Blazers v. Kings Preseason: Live
By Coup
10:21 — I got the game, I finally got the game. Thanks for nothing Comcast.
10:21 — Classic B-Roy stepback to make it 13-12
10:22 — Just saw a replay of Greg in the post. He was on the left side with Hawes defending, Greg gives him a little fake spin shake off then turns and jams it while Hawes stands there with his mouth hanging open. That, ladies and gents, is why we are excited.
10:27 — Bayless travels right before he dishes to LaMarcus for an open dunk. Good vision.
10:29 — Brandon with the kickout to Bayless for a smooth three.
10:36 — Not much happening. Rudy got called for a travel on an up-fake beyond the arc. Diogu just checked in. Bayless travels a couple of possessions later. Bad turnover, but he’s playing some solid on-ball D on Bobby Brown. Jason Thompson, meanwhile, is actually playing well.
10:40 — Beautiful pass from Rudy to Outlaw, who has his dunk attempt blocked, but he gets to the line.
10:41 — Outlaw takes a bad pullup three while Rudy stands with 10 feet of space on the other wing, but at least he hustles back to corral the rebound.
10:48 — 33-28 Kings right now with Mikki Moore at the line. Greg is checking back in now. You’ve heard it before, but he looks absolutely massive, and he’s rocking the mid-high socks.
10:52 — They are showing us that video of Greg singing “It’s gonna be me.” I’ll refrain from further comment on that one.
10:53 — Wow. Outlaw misses the Jordan Game 6 step back at the line jumper, Greg snatches the board way underneath the bucket with two defenders on him, pivots around a little bit, and calmly jams it home with one hand. On a later posession he shows some quick lateral movement to stop a pick and roll.
10:55 — A well-designed swing and post-up for Oden turns into a good look for Sergio who drains the 3. 41-33 Kings.
10:57 — Nate calls a timeout after Francisco Garcia torches the entire Blazer team for a bunny. 43-33. While Greg stopped a drive earlier, he just watched Garcia go by on this one. He may been conceding the layup to keep from fouling though.
10:59 — Greg grabs a missed Roy layup and pushes it back through with both hands. I don’t have an exact count, but I’m pretty sure Greg has drawn at least 4-5 fouls so far in what can be no more than 11 minutes of play.
11:03 — Martell for three from the corner, then he gets rewarded with a dunk for running the floor on the break. 45-42 Kings.
11:07 — Portland defense swarms and LaMarcus pulls down a tough rebound. Sergio hits another three and follows up with a steal and layup to take the two point lead. Where has this Sergio been. The rumors are true, folks, Sergio can shoot now.
11:09 — Another three for Sergio. I don’t think I have ever written “another” “Sergio” and “three” this many times . . . ever.
11:12 — Aldridge with the long two at the half buzzer for the 53-50 lead. Portland showed some nice pre-season grit after being down by 8 plus earlier in the half, thanks to added defensive pressure, the presence of Oden in the middle and Sergio’s sweet shooting. Things are going much smoother now after that mad dash to find a place to watch the game.
11:24 — Second half should be starting soon. One thought first: remember how different we looked once Zach Randolph left the equation? We almost take that large of a leap forward again when Greg is in the game, on both ends of the floor.
11:28 — Say what? Shareef-Abdur Rahim retired and now he’s an assistant coach? I did not see that coming, but I can see it moving.
11:30 — First play. Oden in the post. Hawes defending. You guess the outcome. As the SpaceJam crew would say, “Two points.”
11:32 — The Sacramento announcers are comparing Oden to Kevin Duckworth. Make of that what you will, but it struck me as a little tasteless.
11:34 — Homerism at its best. Bayless with the hard swat from behind on Udrih and the announcers are claiming he was grabbed around the neck. Must be watching a different game. On the other end, Greg gets doubled in the post and immediately kicks it out to Roy for the three. This is Greg’s first pro game, and, not to pick on him too much, but Zach still hasn’t grasped the “kick out pass” concept.
