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Portland Trailblazers
With three and a half minutes left in the first half against the Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden was taken out by head coach Nate McMillan. He had picked up two fouls in the first three minutes if the contest, and still had two as he walked to the bench. In that first half, he had four points and five rebounds, including three offensive. He was a factor, and could have helped the Blazers dig into Miami’s lead, but McMillan played conservatively.
The head coach, who has been criticized of late (and rightfully so) took out Oden late in the first half against the Utah Jazz in their previous game. After his exit, Utah finished the period on a 7-0 run to nab a fifteen point lead at intermission. Against Utah, he replaced Oden with Joel Przybilla, a defensive stalwart himself. Against Miami, however, he replaced Oden with 6′9″ Dante Cunningham, who started in place of the injured LaMarcus Aldridge. This transformed a big and intimidating lineup into a weak, small one, and the Heat feasted on their lack of size.
Miami’s lead was four when Oden left. That margin increased to ten at halftime. Not only was the closing sequence of the first half similar to that in Utah, but the game as a whole resembled that debacle in Salt Lake City.
Once again, McMillan’s paranoia and lack of trust in his big center hurt the Blazers considerably, but it wasn’t only his decision that hurt the team. The five players still had to play, something they failed to do. Portland scored 28 points in the opening quarter, backed by Brandon Roy’s 14 points and Juwan Howard’s 6 off the bench. Roy struggled to produce in the second quarter, and though Howard kept on scoring, the Blazers couldn’t ride on the back of the “old man”, as announcer Mike Barrett referred to the seasoned 36-year old as. Oden blocked a few shots in the second quarter, he and his teammates hustled for loose balls, and fought for offensive rebounds, but their effort–effort they were lacking against Memphis and Utah–rarely translated into positives.
When they had something going, McMillan’s decision took place, and then, considering their tallest player was Cunningham, their defense weakened, surrendering any momentum they may have had. To begin the third period, their lineup actually featured a center, and it was Oden. He made a significant impact, grabbing rebounds, affecting shots, and making a few tip-ins. Over the first five minutes of the quarter, Portland had five field goals, the final coming on a put-back slam by Oden off a Roy miss. Miami’s lead was eight, the Rose Garden crowd was on their feet, and Oden was clapping his hands. The Blazers were alive, but their momentum was squashed yet again, though their effort and heart remained.
Out of a timeout that was called by the Heat with just over seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Oden missed a chippy around the rim, grabbed the rebound, missed the tip, grabbed a second rebound, and was fouled. He made both free-throws, cutting the margin down to eight again. The Blazers fed off this aggressiveness around the rim, and reached the lineup throughout the remainder of the period. The problem was, they weren’t making any field goals–only free-throws–and couldn’t stop the Heat from scoring. They only had one basket that wasn’t from the charity stripe over the final seven minutes of the period. One–a jumper by Howard at the 2:45 mark. Over that span, Portland was 1-8 from the field and 8-12 from the free-throw line. Over that span, Miami scored 18 points on 8 field goals, increasing their lead to sixteen entering the fourth.
Througout the first half, the fans booed bad calls made by the referees. In the second half, especially when the team walked to the bench at the conclusion of the third, they booed their team. They had reason to. Portland, as previously stated, was aggressive on the boards and hustled after loose balls, but this was their effort in a nutshell. They didn’t actually attack offensively. Instead, they played a lot of one-on-one basketball, which translated to a confusing offensive scheme; a lot of standing around, frantic ball movement, and then a shot that McMillan certainly wouldn’t have drawn up.
The lead was sixteen for a reason. They shot 6-22 from the field in the quarter and allowed the Heat to do whatever they pleased. For the third straight game, Portland stunk.
At the 7:30 mark of the fourth quarter, with the Blazers behind by fifteen having scored only two points in the period, Roy zipped a pass to Howard, who was streaking downcourt. The forward leaped as he reached the rim, reared back, and missed the dunk. Miami grabbed the rebound and the crowd groaned. The Heat scored on the ensuing possession. This sequence summed up the Blazers night.
The Rose Garden that was packed at the start began to slowly lose patrons. A few empty seats turned into clumps of red, lonely chairs. And this was with half of the fourth quarter remaining. Portland was so hopeless that their fans had lost hope. Three games ago, they would be riling up the troops, motivating the five on the floor to make one defining push. There was no such cheer; only a few thousand clapped after each basket. Why were they so unenthusiastic? Because they knew Miami would score on the other end. Portland traded baskets, something teams absolutely cannot afford to do when trailing by a substantial margin.
They cut the deficit to eleven on a three-pointer by Steve Blake with a little over four minutes left, and then, after Oden blocked Michael Beasley at the rim, trimmed the margin to single digits on a driving layup by Miller. But then, fittingly, Miami answered. Former Blazer Jermaine O’Neal hit a wide-open 17-footer and, after a jumper by Roy, fed explosive guard Dwayne Wade for a dunk. Then, after two free-throws by Miller and turnovers by each team, O’Neal iced the victory with another uncovered jumper.
Just like against Utah, the Blazers had their fair share of droughts, played inconsistent defense, ran an overall poor offensive, and were doomed by a coaching decision that involved the words “Oden” and “at the end of the first half, trailing.” Just like against Utah, and against Memphis as a matter of fact, Portland was defeated rather easily.
This team has the pieces to win. They just haven’t figured out where they fit in the puzzle. They need to, as their a solution to every problem. It’s only three games in a season of 82, but the Blazers are faced with a big problem. Now, they have three days off. Hopefully they work the kinks out in that time frame, because if they don’t, it will be dejá vu all over again.
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Game Notes:
The Blazers allowed Memphis to shoot 54 percent from the field, Utah 61 percent, and Miami 53 percent. This is cause for concern, considering the Blazers, even after the Utah game, ranked second in the NBA by allowing opponents to shoot 43 percent on offense. They’ve forgotten how to play defense.
Staying on this topic, Miami scored over 100 points for just the third time all season long.
Oden had a huge game, as did Miller. The center scored 13 points, grabbed 20 rebounds–11 offensive, dished two assists, collected a steal, blocked four shots, and affected many others. This was only in 30 minutes, too. Miller scored 18 points, making 10-12 from the free-throw line, and handed out six helpers as well.
Roy did most of his damage in that first quarter. He finished with 25 points, but scored only 11 points in the final three periods and shot a measly 9-25 from the field.
Losing Aldridge to injury hurt (it’s nothing too serious; he’ll probably play Saturday against Houston), but Howard did very well in nabbing some of LMA’s minutes, scoring 14 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing two assists. He was a non-factor in the second half, but without his production in the first two quarters, the game would have been well out of reach at halftime.
Portland snagged 20 offensive rebounds and outrebounded Miami by 15 overall (49-34), but shot only 39 percent (34-87), missed eight free-throws, and made only fifteen field goals in the second half.
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