Blazers
v. Jazz
Another big game, another live diary, this one coming up at 7 p.m. tonight. Seems like some of you might not be able to see the game because of Comcast putzing about, but hopefully between this, Wheels and Mr. Harvey you’ll make it ok.
Brandon Roy a game-time decision with a bruised tailbone. Honestly, I don’t think we can win without him.
UPDATE on Roy: Apparently Antonio Harvey says Roy told him he is fine. Good indication that we’ll see Brandon on the court tonight, but then again, we must consider who this is coming from.
Yup, Roy is officially playing, and Kirilenko is out. AK-47 hit some big, and random, jumpers last time down in Salt Lake, so having him gone is nice, but his absence makes room for zone-busting Kyle Korver. Might end up being a wash there.
Couple things I’d like to see in this game, just before tip-off:
-Snatch those rebounds, stop tipping them around like volleyball players
-Martell, once you hit that first quarter 3, could you do something to crack the lineup in the second half?
-When LaMarcus and Channing get pushed, push back. If this team is serious about making the playoffs, they can’t depend on Joel to be the only source of toughness down low. I don’t care if that means we pick up a few technicals tonight.
SJ mentioned this in his Celtics diary, but just for good measure, if you think Mike Rice can be a little-over-the-top homerish, try listening to Tommy Heinsohn, good lord.
7:08 — Starting lineups being announced, sell out crowd. I can’t wait till we get those flamethrowers back for the lineups like in 2000. Nothing gets your blood pumping like feeling your arm hair singing.
7:10 — If Roy was playing hurt, with a red eye and a bruised tailbone in the playoffs and he played for Boston, he would be deified.
7:12 — Portland wins the tip. LaMarcus misses a 12-footers. Okur drives off balance and Aldridge swats away the garbage layup. Okur then misses a 3. How was he an all-star again?
7:13 — LMA hits a pair at the line. Martell makes a great faking-jumper dish on the secondary break to Joel for the dunk. Great pass. LMA gets called for a travel trying to spin off the post. He’s been called for that a couple times lately, seems he hasn’t quite gotten the footwork down for that move.
7:15 — Deron Williams scores over Blake in the post. I used to love Deron over CP3, but after watching Paul dismantle the Warriors last night, I might have flip-flopped over to the other side. I have a feeling that debate is going to be back-and-forth for awhile.
7:16 — Roy looks like he is in the early stages of becoming a zombie, but he’s playing fairly chipper despite being maybe a quarter-step slower. LMA meanwhile gets back to the line and sinks two.
7:18 — 10-7 Portland. Blazers are running that double-baseline screen play for Martell they usually run in the first quarter. LMA ends up draining a fader over Boozer. SJ texts me and tells me he is twice as scared of Millsap than Okur. I’d have to agree considering the Portland rebounding troubles.
7:20 — LaMarcus forces a long, contested jumper, and then gets called for 3-second defensive violation. Still, I like the aggresiveness. Mike Barrett points out the Blazers haven’t played any zone yet. As long as Korver isn’t in the game, using a zone might help, but I get the feeling the zone has been behind some of the defensive problems, as that type of defense puts rebounding matchups much more in the hands of the defenders whereas in man-to-man you always know who to box out.
7:23 — Paul Allen flew down after the Seahawks playoff game to be at the Rose Garden. The man’s a champ.
7:24 — Ronnie Brewer is hitting jumpers tonight. I guess he is stepping in for Kirilenko as random average-shooter hitting shots. Channing Frye makes a great hustle play tipping an offensive rebound to LMA, who gets fouled. Portland looks more active on the boards than they did in Salt Lake. Boozer also goes to the bench with 2 fouls. Nice way to start. 16-15 Portland.
7:27 — Blazers force a 24-second violation but turn the ball over to give CJ Miles and easy dunk. Roy responds with a jump hook(!?) over Ronnie Brewer. LMA turns the ball over again on that little spin move. He’ll get it right eventually, and when he does, with that quickness, look out Boozer, he’s going poster shopping.
7:30 — Something I love about Blazer fans: they’re smart. They usually start off quiet, pacing themselves, before the inevitable late-third and fourth quarter explosions.
