first quarter one team outscored the other by 5, the second quarter it was by 10, the third quarter was by 15, and the superior team alternated each quarter.

Obviously all of the people who believe in an orderly universe are assuming that Portland outscored the Bucks by 20 in the final period and walked out victorious. You're half right. They outscored the Bucks by 10. Both Roy and Aldridge came alive at the same time to spur the comeback. They even helped each other out a time or two, which is something you don't see often. Milwaukee shared the ball but maybe they should have considered going with Jennings, Bogut, or Ridnour alone as the Blazers couldn't seem to stop any of them. In the process of sharing the ball with each other they also shared it plenty of times with Portland, aiding the comeback's progress. Andre Miller was the third scorer for the Blazers in the period but he was a mixed blessing. It's easy to love the 5 points and especially the 4 assists he posted in the period. It's difficult to forgive two critical turnovers down the stretch when Portland had a chance to score crucial buckets. They were nearly identical, featuring Miller trying to force the tempo by driving against superior numbers on the break when his teammates weren't with him. He got stripped both times, once by Redd and once by Jennings. Both of these occurred in the last two minutes of a then-tight game. The first one the Blazers got right back. Not so the second. But either one could have made the difference and you don't expect that kind of thing from a 14-year veteran point guard. That's not to pin the loss on Miller...it was a group effort. But it's indicative that every time the Blazers felt the win in their sails in this game they hit a rock.

The final 38 seconds of regulation featured a medley of nice offensive plays. Andrew Bogut hit a hook shot to put the Bucks up three then Brandon Roy pulled the defense to him and threaded a sweeeeeet pass to LaMarcus Aldridge for a dunk plus the foul to tie it. After the big man had their curtain call Brandon Jennings made a teardrop runner in the lane to recapture the lead by 2 followed by Brandon Roy hitting a turn-around with 12 seconds left that was so bad that we would have barbequed anyone but Brandon who took it. We maybe would have barbequed him too but we'll never know because it went in. You could almost hear the Bucks' fans (who were quite vocal and sounded amazing all game, by the way) lose their beer and pretzels. The Bucks almost got a tip-in off of a missed Jennings jumper at the buzzer but it was a nanosecond or two too late. Overtime.

The overtime started out well. After Andrew Bogut made a layup followed by a short Roy jumper the Blazers fed a running Aldridge thrice. It was like three punches to Milwaukee's ribs. It looked like they could be headed for the exit. Unfortunately the Blazers never scored again after the third conversion. Perhaps they relaxed. Perhaps they were fatigued. Certainly we began to see signs of the perimeter defense breaking down as the Milwaukee smalls scored repeatedly, often times after a screen left them either free or mismatched.

There was a semi-controversial play near the end of the overtime wherein the officials invoked instant replay review for a second time in the game, the first having been the shot at the end of regulation. Milwaukee missed a shot and there was a scrum for the rebound. LaMarcus Aldridge was touching the ball but hadn't fully controlled it yet when two Bucks tried to tip it away from behind. They succeed and the ball went out of bounds along the baseline. The officials initially awarded the ball to the Blazers but the video review would show that LaMarcus' hand was the last to touch it (by about the same nanosecond as before) so they reversed their call. Technically they were correct in their determination. Full marks there. But this does highlight that even instant replay isn't foolproof because technical correctness sometimes breaks precedent. Every other call in the game is made in real-time. And made in real time that call always goes against the team whose players come from behind to tip. Had this been any time but the last, critical moments of the game that would have been Portland's ball. As it was, the call was made differently because it was reviewed. This begs the question: is technical correctness really correct or is it consistency?

Anyway, Brandon Jennings made a final shot to end the overtime and we were knotted again.

There's not much to say about the second OT except that the Blazers looked even more tired. Jumpers fell well short. Brandon Roy drove expecting to get fouled and threw up the shot as an afterthought. In overtime games you have to get the shot in and expect the foul to be called as an afterthought. Needless to say, he came away with neither. Meanwhile the perimeter defense got even worse as switches on screens became comical. Jennings, Ridnour, and guard Carlos Delfino scored repeatedly. Portland did not. End of game.

The Blazers didn't hit enough jumpers and didn't throw a wide enough defensive net to win in this game and that's pretty much the story. They're tired. They're banged up. They need to go home and hope to recover with a little rest and a friendly crowd.

Click through for the rest...

Individual Observations

These are going to be quite brief tonight.

