For some reason my DVR cut off about nine minutes from the end of this game, so I didn’t get to see the finish. Didn’t need to, really. It was pretty obvious by that point what was happening. Still, if I miss anything important from the fourth quarter be sure and fill us in down in the comment section.
General Observations
In the first half of this game everybody got to see firsthand what happens when the Blazers don’t make their three-pointers. To say the first half shooting was a little off is like saying Robocop was a tad violent. Our normally steady distance shooters were clanging it off the rim with regularity. Once the Suns stopped fearing the three they felt free to gang up on drivers and posters, giving the Blazers less daylight than an
We again allowed an opponent to shoot over 50%...53.3% to be exact. Shaq and Grant Hill were the major culprits but every
Individual Notes
Lamarcus Aldridge was mostly cold with just a shade of hot, shooting 6-14 for 14 points. He had trouble with Amare all night. Even though Stoudemire didn’t go off Lamarcus had to expend a lot of energy avoiding him on offense and shadowing him on defense.
Steve Blake saved us from a true blowout by hitting 8-16, 4-8 from distance, with 5 assists and 3 rebounds. I sure hope he’s not abstaining from something to get this production because whatever he’s doing right now he needs to keep on it.
Joel Przybilla had an astounding 5 blocks and 3 steals in addition to 8 rebounds and threw his heart into this game. He had trouble dealing with Shaq as always but he made life hell for everybody else who came his way. Great, gutsy effort.
Nicolas Batum hit a couple three-pointers and grabbed a couple of steals. Typical game for him.
The bench as a whole only gave us 24 points tonight. That’s not our M.O. at all. Several players struggled mightily.
Travis Outlaw played 21 minutes, shot 33%, and got 0 rebounds, steals, and blocks. He got an assist and a turnover and 7 points.
If Rudy Fernandez were any colder tonight you could open a Baskin-Robbins in his pants. He shot 1-9 overall, 1-8 from beyond the arc. That’s right, 8 of his 9 shots were three-pointers and he missed all but one of them. Of course you never mind Rudy taking those shots. He’s earned an off night or two. One thing I have noticed about him is that his confidence seems wrapped up in his first two or three attempts. If he misses those he seems to shrink a little, which is not good for the Blazers.
Greg Oden looked a little nervous out there at first being in the same building with Shaq. They actually didn’t face up against each other all that much. Przybilla was having too good of a game to keep him on the bench and Oden was suffering from his lack of lift as the Suns gang-tackled him with huge, athletic guys every time he got the ball down low. He calmed down as the game went along but still ended up with 5 points, 5 fouls, 2 turnovers, and only 1 rebound in 14 minutes. He’s still not used to dealing with big bodies.
Sergio Rodriguez only got 7 minutes. Part of that was Blake being our key player tonight. Part of it was the Suns daring him to duplicate Blake’s shooting and him going 0-3. Nate couldn’t afford another guy missing shots out there tonight and Sergio was expendable. Otherwise he did alright.
Channing Frye was the only bench player who looked better tonight than he has recently. Maybe it was being back in
Final Thoughts
We’ve won some surprising games but for the most part we continue to struggle against significant Western opponents. That’s not totally unexpected. Shake it off and get back to work.
For the
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--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)