Late in the second quarter, Portland Trail Blazers guard Jerryd Bayless gained possession on the right wing, and blew past his defender with his eyes on the rim. He leaped abnormally high, evaded two Indiana Pacers in mid-flight, reverted to his left, and tried to flush a two-handed slam. He was too far from the basket, and in trying to put a poster on every Blazer fan’s wall, the ball pinned against the rim and bounced back towards him. Indiana gained possession. Against the New York Knicks in Portland’s previous game, this missed dunk would have been disastrous, and presumably would have led to a Knicks three-pointer. In this contest against the Pacers, Bayless’s miss didn’t backfire, as forward Troy Murphy missed a three-pointer on the ensuing possession.

The Knicks were on a roll, making everything in sight, capitalizing off every mistake by the Blazers. The Pacers, losers of nine of their previous ten games and five of their past six without star forward Danny Granger, didn’t have the firepower to take advantage of Portland’s mistakes.

Indiana did stay within reach of Portland throughout the first half. Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge started out hot, scoring his team’s first ten points, but even though he quieted down, Portland’s lead increased as high as twelve, and stood at seven after one quarter. Indiana didn’t look particularly good in the opening frame; it was easy to see why they have one win in the past three weeks. Yet, in front of a sparse crowd, they clawed back into contention thanks to their physicality on the boards. They had ten offensive rebounds in the first half, six of which coming in the second period, but though they only had four second-chance points in the quarter, they managed to score enough on set-plays, and their rebounding took possessions away from Portland.

But the loss of a few possessions didn’t stop the Blazers. Their offense, for the first time since Greg Oden went down, was fluid. Roy made his fair share of shots, scoring eleven points in the half. Power forward Juwan Howard nailed three jumpers. Guard Martell Webster hit a couple of shots. Bayless provided his usual jolt; even his misses were energetic. Overall, they connected on 49 percent of their field goal attempts before intermission, and though their lead was small entering the third quarter, chemistry was clearly re-developed.

The third-quarter was a back-and-forth battle, but the Blazers kept the Pacers from grabbing the lead thanks to the offensive play of Roy, Andre Miller, and Joel Przybilla. Roy and Przybilla ran the pick-and-roll to perfection, with the center rolling to the hoop for a layup four minutes into the third period. Later in the quarter, Przybilla snagged an offensive rebound off his own miss, beating out two bruisers on the boards, Hansbrough and Jeff Foster, and made a layup. Then, after one of many jumpers by Roy increased their lead to six, 73-67, with just over two minutes remaining in the third, Miller, an awful three-point shooter, was left open behind the line. He set himself, jumped about two inches in the air, and hoisted a low-trajectory 24-footer. While the ball was in mid-flight, announcer Mike Barrett jubilantly yelled “Why not? He’s already hit one.” After his exclamation, Miller had hit two. The set-shot swished through, extending Portland’s lead to seven.

However, Indiana finished the quarter strong, dwindling the deficit to two. They had plenty of chances to grab their first lead since it was 4-2, but could not. Portland had a lull offensively, scoring only two points over a three-minute span early in the final period. Those two points, which helped the Blazers maintain a slim advantage, were free-throws by Roy–two points that jump-started a Roy-esque burst. After a stellar defensive possession that featured a block by Miller that fueled a shot-clock violation by the Pacers, Przybilla grabbed a missed jumper by Roy and fed the guard in traffic for a layup. Roy then countered a mid-range jumper by Murphy with own of his own.

Indiana still had a shot to pull out a come-from-behind victory if they could make some stops defensively and make some shots offensively. But they couldn’t do either, and the game officially swayed in Portland’s favor. The Pacers Luther Head missed a three-pointer that the Knicks continuously hit throughout the Blazers previous loss, so, off a pick from Przybilla, Roy proceeded to find Blake for the dagger. The savvy guard drained a three-pointer to increase Portland’s lead to seven and to solidify his place in franchise lore: the catch-and-shoot bomb tied him for fifth in team history in three-pointers made.

With time winding down and the Blazers still ahead by seven, Roy stood in the right corner with his hands on his knees. He had done enough in the quarter and in the game. Miller took over the reigns, dribbling the ball out top before crossing over a cemented Mike Dunleavy, maneuvering across the foul-line, and hitting a 15-footer from the right wing. Nine-point game with a minute left, and the Blazers had pulled out a must-win game with a impressive victory.

After the win, Roy discussed the triumph with Barrett, saying, “We needed this win bad. It was a total team effort, and we’re gonna need a lot more of these to stay in the race.” If Portland is going to stay in contention, he will have to be behind it all. If this effortless and domination performance is any indication, he can.

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Game Notes:

Portland made 49 percent of their field goals, hit six three pointers, but missed nine free-throws.

Roy missed four of those nine, but that didn’t take away from his performance. He finished with 29 points on 11-21 shooting. He scored 10 points over the final seven minutes. Over those same seven minutes, the Pacers had eight points. To compliment his scoring input, he had 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

Aldridge ended up with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block. It was no coincidence that both Roy and Aldridge’s +/- was +13. They are driving the Blazers bus, and they have to.

It wasn’t just a two-man show. Miller had 15 points and 4 steals. Przybilla had 12 points and 8 rebounds. Howard’s three jumpers accounted for his points, but what an important six they were.

Przybilla only played 30 minutes. This is a great sign, considering he’s their only center. They were able to play small, using both Howard and Aldridge at center, and it succeeded, even against the brutish Pacers bigs.

Without Granger, Indiana played like a team that doesn’t know how to win. They shot 41 percent, made just 3 of 17 three-pointers attempted, and missed 5 of 17 free-throws. Dahntay Jones led the way with 19 points, but his foul trouble hurt the Pacers defense against Roy. Hansbrough took 10 shots in a eight-minute stint in the first half, and finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds (including 7 offensive), but he was 4-14 shooting.

Why was this a must-win for Portland? Because they face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, a team that is on a losing streak and will certainly be angry heading into that contest. This gives the Blazers momentum and confidence heading into the matchup.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 1:47 am and is filed under Breaking News, Indiana Pacers, Most Recommended, NBA, News Headlines, Portland Trail Blazers, Right Column, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.