Good evening, Blazers fans. This is Ben filling in for Dave tonight. Let's get straight to the post-game and, sadly, post-streak discussion.
Boxscore
The streak is over... Fire Demopoulos! Only kidding, of course, Coach D filled in admirably and had the Blazers playing full-throttle even though they seemed to be running on empty down the stretch tonight. Those 3 pointers that come up just a bit short are always the giveaway.
Unlike last night's game against the Sixers, which left mouths agape and left many grasping for words, tonight's game had almost too much going on.
Some food for thought and discussion:
-- Aldridge's career high. A thing of beauty. Many jump hooks of beauty. When should we start expecting 25 PPG? Wednesday?
-- Tons of interesting matchups on these rosters: Outlaw vs. Millsap, Aldridge vs. Boozer, Okur vs. Przy, Brandon vs. AK47 down the stretch, their energetic bench vs. our energetic bench, and beginning today, James Jones vs. Kyle Korver. Despite the loss tonight, I'm convinced the Blazers are the more talented team top to bottom, but it's only by a hair.
-- Is Roy's elbow injury serious? He was holding and flexing his elbow strangely which caused my heart to skip about 40 beats. He played through it -- of course he did-- but I hope he doesn't miss any time in upcoming games because of it. We need him 100% healthy for this upcoming road trip.
-- Did the Jazz do anything tonight that is cause for concern for the Blazers? They roughed us up a bit and mucked the game up. They hit the boards on both ends. They jumped our dribblers which caused a fair number of problems. They got some favorable calls. They defended their homecourt. At this moment, I'm most worried about that last one but maybe you feel differently.
-- On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready are you for some revenge on Saturday?
-- Now that the streak is but a glorious memory, what were your favorite moments? There's Brandon's Jordanesque move and Outlaw's unbelievable buzzer beater. Aside from those two, the one that sticks out was another Outlaw moment - the game-ending block against the Nuggets. It was the loudest I've heard the Rose Garden this year and its memory will tide me over through the January road trip doldrums.
One-Sentence Game Summary:
There is no shame in losing the second half of a back-to-back home-and-away against a quality opponent that was killing itself for the victory.
-- Ben
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