Brandon Roy scored copiously but less than efficiently again, shooting only 8-24 to get his 23 points. Part of it is him, part of it is that his backcourt mates are playing like doo-doo right now. He was streaky, pouring on the points when needed and hitting the critical shot. But the confidence just isn't there. 8 rebounds and 6 assists but also 4 turnovers.

Blake and Miller combined for 5-22 shooting, 8 assists, and 6 turnovers. That was ouchy.

LaMarcus Aldridge had a whale of a game with 31 points and 11 rebounds. The Bucks had a hard time handling him.

Poor Joel Przybilla gets used so badly by his backcourt on defense. He never gets to worry about just his own guy. Not that being able to worry about Bogut would have allowed him to stop Bogut, but I do feel bad that Joel has to do everyone else's laundry as well as his own. He managed 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.

Both Martell Webster and Steve Blake seemed to take some advice we offered last night and stepped in for a few shots instead of just bombing. It worked OK for Steve. He was 1-7 on his threes but 2-3 on the shorter shots. Martell hit 3-6 threes, 3-8 of the remainder. Keep at it.

Jerryd Bayless played 18 minutes and scored 9 points. His best moment came when he was set up on the left sideline while Roy drove the lane, Brandon pitched him the ball, and Jerryd drained the three. That's something Blazer guards playing with Roy need to do. Jerryd nodded like he knew it and Roy high-fived him afterwards. 18 minutes is better than the 8 he got last night. We're going to talk more about Jerryd's court situation tomorrow so I'll leave it at that.

Final Thoughts

This was a rough stretch. You have pretty much GOT to get these two upcoming home games now. Remember though that we're trying to get through December without totally getting ruined. It may not be pretty but it doesn't have to be. It just can't be fatal. And things are seldom fatal in December anyway.

Boxscore

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See your Jersey Contest scores here and enter Tuesday's game form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

Game 24 Recap: Blazers 99, Cavaliers 104

Dave — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:00:20 -0000

More photos » by Garrett Ellwood - NBAE/Getty Images

This is not going to end well.

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Well, if you're going to lose that's not a horrible way to lose. The Blazers played an inspired first half in this one. Gone was the listless play we've become semi-accustomed to lately. This team had more list than Santa. One of the things I sometimes forget is that the current incarnation of the Blazers has a little "Big Time" in it. They seemed to know they were on national TV. They knew who they were playing. They played with energy from the tip, taking a lead on the shocked Cavaliers (perhaps feeling a little entitlement to a home win themselves) and protecting it through the first half.

How did the Blazers do it? The supporting cast had a fantastic half. Martell Webster started the game on fire, hitting everything he threw up. It's not like he was taking it one-on-one. The Blazers attacked with Roy early, he drew attention, Martell and LaMarcus were the beneficiaries. In fact nobody but those three scored in the first quarter. When the stars didn't have a shot, Martell stepped up. But the Blazers also threw a few more screens in the offense, with both Roy and Webster curling off of them and hitting briefly-open jumpers as a result.

As the second quarter and the second unit (such as it is) rolled around we saw a ton of off-ball movement. The four players without the rock made it easy for the dribbler to find an outlet. Unsurprisingly the two players who benefitted the most were the two players who know how to function in that kind of offense: Juwan Howard and Andre Miller. Both of those guys have a sense of spacing that their younger counterparts lack. Howard all but killed the Cavaliers all by himself at the start of the second quarter doing nothing but raining down open mid-range jumpers. Miller ramped it up at the end of the second quarter, hitting all kinds of shots including a couple threes. Except for one Roy jumper, one Cunningham jumper, and a couple of Bayless free throws nobody but the geezer twins scored in that second period.

As you can imagine, Cleveland was a little flummoxed. Worse, the Blazers' energy on offense evoked similar play on defense. Joel Przybilla keyed the early momentum with a couple of MONSTER blocks. He was way into this game. Cleveland helped by steadfastly refusing to utilize LeBron James. He destroyed the Blazers every time he touched the ball but he was getting fewer touches than a broke guy at Déjà Vu. It was as if Cleveland had a fully gassed and insured Ferrari in the garage but elected to take the old Taurus instead. Add in that the Blazers weren't turning the ball over much and weren't allowing the Cavs offensive rebounds and you can see why Portland took a 9-point lead into the third quarter. They had outscored Cleveland 31-19 in that second period. Things were looking good.

Except you didn't need Paul Harvey to know what the rest of the story would be.

