After yet another first quarter basket by the Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy took the inbounds and dribbled up-court. The game-clock ticked under five seconds, and the Blazers leader failed to notice. He took his time and realized it too late, heaving a half-court prayer after the buzzer sounded. The Rose Garden crowd booed as Roy walked to the bench flailing his arms in disgust. As the game went to a commercial break at quarters’ end, announcer Mike Barrett said “we know one team showed up tonight”, and it wasn’t the Blazers.

In that first quarter, Portland shot 6-21 from the field while Memphis made 12 of their 20 attempts. The Blazers were down-right unenthusiastic; every possession that didn’t conclude with a jumper by shooting guard Martell Webster was sloppy. They committed bone-headed turnovers, their shot-selection was poor, they didn’t play even average defense, and they didn’t make any effort to get to the free-throw line. Because of their hideous play on both ends of the ball, Memphis finished the opening quarter on an 18-0 run. Eighteen straight!

With that enormous spurt, the Grizzlies, who came in 1-7 on the road, held a ten-point lead. Not only did their assortment of talented players–a group that includes former Blazer Zach Randolph–drain nearly every shot they took, they also played tremendous defense. Portland missed their final nine shots of the opening frame, partly because they were cold, but also because every shot was contested. Memphis’s stingy defense continued in the second, as did their hot-shooting offensively.

Portland tried to shake things up in the second period, bringing in Jerryd Bayless and Dante Cunningham for added aggression, but though they tried to spark their depressed team, their efforts didn’t translate to anything positive. It wasn’t their fault; Memphis was just having one of those nights where everything clicks.

Before their entrances, point guard Andre Miller made a layup with ten minutes remaining before intermission for the Blazers first points in more than eight minutes. They wouldn’t score for a while after that, as every attempt clanged off the rim while every Grizzlies shot swished through. Memphis scored the next ten points against a Blazers second unit that included Bayless and Cunningham, meaning they held a 25-point lead, 42-17. A jumper by seldom-used forward DeMarre Carroll gave them 31 points over a eleven minute span. Over that same span, Portland had two points–Miller’s lonely bucket.

Portland finished the second quarter on a 9-0 run capped off by a three-pointer by Webster. That 9-0 run dwindled the deficit to 21, though. At one point during the quarter, Barrett’s booth-mate Mike Rice responded to a basket by saying “It’s nice, but they only cut it to twenty.” Moments later, as they headed to commercial, Barrett noted that, with a dunk by Aldridge, their “shooting percentage is up to 31 percent.” Rice laughed. The Blazers were so bad, it was comedic.

In making a stop in Portland on his book tour, ESPN columnist Bill Simmons attended a Blazers game. He observed, “during a second quarter timeout” that “nobody else was in line for anything” as “I ran into the concourse to grab beers.” According to him, the hilarious Sports Guy, “there was no sign of human life other than the workers. Everyone else stayed in their seats. I’ve never seen anything like it.” As he went on, he said “I don’t know whether the Blazers have the most loyal, passionate, dutiful fans in the NBA, but at the very least, we can say nobody else tops them.”

Even in a 20-point game against Memphis, the seats were filled. As Bill Simmons put it: “Portland loves the Blazers the same way a single mother would love her only child.” This certainly was the case, even when well behind against the porous, yet inspired Grizzlies. With the fans on their side, the Blazers tried to make a comeback. Their baskets were celebrated by the sellout crowd, but though they were often answered in some way by the Grizzlies, the Blazers were awakened, showing significant signs of life offensively.

The concourse remained empty as Portland ended the third quarter on a 8-run, whittling the margin to fourteen. The final six points of that spurt was a pair of three-point plays, a three-pointer by Webster and a layup and free-throw by Miller; the Blazers had momentum.

The crowd could feel a monumental comeback on their hands, and the Blazers believed they could conceivably battle all the way back. To have their dream become reality, they needed defensive stops, but they couldn’t play effective defense, as Randolph haunted them with the same repertoire he possessed in his seven season with Portland. Still, although he and rookie center Hasheem Thabeet teamed up to score Memphis’s first fourteen points of the final period, the Blazers stuck within striking distance, and behind their cavalcade of stars, made one last push.

Webster hit a long two then a traditional three-pointer midway through the quarter, and the margin stood at twelve, 93-81. The clock ticked under four minutes when Roy drove for a layup to thin the deficit to ten, their closest since it was 25-15 late in the first quarter. A possession later, Roy drove on the left-baseline trying to find center Greg Oden underneath. Instead of finding Oden’s big hands, the ball was tipped by Grizzlies center Marc Gasol, and right to Aldridge. Upon receiving the carom, the forward stepped beyond the three-point line and canned only his second made three-pointer of the season, cutting the deficit to eight.

But it was too little too late for Portland, as Memphis had one last gasp in them. The Blazers kept scoring, but the Grizzlies had answers. Point guard Jamaal Tinsley and Randolph hit jumpers to ice the victory with a couple of minutes left, then Tinsley, who, like Randolph, had a superb game, made the free-throws down the stretch for a well-earned win.

Portland fought to the end, but their horrible first-half play was too much to overcome. Despite their efforts late, they deserved to lose, as an immensely talented Memphis club played their hearts out to deservedly collect their third win in five games.

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Game Notes:

Webster had a tremendous game, making shots when no one else could to ignite spurts. In all he made six three-pointers and had 22 points on 9-14 shooting.

Roy flirted with a triple-double. He didn’t shoot very well, but scored 26 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished 9 assists. After that oblivious mistake to end the first quarter, he did his best to lead his team back and make the final outcome respectable.

Aldridge provided a jolt, just as Webster and Roy did, but because of excellent defense played by Randolph (yes, Randolph actually played defense), he was held to 16 points on 7-16 shooting.

After going scoreless in the first quarter, Oden finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points to compliment 10 rebounds. Like Aldridge, he was held in check by both Thabeet and Gasol, unable to really get into a groove.

As for Memphis offensively, Randolph scored 21 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, numbers he constantly posted in his years with Portland.

Gasol had a ginormous game. He scored 19 points, snatched 15 rebounds, and dished 5 assists. He did most of his damage in the first half.

Tinsley, signed earlier this month because Allen Iverson jumped ship and surprisingly retired, was superb as their backup point guard. He scored 16 points and dished 5 assists, but more importantly, he helped restore order after Portland’s mini spurts with his leadership.

As a quirky side-note, this loss to the Grizzlies ended the Blazers 27-game win streak to teams starting with the letter ‘M.’

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