Game 30 Recap: Blazers 97 Sixers 72

by Dave on Dec 30, 2007 11:17 PM PST in News

This game almost defies description. In the first 2.5 quarters we looked like a team that had been run over by a steamroller. We barely moved. The offense was stagnant, the defense was fractured, the rebounding wasn't great. The pace was abysmal. We played right into Philadelphia's hands. The 76'ers' guards were making our backcourt players look like poodles next to Dobermans. Ill-groomed poodles at that. We had maybe half of a good game out of all of our players combined. (Channing was doing well.) The passivity and disjointed play were amazing.

Then all of a sudden midway through the third Brandon Roy started taking over with an assist from his wingman Steve Blake. The old, familiar buzz started going through the arena as we chipped away at the lead Philadelphia had built. When we were within 1 at the end of the third you knew they were in trouble. Sure enough...look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! IT FRIGGIN' DUNKED SO HARD IT LEFT A SPALDING IMPRINT ON THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD.

Super Trout to the rescue.

Travis started hitting every shot he threw up. Jarrett Jack, coming off his worst half in recent memory, started whipping passes and plowing into the lane. The Assassin James Jones started stroking. Frye continued cooking. Between him and Outlaw Lamarcus never saw the light of day in the fourth quarter. By the time it was all said and done we had gone on a 21-0 run and slammed the door so hard on Philly that they drew four technicals trying to get over it. We outscored them in the fourth 35-9 and barely let them have a shot at the basket for all of the turnovers we caused. It was a tour de force...downright scary. You'll go a long time before seeing a quarter like that again.

Honestly I'm not sure there's anything else to say. This game was so odd you'd have a hard time drawing lasting lessons from it. It was old Blazers and new Blazers all wrapped into one. Pretty much all you can do is marvel at 13 straight and shake your head.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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White Team: 4x20

Looks like it's been a few games now that the 4 main guys from the bench (sorry Sergio) get 20 plus minutes each. And help close out games.

Perhaps the stats experts will tell me if it's unusual to have 4 guys consistently come in and get such time?

In fact looks like we really have three teams: starters, bench and the amazing fourth quaterers.

by holder on Dec 30, 2007 11:32 PM PST reply actions

Outlaw posterizes Carney

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzq4ozGwoOM

via Mike Barrett's Blog: http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/4th-quarter-explosion-keys-13.html

by jayseyfield on Dec 30, 2007 11:49 PM PST reply actions

Roy the Magnificent

I was at the game and had a very similar take. The Blazers and the crowd were both eerily passive thru 1 1/2 quarters. Even when the Blazers were ahead, I felt as though the 76ers had us right where they wanted us. Then Philly started to pull away, led by Igoudala and Miller. And their degree of confidence (they were laughing uncontrollable after a couple of those alley-oops) was really disconcerting. I thought: "So, this is how it ends." What can you do when a team has your number?

But during the first half of the 3rd quarter, each time the 76ers seemed poised to put the game away, Roy would stop their momentum with one of his patented drives. Even when the officials called him for charging, Roy was undeterred. Forgive me for saying this, but during that critical stretch Roy reminded me of Magic Johnson. Remember how frustrating it used to be to play the L*kers, because every time you'd start to get a little momentum, Magic would tuck the ball under his arm and say, "Oh no, you don't." Other Blazers made plays during the early third, but every single time the 76ers made a little run, it was Roy that nipped it in the bud.

Finally, the rest of the Blazers started hitting, the 76ers started missing, and that was all she wrote. Of course, "Super Trout" had something to do with that. His most critical plays were the block that led to the Roy dunk and "The Dunk" itself. About the latter, Dave's description (re/ the Spaulding imprint) is definitive!

But there were other Trout marvels too. On one fadeaway jumper from near the left elbow, Travis fooled no one in the building. Yet somehow, he canned the shot with his defender draped all over him. At that point, you knew it was over; #13 was as good as in the books.

Surely it ends there, with the vengeful Jazz waiting up in Salt Lake City. Or does it? How could you bet against the Blazers after how they destroyed a confident, hot-shooting 76er team tonight? With Roy leading the way, anything seems possible.

"Ime caught the guy in mid-air with a fist and calmly continued his dispatching of oncoming people." -Gabe Muoneke

by hurryup09 on Dec 30, 2007 11:52 PM PST reply actions

You should have been here

For the open thread. There were some hanging head before the run.

Happy Kwanzaa! December 26, 2007 - January 1, 2008

by tominhawaii on Dec 31, 2007 10:23 AM PST up reply actions

ist game I've attended since 99

i took my folks, kids and son-in-law... 8 of us. Funny though... I never thought they were going to lose. They're playing with a lot of confidence. And yep, Roy brought them back in the 3rd. Amazing, amazing player. I know it's been said, but his getting to the rim whenever he wants to reminds me of Walt Frazier.

by rburg on Dec 31, 2007 10:33 AM PST up reply actions

I'm still in awe...

...of the last 18 minutes of that game. I felt like a nightmare was unfolding on the radio (to paraphrase an old saying): this is how streaks end, with a whimper, not a bang -- except that it didn't. Not only did they pull out a win, but in a way that should be considered a Blazers classic game for years to come. Simply amazing.

by Anthony Stine on Dec 31, 2007 3:44 AM PST reply actions