The Cavaliers announced their presence in the second half by throwing on a full-court press. The intention wasn't so much to stop Portland as rattle them. Perhaps it was also designed to light a fire under their own players. It worked on both counts. Wherever Portland threw the ball a defender seemed to beat it there. Where the Blazers had been playing free and easy, maybe even with a spritely tempo, in the first half now shots started coming later and later in the clock. The same jumpers that were golden early started missing late.

When LeBron hit a three-pointer on Cleveland's first offensive possession, approximately 37 seconds into the half, it was clear that Elvis had arrived at the clam bake. He proceeded to score 9 points in 3 minutes, hitting jumpers over shorter guys. The Blazers threw a zone which worked for a possession or so. Then it was the old "put out the fire" drill which saw Portland defenders running at him from everywhere. All of a sudden here come Anderson Varejao and Shaquille O'Neal.

Pause for interlude.

Shaq was huge in this game. Like around four bills huge. Seriously, you can now see the fat roll underneath the armpits of his jersey. The Cavs wear an "XL" patch on their uniforms. In his case it's missing about six "X's". I'm thinking the plan is to improve his free throw shooting by eventually being able to roll the ball down his stomach and into the hoop. Some guys become broadcasters after their career is done. I guess he's angling to be a blogger.

Now back to your regularly-scheduled programming.

Varejao and Shaq took advantage of Portland's inability to contain LeBron by scoring repeatedly at the cup. Portland eventually tried a smaller, quicker lineup both to protect Przybilla from foul trouble and to move men over to LBJ in a more timely fashion. That made it worse. Przybilla eventually put an end to the Shaq run with a classic heel move: poking him in the eye. Shaq went to the locker room and never came back. Unfortunately the same could not be said of Varejao, who proceeded to kill us with his energy on both ends. He bottled up LaMarcus Aldridge, rebounded all over the place, created turnovers, finished easy plays...he basically gave the Cavs all of the opportunity points they had lacked in the first half.

Meanwhile the Blazers' offense was in confusion. As jumpers missed we became more Roy-centric which had the dual effect of creating points and telegraphing to the Cavaliers where their defense should concentrate and exactly when the ball was coming up. It's not like Roy was hogging it. His teammates couldn't finish what they started early in the game. Martell Webster made like one of those drag racers starting with a huge boom but then blowing out his engine and coasting down the track. Steve Blake never hit anything in this game. LaMarcus got Varejaoed. The only guy who was any help was Andre Miller and that was at the cost of his offense running the same way Roy's did. It wasn't quite enough. Cleveland played sharper. The Blazers turned it over more and got fewer offensive rebounds in the second half. Oh...and LeBron was still cooking.

Portland made it really close, cutting it to 4 with 13 seconds left on a LaMarcus Aldridge three and then scoring again 1 second later off of a Roy steal of the inbounds pass. But Cleveland hit their free throws and Roy couldn't hit the contested, off-balance three that would have kept hope alive. It was as good of a performance as you could have expected but it wasn't good enough for the miracle win.

Here's hoping the Blazers build on tonight. They showed themselves and their opponent that they can be dangerous when they play right. The early offense was something to behold...everything you'd hoped for out of a perimeter game. The total lack of paint points rendered it unsustainable but if the Blazers can pair that movement and unselfishness with even a marginal inside presence they're going to be just fine. And by just fine I mean great. In the meantime while they're waiting for the post presence and more people who can actually hit outside shots to heal they should continue to work that hard. Good things will happen.

Click through for Individual Observations, the Boxscore, Links, Jersey Contest Results, and Final Thoughts.

Individual Observations

Brandon Roy had 23 points but never got steady offensive production until he blitzed the fourth quarter. Even then his run was short-lived. Cleveland figured out what the plan was and that made life too difficult. He was no better than anyone else on the team when matched up against LeBron James. In fact the three-guard lineup in the second half was a defensive disaster, especially when Przybilla wasn't in with them. But he looked more active on defense than he has in some outings. He had 6 assists as well.

LaMarcus Aldridge had three-quarters of a great offensive game tonight. He couldn't get anything going in the fourth. They just shut him down whenever he tried, which in any case probably wasn't often enough as the offense became guard-dominated. He drew 5 free throws and hit them all, which is good. He had 2 rebounds on the night...this on a night when he was one of two guys above 6'9" who saw significant minutes. That's not so good.

Andre Miller played tough out there on offense. He drove, dished, and hit his shots. I have a vague impression that he looks more confident against Eastern Conference teams but that's just an impression. He sure knew how to bake Cleveland's cookies. 8-13 shooting, 20 points, 6 rebounds. He had only 3 assists, taking a more shooting-guard-ish approach to the evening.