7:31 — Brewer hits again. This probably won’t continue. 19-18 Utah. It’s early, but games like this favor the home crowd. Martell drives in, misses the running hook, then tips in his own miss. I’ve been saying this for awhile, but Webster is an underrated slasher, he just doesn’t have that much confidence in doing it.
7:33 — White unit in. Outlaw drives in for a 12-foot jumper over two defenders. I love the way he’s been doing that, maybe next year he’ll learn to take it straight at the rim once or twice.
7:36 — 23-22 Utah. Jazz are leading because of a few Portland turnovers (looking at you, LaMarcus) and Ronnie Brewer’s shooting. They can’t depend on either of those for long.
7:39 — JJack tries the ol’ Kobe up-fake, lean into the leaping defender. You have to get all-star votes for that call.
7:41 — JJack turns the ball over on the fastbreak (surprised?) and Korver hits a 3 (what else?). Strong rebound Frye on the other end, but he’s still tipping it too much. 25-23 Jazz.
7:43 — Mike Rice: “Harpring knows how to bump and grind.” Don’t think I need to say anything about that. Sergio hits a jumper from just inside the top arc and Harpring responds with a 2, bumping and grinding all the way.
7:47 — Oden is growing the mini-fro. Wouldn’t mind him going all Artis Gilmore on us. Remember how good Jarret was against Chicago, he is the opposite of that tonight. Told you there would be valleys. Outlaw keeps Portland around, just like Thursday night, with a jumper.
7:48 — James Jones gets fouled as he takes a long 2. It’s beyond me how many times he draws those fouls. He just stands there and people jump into him. Jack recovers from a missed layup by dishing to LMA for a dunk. 33-30 Utah, 5:50 left in the half.
7:54 — Steve Blake passes up about 5 shots and Portland gets a 24-second violation. Millsap gets a 10-second continuation and-one on the other end and Utah goes up 6.
7:55 — Aldridge fouled on a dunk attempt, which he misses. Next year, he’ll be making that one. Well, hopefully. I’m not quite sure what the Blazers are trying to do on offense, because they look pretty bad. Not even seeing many high pick and rolls right now. Fortunately, LMA can shoot, and his 15 points have been huge. He loves Utah. Maybe he had a crush on some mormon girl in high school and she wouldn’t see a movie with him.
7:58 — Now we’re seeing some high-screens with LMA, and lo and behold, the offense is moving again. LMA travels again trying to spin
left. This one looks like a pretty good move, but LMA steals it on the other end anyways.
8:02 — You know you watch a lot of Blazer games when you recognize the P.R. people. James hits a buzzer beating 2 and Okur misses a layup. Love seeing Travis get edgy with Okur, but the emotion might’ve made his short jumper go long.
8:04 — Didn’t see K-Pritch, but Tom Penn is wearing a semi-pink tie tonight. Whatever works fellas.
8:06 — JJack can drive the lane, but sometimes he makes me want to rub Taco Bell hot sauce on my eyeballs. Geez. Blazers down 3, 42-39 at the half. Considering how poor we looked on offense, they should be pretty happy with things. Didn’t see much, if any, Brandon in the second quarter either, but hopefully Nate is just saving him for the second half and his bruise hasn’t tightened up.
8:19 — Brandon isn’t on the floor yet. I’ll tell you what you already know and say its going to be really tough without him, expecially the way the other guards are playing. Looks like he might be done for the night.
8:23 — Brewer gets back to the line and sinks one. Guess it’s just his night. He’s thinking that, too, since he just travelled trying to drive.
8:26 — Martell hits a quick 16-footer. This would be a good night for him to go off, if I may say so. 48-43 Utah. Well, he comes back down and hits a tough baseline jumper. Keep shooting young fella. D-Will comes back with an early 3.
8:28 — Martell hits again, this time a catch and shoot in the lane. But Williams comes back with another 3. But Martell comes back with a left-corner 3! 54-50 Utah. But then Okur hits a 3. And Jack comes down with a 2. 57-52 Utah. And Okur hits another jumper. What is going on? And Martell loses CJ Miles in a forest of screens and hits ANOTHER 3. This might have been the best sequence I’ve ever seen from Webster. And Joel puts in a put-back dunk. Williams hits again, this time a two. Then Webster passes up a jumper to dish to Pryzbilla, who gets to the line and hits 2!
