tlongII
05-07-2014, 08:47 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2014/05/san_antonio_spurs_flex_championship_muscle_in_game .html#incart_m-rpt-2
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2014/05/-75116d10e5f97557.jpg
Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) reacts as San Antonio goes on a big run.
SAN ANTONIO — With the first four words of his postgame interview, Damian Lillard succinctly summed up the difference between the Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“That’s a championship team,” Lillard said.
And the Blazers learned a thing or two about championship basketball.
The battle-tested, been-here, done-that Spurs steamrolled the upstart Blazers on Tuesday night, building a 29-point lead and cruising to a 116-92 victory before 18,581 at the AT&T Center.
With Tony Parker running around pick-and-rolls wreaking havoc all over the floor, Tim Duncan delivering another workmanlike performance and the Spurs’ bench scoring in bunches, it was a bloodbath from the beginning. And while a lopsided victory means no more than a one-point squeaker, after watching the Spurs systematically pick the Blazers apart, it was fair to wonder how this will affect their psyche moving forward.
This isn’t the first rodeo for the Spurs, who are playing in the postseason for the 17th consecutive season. But it’s foreign territory for the Blazers, who are competing in the second round for the first time in 14 years. And the discrepancy in that playoff pedigree was in full force from the opening jump, as the Spurs opened up leads of 8-0, 22-9 and 60-36 in the first half en route to a start-to-finish beatdown.
“They did what championship teams do,” LaMarcus Aldridge said. “They came out and set the tone early. They’ve been here. I think they definitely came and they let us know how it’s going to be.”
And nobody displayed that championship mettle more than Parker. The six-time All-Star was a wizard from start to finish, weaving in and out of the Blazers’ defense with ease as he piled up an impressive final line of 33 points and nine assists. He made 13 of 24 shots and only one came from beyond the three-point line as he bludgeoned the Blazers with midrange jumpers and drives to the basket.
Duncan finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard had 16 points and nine rebounds and the Spurs’ bench accumulated a whopping 50 points. But Parker’s command of the offense and killer instinct was the difference. As he whizzed around the court, navigating pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll, the Blazers' heads might as well have been spinning.
“He’s been doing that for a lot of years,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s nothing different.”
Added Blazers coach Terry Stotts: “He had a Tony Parker game.”
And the Blazers did not have a Blazers game. While Parker scored at will, the Spurs’ hounding, harassing defense intimidated and rattled the Blazers. They missed their first six shots and started just 3-for-20 from the field. By the end of the first quarter, the Blazers had scored just 16 points, shot 22 percent from the field and recorded more turnovers (three) than assists (zero).
After the opening quarter in Game 1 against the Houston Rockets in the first round, Aldridge had 12 points and eight rebounds. Tuesday night, the Blazers had 16 points and 10 rebounds as a team after the first, and things didn’t get much better. By the time the final horn mercifully sounded, the Blazers had recorded just nine assists -- the fewest in a playoff game in franchise history -- made just four three-pointers — their second-fewest of the season — shot just 38 percent from the field and coughed up 20 turnovers. They didn’t make their first three until Will Barton hit one early in the fourth quarter as the Spurs shut down their long-range shooting and contained one of the NBA’s best and most fun-to-watch offenses.
Aldridge finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds, but most of the damage came with the game well out of hand and virtually no one else offered any help. Lillard finished with 17 points, but made just two of his first eight shots and finished with six turnovers. Nicolas Batum (seven points, 3 of 12 shooting) and Wesley Matthews (eight points, 2 of 6 shooting) were no-shows and the Blazers’ bench was unproductive.
Are the Spurs beatable if they play as well as they did Tuesday night?
“If we don’t respond, no — no,” Batum said. “If we play the way we play tonight, no, we can’t beat them. So we’ve got to match their intensity. We’ve got to be hungrier than that and more aggressive. If not, it’s going to be a quick series.”
All the energy and excitement and momentum generated by Lillard’s memorable game-winner over the Rockets evaporated Tuesday night. The Blazers have responded all season when they’ve seemingly been most vulnerable. But they’ve never faced such a staggering dilemma. From the Spurs’ perspective, this is merely a second-round game on the road to the NBA Finals. For the Blazers, this prompts a bevy of questions.
Was it merely an ambush by a battle-tested, ridiculously-hot team? Was it a one-game mirage? Or was it a championship performance by a team destined to play for one?
“They knew the magnitude of the game,” Matthews said. “I think we knew the magnitude of the game, but we haven’t been here. We’re not going to play that experience card, we’re not going to use any scapegoat or crutch. We didn’t come out with what we needed to in the first half and they did. And we can’t let that happen (again).”
