Blazers vs. Rockets Game Four
[Editor's Note: Once again we turn to Defend Tiller Historian and Demolition Expert James Hovacious for analysis of the
So the gameplan for game four was to take notes during the game that would provide me with better insight after as:
1. I normally forget most of what has happened during the game and only remember the outcome and the emotions surrounding it. And
2. As I have decided to drink Oregon Springs vodka and Sprite throughout the game the chances of both information slipping my mind and me stripping down to my boxers and screaming at the T.V. announcers greatly increase.
So Doug Collins and Marv Albert will be our announcers tonight. I’m not a fan of big fan of Doug Collins and I’ll tell you why. Doug Collins falls into the same category and Jeff Van Gundy and our boy PJ. Former coaches who were fired for being inept, yet still dissect the decisions of currently employed coaches while providing insight to what they would do differently. Every time one of these announcers starts a sentence with “What you should do here is……” I automatically hope that my team and more importantly my team’s coaching staff is thinking the opposite. Also stop calling these individuals coach during pregame and halftime interludes. You should not call someone “Coach” unless they are either currently employed as a coach or have coached at a level high enough that they will be enshrined in the basketball hall of fame. (i.e. Bob Knight) Or if it’s a cagy nickname derived from some memorable experience where said individual provided useful life lessons during a situation you were not familiar with. (i.e. “whoa buddy you can’t tip the stripper with a handful of quarters….)
Side note: If you get a chance to read the Bulletin paper out of Bend , check out the April 13th article entitled “ Bend ’s sole strip club ‘under the microscrope’” I think it is online. The report is on the OLCC attempts to close the only strip club in Bend due to countless police reports. The whole article is great but my favorite part reads “Other incidents noted by the OLCC include seven fights, three physical altercations with bouncers, three customers threatening gun violence and two assaults-one that happened when a customer climbed on stage and punched a dancer in the face.”
[Editor's Note: This article is available by subscription only. But if you've got $3 and too much time on your hands, check it out and get back to us.]
Anyways I guess I have no real beef with Doug Collins other than the time we went to that strip club in Bend and he climbed up on stage and punched the dancer in the face! Of course that paled in comparison to Marv rushing over to her unconscious body and biting her ass. On with the game!
The first quarter was a roller coaster, we looked great for the first couple minutes then allowed Houston to get about five offensive rebounds, losing the lead and ending the quarter with Houston on a 17-5 run. Oden and Priz are already in foul trouble. The Blazers gameplan on Yao is pretty solid, meet him high enough that it’s hard for him to establish position and front him so he can’t get the ball as easy. This is great in theory except that in every game for at least the first two quarters any time we meet him above the block we are instantly whistled for a foul. What makes Yao so tough is that he can shoot free throws unbelievably well. Every time he does catch the ball in the post I pray that we let him shoot a jump shot or turn around. He’s missed one free throw in the series. Almost all of his points in the last three games have come at the free throw line. (Yet for all Yao ’s strengths we did get to observe his one glaring weakness at halftime.)
The second quarter starts with a little chat with Nate McMillan I hate these interviews but as it’s already treaded ground (Recent Simmons article) I’m going to move on. The Blazers played pretty well in the second quarter, Outlaw finally starting to show signs of life, (although I’d like to see him drive more. Why is he shooting jump shots when he is isolated on Carl Landry? Take him to the hoop Outlaw….) The Blazers close the gap and things are looking good for the second half. I still don’t understand what happened to our offensive rebounding? It was one of our greatest strengths all season yet even when Yao is out, we rarely have anyone crashing the offensive boards. When Yao isn’t on the court we should own the offensive and defensive glass. We have a major size advantage yet on almost every play the only players in the area are Oden or the Priz and only because they happen to be standing there when the shot goes up.
