Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Portland wins in San Antonio

I wasn't very confident that the Blazers would pull out a win tonight in San Antonio, even with Ginobli on the shelf and Duncan clearly hobbled with injuries. The first quarter did nothing to squash the idea that the Blazers simply couldn't get over the hump on the road against Western playoff teams. Roger Mason was raining threes like O.J. Mayo the night before and the Portland offense was sloppy as the Spurs seemed to be two steps ahead of the Blazers. It seemed like the scoreboard showed the Blazers with six points for about 15 minutes. Then an amazing thing happened. Portland woke up and proved just how big of an idiot I am for doubting them. This team continues to surprise and delight its fans, winning 6 of their last 7 to jump into a three-way tie for 3rd place in the conference. Now the team will finish with 3 of their last 4 games in the Rose Garden as they try to secure the best possible playoff seed.

Some individual thoughts....

Welcome back Greg Oden! Greg was active tonight, finishing some nice passes with thunderous slam-dunks. He also added 8 boards in his 22 minutes of work. He still picked up some fouls, but am I alone when I question the legitimacy of some of the calls that go against the big fella? I understand he has deservedly earned a bit of a reputation as a guy who will pick up some fouls, but it's gotten to the point where other players will flop when they are anywhere in his vacinity and the men in stripes will whistle him for an infraction. He still needs to be smart and move his feet, but he is getting jobbed by the officials often times as well.

Brandon struggled early on with turnovers but he really carried us through that 2nd quarter surge, like LaMarcus did in the 3rd (more on him later). He scored 26 and noted after the game that this was the first time in his career when he felt like he played well in San Antonio. It was kind of funny and refreshing for a two-time all-star to make a statement like that on national television. Reason #754 why I love this guy.

LaMarcus was captain of the ship in that 3rd quarter. He was hitting jumpers and converting offensive rebounds into points. His confidence and aggressiveness is a nightly thing at this point and it's showing us just how important he is to the team. Beast-Mode LaMarcus = Portland victories.

Joel Przybilla deserves a whole lot of credit for the win too. He didn't play as many minutes in the first half because Oden was playing so well but he was a monster on the glass throughout the second half. He also had many of the key stops that allowed us to take back the lead and build one of our own. My man-crush on the Thrilla continues on with absolutely no end in sight.

The bench as a whole played a critical role throughout the game. Rudy hit some timely threes and though I didn't hear it mentioned by the broadcasters, I thought he did a suprisingly credible job guarding Tony Parker in that 3rd quarter. Rudy can drive you crazy with his gambling on-the-ball defense sometimes but he stayed in front of Parker as well as anyone and forced him to take some tough shots. Sergio was also good tonight, getting into the lane and either finishing or finding Greg for a slam. Without him the team might have gone into the half staring at a much steeper deficit.

Other quick thoughts: Blake's buzzer beater was a real lift (duh), I still don't understand how Outlaw finishes some of those crazy, leaning jumpers, and a really don't get how Nate didn't pick up a technical or get tossed as that first quarter was going on. He is a much cooler and more patient guy than me because I was berating my T.V. like I was Christian Bale on the set of a movie. Anyway, good win for the team and let's all hope they can continue their strong play into their first postseason since 2003.

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