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Portland Trailblazers
The Portland Trail Blazers starting five walked onto the court for the opening tip against the San Antonio Spurs debuting new uniforms that read “Rip City” across the chest commemorating the 40th year of the franchise. These uniforms, which were white with both a black and red stripe, weren’t the only thing the Blazers were debuting. Their lineup had one major tweak. Andre Miller was in the starting lineup instead of shooting guard Martell Webster. Point guard Steve Blake remained, surprisingly enough, which meant the team flaunted two point guards and Brandon Roy. It was odd and completely experimental, but head coach Nate McMillan felt his team needed a slight makeover. His decision paid off.
Portland was aggressive from the onset, playing more up-tempo. Their ball movement was impeccable, as was their spacing. The first quarter fun began with Miller running in transition and finding Blake, who hesitated before nailing a three-pointer from the right wing.
Undersized defensively, the Blazers played zone on their first defensive possession, and continued to while Miller, Blake, and Roy remained on the court together. Even though their frantic scrambling to defend the Spurs shooters didn’t appear to be a recipe for success, the strategy worked.
After missing a three-pointer with the shot-clock at twenty on their second possession, Roy canned a three, and then drove in for a layup. Portland was out to a 8-0 lead, and looked like a team made to run ‘n gun. Center Greg Oden matched up against a ten-time member of the All-Defensive team and future Hall of Famer, Tim Duncan, sized him up and hit a seldom seen 10-footer. The Blazers were pulling out all the stops. Suddenly they had a new style, and suddenly, Oden decided to show off a mid-range game announcer Mike Rice said was impressive in practice.
This new style had its drawbacks. At times, they were too aggressive, which led to a few overzealous turnovers, and too anxious, which led to some rushed and ill-advised shots. But in between their mistakes was incredible basketball. Miller, who said prior to the season that he could succeed running either a slow-tempo or fast-paced offense, picked Manu Ginobili’s pocket, lobbed it downcourt, and found power forward LaMarcus Aldridge for a driving dunk.
The Blazers were getting nothing but good looks, and for the most part took advantage. Their offense fed off their defense, as with the Miller-Aldridge exchange. They didn’t force many turnovers in the opening quarter, but they were hounding the Spurs everywhere they went. Their length and strength forced San Antonio into taking wild shots, and gave Portland a substantial amount of long rebounds, setting up their new-found style perfectly.
McMillan said prior to the game in an interview with announcer Mike Barrett that third-string point guard Jerryd Bayless would see his first action of the season. Bayless’s game is made for the Blazers new pace. He’s a very explosive guard who loves to attack anytime the ball is in his hands. McMillan wants his players to attack, so when Bayless entered the game at the 1:50 mark of the first quarter, the second year guard did after a jumper by Travis Outlaw increased their lead to ten, 22-12. He drove on the right side, had thoughts of dunking over Ginobili, but then decided just to create contact. He barrelled into Ginobili and drew the foul, possessing the tenacity many Blazers had in the first frame. He made two free-throws for his first points of the season.
After committing a turnover and a foul, Bayless’s fearless mentality resurfaced. He exploded down the right side once again. Richard Jefferson tried to body him the whole way, but he was too quick. Bayless tripped as he closed in on the basket, took the slightest bit of contact from Jefferson, and made a dazzling off-balance layup while falling out of bounds. He made the free-throw, which set up one of the better sequences for Portland so far this season.
With five seconds remaining and ahead by thirteen, Outlaw blocked a layup attempt by San Antonio point guard George Hill. Bayless came up with the loose ball and fired it to guard Rudy Fernandez, who instead of taking it to the rim, stopped beyond the three-point line. The Spaniard set a Blazers rookie record for most three-pointers made last season with 159, but this attempt clanged high off the rim. At that moment, Webster flew in and slammed home the rebound as the clock hit zero. The Rose Garden erupted as the entire Blazers team celebrated near the bench. It was a fitting exclamation point to a magnificently successful quarter that featured balanced scoring and 29 points, their second-highest quarter total of the season.
Webster’s dunk capped off a 13-2 run by Portland, and everything was going along swimmingly until they lost their swagger. The team that ingited the crowd in the first quarter didn’t make much of an appearance in the next three frames. They became tentative, didn’t move the ball around efficiently, and spaced terribly. Sure they had their moments, but the team took an entirely different identity. Even when the grabbed a 66-49 lead at the four minute mark of the third period, it was clear they would have a devil of a time holding off San Antonio.
The basket that gave the Blazers that seventeen-point advantage was a dunk by Roy from Blake. It was only their seventh assist of the game, an astonishingly low number for predominately using a three-guard lineup. Their eighth assist came on the next possession, when Fernandez fed Aldridge, but in between these two positive plays was a pair of easy baskets by the Spurs. Portland’s ball movement was non-existent after that, and the lack of spacing on defense that allowed those wide-open jumpers by Antonio McDyess and Ginobili continued.
Without their leader, point guard Tony Parker, who went down in the second quarter with a ankle injury, the Spurs played inspired basketball. They went on a 9-2 run to conclude the third, cutting the deficit to ten. Portland took to standing around on defense, and settled for outside, low-percentage jumpers on offense, which allowed San Antonio to cut even further into their lead.
Two bone-headed turnovers by the Blazers resulted in two easy baskets for the Spurs, which made it a seven-point game. Groans reigned through the Rose Garden, and there was even a scattering of boos. They had reason to be disappointed, and were able to continue displaying their satisfaction. At the seven-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Portland’s bench was shooting just 7-23 for the game, but it was a varation on their starting lineup that kept giving San Antonio hope. Fighting the shot-clock, Miller, an awful three-point shooter, was forced to throw up two bricks from 30-feet on back-to-back possessions. In between the two misses, Ginobili hit two free-throws, and after, he hit two more. Suddenly it was a three-point game.
Then, Portland showed some life. Roy hit a jumper with a little over five minutes remaining for just the third field goal by the team in the quarter, and then Oden backed down Duncan for a hard-earned layup. The Spurs followed with five straight points, though, and the lead was once again three. Then, Blake made the decisive play of the game, draining a three-pointer from the left wing with two and a half minutes remaining. From that point on, Portland had an answer for every score by San Antonio, maintaining a lead no lower than five. Outlaw iced the victory with a tough running jumper, making it a seven-point game with a minute and a half to go.
For the final three quarters, it wasn’t pretty for the Blazers. They shot a measly 43 percent for the game and had only 11 assists, but they managed to hold off the Spurs, winning 96-84. Portland can’t take much positive from their play over the last three frames, but they can hang their hat on that incredible first quarter, a quarter that showed a new flavor of Blazers basketball. A new style that, once perfected and sustained, can make a young team ready to take the next step extremely dangerous.
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