Halftime interview with Yao was priceless. His answer to the first question was okay (slurred and awkward but okay) But by his second response it was completely incoherent, I watched it three times and the final few words are a jumbled mess. It reminds me of the scene at the end of sixteen candles when Donger is drunk and talking to his host father. I think they should mike him up for game 5 so we can listen to him talking trash. “Don’t be like the baby Oden!”
During the third quarter when Yao and Artest were out I realized that Houston should not be able to score on us. In fact at the end of game 3 I had to go online and figure out how they scored as many points as they did. Yao hasn’t really hurt us since game 1 and Artest only gets around 10 a night. It’s Scola (in the last two games) and Brooks (in the first two) that have really hurt us. And their bench has been unbelievable, Wafer looks slightly retarded but he has been lights out against us. (Remember when we had Wafer….) Landry and Lowry are okay but none of them seem to miss shots. When they bring the bench in it’s terrifying, they run a kamikaze style break up and down the court and it completely baffles the Blazers for about two minutes. We looked much more aggressive in the second half though especially on defense. Played great at the end of the third and reclaimed the lead.
The fourth quarter started with Roy on the bench which had me slightly unsettled because I thought our best chance was to ride the momentum of the third and try to expand the lead to double digits immediately starting the fourth. But I get the logic, give your star a break while you have a cushion and get him in fresh for the last 8 minutes. ( Kobe style) Three possessions in the lead was down to 4 and Roy was waiting at the scorers table. We don’t have anyone else who can play one and one in this series. Aldridge should be able to but he settles for jump shots every time. (It drives me crazy when he and Outlaw have mismatches but decide to shoot a long jump shot. I would like to see a chart or stat the shows how many shots in this series have come by way of anything other than a mid range jump shot for Aldridge. I’m betting less than 12.) Anyways Roy comes in and the game stays pretty even until the final three minutes during which the Blazers definitely showed their inexperience. In the final three minutes we gave multiple offensive rebounds, looked confused on offense, and turned the ball over on three straight possessions with opportunities to take the lead. And we still had a chance to win, three times in the final four minutes the Rockets got away with throwing the ball to no one, somehow recovering it and passing to a wide open individual for huge shots. (twice to Battier, once to Landry) It was brutal, when Battier hit the first one I knew we were in trouble. Sometimes in games you need the ball to bounce your way. Those extra points that come on broken plays when your defense has played great forced the offense into a bad decision yet somehow the ball bounces to a set shooter who drills the shot absolutely kill your confidence. (Think Robert Horry against the Kings, they never recovered from that shot) We forced them to take shots that were against the shot clock and contested and they made them. But the most frustrating yet expected issue we had was on the offensive side. The Blazers were like the Goonies for the final two minutes, running around scared, now idea how to survive or escape and just praying that they don’t fall prey to some pirate trap. (By the way the guy that sits courtside by the Blazers bench in Houston, you know the guy with the white whisps of hair and the cowboy hat……truly terrifying…..He looks like the evil entity in Poltergeist 2 or 3, The one with the evil Mormon ghost who killed all the miners……) Anyways there are the Blazers, cold, scared, ten feet below the Oregon Coast with Brandon Roy trying to urge them forward. “Come on guys, down here it’s our time.” They needed Cory Feldman, they needed Chunk, and instead they got Steve Blake throwing up a fade away as the shot clock expires, the Priz getting the offensive rebound and promptly throwing it to Rick Adelman and the Blazers leaving the court down 3-1.
Do we have a chance to win game 5, sure, playing in Portland will definitely energize the guys and Yao will be worn out on such a short turn around. (He played 45 minutes.) I just wonder if mentally the Blazers have another one in them. They broke down in the final minutes against a much more seasoned playoff team. Not necessarily a successful playoff team but a seasoned one. I watched the final interview with Shane Battier angry and cold, cursing the Rockets as I stood naked in my living room. Wondering how things had gone so wrong, but I finally relaxed after all the future is still bright, the Blazers could still win game 5, and even if they don’t... We’re Still Back In The Playoffs!!! Next year Martell will be back, Oden will be better and the mania will start once again.
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