Rip City Project » spurs http://ripcityproject.com A Portland Trailblazers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Wed, 22 May 2013 01:43:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Game 61 Recap: Blazers 136, Spurs 106 http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-61-recap-blazers-136-spurs-106/ http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-61-recap-blazers-136-spurs-106/#comments Sat, 09 Mar 2013 06:22:39 +0000 Mike Acker http://ripcityproject.com/?p=8629 The NBA is a strange place. If you told me Friday afternoon that on Friday night either the Blazers or the Spurs would put up nearly 140 points and win by 30, I would have bet my life savings (all $5 of it) that you would have been talking about the home team. However, if [...]

Game 61 Recap: Blazers 136, Spurs 106 - Rip City Project - Rip City Project - A Portland Trailblazers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Mar 8, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) drives for the basket between San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (left) and Tiago Splitter (right) during the second half at the AT

The NBA is a strange place. If you told me Friday afternoon that on Friday night either the Blazers or the Spurs would put up nearly 140 points and win by 30, I would have bet my life savings (all $5 of it) that you would have been talking about the home team.

However, if you told me it was the Spurs who got blown out, I would have believed you on that score too. After all, Portland beat San Antonio 137-97 last season when the Spurs’ record was 23-9. I would have just assumed that Gregg Popovich played a roster made up entirely of guys on 10-day contracts.

But if you told me the Spurs would shoot 52% from the field, put up 106 points, get 16 from Manu Ginobili, 18 from Tim Duncan, and 16 from Kawhi Leonard and still lose, well then I would have said you were simply out of your mind.

And because Friday night’s win was so inexplicable, I’ll leave it to Twitter for my recap/reaction:

And just to add another dimension to this little crowd-sourced game report, here’s what comes up when you search “Damian Lillard” on Twitter:

The reality is, Friday’s win doesn’t change a whole lot. Portland makes up a bit of ground because the Jazz and Lakers (damn Kobe) lose, but the Blazers still need a miracle to have a legitimate shot at the post season. Damian Lillard goes super nova, but we already know that he’s going to be Rookie of the Year. Four of Portland’s five starters score at least 15 points, but four out of five Blazer starters going off has been the major trope of 2012-13.

The major takeaways from Friday are one positive and one negative, and really have nothing to do with how completely Portland blew out one of the best teams in the league (winning the season series 2-1 in the process by the way).

The positive takeaway was obvious. Eric Maynor was an incredible pick-up. It took him a few games to get his sea legs, but with every passing day he is showing just how important it is to have a high quality back-up point guard. Maynor accounted for 20 points Friday night, the most of any Blazer bench player this season.

As it stands, Maynor had two games scoring in double digits with Oklahoma City before being flipped to Portland at the deadline. Currently he has scored at least 10 in the last three Portland games. He’s also played at least 20 minutes in four straight games. Those stats alone speak to how well he’s played and how much he’s helped his new team.

But what Maynor brings to Portland is much more than just bench scoring. With a solid point guard at the helm, the Blazers’ second unit is starting to look like it’s not ALL destined for the scrap heap. Victor Claver and Meyers Leonard have played their best ball of the season. Much of that is because unlike in the past it hasn’t been a struggle for Portland’s back up to just get the ball up the court and get the offense started. And Maynor doesn’t just make the second unit better. This game turned into a blowout when Eric Maynor and Damian Lillard were on the floor together. Maynor has been great, Friday was just one more example of it.

But just as Friday’s positive was obvious, so too was it’s negative. Meyers Leonard and Victor Claver, two guys Portland needs and two guys who have EARNED minutes over the last month, went down with sprained ankles. The word on Meyers is that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, so probably not as bad as the injury he sustained earlier in the season that kept him sidelined for a number of games. Victor’s sprain didn’t seem bad at all, but he left the game after it happened and didn’t return.

These are the things the Blazers don’t want, injuries in meaningless games. There’s not much that can be done. You have to play somebody, you just have to hope that injuries don’t happen, and if they do they’re not serious. Meyers missing time is a more significant outcome than Portland beating San Antonio. Same for Claver, though Vic’s development won’t be as hurt by losing time. Meyers had a major set-back with his last ankle injury. He can’t let that happen again.

Sorry to end this recap on a down note. Go enjoy your Friday night.

Portland finishes their road trip in New Orleans where they will look to take revenge on a team that did to the Blazers right before the All-Star Break what Portland did to San Antonio on Friday.