Steve Blake had 8 assists. Unfortunately that was about the only obvious good thing that came out of his night. He had 4 turnovers. Although he put himself in decent position many times he also got burned for being too slow or too short on defense. He also missed all 4 shots he took, including 3 three-point attempts. First of all, with the roster the way it is we can't afford to have a guy playing 36 minutes and only attempting 4 shots unless that guy's name starts with "P" and ends with "rzybilla". Discretion is good but you have to be a threat. Second of all...you goose-egged the evening. I hate to presume too much but have a handy piece of advice for both Blake and Webster. If the three-pointer isn't falling your choices are not limited to keep bricking or stop shooting altogether. Specifically there are shots available from 2-4 feet further in which are more comfortable. Obviously you can't step in if defenders are closing out on you but in many cases they're leaving you all alone. Take an easier shot, get it to fall, then try the hard stuff.

Speaking of Martell, 13 points in the first quarter, 0 for the rest of the game. 4 rebounds and 4 fouls otherwise. Obviously defending LeBron can be a discouraging experience. But you've got to keep involved and you've got to work for better shots instead of relying on the ones that the defense gives you most easily. On fire or cold as a witch's bras-trap won't do it.

Joel Przybilla...you made this game for us. 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, including a SPECTACULAR rejection of a Shaq alley-oop dunk. The guy had 2 assists when the offense was flowing freely too. He set the tone.

Hey Juwan...15 points in 16 minutes? Who are you, Jerryd Bayless? I guess this is the one situation where you're glad that the old-guy power forward you got also used to score with some proficiency instead of just rebounding and defending. With half the roster blown away you need the points.

Hey Jerryd...8 minutes? Who are you, Juwan Howard? No, seriously, I thought Jerryd looked pretty good out there tonight. He made a couple of nice assists and stayed turnover-free. More importantly the Blazers intentionally called the last play of the first half for him, giving him the ball to finish the period. He penetrated even when everybody knew that would be coming. He drew two foul shots and converted them. The fact that they set the play for him is a sign of respect. Of course more than 8 minutes would also be a sign of respect. I am not huge on bandwagons as I think we tend to jump the gun and/or not see some subtle things that keep our favorite guys from playing as much as we think they should. However in this case I tend to agree with my colleague Ben. I'm seeing Jerryd hit the few jumpers he takes. I'm seeing him drive with effect. I'm seeing him in the nascent stages of passing the ball and getting the offense. I do understand his effectiveness will be greatest with certain combinations. I understand that those combinations probably won't include Roy or Miller--let alone both--and that you have to give the nod to Brandon and Andre both over Jerryd right now. (In other words it's not just a matter of subbing in Jerryd in Blake's spot.) However no matter what the combinations may be I think you have to find the guy some more playing time, particularly if the other team has no choice but to send a weaker defender against him. Maybe not 30 minutes. Maybe he doesn't even move up in the rotation officially. But if Blake's not hitting his shots anyway, if Miller or Roy can handle the passing, and if Jerryd can do a few other things that Steve can't you have to sneak him in there for a few more minutes.

Final Thoughts

Pretty much said it all above, but I'll reiterate that I appreciated the effort. If the Blazers played every game this way, even with the evening not being perfect, there wouldn't be much cause to complain.

Boxscore

Check out what Cavs fans think at FeartheSword.

See how you did in tonight's Jersey Contest here. (We had some good scores!) Enter tomorrow's form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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Starters Continue To Get Outplayed, Outscored During Losing Streak

spstevenson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:41:46 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

Tyler Hansbrough and the rest of the bench has been keeping the Pacers in games, while the starters have been helping the team add up losses.

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They are the players that set the tone. From start to finish, the players who get their names called under the bright lights and rip off their warm-ups first are there for a reason. To compete and get the team off to a good start.

For the Indiana Pacers, the starting lineup is not getting the job done.

In the six-game losing streak, which increased last night after a 102-91 loss to the Blazers, the starters have been outscored 443-314, an average deficit of 21.5 per game. Seven players have cycled in and out of the starting gig during those six games. The culprits? Let's see the lineup: Danny Granger (five games), T.J. Ford (6), Dahntay Jones (4), Brandon Rush (3), Troy Murphy (6), Roy Hibbert (4) and Jeff Foster (2). The starters were outscored 72-51 last night, and it didn't help that the unit gave up the tied game that the bench climbed back for midway through the fourth. As Tom pointed out during his recap, Brandon Roy probably would have destroyed the bench just as well as he pummeled the starters down the stretch. but the starters were there when the possible win waved bye-bye.