11:36 — Oden called for a push-off foul on an offensive rebound. It may or may not have been fair, but Blazer fans better get used to those kind of calls — at least for this year.
11:37 — This is not just the Oden show. Bayless just got to the line like a vet, just like summer league. Next posession he swings a dime to Aldridge for a open two.
11:43 — Remember how I was suprised about Rahim being a coach? Not anymore. The Kings apparently have 27 assistant coaches on their bench.
11:44 — Aldridge drives into the lane left-handed and hits a fallaway jumper. As I type, the Spanish Connection occurs, with Sergio dishing to Rudy for a baseline alley-oop. Portland takes a 15-point lead. I love this team. We almost literally have no scrubs for preseason garbage time.
11:48 — Oh my. Rudy just bounced a beautiful, gorgeous, lovely pass between Jason Thompson’s legs for an Aldridge dunk. You can hear the crowd going crazy over the jumbotron replay. Joel then swats Hawes on the other end and Aldridge draws a foul in the post from Thompson. It’s early, but Aldridge looks like he is trying to get into the middle more than last year, and he’s been working on his hook.
11:50 — Rudy drives into the lane and drops another one off for Aldridge to flush. 78-59 Portland. I don’t need to be reminded that this is preseason, but the Blazers are putting on a show. The announcers correctly point out the rockin’ atmosphere in the Garden.
11:56 — Rudy. Is. Putting. On. A. Show. He just caught an alley oop from Sergio, didn’t have enough air to dunk it so he dipsy-dooed it up and under, spinning it in off the glass. Rudy, Rudy, Rudy chants start up.
11:57 — Rudy misses a three from the corner and we get one of those crowd gasps. Sacramento announcer says, “Boy, if that goes in, I was about ready to get up and leave.” Can’t blame him.
11:58 — Batum gets in the mix with a soaring baseline dunk. The site I’m watching this on has a chatroom and one of the posters just wrote this, “Why don’t the Blazers just stab the Kings for real.” That about sums up this second half for you.
12:03 — Diogu’s final numbers won’t reflect this, but he’s putting in some work. Sergio, meanwhile, deserves a boatload of credit for the way he’s shown up tonight. Just a couple months ago he was almost an afterthought for Portland fans.
12:08 — What Greg Oden’s favorite cereal? Spencer Hawes Flakes. He just laid down a crushing block on the second year big, and it’s a credit to the way Oden has already established his will on the paint that you could see it coming seconds in advance. 90-63 Portland.
12:12 — Oden switches it up and hits a nice, if somewhat awkward looking, baby hook. Blazers go back to the big guy on the next possession, and he spin-dribbles his way into the lane and gets fouled. The moves still have that unpolished look, but they appear to be more than functional — against the Kings’ bench at least.
12:16 — I’m not sure if I’ve heard it before, and it’s an easy joke, but the Sacramento announcers just used “Spanish Connection.” I’ll take the credit for that one.
12:18 — Diogu back-to-back buckets after a dunk and an and1. 97-63. Oden is replaced by the prophet Steven Hill.
12:20 — Rudy just gave Martell a no-look bounce pass — literally, his back was turned and he was running to the arc — and Webster flushed it through.
12:23 — Rudy . . . I mean sheesh. Anoth
er beautiful dish on the break for Martell, who took off from a fair distance for the jam. Did I mention the giant grin plastered on my face right now.
12:25 — Rudy. Fastbreak. No look. Alley-oop. Webster. Thing. Of. Beauty. If it’s not clear, that was the thid time in five minutes Rudy donated a dime to the Martell Webster Dunk Foundation. My nerves are just about shot and I’m running out of words.
12:34 — Garbage time right now. The Kings aren’t going to be sticking around Portland for very long. Remember when I said we didn’t have any scrubs to play, I forgot that in preseason you can have gigantic active rosters.
12:37 — Final score: 110-81. Recap coming in a couple minutes.