No Shock in L*ker Loss, But This One Was Potentially Winnable Too by: torridjoe Mon Jan 05, 2009 at 01:30:11 AM PST

You gotta have your head examined if you felt dumbfounded and angry about the Blazers getting convincingly thunked at Staples Center again (doing a doubleheader with the Blazers' next opponent--Detroit beating the Clippers earlier in the day).  With Brandon Roy, they got smoked the first night of the season, and while they're by no means the same squad they might not even be as good as that night without him.  So I could have written that "Blazers lose to Lakers as Bryant leads fourth quarter blowout" and been right 90% of the time, and it wouldn't have been that hard a prediction. I might have said that that L*kers just buried them in shots and ran past 100 as nobody was contested. Inside the Blazers had serious foul trouble and the L*kers--particularly Kobe--went to the line a zillion times.   And I'd have been right in several ways. But in other ways, for at least the opening third of this game, the Blazers were well within their capacity to put up a sizable lead beyond the ones they had. And well into the third quarter, while they were shaky and going through a cold stretch they could have stayed easily competitive. After that it fell apart like an Indian scooter. (Trust me, they're the K Cars of scooters, with shadier parts places). So it's instructive to see where the weaknesses remain--Rudy has lost his shot and doesn't know where in the world it has gone, Travis has it sometimes, doesn't at others, and doesn't rightly seem to care which it is on any given night for all it will change his game...and he'll throw in the standing around and not getting out on D for free. Bayless is like Sergio two years ago, Blake can pass and drive but he can't calm the team. Etc. etc. etc. But let's focus instead on another game where but for simply average rather than crushingly poor shooting, especially from distance, the Blazers played an elite team awfully tough. For much of the first half I saw Kobe having to work a little, and not liking it. Some of the other players started bitching as well.  Have you noticed that the top teams all start to whine when stuff doesn't go right for them in the first half, and by the second half the stuff they were complaining about seems to go away?  They played a really kick-ass first quarter. Let's look at that instead. {play by play analysis, below}

