Thierry's Blog: Blazers glide past Warriors in thriller
TrailBlazers.com | November 20th, 2009
Welcome back to the blog, Blazers followers. It was a late night for the Trail Blazers staff following the win over Golden State tonight, in Oakland. But, everyone will find their energy very quickly when they're welcomed to the court tomorrow night by a sold-out Rose Garden crowd. Just a couple of thoughts on the win against the Warriors. Everything newspapers and basketball analysts previewed, and everything they talked about, went out the window in the early minutes of the game... that happens sometimes. For some reason, Don Nelson started a big, slow lineup, and that played right into our hands, and we built a quick 9-point lead. Once Monta Ellis was put in the lineup for the Warriors, things started shaking out more the way we thought they would. To our credit, the guys withstood most of the big runs the Warriors threw at them in the second half, and stayed within shouting distance until the closing minutes. Andris Biedrins (only 6 points) and Ellis were held and ended with only a few points. It was Golden State's bench that provided the spark for them to comeback when we were up by 13, not only Ellis but also Stephen Curry, who's looking very impressive in his first season with the Warriors. He had 21 points against Cleveland and 16 against Boston in the last Warriors games.
While flying home late last night (got in after 1:30 am, by the way), we were talking and had to admit that the loss against the Bobcats killed us. I mean, we had a couple of blowouts before that match, and now we won the next games but all of them, by no more than 10 points. It's still very acceptable but not like before.
If you're a team battling to get to the 55-60 win mark, the rule is win all games at home, and close to 60% on the road. That leads us to tomorrow's game against Minnesota. They were totally overlooked in pre-season playoff predictions and obviously were not considered to be a contender, even though they made a couple of changes in the off-season. I don't think we will have to worry too much about the Wolves getting out and running all game long. With that said, this should play right into our hands (Full preview at the bottom). I must admit, too, that at the preseason I wanted Brandon to handle the playmaker duties, but considering how he has been playing as of lately, we need to keep him at the 2 spot. I may let him play point maybe in the later stages of the season. I also may give more minutes to Martell in the coming games: it's very early in the season and needs to take precaution at the moment with any injuries he had in the past. I don't need him playing a ton of minutes when he isn't 100 percent; I'd rather get Martell completely healthy and have him play the last 3/4 of the season completely healthy. And the chance has come to Jerryd: I'll start him against the Timberwolves; we'll see how it pans out. We also need to take more time with our possessions and not hurry shots, something I'm already focusing in practice.
(6-6)(PLAYED :: TEAM STATS)
The Portland Trail Blazers, for years the NBA's ugliest ducklings, are off to a flying start. Ok guys, it's still early. But fourteen games into a new season, the Blazers are soaring like they once did when Clyde Drexler glided all over the air. LaMarcus scored 20 points -- including five on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter -- and pulled down 8 rebounds as we won our third straight, 99-90 on Friday night over the Golden State Warriors, who killed us with their 3-point shooting. Brandon added 20 points of his own. We improved to 12-2. “This is a big confidence boost for us,” Greg, who a had a double-double with 11 and 10, said. “We've found a way to win these games down the stretch.” Lamar added 10 as well and grabbed 7 rebounds; we had 15 turnovers - but none in the final quarter. Stephen Jackson scored 19 points -- 13 at halftime -- and Kelenna Azubuike 17 for the Warriors, the NBA's best 3-point shooters who went 13-of-24 from beyond the arc, but missed several crucial attempts at the paint that could have made a more even contest. Jackson was 7-of-18 from the floor. “It's not just those shots at the paint,” Jackson said. “It can always help, but they missed and we missed.” Yeah, but too often.