"We’re going to lay it all out there in Game 2."
http://imgick.oregonlive.com/home/olive-media/pgmain/img/oregonian/photo/2014/05/-75116d10e5f97557.jpg
Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) reacts as San Antonio goes on a big run.
SAN ANTONIO — With the first four words of his postgame interview, Damian Lillard succinctly summed up the difference between the Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“That’s a championship team,” Lillard said.
And the Blazers learned a thing or two about championship basketball.
The battle-tested, been-here, done-that Spurs steamrolled the upstart Blazers on Tuesday night, building a 29-point lead and cruising to a 116-92 victory before 18,581 at the AT&T Center.
With Tony Parker running around pick-and-rolls wreaking havoc all over the floor, Tim Duncan delivering another workmanlike performance and the Spurs’ bench scoring in bunches, it was a bloodbath from the beginning. And while a lopsided victory means no more than a one-point squeaker, after watching the Spurs systematically pick the Blazers apart, it was fair to wonder how this will affect their psyche moving forward.
This isn’t the first rodeo for the Spurs, who are playing in the postseason for the 17th consecutive season. But it’s foreign territory for the Blazers, who are competing in the second round for the first time in 14 years. And the discrepancy in that playoff pedigree was in full force from the opening jump, as the Spurs opened up leads of 8-0, 22-9 and 60-36 in the first half en route to a start-to-finish beatdown.
“They did what championship teams do,” LaMarcus Aldridge said. “They came out and set the tone early. They’ve been here. I think they definitely came and they let us know how it’s going to be.”
And nobody displayed that championship mettle more than Parker. The six-time All-Star was a wizard from start to finish, weaving in and out of the Blazers’ defense with ease as he piled up an impressive final line of 33 points and nine assists. He made 13 of 24 shots and only one came from beyond the three-point line as he bludgeoned the Blazers with midrange jumpers and drives to the basket.
Duncan finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, Kawhi Leonard had 16 points and nine rebounds and the Spurs’ bench accumulated a whopping 50 points. But Parker’s command of the offense and killer instinct was the difference. As he whizzed around the court, navigating pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll, the Blazers' heads might as well have been spinning.
“He’s been doing that for a lot of years,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s nothing different.”
Added Blazers coach Terry Stotts: “He had a Tony Parker game.”
And the Blazers did not have a Blazers game. While Parker scored at will, the Spurs’ hounding, harassing defense intimidated and rattled the Blazers. They missed their first six shots and started just 3-for-20 from the field. By the end of the first quarter, the Blazers had scored just 16 points, shot 22 percent from the field and recorded more turnovers (three) than assists (zero).
After the opening quarter in Game 1 against the Houston Rockets in the first round, Aldridge had 12 points and eight rebounds. Tuesday night, the Blazers had 16 points and 10 rebounds as a team after the first, and things didn’t get much better. By the time the final horn mercifully sounded, the Blazers had recorded just nine assists -- the fewest in a playoff game in franchise history -- made just four three-pointers — their second-fewest of the season — shot just 38 percent from the field and coughed up 20 turnovers. They didn’t make their first three until Will Barton hit one early in the fourth quarter as the Spurs shut down their long-range shooting and contained one of the NBA’s best and most fun-to-watch offenses.
Aldridge finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds, but most of the damage came with the game well out of hand and virtually no one else offered any help. Lillard finished with 17 points, but made just two of his first eight shots and finished with six turnovers. Nicolas Batum (seven points, 3 of 12 shooting) and Wesley Matthews (eight points, 2 of 6 shooting) were no-shows and the Blazers’ bench was unproductive.
Are the Spurs beatable if they play as well as they did Tuesday night?
“If we don’t respond, no — no,” Batum said. “If we play the way we play tonight, no, we can’t beat them. So we’ve got to match their intensity. We’ve got to be hungrier than that and more aggressive. If not, it’s going to be a quick series.”
All the energy and excitement and momentum generated by Lillard’s memorable game-winner over the Rockets evaporated Tuesday night. The Blazers have responded all season when they’ve seemingly been most vulnerable. But they’ve never faced such a staggering dilemma. From the Spurs’ perspective, this is merely a second-round game on the road to the NBA Finals. For the Blazers, this prompts a bevy of questions.
Was it merely an ambush by a battle-tested, ridiculously-hot team? Was it a one-game mirage? Or was it a championship performance by a team destined to play for one?
“They knew the magnitude of the game,” Matthews said. “I think we knew the magnitude of the game, but we haven’t been here. We’re not going to play that experience card, we’re not going to use any scapegoat or crutch. We didn’t come out with what we needed to in the first half and they did. And we can’t let that happen (again).”
"We’re going to lay it all out there in Game 2."