tlongII
04-21-2014, 09:21 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/04/trail_blazers_122_rockets_120_ot_john_canzano_on_g .html
HOUSTON — I've never before witnessed a person skipping along on Easter Sunday in a pair of shorts and sneakers, smiling, minding his business, and wished someone would knock him out of his shoes.
That was before I saw Rockets guard Patrick Beverley skip.
Portland beat Houston 122-120 in overtime. It was a big, big, big victory in a tough, tough, tough setting. And if you tuned in for a skipping contest, it delivered. It was the Blazers who skipped last, and loudest, dancing down the arena hallway into their locker room, clapping and bouncing with a victory wrung out of what looked like a sure defeat.
The Blazers lead the best-of-seven playoff series 1-0. Say that out loud today. Portland, which looked lost at times and had its best player foul out in overtime, is king of this hot-mess series. It leads the playoff series and stole home court from Houston. But bigger yet is the one truth that we learned on Sunday — this series is going to be a circus.
The kind that makes you tune in on off days, just to see what the players are thinking. The kind that makes you watch every possession. The kind that makes you believe, down by double digits late, that nothing is impossible.
All the skipping aside, I've never believed that hacking a player intentionally and turning an NBA game into a free-throw shooting contest could be entertaining. Then, I saw the Blazers successfully force Houston center Dwight Howard to shoot free throws in the closing minutes.
Also, I'll bet most Trail Blazers fans didn't know before Sunday that the name "Bennett Salvatore" could still be used as a curse phrase. He's the NBA official who missed the elbow that Howard threw into the midsection of Portland center Robin Lopez — and as an encore, Salvatore inexplicably lashed Lopez with his officiating whistle.
There will be no casual onlookers in this series. No innocent bystanders. This series is going to divide two NBA cities, and make fans nationally who tune in pull for one side, or the other. No fence sitting. Ask your spouse now, "Who ya got?" because this going be uncomfortable in a week. And this has nothing to do with 2009, where the Rockets bounced the Blazers. This is about here and now.
The Blazers and Rockets might be the best series in the playoffs. They're fairly evenly matched. And they've got compelling storylines. Also, they're like a couple of old neighborhood enemies. They don't like each other — good. That makes great fun for the rest of us.
Beverley is either the basketball equivalent of a straitjacket. A genius on the defensive end and a mental master, who is even a bigger underdog story than Damian Lillard. Or he's a punk who needs to get his.
It was suggested via social media by more than one furious Blazers fan who watched Beverley dog the Blazers that the organization might have finally found a playoff use for center Meyers Leonard. Coach Terry Stotts might send Leonard in like one of those hockey goons, looking to perform a code red on Beverley by the time this series ends.
I was going to predict that it would take two games for Portland and Houston to find serious disagreement. But it took just more than two quarters. It got chippy. It got physical. The teams were jawing. Technical fouls were whistled. Fingers were pointed. And I don't believe Portland has ever been happier than it was in extracting a victory from a pile of wreckage the way it did against Houston in Game 1.
When Lillard took a shot to his leg in the second half, he went to the bench limping. Beverley shadowed him all the way there, you know, just in case. I couldn't take my eyes off Leonard on the bench. You know, just in case.
LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast. The Blazers scrapped. At times, Portland's postseason looked suspiciously like its regular season, too reliant on outside shooting and with almost nothing in the way of production coming from the bench players. But in the end, the Blazers pulled it off and a 1-0 lead on paper looks as if they were perfect.
"Every guy fought, every guy took it personal. That was my goal in pregame, I wanted every guy to take their matchup personal," Aldridge said.
Aldridge had 46 points. Anyone else think a younger Aldridge, say circa 2009, would have carried the Blazers the way he did on Sunday?
When Aldridge fouled out he turned to Lillard, playing in his first playoff game and said, "take it over." Lillard did.
The hope now is that Portland plays an even better Game 2, and carries a 2-0 lead back to the Moda Center. There's hope, too, that by withstanding the initial pesterfest that Lillard somehow has the upper hand on Beverley, who left the court under the shoulders of two Rockets assistants. He has a sprained right knee, MRI scheduled for Monday. There's hope, too, that Howard's confidence is shaken after being pulled late in regulation because he couldn't be trusted to make a free throw.
The Blazers are in control of this playoff series. It could have been Beverley sitting in that spot. It could have been Howard or James Harden. But in the end, Portland fought and won.
