Bunch of random notes from CLE game (in-arena experience)

I got there at 6:30, a full 1.5hrs prior to tipoff and went directly down to the floor seats to see Blake taking shots for what seemed like a 1/2 hr (with some random assistant guarding him). Monty was the only other guy on the floor, and he was droppin some smooth set shots and step backs with guys in his grill. Good lookin stroke. Yelled out to Rice, but he didn't hear me. Hubie is one old dude; I noticed him casually exiting the Blazers’ tunnel, hunched over, walking with reaallllyy tiny steps all the way to his ESPN booth. Just then, with about 20 minutes left before the tip,  one of the ushers came up to me and said I had to go up to my seats (nosebleeds), so I couldn't see any of the guys closeup, but had a pretty decent view of the game. Pregame warmups were nothing special. Marty was on fire; Roy looked lackadaisical, Aldridge didn't miss once from top of the key; all in all, they looked loose and ready to go. Roy stood for the national anthem. I have to give it up for the Cavs for putting on quite a pregame introduction. Easily the best in the country, and even got me pumped (just a bit).

First quarter was pretty average. Blake made his usual mistakes and killed a few fast breaks, but we somehow stayed about even. Marty hit a few shots, continuing his hot streak from warmups. Roy looked uncharacteristically sloppy. Second quarter was a whole 'nother story. Howard and Bayless, combined with an effective boost from Miller were terrific. They hustled on D (zone looked decent for like the first time all year), and the guys took a lead. Fans around me were astonished by the fact that Roy was relatively silent and Portland was still winning comfortably. Howard’s shots, and miller's two threes brought out the most noticeable groans. But near the end of the second quarter, LeBron and his crew figured out a way to fight the zone, and got an easy dunk for Shaq (2000, game 7 style-- you know what I’m talkin about), but he was called for an offensive foul. Still, they knew what to do once the third quarter rolled around.

The Cavs came with a rejuvenated sense of aggressiveness to start the quarter, and d'd-up. Blake was quite steady during this time, and Roy hit a few shots, but our defense was abysmal. Shaq beasted Joel-- no other way to say it. Przybilla had a nice block initially, but after that, shaqtus took over and LbJ started hitting some tough jumpers. I actually saw a Miller-Roy- PG/SG combo for the first time this season! But unfortunately, it wasn’t too effective. Whenever Roy had the ball up top, a pick from either Aldridge or Przy came immediately, prompting Roy to drive around. With Miller in the corner, and his man helping on BRoy, Brandon had nowhere to go. This lineup needs lots of work, and it’s baffling to me that this one of the first times it was tried, but I’m confident that the two can make it work with some time. Webby's d left much to be desired; he was a step slow when fanning out to shooters, and had trouble moving his feet against LeBron. Also, considering how hot he was in the first quarter, he was ridiculously tentative in putting up shots, and displayed zero confidence in the ones he did attempt. I really don't see any improvement in his offense from his rookie year, when all Blazer fans were waiting on him to get through that "mental block." As this was happening, the crowd regained the fever pitch it had pregame. The "Q" as the fans call the arena colloquially can get quite loud. Granted a lot of the cheers were not spontaneous and required prolonged prompts from the loudspeaker, and the pumped in bass was excruciatingly annoying, it was a pretty exciting atmosphere... until my migraine that I had in the morning resurfaced. But still, a decent crowd.

The Blazers certainly didn't look like they lacked any confidence after the third, but I sensed tension as the arena was buzzing. I felt that Coach Dean HAD to play Roy to set a tone to start out the quarter to get back some of that lost momentum, and to my surprise, Roy started-- only to be taken out two plays into the quarter. We went back to our zone d (but this time, sans Bayless), and it was horrible. Aldridge was out of position quite a few times, Miller didn't even try to cover his ground, and the Cavs (Williams and Varejao) pick-and-rolled us to death. Blake, on the other hand was adequately adept at staying in front of his man. One of the issues with playing zone that is ubiquitously mentioned by announcers (*ahem, Hubie and Rice*), is its effect on rebounding, and that was pretty evident in the fourth quarter.   Roy came back, and soon after, the Roy-on-five offence commenced, after some failed attempts at feeding Aldridge in the post. To expand further, it’s quite evident that he hates contact. He slips almost every pick, and pops to the corner hoping for a BRoy pass. The Cavs sniffed out that play, and LA finally went to the hoop and got fouled. Good, right? Or so I thought. After this play, he seemed to shy away from contact even more than usual. With the pick and roll/ pick and pop covered, the Blazers tried to post up Aldridge against Varejao. The key word being, "tried." He couldn't budge Varejao, and Miller and Roy had difficulty passing the ball to LA, with Andy playing a cover/hedge (sorta like fronting). The finish was anticlimactic. Roy took over for Webs in guarding James and did as good of a job on him as anyone on our team. But soon, the Cavs started picking Brandon and had Blake switched onto James in a 1-4. Suffice to say, that didn’t work out. Also, the block looked legit, but I only had one look, and that was live where it seemed good. I missed the replay, but I saw Brandon vehemently arguing and motioning his hands/arms/etc, in a demonstrative way for almost half of the next timeout towards the refs.

Kind of a fitting night for a subpar game from Roy. His shot looked waayyy off on multiple occasions, and he couldn’t get into a groove. This had little to do with Anthony Parker, though. I remembered the Raptors game (at home) last year when he torched Parker in the fourth quarter, and had initially hoped for the same tonight, but the Cavs play terrific team defense, and our spacing was really bad. The refs also seemed to swallow their whistles on a couple of his drives inside. I only get to watch this guy play maybe once or twice a season in person, so I was desperately hoping for a better outing. Still, I put this loss on our talent disparity overall. No depth upfront especially, killed us. As a profound anti-Outlaw person, I had to acknowledge that he could’ve helped us tonight. Hell, Rudy could’ve helped. Batum could’ve helped. ODEN could’ve helped. Ugh. Get better soon, everyone.