I was able to get to this game in person, courtesy of Lil Joe's youth B-ball league. (We were also able to hook up four other unrelated people with free tickets, which was cool.) I tell you what, those were the best 2nd-to-last-row seats I've ever had. They were dead center court, almost as far away from floor level as possible. The view of the floor was totally clear and undistorted, the video monitor was perfectly positioned--the only thing was that the retired banners blocked the peripheral scoreboards, such that some stats were a mystery to me all night.
This was a fun game to see in person, and I suspect watching along at home or a bar. There was lots of entertaining offense, mostly by Portland, Roy was back and eventually became 100% his old self, Oden was active and thus very effective, Outlaw had one of his mostly groaner-free games, and it was Dunk City or sweet layup time on many, many occasions. The Warriors actually started out very strongly before falling back in the 2nd, and then got all the way back to within five points late in the fourth before Roy, Aldridge and Outlaw smacked them down for good, 113-100.
I mentioned those three, but really almost everyone contributed in some way. Six players had double figures, everyone who got into the game scored at least a point except one, and everyone looked to be playing at or better than their typical performance. Except perhaps one. The same one. Folks were also staying out of quick foul trouble. Except one. The same one. As the other two.
Yes, how fickle the sands of time flow. It seems like only a game ago that Bayless was the savior of the game, changing the tempo and playing like a compete dervish. Tonight it looked like he might share some of Roy's first-game-back-rest minutes, but all it took was took sequences with Bayless in the game, for Nate to yank him permanently to the pine (and leave Roy in for the entire fourth quarter--welcome back to the salt mines, Brandon!)
{How B-Rex almost ruined everything for Roy's party, plus some jammage video, below}
At the game (and a review of the play by play confirms it) I felt like the Blazers were lazy, sloppy, out of synch, tired or some combination of those on only three separate times during the game. One was late in the fourth when the GSW snuck back to within five by suddenly finding open shots and utilizing the hot hand in Turief and Maggette. Jerryd Bayless did NOT play during this time--and the closeness was almost immediately short lived, as Roy layed one in and draw the foul. They continued to press and trade buckets with the still-hot Warriors, but eventually the Bay Staters gave up mentally and the Blazers put the boot down.
So really, that looked like a typical lapse of greatness that all teams have during a game, where they got a little lazy and the Warriors drained some shots. For almost the entire rest of the game, there was almost nothing to complain about in the Blazers' play. Except for those two sections, one in the latter part of the first quarter and also again in the early-mid part of the second.
With three and a half to go in the first period, the Blazers had pulled to within 16-12 on the back of LaMarcus and a nice deep two by Blake that seemed to get him off the schneid. To that point, while some of the shots hadn't been falling the movement was good and the looks were pretty solid. They just didn't fall.
There followed then a minute and a half of poor execution on both ends, at which point GSW called a timeout. Out of the timeout came Bayless, in for Aldridge. On the court with Sergio, Outlaw, Joel and Rudy--probably their smallest lineup--and quickly things went south.
Everything looked OK for a minute, as the B's even got to within 18-16...and then Maggette drained a three, Bayless lost the ball, Turiaf nailed a jumper, Rudy missed a three, and Watson got a cheap breakdown layup at the buzzer to put the Warriors up 25-16. Out of nowhere, a two point lead became nine inside of two minutes. B-Rex Hex!
Don't believe me? Well, Bayless did drive the lane and draw the foul, making both free throws. That brought it to 20-27, holding essentially even from the previous lapse. But then he missed a three, fouled Azubuike, then fouled Maggette. By the time Aldridge (and Roy, and Oden) could get back into the game, Corey would make two and the lead would be GSW's largest, at 34-22.
When Bayless went out for the second and last time in the game, was the last time until late in the fourth that the Blazers looked out of synch, and it was definitely last time they looked like they were not in control of the game.
I'm mostly kidding about Jay-Bay; as I noted the whole 2nd team was in and they all played rather poorly during those times. But it seemed like the moment he stepped on the court all hell broke loose, and the moment he left the wind shifted back again. Golden State plays a hectic but loose style, and I think Jerryd was just too slow to keep up mentally. His brain couldn't tell his body what to do quickly enough. It just made him sloppy and out of balance. But those were team failure moments. It's just coincidental that he was the clarion call of disaster, and amusing that apparently Nate noticed as well.
As I said, there were a lot of entertaining plays, Both Rudy and Sergio had great passes and fancy layups. The king sequence had to be the Roy slam off the inbounds/Travis slam on the break--which we replay for you now:
Here are some individual observations:
GREG ODEN
Oden was active with his feet and aggressive with and without the ball, so it was an easy call that he'd have a good game. His stats look a little weak, but he was Monster Greg tonight, and except for a couple of times where he found himself defending the top of the key again, and fumbled a great pass, when he's Monster Greg teams fear and avoid and shot-change because of him.
His mood was perhaps best epitomized by a sequence in the second half when he speared a rebound in excellent and agile fashion, reaching behind him without interfering with his opponent's shot at the ball, and then quickly sliding over to the bakset and ramming it home. Those fast-twitch muscles look like they're coming back; he was sick-fast for a 7-footer tonight.