Box Score

Standings

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

Mar 8, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs players (from left) Danny Green , and Kawhi Leonard , Stephen Jackson , Tiago Splitter, Manu Ginobili , Boris Diaw , and Tim Duncan watch on the bench during the second half against the Portland Trail Blazers at the AT

]]> http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-61-recap-blazers-136-spurs-106/feed/ 0 Game Preview: Portland Trail Blazers (28-32) Vs. San Antonio Spurs (48-14) http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-preview-portland-trail-blazers-28-32-vs-san-antonio-spurs-48-14/ http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-preview-portland-trail-blazers-28-32-vs-san-antonio-spurs-48-14/#comments Sat, 09 Mar 2013 00:04:26 +0000 Mike Acker http://ripcityproject.com/?p=8627 I might be going out on a limb here, but I’m going to say that right now is probably the best time for the Blazers to face the San Antonio Spurs for the final time in 2012-13. Or at least, I can say that there probably isn’t a better time than the second week of [...]

Game Preview: Portland Trail Blazers (28-32) Vs. San Antonio Spurs (48-14) - Rip City Project - Rip City Project - A Portland Trailblazers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Dec 13, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) and San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan (21) battle for position under the basket during the fourth quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. The Blazers won the game 98-90. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

I might be going out on a limb here, but I’m going to say that right now is probably the best time for the Blazers to face the San Antonio Spurs for the final time in 2012-13. Or at least, I can say that there probably isn’t a better time than the second week of the second to last month of the regular season to see the best team in the league.

Here’s why Friday night isn’t a bad time for the Blazers to square off against the Spurs: Portland has absolutely nothing to lose at this point. There is pride and lottery placing left to play for (opposing forces though they may be) but other than that, the Blazers have reached the point of the season where there’s no pressure on how games actually play out.

A loose and relaxed Portland team has a chance against the Spurs. The Blazers beat the Spurs at home the second time San Antonio came to town, and played them very close at the RG the first time. They can compete with this team. Putting a lot of pressure on themselves to win this game, the kind of pressure that might be applied if the Blazers were a game out of 8th and not three and a half games out of 8th, or worse in 8th position already and being chased by a team such as the LA Lakers. If that were the case, San Antonio would be the last team Portland would want to see on the schedule.

But Friday isn’t just about the Blazers not getting uptight against the current number one team in the NBA. Even with their fantastic record, San Antonio is still old, and even if they don’t care about how the regular season shakes out, the Spurs still have the Oklahoma City Thunder coming to town on Monday.

The Spurs won’t be happy finishing 2012-13 with the best record in the NBA. This San Antonio team is championship or bust. Regardless of where they finish (1st or 2nd, they won’t fall any further than than that), the Spurs will have to do something this season that they couldn’t do last season: beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven game series. Monday’s game is much more important to San Antonio than Friday’s. Even if the Spurs eight through 14 guys are probably better than everybody but the top four on Portland’s roster, the Blazers have a slight advantage knowing that San Antonio couldn’t care less about Friday’s outcome.

Blazers Starting 5: PG Damian Lillard, SG Wesley Matthews, SF Nicolas Batum, PF LaMarcus Aldridge, C J.J. Hickson

Spurs Starting 5: PG Corey Joseph, SG Danny Green, SF Kawhi Leonard, PF Tim Duncan, C Tiago Splitter

The thing that makes the Spurs so fascinating year in and year out is that their roster doesn’t quite blow your hair back. Tim Duncan is a Hall of Famer, same with Tony Parker (probably) and Manu Ginobili (most likely), but other than those three, everything else is a combination of interchangeable parts that can either shoot the lights out (Gary Neal, Matt Bonner, Stephen Jackson), play outstanding perimeter defense (Kawhi Leonard), effectively stay out of Tim Duncan’s way (Tiago Splitter, Boris Diaw, DaJuan Blair), or greatly overachieve by being placed into scenarios where it’s very hard for them to fail (Danny Green, Patty Mills).

If Portland wants to have a chance of being only the fourth team to beat the Spurs in San Antonio, they’ll have to focus on taking care of the basketball and getting good shots on the offensive end. They will also have to play strong perimeter defense and limited the Spurs’ second-chance points. In short, if the Blazers want to pull out a big road win, they’ll have to play probably their best 48 minutes of basketball. Just because the Spurs might take the night off and give Portland a chance, doesn’t mean the Blazers won’t have to work for it.

Tony Parker is out for four weeks with a sprained ankle, which means that Damian Lillard might be able to have a big night scoring. Beyond that, Portland won’t have much of an advantage at any position.

That the Spurs and the Blazers are strongest in the same position (power forward) doesn’t really favor either team. Tim Duncan is having a great season, LaMarcus Aldridge too. It will be fun watching the two of them go head-to-head, but as far as advantages go, the four is basically a push.