8:31 — Boozer misses, Joel rebounds. 61-59 Utah. Webster gets open again, shoots the 3, misses, but he’s smacked by Kyle Korver and he’s going to the line. Salt Lake, meet Martell Webster, he’ll be here all night (knock on wood). Fantastic sequence for the kid.
8:36 — Martell a step back 2 on the break. That…was…beautiful. HE HITS ANOTHER 3, from the quarter. Oh man, he barely misses the next one. Keep shooting young man, keep shooting. Webster blocks Boozer now and Joel dunks on the other end. 16-2 Portland run. It’s 69-61 Blazers now.
8:43 — Now the Blazers are posting Webster up, and he makes a patient move before getting fouled. He’s got 24 now, 22 in the quarter! 71-61 Portland. Jarron Collins makes one ft. Somehow Harpring hits a jumper over Travis. Outlaw calmly comes down and hits one on the other end. Oh man, Webster just drove and got fouled, but he almost destroyed Collins on the continuation dunk. He hits both ft’s, 24 in the quarter. And Webster comes up with the defensive rebound to close out the half. That was the best professional quarter of Martell’s life.
8:51 — Martell misses a step-back 2 short and then the refs gives Deron a continuation layup when he got fouled at the ft-line. I don’t know about that one. Martell dishes a spinning assist for a Frye jumper. 77-66 Portland. Deron gets Millsap a dunk. Now Sergio is going to the line.
8:53 — Friggin’ Deron hits another 3. They are in this game because of him. Deron gets Korver a layup. The crowd is trying to lift the Blazers up. But Sergio gets Outlaw two from the top. 81-73 Portland. Korver misses a 3, Martell rebounds. Outlaw misses a 3 but he snatches a rebound on the other end and gets fouled. Millsap has five fouls now.
9:00 — Jones for 3. Its GOOD. From Sergio. Outlaw grabs a rebound. Barrett says LaMarcus has been quiet and he goes and grabs an offensive board and gets to the line. Where is Boozer right now? The Jazz have dissapeared except for D-Will. That was wierd, as soon as I wrote that, Boozer grabbed an offensive board. Outlaw hits a long-two, and that was beautiful, he kicked his legs way out. Brewer misses a jumper (not his night anymore, says Martell) and Outlaw hits the exact same jumper but from the left side. Nasty. Jack steals and Sergio gets the open layup. WOW. 91-75 Portland with 5:42 left and No Brandon Roy in the last three quarters. I’ll say it again, WOW. Mike Rice also mentioned we are outrebounding the Jazz by about 17.
9:03 — So far, the guys are hitting bullseyes on pretty much all the pre-game things I asked for, rebounding, toughness and Martell, Martell, Martell. The supporting cast the having the exact type of game they didn’t have when the streak ended in Utah.
9:05 — Sergio steals again. Outlaw hits another pull-up off-the-dribble skying jumper. 93-75 Portland. Brewer travels just for good measure. But so does Travis, just when it looked like he was going all the way in for a jam. Jack hits a 3, from Sergio (his performance is bound to be underrated, but he’s been great in the second half). 17-point Blazer lead. Jack gets back to the line. It seems like JJack always plays great when everyone is playing well, and is always terrible when everyone else is playing like ish. Outlaw to Sergio for 3, he hits it. Wait let me say that again, SERGIO POR EL TRES!
9:13 — Outlaw tells Harpring to go play golf and swats him. Boozer was 3-of-16 tonight. Brutal (and brutal for SJ’s fantasy team, which I’m playing this week). Sergio hits two more at the line. Just waiting for the buzzer now. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Blazers just beat the Utah Jazz soundly to take the season series 3-1. What a huge win, especially considering how many games they have left on the road.
9:19 — How classy is Martell, giving all the credit to Joel and LaMarcus for setting good picks for him on the baseline. Nobody seems to realize this, but Martell is very well spoken. What a great night for him, for this team and for all of us fans.