Clippers 107 Blazers 89
Boxscore
This was another one of those games where there's really not much to review. Much like a prostate exam you just kind of close your eyes, think happy thoughts, and wait for it to be over.
On the team side of things, we got pasted on the rebounds, shot pretty well but let them shoot far better, and got 23 free throw attempts to their 40. And at least 8 of our attempts came late in the fourth well after the game was in hand. It really wasn't that close. After the first quarter and a half or so we stopped driving the ball much and started shooting jumpers. We hit a fair number of them but they didn't give us any extra points. Mostly we got flat steamrolled by a team that's trying to hold onto a playoff spot. Meanwhile we're just trying to get through games without getting even more people hurt. Everybody's tired. The season just needs to be over. I think we have one more win in us. The only question is whether it will be tomorrow against Seattle or in the closer against Golden State. I have a bad, bad feeling about that last game if it means something to the Warriors...as in a bad feeling we might play spoiler to them, which I kind of don't want to do.
As far as individuals tonight Brandon Roy was spectacular but only intermittently aggressive. He is very, very, very good offensively. He hits shots that only K*be should take. He scored 18 with his usual 6 rebounds and 5 assists. He was the high scorer. Travis scored 14 on 7-13 shooting. He was hitting every open long jumper and missing every covered one. His confidence has really grown. The problem with those long two-point jumpers though is that he's not getting any extra points off them...no threes, no free throws. He has to mix up his game a little. But his shot was sure going tonight. Martell scored 10 on 3-9 shooting. He was the only other guy in double figures. Nobody got more than 6 rebounds. Fred Jones had 7 points and 7 assists in 29 minutes. The latter number seems like a misprint because I didn't notice them but I think he was the one passing to Outlaw quite a bit. Everybody else was...meh.
Tomorrow night should be a hard-fought game. They're saying Roy may play after all, which should give us a much better chance. His motion looked decent tonight. Maybe his overall energy was a little down. It's just hard to tell.
This game is now erased from memory banks and Tivos everywhere. Let us not speak of it again.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)