Happy Halloween! I think Blazer fans have had our scare for the year, so I’ll just go with the happy excuse for girls to look super slutty with no consequence…day. Boyfriends beware.
Blazer fans can finally begin life without Oden for a few weeks. It’s not like we haven’t done this before but it is not like we wanted to do it again. Oh well no fan have magical healing powers so c’est la vie. Tonight’s game, win or lose should help “ease the pain” as everyone hits delete to erase the Blazers performance in LA out of the brain…ditto for the stories Coup posted earlier about LMA and B-Roy’s bro-mance. By the way is it kind of creepy that if you replaced one of the two with a female it could have easily being a romantic chick flick. We’re such an emo-team.
Anyways, to tonight’s game. The 2nd of at least 82 games for the Blazers, this being the first at the Rose Garden this year. A possible “red-out” that will televised on ESPN (one in a continuous line of national TV appearances…always good to see the views of Portland on ESPN. No live blog (It’s Halloween people!!) but we’ll have postgame reactions, ASAP.
Bad news for those Blazer fans aching for a victory: The Spurs have pwned the Blazers over the past few years, winning 12 straight games. 19 of the last 20. Let’s put it this way….Brandon Roy has never beat them in his career. More bad news…Not only that but Roy has historically struggled against San Antonio. Last year in 3 games he shot 10-for-34 against the Spurs. This isn’t exactly the team Roy enthusiasts want to see after his struggles in LA.
The good news though: Blazers haven’t lost a home opener since 2000. Or for the edgy, since politics and political humor is so “in” the Blazers haven’t lost a home opener since before the Bush Administration. Take that Jon Stewart.
Tonight the Blazers are presented with the challenge of defeating the Spurs. San Antonio is a much different beast than was encountered to start the season. The Spurs are very much a well-oiled machine, but a different kind of machine. Offensively they don’t have the kind of waves the Lakers have. If you have an offensive performance like the Blazers did against the Lakers you get stomped. If you have that kind of performance against the Spurs you can actually still win the game. This is the most vulnerable Spurs team I can remember. No Manu in the lineup always hurts but that bench is the very definition of old and mediocre. The Spurs always, always manage to make it work and they are still in my top 5. Plus you know all of these guys can do “classic Spurs plays”. But still…depending on Jacque Vaughn, Matt Bonner and Roger Mason for major minutes isn’t going to light fear under too many teams.
To win the Blazers are going to have to contain Duncan and Parker. Simple simon. Generally it’s don’t let the Spurs Big 3 get 60+…well tonight it’s don’t let Duncan/Parker get 60+. Because if they do the Spurs will win. They both can’t have 30 because that supporting cast will nail an open shot here and an open shot there which builds up over time. The Blazers definitely cannot let Michael Finley have a flashback to 2001 or else they’ll have problem. If we let one of the Mediocres (Bonner, Mason, Vaughn, Udoka) score 8 or 9+…it’s going to be issues. Why do I say issues? Two words: Tim Duncan. I know I have a love for Tim Duncan that is not matched by too many people, but we can all agree on this. We don’t have anyone who can guard Tim Duncan. We have a lot of big men but no one on this team that can guard Tim Duncan. Not one. Big Joel has the size to occasionally give him an issue but Duncan could demolish LMA, Channing and Ike. Scary. It will be very interesting to see how the Blazers deal with the pick and roll, especially with Tony Parker driving like Ricky Bobby. I’m sure Nate will have some schemes to contain Parker but it’s much easier said than done. Ask Steve Nash.
On the other side, to win this game the Blazers will need for Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge to actually show up. Not a guarantee as we’ve documented Roy’s constant struggles with the Spurs and LaMarcus won’t have an easy time dealing with Duncan. Considering Roy has always struggled against the silver and black, I’m not expecting a huge game from him. That being said I expect a big game from LMA. For one, he’s even hungrier after a poor performance so he’ll be in attack mode, not super hesitant mode like on Tuesday. Without Oden on the floor he won’t wonder what to do…he’ll just do it.
Again it will be very interesting to see what happens tonight. Let’s not get completely wrapped up in getting a win or a loss. Last year the Blazers started 0-3, so it’s not the end of the world if the Spurs come out on top. Instead of paying so much attention to the final score or the box score, let’s take a look at the actual game. Let’s look for progression from last game to tonight. Let’s look for smoother offensive execution, better defense, more poise and just enjoy a night of great basketball at the Rose Garden. The one thing that has to be brought into consideration is that right now the Blazers are behind teams like the Warriors and Nuggets because of a lack of familiarity with each other and with the system. Everything seems a bit rough. Let’s wait for it to smooth out.