With the game-clock nearing the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter and the shot-clock winding down, the ball was in LaMarcus Aldridge’s hands, but it would soon be in Jerryd Bayless’s. The Portland Trail Blazers explosive, energetic, strong, and cocky guard starting in place of the injured Brandon Roy came to the ball, dribbled to the three-point line, and fired and hit a three-pointer as the shot-clock buzzer sounded. The Blazers bench went nuts, congratulating Bayless from afar, and the kid nodded back with a certain swagger. This shot gave Portland a nine-point lead, 96-87, and stunned an already quiet crowd in San Antonio, Texas.

The Blazers, having lost their center Joel Przybilla indefinitely to a knee injury, played small ball, inserting their tallest player, 6-10 Juwan Howard, in as their center. Rookies Jeff Pendergraph and Dante Cunningham, as well as Aldridge, switched in and out at power forward throughout the contest. Especially in the first half, these four big men were remarkable, making up for Przybilla’s absence and then some.

Losing plenty of offense with Roy out, the Blazers managed to tally 28 points in the first quarter. Aldridge set the tone early, scoring eight points in the first six minutes of the game. Bayless made an impact immediately as well. He hit a 21-footer, showcasing a much-improved jump-shot, off an offensive rebound by Howard to extend a quick lead to three. He got his feet wet, but then, he drove to the hoop acrobatically, took a hit, and fell flat on his back. He screamed in pain and pounded the ground. Head coach Nate McMillan slouched in his chair as if to say “Not again!”. Bayless remained on the floor for a few minutes, but motioned he was okay, got up, and played through the pain.

He asserted himself offensively, but ahead by two later in the first quarter, Bayless drove coast to coast, split through a few Spurs, drew some more defenders and, in mid-air, passed to Aldridge on the baseline for a jumper. Used to being inserted for his offense, to provide a spark, he was in to run the team for the first time in the NBA, to be unselfish, to be a leader.

He continued to dish the assists, to play like a point guard, but McMillan said “we needed his scoring”, so the second-year guard was given the green-light as well. After the dish to Aldridge for the 12-footer, Aldridge returned the favor, passing up his bread and butter to give Bayless a look. Locked and loaded, he swished a three-pointer from the right wing, capping a 10-2 run by Portland. He was just getting warmed up, too.

In the first eight minutes, Bayless showed an ability to drive, create plays for others, hit jumpers, and play defense. Howard was stripped by the Spurs lightning quick point guard Tony Parker, and the Spurs had a 5-on-2 transition opportunity. Parker decided to take it himself, but Bayless wouldn’t let him, stepping in front of the Frenchman to draw the charge.

As the game went on, he continued to play excellent defense on Parker and possess the qualities of both a point guard and a shooting guard. Early in the second quarter he hit a mid-range jumper against Parker’s backup, George Hill, who played off Bayless, respecting his quickness and ability to drive. He showed the Spurs why Hill’s defense was so soft on the next possession, corralling a rebound, then driving downcourt, leaving Spurs in his wake before speeding into the lane, leaping, and matriculating around center Antonio McDyess for a twirling layup.

He wasn’t the only one dazzling for the Blazers. The big men got into the act as well. After Cunningham hit a jumper on a drive-and-kick by Bayless to put Portland in front 34-31, San Antonio called a timeout. During the break, Blazers announcer Mike Barrrett played the role of Spurs head coach Greg Poppovich, exclaiming, “We’re shooting 52 percent at home against this Mash unit in red?” Yes, indeed. San Antonio, winners on 7 of 8 entering the game, were losing to to a team missing seven quality players to injury. Losing to a team that had Bayless, making his first career start, a 37-year old undersized center in the starting five as well, and a player with two minutes of NBA experience, Pendergraph.

Pendergraph didn’t play like a rookie, teaming up with Howard, and Cunningham to grab 15 rebounds in the opening half.  All three set good picks, boxed out on defense, and scored a few buckets as well. They were extraordinary, and were the primary reasons why Portland led at halftime, but this game would belong to Bayless, who already had 16 points to his name.

The Blazers controlled the better part of the third quarter, holding a 67-60 lead with under five minutes to play in the frame on a jumper by Aldridge set up by (who else?) Bayless. Bayless turned into a shooting guard a possession after playing the point guard role, hitting a jumper against a back-pedalling Parker. As the ball was in the air, he posed, doing his best to will it in the basket. The ball obeyed his orders, but there came a price. As he was set to head back upcourt, he fell to the floor, grabbing his leg in pain. Oh no, not again, McMillan must have thought, but Bayless let the coach breathe a sigh of relief, yelling “cramp!”. He got up, shook it off, and resumed play.