With each game, it's taken an unsung bench player to keep the Pacers within striking distance and keep hope alive. It was rookies Tyler Hansbrough and A.J. Price last night. On other nights, Earl Watson and Mike Dunleavy have stepped up.

Coach Jim O'Brien commended his second unit after Thursday's loss: "I thought they played with a great deal of energy and gave us good tempo. I thought A.J. (Price) did a real good job for us. He's played at a very high level in practice and he's a very mature user of the pick and roll and he's a guy that can shoot the three off the pick and roll."

It's very difficult, as we've seen, to win in the NBA when your starters are treated by opponents like a JV squad and your bench is spending all of its energy trying to claw back into a hopeless game. For the starters, a possible quick cure is arriving at Conseco "Reggie Miller" Fieldhouse on Friday -- the Nets. More links after the jump.

AP Story
Box Score
Photo Gallery
NBA.com Recap
Pacers.com dishes out the quotes and +/- in the latest Inside the Game edition. We'll let guard Dahntay Jones explain this one: "We had a problem with the pick and roll and did not defend very well against it. Couldn't stop it. We've go to learn to finish the ball game a little better. So it's back to the drawing board and get this thing turned around. Losing is not fun." Jones scored a team-high 19 points, but only put two through the hoop in the final 18 minutes of play.
Mike Wells recaps the game as he notes that the Pacers are definitely one All-Star short of competing with the likes of Brandon Roy and the Blazers.
IndyStar columnist Bob Kravitz says that Danny Granger's injury has given the greenlight for Brandon Rush and that we'll know now if he's a bust or not. Kravitz extended his streak of mentioning Shawne Williams in a Pacers-related column to a career-high 25 consecutive pieces.
John Oehser covered the game for his Examiner page.
Here are some previews to the Blazers-Pacers matchup that were posted yesterday: Eight Points, Nine Seconds and Always Miller Time.
Wells posted on his Pacers Insider page about the great game for rookie A.J. Price.
SB Nation's Blazers Edge had the game covered from the enemy's perspective. Rip City Project also chimed in with a recap and Jason Quick covered the game for The Oregonian.
And as the Pacers continue to increase their chances of getting lucky in the lottery, check out the recap of John Wall's performance against UConn last night. Oh yeah, we're already there.

Game 23 Recap: Blazers 102, Pacers 91

Dave — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:40:07 -0000

More photos » by Darron Cummings - AP

I'll take that! Now get thee to a barber.

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Whew! I wasn't sure if we were going to pull that one out. But in the end the Blazers did just enough things right to earn the victory. It wasn't a masterpiece but at this point any win goes on the refrigerator proudly.

Portland's offense was actually pretty steady tonight. That doesn't mean it was particularly well-executed. The Blazers ended up shooting mostly jumpers. But this was one of those nights when the jumpers fell from the opening bell. When the Blazers can hit them the floor opens up and they become a much more dangerous team. Still in my first quarter notes I have the following:

The Blazers' jumpers are falling. But will they all game? Fool's gold?

We shall have to see.

Chief perpetrator and leader of the Falling Jumper Brigade was LaMarcus Aldridge who had his turn-around working like clockwork early. After one attempt to post Brandon Roy on the first possession of the game the Blazers just decided LaMarcus was their man. He delivered, scoring the first 10 Portland points. Once the Pacers failed to stop him open shots started appearing for his teammates.

On the other end the Blazers showed quickly what the story of the game would be. When Portland got back in transition the Pacers had a hard time scoring in the halfcourt. When the Blazers trotted the Pacers put the ball in immediately. Except for the few times the Blazers committed to a zone which smelled worse than week old head cheese Indiana could never find enough makes to dent Portland's lead at a slower tempo. Portland exited the first quarter with a much-needed 7-point lead.

The second period saw much of the same action on offense except many of the jump shots came from outside the Roy-Aldridge duo, to mixed results. Jerryd Bayless had a nice run and Juwan Howard contributed some points but that only kept the offense even, not excelling. Meanwhile the Blazers weren't quite as energetic on defense and they also failed to take any rebounding advantage, letting the Pacers off of the ropes. The quarter ended up 26 all as Portland nursed its lead into halftime.

