tlongII
04-28-2014, 08:28 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/04/quick_trail_blazers_dramatic_halftime_locker_room. html#incart_big-photo
While you were muttering and fretting at halftime of Sunday’s Game 4 about the Trail Blazers’ 10-point deficit, the team was inside its locker room yelling. Shouting.
“Dramatic,’’ is how LaMarcus Aldridge described the scene.
Damian Lillard said all the commotion wasn’t out of anger or dissension, but rather a call to arms.
“It was more of a challenge,’’ Lillard said.
At the center of the challenge was veteran guard Mo Williams.
“Mo is always talking, for one, but he never screams,’’ Aldridge said. “Mo was just trying to light a fire under everybody. He was telling us that we weren’t competing at the highest level. That he had seen everybody on the team – including himself – compete better than what we did in the first half. And that we all have to seize the moment of being at home and being up 2-1 and that we weren’t playing our basketball.
“I think everyone took on that challenge after that.’’
Led by Williams, who had three enormous plays down the stretch, the Blazers came back from as many as 11 points down in the second half to force overtime, when the Blazers eventually won 123-120 to take a 3-games-to-1 stranglehold on this best-of-seven series with Houston.
Shortly after the game, in that same locker room where players were shouting, and challenging one another, they stood side-by-side in front of the television. It was Aldridge, Lillard, Thomas Robinson and Will Barton, towels wrapped around their waist, watching highlights of the crazy game that left us all sweaty enough that we too needed a shower.
Later, a dressed Robin Lopez joined the group, and Williams and assistant coach Jay Triano rounded out the semi-circle.
They were brothers in arms, gathering to tell war stories of how they escaped what looked like their certain demise, and all closer for it.
“It was a tough win, so we all wanted to enjoy seeing what we had to go through to get that win,’’ Lillard said. “And see what other people saw, so it was cool.’’
I told him it reminded me of brothers watching family videos.
“To be a part of it was fun, and to be able to stand there with L.A. and be able to tell him, ‘that was a good roll there’ and him say ‘that was a good pass’ … so to be able to sit there and be able to talk about what made us successful, together, was special.’’
I bring these scenes up, because if it isn’t obvious by now, “special” seems to be a pretty apt word for this group.
On Saturday, Johnny Davis, one of the starting guards on the Blazers’ 1977 title team and now an assistant coach with the Lakers, said he sees something in this Blazers team that reminds him of the group that featured Walton, Lucas and Bobby Gross.
“I think they have a legitimate chance at doing something special,’’ Davis said. “They have a lot of similarities to our championship team. But they need a bit of luck, like we did along our journey. (Lionel) Hollins hit a shot late against Chicago, then I remember Lucas hitting a shot against Denver. Those are the things that have to take place.’’
The next day, Sunday in Game 4, it happened. And it was Williams, the man who instigated the about-face in the turbulent halftime locker room.
And it happened with what could be considered a dose of luck mixed in with some hard-nosed grit and some remarkable coolness.
Trailing 104-102 with under a minute left, Nicolas Batum launched a three that was rebounded by Houston’s Jeremy Lin, who started dribbling up court in front of the Houston bench. Unbeknown to Lin, Williams was looping behind him quickly, and before Lin noticed, Williams tapped the ball away, saving the ball inbounds as he flew into the Rockets bench.
The ball went to Wesley Matthews in the key, but he missed a short shot with 26 seconds left. The rebound was a mad scramble along the baseline. Matthews was on the ground, probably biting ankles. Lillard was entangled with bodies, scrapping and clawing.
Eventually, Lillard came out with it and swung the ball to Batum, who made the extra pass to Williams on the arch by the Houston bench. The biggest shot of the season went in.
As the semi-circle inside the locker room watched the TNT highlights, Aldridge bellowed.
“I was so nervous on that play,’’ Aldridge told his teammates. “I was like, ‘What are we doing? What are we doing?’ ’’
Yes, like Davis said, the Blazers found their luck. But more importantly, they also found more reinforcement in a season-long example of team.
As people wanted to give credit to Matthews for his series-long defense on James Harden, Matthews was quick to point out the Blazers “play five-guy defense.”
“It’s not just me,’’ Matthews said. “My bigs are calling screens, the other wings are in the there trying to make things tough on him.’’
And Lillard said this: “Our whole team, we look to each other. We are not about one or two people, it’s about our group.’’
In other words, this is not a team with players looking for the spotlight. But it is a team willing to recognize the little things each player does to help make the machine work.
That’s part of what Davis recognized as he watched the Lakers play the Blazers three times this season, as well as other games while scouting the team. It’s why he said he sees similarities between how Jack Ramsay led the 1977 team and how Terry Stotts is coaching this team.
“The thing about Jack was he was ahead of his time with the concept that you can have great individual players on your team, but if that talent is not connected, you don’t have a chance,’’ Davis said. “Jack developed that within us, nurtured it within us starting in training camp and never wavered from that.
“It was always about the team, not the individual,’’ Davis said. “As great as players as Walton and Lucas were, no one was bigger than the team. No one. And that was his message to us: If we do it together, we can get it done.’’
Today, as Ramsay is in the final round of his 15-year fight with cancer, his message to that title team was eerily echoed by a 23-year-old sensation.
