tlongII
04-06-2011, 09:50 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/04/blazers_insider_on_night_portl.html
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2011/04/-1046f49acf6f89a1.jpg
Nicolas Batum (88) loses the handling on the ball after Monta Ellis (8) attempts to strip him of it as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Golden State Warriors at the Rose Garden on Tuesday
The Trail Blazers locker room door opened and in the corner stall was the hissing and cussing of Nicolas Batum.
Some of it was in French. Some in English. All of it angry. It was mostly to himself, a diatribe of disgusted muttering to himself with irritated shakes of the head.
Welcome to perhaps the worst playoff-clinching day in Trail Blazers history.
Yes, the Blazers qualified for the NBA playoffs on Tuesday, thanks in no part to their own play, which was downright despicable and unexplainable at the Rose Garden during a 108-87 loss to the lottery-bound Golden State Warriors.
"We can lose games, but not that way," Batum said. "They kicked our ... "
You don't need to know French or English to figure out the end to that sentence.
What's more difficult to figure out is just how much should be made out of this loss.
There are some disturbing patterns developing for the Blazers -- most prominently the deteriorating play of Brandon Roy and the horrible shooting of Rudy Fernandez.
Tuesday also continued a pattern of what can only be explained as lost focus. The Blazers go on the road and beat Orlando and Miami, then lose to lowly Charlotte. They beat Oklahoma City and Dallas, then lose at home to the Warriors.
An hour before this game, coach Nate McMillan was asked what he and this team have learned after first-round playoff exits the last two seasons.
"Being hungry. The mental challenge," McMillan said. "Coming with that sense of urgency but being able to be in a calm state of mind and understand where you are and being able to get to that next level of play. With this challenge of coming down the stretch and getting into the playoffs, we have to raise our level of play ... mentally, are we able to do that?"
To make a bad night worse, starting center Marcus Camby left the game after his head bounced off the floor like a ping pong ball, thanks to the force of David Lee's body falling on top of him. The replay on the scoreboard sent a groan throughout the Rose Garden.
McMillan and the players were unable to talk to Camby before he left the arena and the team didn't release any information on his status.
Of course, this is no time to overreact. This is one loss. These happen all the time in the course of an 82-game NBA season. A streaking Memphis team did the same thing Tuesday at home in a loss against the Clippers. The Lakers lost Tuesday at home to the Jazz. And Houston officially punched the Blazers postseason ticket by losing at home Tuesday to Sacramento.
"It's just one of those games you can't explain," McMillan said. "It's one of those games where you burn the tape and move on."
LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds, wasn't going to dwell on it.
"You have those games where you miss shots and are just a little bit slow," Aldridge said. "That was the case tonight."
So, for a night, the Blazers as a whole get a pass.
But a wary eye should be cast on Roy and Fernandez over these final four games. McMillan figures to use three players off the bench in the playoffs -- Roy, Fernandez and Batum -- and two of them are struggling mightily.
After promising signs after he returned from double knee surgery, Roy has been bad, if not hard to watch, since a 21-point outburst on March 15 against Dallas.
On Tuesday, Roy went 2 for 11 in 16 minutes, airballing a wide open baseline jumper, missing shots at the rim, and looking stiff and out of sorts. This comes four games after his five-turnover night in San Antonio, when his miscues included being picked at halfcourt by a rookie, and having the ball slapped away from him by center DeJuan Blair.
Meanwhile, Fernandez on Tuesday gave no hope that his season-long shooting slump will end. He went 1 for 9 from the field and missed all six of his three-point attempts, making him 8 for his last 40 on three-pointers.
So a night that should have been celebrated Tuesday passed without much fanfare, save for the rare sight of Batum hissing and cussing.
Across the locker room, a somber Roy unsuccessfully tried to put it in perspective.
"Tough night," Roy said, looking down at the floor. "But hey, we're in the playoffs again."
http://media.oregonlive.com/oregonian/photo/2011/04/-1046f49acf6f89a1.jpg
Nicolas Batum (88) loses the handling on the ball after Monta Ellis (8) attempts to strip him of it as the Portland Trail Blazers face the Golden State Warriors at the Rose Garden on Tuesday
The Trail Blazers locker room door opened and in the corner stall was the hissing and cussing of Nicolas Batum.
Some of it was in French. Some in English. All of it angry. It was mostly to himself, a diatribe of disgusted muttering to himself with irritated shakes of the head.
Welcome to perhaps the worst playoff-clinching day in Trail Blazers history.
Yes, the Blazers qualified for the NBA playoffs on Tuesday, thanks in no part to their own play, which was downright despicable and unexplainable at the Rose Garden during a 108-87 loss to the lottery-bound Golden State Warriors.
"We can lose games, but not that way," Batum said. "They kicked our ... "
You don't need to know French or English to figure out the end to that sentence.
What's more difficult to figure out is just how much should be made out of this loss.
There are some disturbing patterns developing for the Blazers -- most prominently the deteriorating play of Brandon Roy and the horrible shooting of Rudy Fernandez.
Tuesday also continued a pattern of what can only be explained as lost focus. The Blazers go on the road and beat Orlando and Miami, then lose to lowly Charlotte. They beat Oklahoma City and Dallas, then lose at home to the Warriors.
An hour before this game, coach Nate McMillan was asked what he and this team have learned after first-round playoff exits the last two seasons.
"Being hungry. The mental challenge," McMillan said. "Coming with that sense of urgency but being able to be in a calm state of mind and understand where you are and being able to get to that next level of play. With this challenge of coming down the stretch and getting into the playoffs, we have to raise our level of play ... mentally, are we able to do that?"
To make a bad night worse, starting center Marcus Camby left the game after his head bounced off the floor like a ping pong ball, thanks to the force of David Lee's body falling on top of him. The replay on the scoreboard sent a groan throughout the Rose Garden.
McMillan and the players were unable to talk to Camby before he left the arena and the team didn't release any information on his status.
Of course, this is no time to overreact. This is one loss. These happen all the time in the course of an 82-game NBA season. A streaking Memphis team did the same thing Tuesday at home in a loss against the Clippers. The Lakers lost Tuesday at home to the Jazz. And Houston officially punched the Blazers postseason ticket by losing at home Tuesday to Sacramento.
"It's just one of those games you can't explain," McMillan said. "It's one of those games where you burn the tape and move on."
LaMarcus Aldridge, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds, wasn't going to dwell on it.
"You have those games where you miss shots and are just a little bit slow," Aldridge said. "That was the case tonight."
So, for a night, the Blazers as a whole get a pass.
But a wary eye should be cast on Roy and Fernandez over these final four games. McMillan figures to use three players off the bench in the playoffs -- Roy, Fernandez and Batum -- and two of them are struggling mightily.
After promising signs after he returned from double knee surgery, Roy has been bad, if not hard to watch, since a 21-point outburst on March 15 against Dallas.
On Tuesday, Roy went 2 for 11 in 16 minutes, airballing a wide open baseline jumper, missing shots at the rim, and looking stiff and out of sorts. This comes four games after his five-turnover night in San Antonio, when his miscues included being picked at halfcourt by a rookie, and having the ball slapped away from him by center DeJuan Blair.
Meanwhile, Fernandez on Tuesday gave no hope that his season-long shooting slump will end. He went 1 for 9 from the field and missed all six of his three-point attempts, making him 8 for his last 40 on three-pointers.
So a night that should have been celebrated Tuesday passed without much fanfare, save for the rare sight of Batum hissing and cussing.
Across the locker room, a somber Roy unsuccessfully tried to put it in perspective.
"Tough night," Roy said, looking down at the floor. "But hey, we're in the playoffs again."