The third quarter saw a near-breakdown on the defensive end as the Blazers were unable to keep the Pacers out of the paint no matter what kind of defense they employed. We saw more of the stinky-zone, which actually isn't stinky in theory but it certainly is when you just run to a spot and sort of stand there, failing to stop anyone, cover for anyone else, and above all rebound. The smell also started to permeate the man defense, though it looked better as the quarter progressed. The rebounding was off as well. The Blazers were confined to jumpers again, almost never scoring in the paint. You started to see signs of fatigue as the shots drifted. The Pacers scored 30, made up 5, and started the fourth down 2.

The Blazers looked for all the world like they were going to give the game away in the final period. Two things saved them. First the Granger-less Pacers went kind of spastic, especially early in the quarter, evidently figuring that since a comeback was imminent they could shoot any shot they wanted as quickly as they wanted and old Santy Clause would wrap it up in a bow for them. Second, Portland started missing jumpers in earnest. How does that help, you ask? It apparently turned on a light in Brandon Roy's head and he started the "We're Not Losing This" routine. Inside, outside, upside down...he just called for the ball, dribbled the defender into wooziness, and hit at the first sign of daylight. Once again this opened up the spacing for guys like Miller and Blake to take shots they couldn't refuse (and fortunately for us couldn't miss either). In the end Brandon kept the jumpers from becoming fool's gold. Smacka-smacka-smacka, whappa-whappa-whappa, the Blazers outscore the Pacers by 9 in the quarter and win by 11.

The effort was never consistent tonight but it was spread widely enough at different times that at least the team avoided the predictability that marred the Knicks game. Most of the big men had their defensive moments. Everybody scored a little, keying off of Roy and Aldridge who scored a lot. The fact that Indiana nearly doubled the Blazers' offensive rebounds and took 92 shots to Portland's 79 could have been a disaster. Had the Pacers been able to hit a couple more shots this would have been a different game. But sometimes it's just your night for the ball to fall and this was Portland's. They spaced the floor well enough to justify it and evidenced enough individual talent in the end to cement it, so call the win good.

Click through for Individual Observations, Final Thoughts, Links, and the Jersey Contest

Individual Observations

As we said, the Blazers made a conscious effort to get LaMarcus going early and it paid dividends for the game. He looked more excited to be out there tonight. It wasn't a stellar game defensively but he held his own. 20 points on 8-12 shooting is nice.

Brandon Roy bookended the game with that final flurry. We needed his penetration and his moxie badly. This looked like old Brandon (for those who have been wondering where he went). 11-21 from the field, 6-10 free throws (good number drawn there), 29 points, 7 rebounds (missing the team high by only 1), and 5 assists (again missing the team high by 1).

Andre Miller had a mixed game but ended up making a sizable dent. The bad part was him settling for jumpers, which is exactly what the opponent wants. Fortunately he made some, ending up 5-12 for the night with 15 points. He had 4 steals but only 2 assists. Then again both the jumpers and the assists can be explained by the ball being out of his hands much of the night. Often when that happens ‘Dre is all but silent. He found ways to contribute tonight.

Steve Blake had 6 assists and lived chiefly by not holding the ball long whenever he saw it. He either passed it or shot it. I like that Steve. He was only 2-7 from the field but he was 2-4 from distance which is the more important number for him. You expect because of the injuries he's going to be put in the position of shooting from places he's not comfortable. That's fine as long as he hits from the places he is comfortable as well. His three-point shot is vital if he's going to be out there.

Joel Przybilla played 30 minutes and provided almost half of the Blazers' paint points with 12 off of a couple of nice feeds and some put-backs. Him contributing anything on the offensive end helps. He wasn't matched up with classic offensive centers on the other end so his defense was understated. But he did help keep Indiana away from the rim in the halfcourt...though it's not like they were going there much anyway. Not a bad game from Joel overall.

Martell...where has your shot gone? Find it, because we're leaving. 2-8, 1-4 from distance, 5 points in 30 minutes.

Juwan Howard got 19 minutes and is starting to look more comfortable out there. One thing you can say about him...even if his individual skills aren't what they used to be when you look at where he is on the floor he's usually in position to do something. He knows where to get open for the outlet jumper. He knows where to shade on defense. It's not like he's making a huge difference, but this team needs just a little bit more of that and I'm willing to sacrifice some explosiveness to get it. 3-3, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 5 fouls in 19 minutes. He had trouble keeping up with the unorthodox Indiana bigs as well.