“Our strength,’’ Lillard said, “is in our unity. And that showed tonight.’’
While you were muttering and fretting at halftime of Sunday’s Game 4 about the Trail Blazers’ 10-point deficit, the team was inside its locker room yelling. Shouting.
“Dramatic,’’ is how LaMarcus Aldridge described the scene.
Damian Lillard said all the commotion wasn’t out of anger or dissension, but rather a call to arms.
“It was more of a challenge,’’ Lillard said.
At the center of the challenge was veteran guard Mo Williams.
“Mo is always talking, for one, but he never screams,’’ Aldridge said. “Mo was just trying to light a fire under everybody. He was telling us that we weren’t competing at the highest level. That he had seen everybody on the team – including himself – compete better than what we did in the first half. And that we all have to seize the moment of being at home and being up 2-1 and that we weren’t playing our basketball.
“I think everyone took on that challenge after that.’’
Led by Williams, who had three enormous plays down the stretch, the Blazers came back from as many as 11 points down in the second half to force overtime, when the Blazers eventually won 123-120 to take a 3-games-to-1 stranglehold on this best-of-seven series with Houston.
Shortly after the game, in that same locker room where players were shouting, and challenging one another, they stood side-by-side in front of the television. It was Aldridge, Lillard, Thomas Robinson and Will Barton, towels wrapped around their waist, watching highlights of the crazy game that left us all sweaty enough that we too needed a shower.
Later, a dressed Robin Lopez joined the group, and Williams and assistant coach Jay Triano rounded out the semi-circle.
They were brothers in arms, gathering to tell war stories of how they escaped what looked like their certain demise, and all closer for it.
“It was a tough win, so we all wanted to enjoy seeing what we had to go through to get that win,’’ Lillard said. “And see what other people saw, so it was cool.’’
I told him it reminded me of brothers watching family videos.
“To be a part of it was fun, and to be able to stand there with L.A. and be able to tell him, ‘that was a good roll there’ and him say ‘that was a good pass’ … so to be able to sit there and be able to talk about what made us successful, together, was special.’’
I bring these scenes up, because if it isn’t obvious by now, “special” seems to be a pretty apt word for this group.
On Saturday, Johnny Davis, one of the starting guards on the Blazers’ 1977 title team and now an assistant coach with the Lakers, said he sees something in this Blazers team that reminds him of the group that featured Walton, Lucas and Bobby Gross.
“I think they have a legitimate chance at doing something special,’’ Davis said. “They have a lot of similarities to our championship team. But they need a bit of luck, like we did along our journey. (Lionel) Hollins hit a shot late against Chicago, then I remember Lucas hitting a shot against Denver. Those are the things that have to take place.’’
The next day, Sunday in Game 4, it happened. And it was Williams, the man who instigated the about-face in the turbulent halftime locker room.
And it happened with what could be considered a dose of luck mixed in with some hard-nosed grit and some remarkable coolness.
Trailing 104-102 with under a minute left, Nicolas Batum launched a three that was rebounded by Houston’s Jeremy Lin, who started dribbling up court in front of the Houston bench. Unbeknown to Lin, Williams was looping behind him quickly, and before Lin noticed, Williams tapped the ball away, saving the ball inbounds as he flew into the Rockets bench.
The ball went to Wesley Matthews in the key, but he missed a short shot with 26 seconds left. The rebound was a mad scramble along the baseline. Matthews was on the ground, probably biting ankles. Lillard was entangled with bodies, scrapping and clawing.
Eventually, Lillard came out with it and swung the ball to Batum, who made the extra pass to Williams on the arch by the Houston bench. The biggest shot of the season went in.
As the semi-circle inside the locker room watched the TNT highlights, Aldridge bellowed.
“I was so nervous on that play,’’ Aldridge told his teammates. “I was like, ‘What are we doing? What are we doing?’ ’’
Yes, like Davis said, the Blazers found their luck. But more importantly, they also found more reinforcement in a season-long example of team.
As people wanted to give credit to Matthews for his series-long defense on James Harden, Matthews was quick to point out the Blazers “play five-guy defense.”
“It’s not just me,’’ Matthews said. “My bigs are calling screens, the other wings are in the there trying to make things tough on him.’’
And Lillard said this: “Our whole team, we look to each other. We are not about one or two people, it’s about our group.’’
In other words, this is not a team with players looking for the spotlight. But it is a team willing to recognize the little things each player does to help make the machine work.
That’s part of what Davis recognized as he watched the Lakers play the Blazers three times this season, as well as other games while scouting the team. It’s why he said he sees similarities between how Jack Ramsay led the 1977 team and how Terry Stotts is coaching this team.
“The thing about Jack was he was ahead of his time with the concept that you can have great individual players on your team, but if that talent is not connected, you don’t have a chance,’’ Davis said. “Jack developed that within us, nurtured it within us starting in training camp and never wavered from that.
“It was always about the team, not the individual,’’ Davis said. “As great as players as Walton and Lucas were, no one was bigger than the team. No one. And that was his message to us: If we do it together, we can get it done.’’
Today, as Ramsay is in the final round of his 15-year fight with cancer, his message to that title team was eerily echoed by a 23-year-old sensation.
“Our strength,’’ Lillard said, “is in our unity. And that showed tonight.’’