He still has his moments even on a good night; the jumbotron caught an Angry O Face after a cheap foul, and in general you can see written on his face that the hard work of the NBA life is indeed hard and work. But his emotional success seems strongly tied to his court success, and I think his instincts are starting to return and mesh with his learning curve, and since I see no signs of him quitting on himself, he WILL get even better and WILL become a more emotionally even-keeled veteran. A commenter at Blazers' Edge reminds via Shakespeare,
"Though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod".
LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE
LaMarcus plays such a quiet game at times for someone who is such a focal point of the Blazer offense, that his rather pedestrian (but effective) array of jumpers, pops, hooks and slams seems to get lost in the crazy Spanish passing, the man child thundering, the unpredictability of Outlaw and the sweetness of Brandon Roy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, LaMarcus reminds me of few people more than John Krasinki's character on The Office, and while most of the resemblance is based on looks there's an understated or subtextual quality to LMA that's similar as well.
Once again, tonight was all about Roy's return, Outlaw's mostly great game, and Oden'a Thunderdome. But LaMarcus carried the team while Roy got back up to speed, and tonight really changed his whole style and approach to the same, narrow post-offense role he inhabits.
Usually LaMarcus either starts off by trying to back his guy down to the hoop, or by taking a quick jumper before his man catches up. Against GSW he attacked the basket, either working to the middle and trying a hook or soft toss, going right at his man to draw a foul, Then as necessary he mixed up his game to include longer jumpers.
Of course that's what the game plan should have been, and it should be what he's doing consistently. But we forget how young he still is, even as somewhat the grizzled veteran compared to some of his mates. It was great to see him press an advantage and really take control of the lane.
BRANDON ROY
Words just continue to fail. He started off very clunkily, which I think everyone was totally prepared to accept. He missed a long jumper, then got in for a foul but missed BOTH frees, something I can't ever remember seeing from him. He got his own rebound off the second, but LMA missed the second try and then Roy missed another jumper before being replaced by Rudy.
It looked like a game where we'd get maybe half of normal from Brandon, and compensate for the rest like the previous four games. And in the second and third quarters he did get significant time off.
But in the fourth the magic returned. He hit a smoothie off a nice feed by Rudy, who was open for the three and almost took it. Brandon then returned the favor by going deep and then finding Rudy for a made three. He had a bad stretch for a couple minutes with missed shots and uncharacteristic turnovers during the period when GSW clawed back to 94-99, but as I said earlier the drive and one really seemed to squelch the rally, and his rebound plus a loose ball foul on Turiaf shortly thereafter pretty well closed the deal.
Obviously we've seen that the Blazers can limp along and compensate for Roy's absence, but when he's on the court the difference is like night and day. People did their best, but without Brandon no one seemed entirely sure of their roles. With him back, everyone was much more relaxed (the opponent helped too). Without him I don't see Portland making the playoffs; with him I'm not really sure what their ceiling is. When you have someone who can elevate their game and take it over, who knows what's possible?
TRAVIS OUTLAW
You just have to love Travis. He's not surly or withdrawn, and as Oden's alter-ego doesn't seem to carry an ounce of pressure with him. Miss 75% of your shots one night? Pfffft, don't remember--hey look, I'm open! Mr. Black Hole of Passes, Mr. Give and--Hey!, Mr. I Was Open So I Had to Take it...I still love him.
Lately he's been shooting well enough that some of the more egregious shot selections don't stick in memory as much, but he can take 40 shots a night if he'll play defense with the intensity he's showed late, especially near the end of games. He is always good for a couple of head slappers, but down the stretch tonight he was very tight, very solid on his man. They needed him to step up and he did to great effect.
I still saw little from Rudy, Serigo and to a lesser extent Blake in terms of helping out their bigs weakside and forcing through screens, although as a team they found themselves in many fewer ridiculous matchups off the pick and roll. But Travis really is working hard at both getting to the rim more, and being aggressive and using his height on D and not just to sky over defenders for a J. He also made every free throw, including three of three late in the 4th where we definitely still needed them, and to my view had three big blocks. I loved Travis' game tonight.
Joel had a quiet night but got his bounds and played his D; Rudy was also very active and distributed very well, Sergio did have some great steals in limited minutes, Blake had another good game with three steals of his own and a couple of key shots, but he was overshadowed by others tonight.
All in all a solid and encouraging win. They shook off some early rust, recognized what they needed to do to take control of the game, and did it with little fuss. They knew they could attack the offensive boards, and they did. They knew they could muscle in for foul shots, and did (making 26 while allowing only 22 GSW shots). They had to eliminate Bierdrins as a game changer, and they did.
I'm a firm believer that the best teams sometimes come up short in big games against elite teams, but they handle their business when they should. This was a business handling win, with a sidebar of high entertainment. There are a TON of games just like this left on the schedule, and all I can say is "more please." Next stop, a four game road trip beginning in Chicago Monday. The opponents are weak enough that a four game sweep should be the achievable goal, with 3-1 the only other "acceptable" result. See you in the Windy City...
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