Cavaliers 97, Trail Blazers 92

I wish I could look at this game more rationally. I wish I could relish the fact that the Trail Blazers battled the Cavaliers, owners of the NBA's best record, into overtime on their home court. I wish I could put all of this in perspective, especially considering the Blazers were without two of their starters, including red-hot LaMarcus Aldridge. I can't. I don't like taking pride in moral victories. I have heard all of the doubts from around the NBA centered around the fact that Portland has struggled on the road against the upper echelon of the league and I badly wanted to place this one up on the mantle along with the wins in Orlando and New Orleans to show just how well this young franchise is developing. Sadly, the Blazers can only take a lesson or two from this victory, rather than taking a valuable win away from one of the toughest arenas in the league. But enough with the doom and gloom, the team has a lot to be proud of after tonight's game so let's take a look at some of the things that went right.

-The Blazers out-rebounded Cleveland by 10, even with one of their stronger rebounders on the bench with a concussion. Cleveland has the 4th best rebounding rate in the league this season, so beating them on the boards was quite a feat and helped them stay in the game from start to finish.

- Brandon Roy was excellent like always. He was being checked by Lebron often times, especially down the stretch, and he put up 24/7/7 while going 11-11 from the charity stripe. He didn't shoot particularly well (6-16), but he was aggressive in the face double teams and did all the little things to help the team compete without his #1 sidekick.

- The centers were solid tonight; they kept Lebron out of the highlight reels for the most part and generally controlled the paint well. Greg's attitude and energy were solid, although he rushed a few shots in the paint (as pointed out by Doug Collins roughly 67 times). Joel was a man as always, scoring 13 points to go along with his 11 rebounds in 35 tough minutes.

- Channing started and played 34 minutes with Aldridge out, and he chucked up shots early and often. He hit 7 of his 15 attempts, boosting us in key stretches in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. It's good to see him get a little bit of confidence. I wish he was a little tougher on D and on the boards but I guess Channing is what he is and he was certainly valuable to the team tonight.

- Travis was Travis, putting up plenty of the shots that make fans cringe but hitting enough of the big ones to warrant his 4th quarter go-to status. For all of the flack he catches from fans and media regarding his defense, I thought he did a respectable job on Lebron James, keeping him out of the paint for the most part until the overtime period when no one on the planet could have kept that freight train out of the lane.

- Was anyone else annoyed by Cleveland's act before the game? For those who didn't catch it, they had an entire choreographed routine centered around Lebron and company posing for imaginary photos. I like Lebron and Kobe Bryant generally gets on my nerves, but I couldn't help but think that even Kobe and the Lakers wouldn't act like that before a game at Staples, much less a professional team like San Antonio. Maybe its just sour grapes coming from a Blazer fan after a tough loss or maybe that's just what the Cavs have to do to get up for a game against a Western playoff contender on national TV. I was glad to see Joel, Brandon, and the rest of the crew focused and ready on the court waiting for the tip-off while this sideshow was going on.

All in all it was a disappointing loss but hopefully there is no hangover on Saturday as Portland tries to finish this 5-game trip with a winning record against Milwaukee. As always, thanks for reading and I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments.