Game 69 Recap: Blazers 92, Cavaliers 97 (OT)

i was going to be happy no matter what.

he was simply running his team through offensive drills, like practice, or scrimmage. Joel was great, but I was surprised we didn’t try and steal it by employing the twin towers when we were close at the end, maybe it’s too gimmicky.

What is going on with that?

Cleveland had TWO turnovers. The entire game. That ties the NBA record… and one of the turnovers came in the final seconds of OT.

I can’t really fault the Blazers D, because the Blazers held the Cavs to a miserable shooting night. We don’t play the passing lanes much, and don’t force many steals—but still. Props to the Cavs for taking care of the ball.

Brandon took another development in his step to superduperstardom: He held his own against LeBron.

LeBron’s team won the game, and The King had a triple double (barely), whereas Brandon was a few dimes and boards short. LeBron won the matchup, such that it is…

But: Last time we played Cleveland (in Portland) it seems the entire Blazer lineup was in awe of James; not tonight.

Last year, when we played the Cavs, LeBron used Roy like the phone book. Not tonight.

Tonight, when LeBron guarded Roy on the final shot of regulation, Roy drew the foul against a guy who is a tough perimeter defender. That says two important things: 1) Roy is a clever enough player to get off that shot against focused, intense defense, and 2) Roy gets enough love from the referees to get that call against James, in Cleveland, with the game on the line. If Jarrett Jack, say, were to take that shot and get tapped by LeBron in the same fashion, it says here that the refs swallow the whistles and the cavs win in regulation. No disrespect to JJ1, of course.

fatty may get annoyed with me for harping on his theme, but Roy has passed yet another milestone. All he has left is “outplay LeBron”, and things are lookin real good.

OT game and all….
I guess that’s who they designed this endlessly locking up trash chat thread software for.
I am so sick of Explorer lock ups of game threads, I pretty much have given up on any timely participation.

But, I am so far from “down about the loss”. Very impressive… I mean the Cavs have lost ONE home game all year, and we hardly played our best, with key people out.
Greg is already doing just fine… he is a key piece of our very intriguing playoff run. I don’t think any teams are going to be too comfortable drawing the Blazers in the playoffs, for good reason. This is fun time in Portland, fans !
Incidentally, the way Nate successfully handled that significant lineup shakeup due to injuries for this tough road game deserves recognition. Gotta be a confidence booster.

thought it was interesting that the 2 plays I was mad about were the same as the Blazers in the lockeroom after the game (oregonlive). The traveling call on Outlaw with 1:30 left… common traveling at that point in the game?!? And I though TO got hit on the wrist by LBJ on the 3 in the corner. Travis didn’t even look over to the refs though, good self-control there. Refs didn’t lose the game but dang those are crunch time

I was on the road I had to keep texting people for the scores.

I think considering a few people here were planning on us getting blown out and possibly pulling a popovich, it was a great game. I think we made a pretty good statement even though it was a loss. That statement being that we are for real and not someone you can take for granted.

and

A) I love that Roy was going for the 3 at the end, even though Nate wanted him to drive. Shows that he’s fearless and he is very very confident in his ability to make that shot.

B) Roy looked every bit the player that LeBron is tonight.

C) I was very disappointed with the performance in overtime, why did Portland go away from Roy and Outlaw?

D)

“We need guys to step up, man, we need everybody to step up,” Roy said. “Right now is the most important time to do it, because the season is not going to get easier, it’s only going to get harder.”

Roy said that right after the loss in Atlanta. Since then Portland is 2-1 and the defense has improved immensely. Perhaps we are seeing the “next step” for Roy and his leadership?

E) ODEN looked great. I’m so happy with how he has performed since coming back from the injury.

F) We will be an extremely tough out in the playoffs, especially if we keep up the defensive intensity.

I’m pretty sure you can see the fire lately in games against contenders in the game. And I’m fairly confident that the playoffs are what we need to light a fire underneath us.

Only two of our players have playoff experience; Blake and Joel. Both solid players. I am surely expecting inspired and enthused performances from others that have yet to reach the post season. Not just in the last remaining stretch but in the playoffs as well. Roy will light things up as he surpasses another feat. LaMarcus will become another man reborn. Batum will be ready to take the pressure on. Outlaw will… not sure how he’ll take it, but he’s been in the league for 6 seasons, he’s going to have to step it up. Rudy will seize the competition. Greg will hopefully relax and feed off of the atmosphere.

I think that this team needs that extra step and will prove themselves with the opportunity. I’m happy that we are winning and not just making the playoffs by default. I hope our guys can study and learn other teams tricks in the playoffs, much like they will us, and capitalize on them. Go Blazers! Let’s destroy Milwaukee!

I even said it in the preview. The Blazers play to the level of their opponent. Tough loss.

— at least the first one and the two in the second half — were while trying to stop other people’s guys who had slipped their defenders. It would be nice if he didn’t pick up those fouls, but it wasn’t because of his own mistakes.

This statistic from the daily dime on ESPN today:

 The Trail Blazers lost in Cleveland but they did have more free throw attempts than the Cavs, which extended Portland’s streak of consecutive games shooting more free throws than their opponent to 13, tying a franchise record set in November 1982. The Blazers’ streak also equals the 2008-09 NBA season high set by the Sixers (13 games,

This is huge! Jump shooting teams don’t do this. This more than anything else is very encouraging and hopefully a portend of great things to come.

I’m a fan of both the Cavs and the Blazers, and have seen most of their games this year.

I understand the general sentiment that you have to be happy going into the building of a team with one home loss and taking them to OT minus two starters.

I agree.

But at the same time, the Cavs did everything they could to giftwrap this game for Portland, up until overtime, and it really should’ve been a win for them. The Cavs have been trying every game for the past 5-6 to give one away, and nobody will take one. This was without question Cleveland’s worst/most disinterested home game of the season.

Until overtime, the Cavs were going to set an NBA record for lowest turnovers, with 1. It’s never happened before since they started tracking it in the 70’s. What’s that mean? It reflects an amazing lack of aggression. NOBODY for Cleveland wanted to do anything but hoist jumpers.

Part of the credit certainly goes to the Blazers coaching – the “foul Lebron so he doesn’t get in a rhythm” strategy worked. He was completely disinterested in the game until there were about 5:00 left.

Overall, pretty nice game considering LMA’s absence, but the Blazers really could’ve stolen this one.

I like your team…….Roy is money. What a sweet shot! In the first half Cleveland shot 31%, going 2/10 from the 3 point arch. Otherwise, you might have been down alot at halftime.

If the Cavs are minus LeBron, you win but sorry, I don’t think you can say, Roy “looked every bit the player that Lebron” is. James is making a statement this year and you saw it at the end of regulation and in OT. He will do whatever it takes for his team to win. I have seen every Cavs game this year and he has been beyond description in this regard.

Best of Luck the rest of the way……please do us a favor and knock off LA if you see them come playoff time.

Yeah a win would’ve been great but the effort and the intensity and the passion were all there. Good enough for me.

…. being disinterested and offering this game up to Portland to take. But what I saw was a team that had just come off a game they could have easily lost by looking ahead to last night’s contest agains an opponent looking to revenge a last second loss, yet instead dominated, and come into the home arena of the team with the best record in the NBA and only one home loss and take them to overtime.

A team missing their second best player and another starter, with two other players trying to work their way back from injury. A team playing on the second of a back to back which refused to quit in the 4th quarter when the Cav’s opened up an 8 point lead in a previously close game and looked to have put it away.

That, folks, tells me that this team is mentally tougher than a lot of people give them credit for and than should reasonably be expected for a team this young. (Side note: I’m thinking that this might be some Nate McMillan rubbing off on them. You know, as in the coach rreally does know what he’s doing and we are starting to see the results.)

When you combine our talent with this emerging toughness and good coaching what you get is a team that very well could win a first round playoff series. I think it was Dave who commented yesterday on how the coaching staff has done a pretty good job preparing the team in rematch games when they’ve made mistakes the first time around. I know I sure would not want to draw Portland in the first round if I’m one of the other p[layoff teams.

earned block of the night

and didn’t quit but didn’t have any gas left for the OT.

I wish Nate would have put greg in. Those guys were exhausted and I honestly think fresh legs would have helped.

buy I didn’t feel like reading every single comment. I tried…

Anyways, Oden had a great game tonight. He made me proud I must say. Also, as soon as Nate called bayless onto the floor I said to my tv “Please leave your rookieness on the bench Jbay” what can I say? He’s been showing his inexperience. Of course, games like this are when you get that experiecnce so I suppose its a double edged sword.

On to the next game… GO BLAZERS!!

We proved we can play on the road. We didn’t win obviously, but we played on the road against the best home team in the NBA. We had injuries, but we took them to overtime.

This SHOULD build some confidence for Western Conference road games come playoff time.
“Guys we’re 1-1233211 against WC playoff teams.”
“Yeah, but that was the old us, the new us can take on Cleveland so we can take on anybody!”

This seemed like it would have been a great night for Shavlik to get some burn. We could’ve used him on the offensive glass since we were taking a lot of outside shots and jumpers. He’s an energy guy, and he has played NBA minutes before with Philadelphia.

Maybe Chris Paul… it seems like every fanbase just raves about Roy. Broadcasters love him. Players love him. Fans love him. Coaches love him.

I love him.

Anyway, I loved the game and the Blazer performance. Oden was bending the game in an appreciable way… there’s a reason Howard has taken the Magic to the record they have with Turkoglu and Lewis as their second and third options. Centers matter.

We would have won this game. But how about Greg Oden giving the business last night? That’s the first time I’ve seen the Greg Portland needs.

Delonte West one of the most appearance challenged players in the history of the NBA.

Like you, I was more encouraged than bummed by that loss. The Blazers are showing with every succeeding game that they belong. If things come together right, they could do some damage in the upcoming playoffs. And if that happens, next season the sky is the limit. The team is growing by leaps & bounds in every respect.

and was close to being right. If only Brandon had kept his right foot back six inches when LeBron fouled him…!

       The scary part of the recap is the analogy to the “sleeper hold”
from Mick Foley’s book. Not the analogy, but that you actually read
a book written by Mick Foley ! If you like I can offer many alternatives.
How about; War & Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, The Book of Five Rings, etc.
         Sorry for the sarcasm, but M. Foley ???