Wesley Matthews versus Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard versus Nicolas Batum are two very intriguing match-ups. Green has grown into a pretty outstanding player, same with Leonard. Neither Spur does exactly what Wesley and Nic do, but they’re strong enough players to knock Portland’s wings off their games, and if Matthews and Batum aren’t sharp defensively, Leonard and Green can certainly make them pay.

The Leonard/Batum match-up is probably the most important one for Portland. Leonard is strong enough to put a body on Nicolas to disrupt his drives to the hoop and he’s long enough to challenge his outside shooting. Kawhi is also athletic enough to put Batum in the post and make him defend. Luckily for Nic, the Spurs don’t run many plays for Leonard so Nicolas won’t have to do much one-on-one defending in the post. However, Batum absolutely cannot lose Leonard on the defensive glass. Leonard lives off second-chance points. Nicolas can’t let that happen.

Finally, the most interesting match-up Friday is going to be between J.J. Hickson and Tiago Splitter. Hickson has had some success against Splitter this season. Lillard’s play was key to Portland’s win on TNT against the Spurs in December, but Hickson’s ability to get good looks against Tiago Splitter helped the Blazers get into that game early. This match-up could go either way though. Splitter is the type of tall center J.J. Hickson has serious trouble defending. At the same time, Hickson can really work in the paint against the Brazil who struggles himself on the defensive end.

What to Watch For

  • Bench battle. There are many differences between a team like the Spurs and a team like the Blazers. Near the top of that list is San Antonio’s second-unit depth. That being said, coming into Friday, Portland’s bench is much better than it has been at any other time in the season. A big game off the bench from Eric Maynor especially could be huge for the Blazers. Maynor will be going head-up with Patty Mills. I like the current Blazer over the former Blazer in that one. Manu Ginobili is going to be a handful for whoever checks him, but that’s to be expected. Portland has to keep the rest of the Spurs bench from going off if they want to get a win Friday.
  • Can Portland hang in the first quarter. The Blazers need this game to be close the whole way to have a chance. If the road team gets down by double digits in the first 12 minutes, they’re going to be in trouble.
  • Three-point shooting. Both the Blazers and the Spurs are three-point shooting teams. My prediction is that the team that shoots better from three wins on Friday.

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

]]> http://ripcityproject.com/2013/03/08/game-preview-portland-trail-blazers-28-32-vs-san-antonio-spurs-48-14/feed/ 0 Game 22 Recap: Blazers 98, Spurs 90 http://ripcityproject.com/2012/12/14/game-22-recap-blazers-98-spurs-90/ http://ripcityproject.com/2012/12/14/game-22-recap-blazers-98-spurs-90/#comments Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:39:31 +0000 Mike Acker http://ripcityproject.com/?p=8072 This is the type of performance that wins Rookie of the Year: Damian Lillard has 27 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 turnovers vs Spurs — Jason Quick (@jwquick) December 14, 2012 The above tweet came before Thursday’s final whistle. Damian Lillard finished Portland’s best win of the season over the Western Conference leading [...]

Game 22 Recap: Blazers 98, Spurs 90 - Rip City Project - Rip City Project - A Portland Trailblazers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

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Dec 13, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard (0) listens as Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts gives him instructions late in the fourth quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. Lillard scored 29 points as the Blazers won the game 98-90. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

The above tweet came before Thursday’s final whistle. Damian Lillard finished Portland’s best win of the season over the Western Conference leading San Antonio Spurs with 29 points, six assists, seven rebounds, and only two turn overs. And yes, that is the kind of performance that wins somebody the Rookie of the Year award.

But to hear Blazers’ head coach Terry Stotts tell it, that might be about the least important thing on his mind or on the minds of this team. There will be games in the future that are more meaningful than Thursday’s. There will be games in the future that are played for higher stakes than those played for on Thursday. But to the untrained eye, this win was about as good as it gets for 2012-13. And the fact that to a man these Blazers wanted it to be known that this was just another win, even if it was a big one, should tell you just what this team thinks it’s capable of.

Thursday night could have been trouble for Portland. San Antonio showed up at the Rose Garden with the best record in the league even after a last-second loss Wednesday in Salt Lake City. The stage was set for a schooling. But instead of letting that happen, the Blazers got easily their most balanced and best top to bottom performance of the season.

Ben Golliver made a pretty astute observation in the middle of Thursday’s first quarter when he mentioned to me that Portland was playing so well that it was a bit of a shock they weren’t leading by more. The Spurs are that kind of team. Even when a team plays at their very best, which Portland was doing for most of the first quarter, they aren’t going to be able to put much distance between themselves and San Antonio.