Dante Cunningham brought at least some mild energy and looks like he's reintroduced himself to his shooting confidence as well. He only got 8 minutes but he contributed 4 points and 3 rebounds. I would love to see him get even more aggressive on defense and especially going for loose balls. I'd like to see him become a Jerome Kersey-Ruben Patterson guy that way.

Jerryd Bayless had a pretty nice 14 minutes offensively, driving hard, creating havoc, and even dishing a couple of assists to go along with his 5 points and 2 boards. He'd be a really nice off-guard if you could pair him with a tall, shooting point guard who could switch to the 2 on defense.

Final Thoughts

This was an important win psychologically with Cleveland and Milwaukee coming up. Now you have a chance for a decent road trip by any standards if you win 1 of those 2. Considering the situation, .500 would be a great road trip for us right now.

Boxscore

Check out IndyCornrows for their assessment of the game.

See your Jersey Contest scores here and enter Friday's game form here.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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Blazers 102, Pacers 91: Pacers Can't Answer Brandon Roy At Winning Time

Tom Lewis — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:07:20 -0000

More photos » by Ron Hoskins - NBAE via Getty Images

Brandon Roy would not be denied with the game on the line.

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The future for the Indiana Pacers looked bright on Wednesday night. The present? Not so much.

LaMarcus Aldridge opened the game with 10-straight points, putting the Portland Trail Blazers up 10-6 early. The Pacers fought from behind the rest of the way, even tied the score at 83-83 midway through the fourth quarter, before Brandon Roy took control, allowing the Blazers to cruise home to a win, 102-91.

Maybe it was the low expectations heading into the game, but I can't get too exercised over the Pacers letting this game go down the stretch in their first outing without Danny Granger. Part of that is the play of A.J. Price and Tyler Hansbrough, but more on that later.

I just can't complain about the effort from the Pacers. Yes, they shot poorly (41.3%) but they scrapped for extra possessions grabbing 15 offensive rebounds. The ball and player movement was far more consistent than it has been and resulted in a number of easy buckets around the rim which was a pleasure to watch.

Plus, it's not like the Pacers forgot about Roy (Brandon, the Portland Roy) down the stretch. He simply made some great shots with a hand or two in his face, putting the game out of reach with ten of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. One time he shot through three defenders...swish. BRoy was the best player on the court and played like it at winning time.

For the Pacers, Jim O'Brien went with his rested veterans down the stretch after the rookie-led second unit kept the Pacers in the game. The vets didn't execute well enough to win, but the reality of the situation was that there was simply no option in blue and gold to match what BRoy had going.

After the jump, more thoughts on how the game played out and the positives that made the game enjoyable to watch.

Let's start with the rookies, because I'm sure some are upset with how they were used, but that's just because they played so well. Both A.J. Price and Tyler Hansbrough were playing in the late third quarter and early fourth quarter when the Pacers tied up the game, offering a little hope for a win. Price was rock steady all night despite a poor shooting night. He simply plays like he belongs on the court. Price's stat line isn't impressive with only 4 points, 2 assists and 3 rebounds, but he also only had one turnover in his 16-plus minutes. Good things happened while he was on the court, evident by the only positive +/- in the Pacer lineup (+7).
Hansbrough brought his lunch pail and hard hat, playing well past his previous 16-minute limit with 22 minutes of burn. He took advantage of the time to post his first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. He also had three assists including a beautiful, if unlikely dime out of the high post to Jeff Foster for a bunny at the rim. Hansbrough does a good job moving the ball from the high post as long as his teammates do their part and move without the ball. Hansbrough spent the end of the game on the bench looking like a golden retriever poised to chase a tennis ball. The warmup jacket was off and he was ready to go, but JOB went with the vets.
After the game, JOB mentioned that along with the minutes Hansbrough played, he also feels the rook has more to learn before he's ready for winning time and that his pick n' roll defense still leaves them exposed. That's why Hansbrough wasn't tapped to return to the game. Not sure even JOB believes his line of reasoning to the question, but the reality is, the coach managed the rotation quite well. The vets just didn't have enough for Brandon Roy and believe me, the rookies wouldn't have either. Besides Hansbrough would've had to play 17-straight minutes and Price 15-straight minutes if left in to finish the game. They certainly aren't ready for that type of burn.
Dahntay Jones did a little bit of everything but ended up frustrated in the second half after dealing with foul trouble and worse BRoy much of the night. Jones helped the Pacers hang in early with 13 first half points, but couldn't get it going in the second half. Still, he finished with a team-high 19 points.
Brandon Rush had spurts of good, bad and indifferent as he split time with Luther Head. The pair combined for 17 points. Head was steady on offense while Rush was a better matchup for the Pacers on defense. Rush did have a couple of great finishes, including a beautiful baseline reverse with the left hand. As usual with Rush, he made it look so simple that your left pounding your head against the wall.
LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast at times for the Blazers killing the Pacers with his nice mid-range shooting touch. He scored ten-straight to open the game right over Murphy. Go ahead and make fun of Murph's defense, but most of those buckets were fade-away shots from LMA with Murph's hand in his face. Aldridge was just too long and had no problem shooting over the smaller Murphy. Not sure why Portland didn't continue to run things through LMA whenever possible. Aldridge finished with 20 points.
T.J. Ford had some good and bad as well, playing quite well to begin the third quarter including great on-ball pressure which gave Steve Blake fits. Overall though, there was nothing down the stretch and a couple of first half turnovers made me turn my head.
Earl Watson was inactive against the Blazers due to a strained hamstring that has been bothering him, which opened up the minutes for A.J. Price off the bench.
Roy Hibbert only played 18 minutes but late in the second quarter he hurt his shoulder while taking a foul. He did return to play a bit in the third quarter, but stayed on the bench down the stretch. Hopefully the shoulder is fine because the Pacers will need his presence against Brook Lopez on Friday.