torridjoe :: No Shock in L*ker Loss, But This One Was Potentially Winnable Too

Tip--Portland. Rudy left key, Blake center, pick and roll pass to LMA, shot by LMA foul like blocked by Ariza but Blake gets it back and drives right to the rim before dishing to Oden who jams it. Great energy by Blake and no fear. Kobe over Batum beyond the foul line. 11:10--Oden low block covered by Odom. Holds out at length, stays where he is a few seconds until he draws the double, LMA moves to the hoop, Oden finds him, LMA takes a falling fadeaway with Gasol in the vicinity. 4-2. Gasol into Blake, Batum, Blake to Rudy who misses an open three. Bryant baseline guarded by Batium and Oden, rebound Rudy. 10:17--Blake give and go with Aldridge left side, don't see that much at all, Blake receives perfectly and drives underneath with a sweet reverse make. Fisher takes a wild three, Oden grapples with himself for the rebound but wins, feeds quickly and finds Batum in the corner. Dribbles around, finds Aldridge behind him, whop drops over Gasol for two. 8-2. Gasol returns the favor, LaMarcus with a hand in his chest instead of his face. 9:29--Blake top of the key to Oden, LMA to Sergio left side and back to Oden, can't get any love inside and gets doubled by Fisher with Gasol interested. Oden shipping it back out to LMA gets Gasol even MORE interested, but LMA is already shipping it out to Blake all alone on the wing, who buries the three. 11-4, and it probably never got any better than that for the Blazers. Lob to Gasol poor, Blazers ball. Rudy takes a mostly open three in the corner, misses pretty badly. Ariza takes a ridiculous three and Blake earns a jump with Kobe. Blake wins the tip but is called for a jump violation. Boo. Mike Rice puts on the tinfoil. Gasol gets great D by LMA and LA commits the shot clock violation. Phil Jackson begins fidgeting in his seat a bit.  8:11--Blazers with a chance to extend a good lead into a big one, but Aldridge gets fumbled away by Gasol, who finds Fisher while Rudy walks out with a little Heil Hitler defense (slow march out to the defender with one hand stoutly raised head high. If the shooter was standing and not jumping.)  7:50--Sergio baseline to Rudy corner three immediately to Batum at the quarter arc, wide open, drains the three. At this point, Blake and Batum look hot, Rudy not. Kobe gets sloppy, fumbles the ball and Batum snaps it right up. Four on one finds LMA trailing, who lays in and gets the and-one on Ariza. Misses, 16-7, Rudy tips out. Aldridge on the mid block right side against Gasol, can't really get any purchase but finds Blake open corner. Missed the shot as Ariza flew at him, but a great look and movement.  Kobe rethinks his jumper and Batum swats the hesitation out of bounds. Timeout. Kobe runs around Batum and gets the layup, LMA mostly watches. Kobe. 6:55--Beautiful sequence, great movement, Rudy really active. Left side out, finds LMA off the pick and roll back at the top of the key, quick swing left to Batum who zips over to Blake in the corner wide open for three. Misses, but Rudy stays home and picks up the long board. On the rest, Blake in low to LMA who goes back out to Batum  who finds Blake open in the same place and he misses again. Make either of those and it's 19-9 and you're starting to put the pressure on. Not to be.  Fisher tries to go coast to coast and falls down facing away from the Blazers rim. Complains, unknown reason why. Travelling. 6:02--Rudy working the left side again, finds Batum top of the key again, quick fire into Oden who grapples for it and wins, gets foul by Fisher, who apparently wasn't finished complaining and wanted another opportunity. The "I'm not getting away with this?" Whine. Rudy into LMA on the block against Gasol, sweetness for 2, 18-9.   Bryant gets block on Oden, good position but inside the arc. Kobe makes a pair. 5:19--Rudy left side, down low to Oden on Odom, jump hook no good, Gasol rebound.  Good shot, no finish. Rudy nuisances Fisher deep into the corner, and his heave out to midcourt is mishandled by Arizaright to LMA who heads near the rim then wheels around and finds Batum trailing for a JAM over Gasol. Woot! Fast break and authority! 20-11. Kobe throws high looking for the alley oop, turnover. 4:36--Rudy to Blake high, drives finds LMA, back to Rudy, step back three no.   Kobe three left side, having faked Travis outta his jock. 4:03--Blake picked by Fisher, Fisher tries to go all the way and gets picked his own self by Aldridge, up to Rudy who swings cross court and finds Outlaw alone who could have driven to the lane quickly but opted for the long jumper, no good. LMA bags the rebound, gets it back, doubled, over to Blake who came from the corner to the paint and missed a midrange jumper. Open shot though.   Kobe stripped going into the lane by Rudy and Blake, How frustrating for him! Outlaw fouled scrapping for the ball. 3:09--Blazers 19 shots at this point, L*kers 8. Blake to LMA and back, over quickly to Rudy who finds Joel down low, Joel gets Gasol to hammer him, Pau pauts and sucks his finger in response. Joel nails both, 22-13. Kobe nearly torches Outlaw but goes crosscourt and finds Ariza who goes into Gasol and gets a phantom call on Pryz. On the floor. Outlaw gets another ticky tack call dancing a bit with Kobe on the square dance around Ariza. Kobe pushes Outlaw, misses a three and Joel with the reeb. Aldridge over Odom, misses but a nice move straight up on the basket. Outlaw fouls Ariza coming back, driving the middle. Gets enough to force the miss. Two for Travis, he's done. Ariza banks the first, +1 Blazers. Ariza misses the second. +2 Blazers.  1:54--Bayless drives to the hoop, just misses the finish (if I had a nickel, boy!), Joel with a loose ball foul for his 2nd, now he's gone too. Great move to the rim though.  Gasol makes a pair. 1:36--Aldridge draws a double down low on the left, kicks out to Sergio who takes the first really bad shot of the night for Portland. Misses without rim, shot clock violation. Kobe pulls up on Batum, Ice. 1:02--Sergio goes right into the middle and draws four defenders, leaps and finds Bayless right side. Bayless holds and dribbles with Kobe on him, shifts down to the baseline and draws the double from Oden. Just when all seems lost he finds Aldridge, who beats Gasol and slams it home. 24-17. :34--Sergio tries a couple of times to get a good pick and roll from Channing Frye, who fails utterly. Sergio says "nevermind" and takes probably the second ill-advised shot of the quarter with Gasol in his face. Odom tries to take Aldridge, who refuses and blocks the shot. Batum tips it out and eventually Bayless gets it with a shot at the hoop. He tosses it up and gets the lucky foul. LMA slams home the follow too late, but Bayless gets shots. Makes one of two, quarter ends 25-19. Like I said, the Blazers had their moments of clarity in the 2nd quarter as well, but they never came close to this level of efficiency--and this was while Blake and Rudy and Outlaw were missing a reasonably human number of shots. Once the bottom fell out, Portland had no chance. So let's focus on the fact that even with human shooting percentages, they were well able to play even with LA all else equal. If they only go cold as opposed to frigid in the third quarter, they might actually have a shot. The most amazing stat is Portland 82 shots, LA 67. Los Angeles with just 67 attempted field goals! That's a big celebration item win or lose. They did what they needed to do to beat this team, except finish by making the open shot. Make only half the ones they missed and it's a totally different game.

Tags: Staples Center, Lakers, pro basketball, NBA, Blazers, (All Tags)

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