The thing, however, that was significantly different Thursday night than any other night of this season, was that their first quarter ended up not being the outlier. The Spurs are going to always play very steady basketball, and Thursday it didn’t seem to matter how well Portland played, they couldn’t extend their lead into the double digits. But that didn’t stop the Blazers from trying, and it was that trying, a trait that can be classified as effort, that kept the home team in the game.

It’s strange to talk about the Blazers hanging around in a game they commanded at times and dictated most of the way, but that’s the way Thursday felt. Portland hanging on, just waiting for the explosion of scoring from San Antonio that would deflate the home crowd and restore the natural order. That scoring spurt never came though, and as the seconds ticked away in the fourth quarter you could see a team growing before your eyes.

And that’s why Stotts wants to focus on the things his team did well in this game but doesn’t want to say that one Thursday night in December is going to push Damian over the top in the ROY chase or define his first season as Portland’s head coach. It’s why Lillard himself said Thursday was a “stepping stone,” and not a “signature win.” When a young team beats the Spurs, all the Spurs, and when you do it on a night when they shot more than twice as many free throws, seemed to get all the calls, and had a number of really good chances snuffed out by defense in the game’s final minute, it understandable for that team to begin to see their fate changing.

So what were the specific things Portland did Thursday that they haven’t done so far? And how can they build those elements into their regularly scheduled games so that they’ll continue to compete with good teams and not lose anymore to bad teams?

The start on Thursday has to be given a lot of credit. LaMarcus Aldridge had his jump shot going early (5-of-7 from the field in the first quarter). The Blazers got some contributions off the bench in the first quarter (Nolan Smith and Sasha Pavlovic did well in their early minutes). Lillard overcame a bit of a slow start, but scored 10 points in the second quarter. Portland led at halftime. Those are all big positives that contributed to the eventual outcome.

How can a fast start be replicated? It’s hard to say. The bulk of Portland’s early possessions went to LaMarcus. He knocked down his shots. His makes got him into the game. That’s what the Blazers need. When he’s engaged, LaMarcus can be deadly.

Bench contributions have been up and down. Success from the bench is self-fulfilling. If Portland’s bench plays well, they’ll get more minutes. If they get more minutes, they’ll build confidence. If they get confidence, they’ll play well. Luke Babbitt has revived his career in a few short weeks. I know it seems extreme to say that, but in a sense it’s true. Babbitt hasn’t played this much or this consistently at any other point that wasn’t last season’s closing race to the bottom. The minutes are paying off. Thursday Luke led the bench with 12 points, and he didn’t do it all from behind the three-point line. Babbitt was 5-of-10 from the field, but only 2-of-7 from deep.

Luke has said before that the deep ball is where his strength lies. I don’t disagree. He needs to play the stretch four. He needs to knock down open looks when he gets them. However, if he can build consistency with his mid-range jumper, if he can add the drive, he can become a well rounded basketball player. Sure it’s disappointing that it’s taking him this long to get close to his potential. But that he’s there at all considering how everything has gone in his career is a pleasant surprise. I guarantee not even the most devoted Blazer fan would have thought Luke Babbitt would be a key contributor in Portland’s biggest win of the season.

As for Lillard. Well, that one kind of takes care of itself. Anybody who is shocked that Damian was the difference maker Thursday night hasn’t watched the Blazers much this season. Against the Raptors on Monday, Dame wasn’t making shots, but he was able to influence the game with his smart ball handling and his pin-point passing. In that game, that was all that was needed. With the national TV spotlight shinning, and the best team in the league and not one of the worst, Lillard brought all of his tools to work. There’s a very good chance we’ll see a lot more games from Damian like Thursday’s.

I definitely agree with coach Stotts that with 60 games left nothing has been accomplished yet. I also think, though, if Portland can find a way to get Thursday to be the template for the future, that future might be brighter than some think.

The Blazers face Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday back at the Rose Garden.

One quick thing:

  • Thursday Damian Lillard collected a season-high in scoring with 29. I tweeted as such, and received a few responses correcting me that it was a career high. Veteran Spurs beat writer Mike Monroe, covering the team for theSan Antonio Express-News informed me that rookies can’t have career highs. I tend to believe a guy who’s been at it almost as long as I’ve been alive.

Box Score

Standings

Air Alamo

@mikeacker | @ripcityproject | mike.acker1@gmail.com

Dec 13, 2012; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers power forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) and San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan (21) battle for position under the basket during the fourth quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. The Blazers won the game 98-90. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

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