Aside from the superb play of Nicolas Batum, the first half was a forgettable one for the Portland Trail Blazers. Nine of the Utah Jazz’s first ten field goals were either layups or dunks, stunning the Blazers by jumping out to a quick 21-2 lead. That lead, however, slowly but surely was whittled away, in large part because the play of Batum.

The Flying Frenchman flew through the air, rose over Utah forward Mehmet Okur, and slammed, giving Portland their third and fourth points in emphatic fashion. He followed with a three-pointer, a jumper after forward Carlos Boozer went after his once-injured and now pain-free shoulder, and then a driving layup to pull the Blazers into double-digits. He was decked into the photographers’ well as he slammed his fifth field goal to end the period, leading to a prolonged chorus of boos from the Rose Garden crowd directed towards the blind referees. He had 11 points and looked very smooth in his first lengthy stint since returning from surgery, but he was the only one producing for Portland. As a team in the opening period, they scored 16 points on 7-28 shooting, while the Jazz piled up a whopping 36 points while missing only three field goals.

Utah doubled Portland’s score early in the second, going on one of their many first half runs following a smooth crossover jumper by Batum. The Jazz continued to live in the paint, while hitting a few outside jumpers as well to take a 17-point lead into halftime. In the first two periods, there was a field goal percentage discrepancy of 38 percent. Obviously, by their 24 makes in 33 attempts, the Jazz was the team leading that category, but as most early leads are, this one was far from safe.

The scoring in the second half for Portland started like it ended in the first. LaMarcus Aldridge received a lob from Andre Miller and, in the midst of banking in a layup, was shoved to the floor. No call was made, to the Blazers dismay, as Aldridge had a this-is-ridiculous smile while picking himself off the ground and trotting upcourt. It appeared it would be that kind of night for Portland.

Then, it appeared it wouldn’t be. The Blazers climbed back in with widespread aggressiveness. They stringed together a few baskets, managed to stop the Jazz a few times, and what was the result? A drastically slimmed Utah lead. Martell Webster, who vowed to donate $1,000 to Haiti for every point he scored in this contest, drove to the rim for the ravaged island and hit two free-throws. Aldridge followed with solid perimeter defense on Paul Millsap that forced a shot-clock violation, and then Webster added three more thousand to his relief fund, watching Ronnie Brewer fall for the ball-fake and fly by on the baseline before setting his feet and canning his first three-pointer of the game.

Right after that play, a play that drew Portland within single digits for the first time since it was 8-0, announcer Mike Barrett announced that Boozer, who scored 14 points on 5-5 shooting in the first half, would not return due to a strained calf. Everything was going Portland’s way. Momentum had swung so far in their favor that they took the lead, the Jazz would have a tough time grabbing it back. Webster hit another three-pointer, this one from the top, to bring the Blazers to within seven, 74-67, with just over four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

They couldn’t build upon this momentum, however, and wouldn’t climb within seven again until Aldridge hit a free-throw near the nine-minute mark of the fourth. Rudy Fernandez, who was huge early in the final period, took advantage of the fact that the Jazz were already in the penalty foul-wise by draining two free-throws to make it a five-point game. Aldridge cut the margin to five once more moments later on a long two. One last run was all Portland needed to win. Unfortunately, as against New Orleans in their previous game, they ran out of gas when it mattered most.

Aldridge’s jumper came with 5:48 left. Their next points, a layup by Juwan Howard, came with 1:39 left. It was deja vu for Portland drought-wise, but this one was understandable. They rallied from 26 points down on the backs of everyone and struck fear into the hearts of the Jazz and jubilation into the hearts of their sellout crowd. As the dagger was thrust into Portland’s heart in the form of a three-pointer by Kyle Korver, I immediately saw the loss as a tough one, given that their next two games are against Houston and Dallas and that the Western Conference is tightly-knit and stacked. But it could have been a lot worse if not for their valiant comeback, a tremendous effort that came up just short.

———————————————————————–

Game Notes:

Batum didn’t score in the second half, which, considering his first half impact, makes their resiliency that much more impressive. Utah head coach Jerry Sloan said following the game, “I didn’t think he would ever miss.” It’s a pity he wasn’t more involved in the second half. His seven field goals tied a career-high.

Webster, Blake, Fernandez, and Miller began the contest a combined 0-18 from the field. The quartet finished 8-39.

Aldridge struggled mightily in the first half, but ended up being the Blazers star, scoring 25 points on 10-24 shooting. He also had 9 rebounds and 3 steals.

Webster raised $14,000 for Haiti on 4-14 shooting. Hopefully he’ll do this again, and again, and again, and play a lot better.

Eight of Howard’s 11 rebounds were offensive. He couldn’t find any openings to hit his jumper, taking just four shots and hitting one.

Remarkably, the Blazers had 35 points on 21 Jazz turnovers. Their capitalization fueled their furious run back into contention.

Portland made only 5 of 24 three-pointers. They missed 9 of 11 first half attempts.

The Jazz shot 60 percent from the field. Point guard Deron Williams led six players in double figures with 24 points. Utah had 27 assists on 38 field goals and had 48 points in the paint, a small number given the clinic they put on in the first half.

Worth noting: Brandon Roy will miss the upcoming two-game road trip.

Boxscore:

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 1:51 am and is filed under Breaking News, Most Recommended, NBA, News Headlines, Portland Trail Blazers, Right Column, Uncategorized, Utah Jazz. 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.