Ready Or Not, Rush Thrown Back Into The Fray For Pacers

Tom Lewis — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:33:51 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

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The basketball gods must really love Brandon Rush. He's frustrated coaches and fans alike in college and the pros. Yet, there he is, playing with that half smile, wide eyes and freakish bounce in his game that leaves everyone he crosses paths with begging for more. He can't seem to seize a game or exploit his physical talent, but basketball continues to shine on him.

Rush could never carry his talented Kansas team, but he showed up big when the Jayhawks won the national championship. Now in the NBA, injuries have created far more minutes than his play has deserved. His rookie season was erratic but ended with great promise. That promise quickly evaporated in this his second year, when once again Rush started floating through a golden opportunity to establish himself as a key player for the Pacers.

In the first 18 games of the season, Rush has had what I would call five good games and three decent games, the remaining ten games saw little impact from Rush. Four of those five "good" games were in wins which shows the impact he can have producing as a third or fourth option on the floor. These weren't great games, mind you, but good games pitching in on the glass as well as on offense.

But simply offering the Pacers "good" 28% of the time rates Rush somewhere below unreliable along with highly frustrating. Ironically, Rush gets another chance to start when Jerryd Bayless and the Portland Trail Blazers visit the Fieldhouse on Wednesday night. I've watched Bayless and the Blazers quite a bit lately and couldn't help but notice how Bayless and Rush seem like polar opposites.

Bayless has struggled to get any playing time and only after a few injuries depleted the Blazers' rotation has he earned some steady minutes. And even now with a spot in the rotation, Bayless appears to be on a short leash no matter how well he's playing.

Meanwhile, Rush can't seem to play himself out of extended minutes no matter how hard he tries. After starting the first 15 games, Jim O'Brien had seen enough and decided to move Rush out of the regular rotation only giving the second-year guard the scrap minutes left over from Mike Dunleavy's playing limitations.

Just when it appeared Rush wouldn't be heard from for awhile, Danny Granger goes down and Rush is suddenly back in the starting lineup. Jim O'Brien needs to use Rush extensively now because he doesn't want to eat up Dunleavy's minutes too early by starting him. So once again, everyone is pumping up Rush's game hoping the good Rush shows up to help fill the void left by Granger's absence.

The contrast between the two guards extends past their playing time and to how they play. Rush is a hoops specimen with all of the physical tools. He is like a greyhound, with quicks, hops and size at the guard spot. Unfortunately he struggles to sync up all three of those characteristics consistently, instead floating at times and just blending into the action.

Bayless is plenty athletic, as well, although undersized for his guard skills which translate more to a two guard than point guard. But the guy is in full attack mode on both ends of the floor, pedal to the metal trying to make an impact. At times, he's like a wild man on the floor, trying to squeeze a week's worth of production into his 10-15 minutes of time he desperately craves.

Bayless needs to harness all of that energy to become a more productive and complete player, but I'd certainly prefer to slow down a player like Bayless then to have to amp up a guy like Rush. If only the basketball gods could meld these two guys together and create a pair of perfect wings for both teams, everyone would be happy. Actually I think they already did, his name is Brandon Roy.