Brandan Wright (17 points in the game) had a chance to put the Warriors, who were down by eight with 5:23 left, tied up at 92 with 2:12 left. However, LaMarcus blocked his shot, and in the next possession Trout drove the right side and dropped a high-arching 3-pointer over Jackson to put it 95-90 and out of reach for Golden State. The only 3-pointer we made in the whole match... I'm really furious about that. I must work on that every day now. After Trout's trey, we reached the final score after Ellis missed a jumper (he was limited to only 4 points), then Rudy converted a dunk and then Lamar, who also added four assists (and only one turnover) in 33 minutes, drained a long shot over Azubuike, just inside the arc, to send all the Warriors fans who came out for a Kirk Hinrich bobblehead promotion home with only their souvenirs. Hinrich made 5-of-5 bombs from 3-point land and finished the night with 15 points. “I felt like it was my time,” Lamar said. “I also wanted my big shot!” Before last season, where we finished with 54 wins, we struggled in previous years, but always had a better season: 41 wins in 2007-08, 32 in 2006-07, 21 in 2005-06. I can safely say, with this young nucleus including Brandon, LaMarcus and Greg, I'm confident we can do more than just compete.
“It feels good, but it's a long season,” Brandon said. “Twelve-and-two doesn't mean anything right now. We've got to keep grinding it out, working hard and who knows what's going to happen.” Warriors coach Don Nelson said: “Our guys competed tonight. They came out in the third quarter with energy and after they made their great run in the first half, we started the fourth with the same way.” We were winning 34-20 at one stage of the game, but the half finished 47-43 for us, with a 11-1 run by the Warriors in the middle of the second period. We shot 57 percent while Golden State only a 42 percent. I must admit LaMarcus redeemed himself tonight after the way he played. I'm sure he wasn't very pleased with the way he played the last games and had someting to prove. He certainly showed a sellout crowd what he is capable of tonight. No doubt he's feeling a little better about things now. I get a sense that this guys legitimately enjoy, not only playing together, but just simply being together. Trust, confidence, respect, effort, ability; these are words I think of now when I think about the way these players feel about one another. There was a moment after the game when the camera caught Greg smiling from ear to ear as he grabbed Lamar and gave him a big bear hug. In fact I think the whole team was hugging one another. It's in moments like these where seasons (and seasons to come) are often times defined. “When a team is up by like 14 and then is down by like 5 in a point of the game, you always listen to that in SportsCenter. This was my chance to steal the show,” LaMarcus joked. Well done, Grapevine.
Music: Basement Jaxx (Ft. Yoko Ono) - “Day Of The Sunflowers (We March On)”
Next game: Tomorrow, Saturday, we host the Minnesota Timberwolves (4-8, 4th Northwest, 13th West) at the Rose Garden. All our 82 games will be broadcast on the Trail Blazers Broadcasting flagship station, 95.5 FM The Game. Brian Wheeler, in his 12th season calling the play-by-play, and analyst Antonio Harvey, in his fifth season, will call the games, home and away. On television, KGW-TV and Comcast SportsNet will air a total of 75 Trail Blazers games with veteran analyst Mike Rice, in his fifth full season on television after spending the previous 15 years on the radio, and Mike Barrett, in his seventh, calling the action. Between KGW, Comcast SportsNet, TNT, ESPN and ABC, all 82 games will be televised for the third year in a row, and the third time in franchise history. In addition, all games will be available in High-Definition. Key facts against Minny:
• We are 57-24 all-time against the Wolves: 31-10 at home and 26-14 on the road;
• The matchup marks the third meeting between the teams in November, with Portland winning the first two games by 17 and 27 points, respectively. Portland’s 27-point margin of victory, 101-74, Nov. 11 against Minnesota marked its largest win on the road in franchise history;
• Brandon has led the team in scoring (21.5) and assists (6.5) in two games vs. Minnesota this season, with LaMarcus averaging 18.0 points in both games. Greg had 14 in the first game, and Jerryd and Martell both posted season-highs with 18 and 17 points, respectively, in the second contest;
• After winning the first two games in the series, Portland has now won 10 consecutive games vs. Minnesota, its longest current winning streak against any NBA team. We have taken eight meetings in a row at the Rose Garden;
• . The Timberwolves have failed to reach 100 points in each of the last 12 meetings between the teams, with Portland hitting triple figures six times in that span and winning 11 of 12 games;
• Coincidences: Patrick Mills and Minnesota’s Nathan Jawai represent half of the Australian-born players on NBA rosters right now (the other two, Rockets recent signee David Andersen and Milwaukee's 2005 1st overall pick, Andrew Bogut); while Brandon was selected by the Timberwolves with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft and traded here in exchange for the draft rights to Randy Foye in 2006. Great deal for us, eh?
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