Makes you think about skipping, doesn't it?
HOUSTON — I've never before witnessed a person skipping along on Easter Sunday in a pair of shorts and sneakers, smiling, minding his business, and wished someone would knock him out of his shoes.
That was before I saw Rockets guard Patrick Beverley skip.
Portland beat Houston 122-120 in overtime. It was a big, big, big victory in a tough, tough, tough setting. And if you tuned in for a skipping contest, it delivered. It was the Blazers who skipped last, and loudest, dancing down the arena hallway into their locker room, clapping and bouncing with a victory wrung out of what looked like a sure defeat.
The Blazers lead the best-of-seven playoff series 1-0. Say that out loud today. Portland, which looked lost at times and had its best player foul out in overtime, is king of this hot-mess series. It leads the playoff series and stole home court from Houston. But bigger yet is the one truth that we learned on Sunday — this series is going to be a circus.
The kind that makes you tune in on off days, just to see what the players are thinking. The kind that makes you watch every possession. The kind that makes you believe, down by double digits late, that nothing is impossible.
All the skipping aside, I've never believed that hacking a player intentionally and turning an NBA game into a free-throw shooting contest could be entertaining. Then, I saw the Blazers successfully force Houston center Dwight Howard to shoot free throws in the closing minutes.
Also, I'll bet most Trail Blazers fans didn't know before Sunday that the name "Bennett Salvatore" could still be used as a curse phrase. He's the NBA official who missed the elbow that Howard threw into the midsection of Portland center Robin Lopez — and as an encore, Salvatore inexplicably lashed Lopez with his officiating whistle.
There will be no casual onlookers in this series. No innocent bystanders. This series is going to divide two NBA cities, and make fans nationally who tune in pull for one side, or the other. No fence sitting. Ask your spouse now, "Who ya got?" because this going be uncomfortable in a week. And this has nothing to do with 2009, where the Rockets bounced the Blazers. This is about here and now.
The Blazers and Rockets might be the best series in the playoffs. They're fairly evenly matched. And they've got compelling storylines. Also, they're like a couple of old neighborhood enemies. They don't like each other — good. That makes great fun for the rest of us.
Beverley is either the basketball equivalent of a straitjacket. A genius on the defensive end and a mental master, who is even a bigger underdog story than Damian Lillard. Or he's a punk who needs to get his.
It was suggested via social media by more than one furious Blazers fan who watched Beverley dog the Blazers that the organization might have finally found a playoff use for center Meyers Leonard. Coach Terry Stotts might send Leonard in like one of those hockey goons, looking to perform a code red on Beverley by the time this series ends.
I was going to predict that it would take two games for Portland and Houston to find serious disagreement. But it took just more than two quarters. It got chippy. It got physical. The teams were jawing. Technical fouls were whistled. Fingers were pointed. And I don't believe Portland has ever been happier than it was in extracting a victory from a pile of wreckage the way it did against Houston in Game 1.
When Lillard took a shot to his leg in the second half, he went to the bench limping. Beverley shadowed him all the way there, you know, just in case. I couldn't take my eyes off Leonard on the bench. You know, just in case.
LaMarcus Aldridge was a beast. The Blazers scrapped. At times, Portland's postseason looked suspiciously like its regular season, too reliant on outside shooting and with almost nothing in the way of production coming from the bench players. But in the end, the Blazers pulled it off and a 1-0 lead on paper looks as if they were perfect.
"Every guy fought, every guy took it personal. That was my goal in pregame, I wanted every guy to take their matchup personal," Aldridge said.
Aldridge had 46 points. Anyone else think a younger Aldridge, say circa 2009, would have carried the Blazers the way he did on Sunday?
When Aldridge fouled out he turned to Lillard, playing in his first playoff game and said, "take it over." Lillard did.
The hope now is that Portland plays an even better Game 2, and carries a 2-0 lead back to the Moda Center. There's hope, too, that by withstanding the initial pesterfest that Lillard somehow has the upper hand on Beverley, who left the court under the shoulders of two Rockets assistants. He has a sprained right knee, MRI scheduled for Monday. There's hope, too, that Howard's confidence is shaken after being pulled late in regulation because he couldn't be trusted to make a free throw.
The Blazers are in control of this playoff series. It could have been Beverley sitting in that spot. It could have been Howard or James Harden. But in the end, Portland fought and won.
Makes you think about skipping, doesn't it?