He exited at the next dead-ball, and watched Portland’s lead shrink to six over the remaining four minutes of the period, the team grasping a 75-69 advantage heading into the fourth, final and exhilarating quarter.

Through three quarters he had scored 22 points, and after a well-earned rest, he went back to work to begin the fourth. With the lead cut down to one three minutes in, Bayless drove around Hill and into Parker, earning a trip to the foul-line, where he made two free-throws. On the next play, he drove into Spurs center DeJuan Blair and acrobatically made a layup.

Aldridge followed with a stellar play of his won. Noticing the shot-clock was winding down, he sprinted to the wing 16 feet from the basket, grabbed a pass from Blake and immediately faded away and swished the tough jumper. Bayless then, in the words of Barrett’s sidekick, Mike Rice, “wheeled through the middle like [Phoenix Suns guard] Steve Nash” and found Howard for a 8-footer.

Aldridge finished off a 8-0 spurt, grabbing an offensive rebound and powerfully backing down Duncan for a hook on the left wing, then he snagged a lob by Bayless and made a layup, increasing Portland’s lead to eleven and setting up Bayless’s shot-clock-beating three that had the bench hooting and hollering and him strutting his stuff.

The dagger had pierced the Spurs heart, but hadn’t been thrust through yet. Portland’s opponent scored the next seven points, with the combination of Parker and Duncan pouring in all seven and benefiting from the refs along the way. San Antonio now needed a stop on defense, down by two with 27 seconds left. If they played good defense and grabbed the rebound, they would have time for one last shot. If they grabbed the rebound.

The ball was in Bayless’s hands throughout the game, especially the fourth quarter, and now on the final possession. Yet, he couldn’t cash in, missing a jumper as the shot-clock neared empty. The ball caromed off the rim, falling amongst a crowd of red and white shirts. Out of that crowd, Howard slapped the ball back out, and Andre Miller retained possession and was fouled with eight tenths of a second left. Two free-throws could secure another magical win, and he made both.

As the Spurs final attempt clanged off the rim, Portland celebrated. Howard yelled in triumph, pumping his fists, while his teammates jumped into each other jubilantly. The Blazers, without center Joel Przybilla and Brandon Roy, the two most recent members to catch the injury bug, had remarkably, improbably, amazingly won.

Howard, Pendergraph, Cunningham, and Aldridge were excellent, but no one was more responsible for the adjective-filled victory than Bayless.

Prior to the contest, Barrett told Bayless he was “going to score 35 tonight.” “Ya think?”, Bayless answered. Thanks to drive after drive, three after three, jumper after jumper, and free-throw after free-throw, Barrett’s prediction was close. The guard had a career-high 31 points as their facilitator, go-to guy, and leader in one of the more remarkable wins by Portland in recent memory.

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Game Notes:

Aldridge, who spent a majority of the first half on the bench with foul trouble, finished with 22 points on 9-14 shooting, and grabbed 8 rebounds, including 4 offensive, and collected three steals.

Howard had his second double-double in as many games. He scored 12 points and snatched 12 rebounds, including 5 offensive.

The Blazers made 45 percent of their field goals, 5-11 from three-point range, and missed only three of 26 free-throws.

The Spurs made 51 percent of their field goals, but made only 6 of 21 three-point attempts. Still, numbers-wise, it’s hard to discern how they lost.

Well, here’s the answer: Bayless made 10-24 field goal attempts, both of his three-point attempts, and 9 of 10 free-throws. As if that wasn’t enough, he dished 7 assists, had a steal and a block, and committed zero turnovers. 31 points, 7 assists, and zero turnovers! He was just outstanding.

Hat-tip to Ben Golliver of Blazersedge for this stat: the combination of Blake, Miller, and Bayless had only 2 turnovers in 104-plus minutes.

Also worth noting: Entering this game, the Blazers had a record of 2-32 in the state of Texas since 2003. Two wins in 34 games. Bayless, in resounding fashion, helped make it three in the Lone Star state.

Here is an advanced version of the boxscore, equipped with shot-charts for each player.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 24th, 2009 at 1:02 am and is filed under Breaking News, Most Recommended, NBA, News Headlines, Portland Trail Blazers, Right Column, San Antonio Spurs, 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.