Wow.
That’s all I could come up with to describe tonight’s victory. I’ve stared at this box for minutes and minutes and all I could come up with is wow.
What a game. What a roller coaster ride.
I can only imagine the insanity that took place in the Rose Garden. I watched the second half in a bar/restaurant in Vegas with no sound, ignoring my friend’s going away party to watch this game. And I was basked in the glory of the Rose Garden in HD…it was tough. Let me tell you that Yao’s and-one was an absolute downer. No one in the bar was paying attention as my heart sank under ground. But… when Brandon Roy hit that game-winning three-point shot I jumped up and down, screaming, running around like Jimmy V desperately seeking a hug or a high five or something. The trendy people in the bar who were paying attention gave the classic ‘OHHH’ for about 2 seconds and went about their business. I was jumping up and down, screaming ‘AHHHHHHHH’ like a little kid, spouting nonsense about P-Town and full of adrenaline.
40 minutes later and if you couldn’t tell I’m still a bit shaky.
No mistake about it, this was a big win for the home team. As Coup said earlier, a loss here would have been tolerable…but definitely would have hurt. With a victory, this 5 game Mini-Tour of Doom against tough Western Conference opponents has proven to be a minor success. The Blazers dribbled last night’s game in Utah off their foot and simply couldn’t hang with Phoenix on the road. However, they showed that they can at this early stage of the season compete with the league’s best on the road, a huge trait for such a young team. Also let’s not forget the two gutty, grimy victories at home. Erase the debacle in LA from your memories and things are looking way up…although that East Coast swing could be un-fun.
Tonight, the Blazers gutted another one out against a very tough opponent. This Blazer team is continuing to learn and grow and get better, and that’s going to happen for a while. But wins like tonight will only acclerate the improvement. The good news is the Blazers are learning to win not just learning to compete. This victory was far from easy but as they did against the Spurs, the Blazers found ways to win. Despite blowing a 10-point lead and then a 5-point lead in the 4th quarter, the Blazers kept coming. They found ways to make big defensive stops late in regulation and overtime. There were points during the 4th quarter where it looked as if the youth of the Blazers was going to lead to a trend of ‘collapsing’ late in 4th quarters. And blowing back-to-back games definitely would have stung, but the Blazers managed to fight it off. I mean shaking off the turnovers and dismal shooting performance in the 4th (had to be 30%) to win the game was impressive. I’m still hoping for the offense to smoothen out soon as there were times in the 4th where the offense just came to a halt.
(Also…that last play at the end of regulation where Roy just kind of dribbled all over the place. Not my favorite Nate I’ll tell you that much. A lot of Roy going 1 on multiple people. I don’t know if that’s what I love to see.)
Brandon Roy. Man. Nearly gave me a heart attack tonight. He was struggling there’s no other way to put it. He was struggling so bad that there were times in the 4th quarter where I actually believed he looked…*gasp* dismal. I even texted Coup. He was getting by Artest just fine but the finishes nor jumpers were falling. But thank goodness we have Brandon Roy. He managed to shake it off and make the huge plays that everyone has come to expect in overtime. The drive and dump to Big Joel was underratedly huge as were his 5 points in the last 3 seconds. At this point in the season, I think it would be easy for an impatient Blazer to fan to question if LaMarcus and Brandon are ready to carry this team. I also believe it would be foolish to jump to such a conclusion. B-Roy has had his struggles early on, but tonight he proved without a shadow of a doubt that he is the man. Ditto for LaMarcus who carried us for the majority of the evening…even snagging 9 boards and nailing two clutch free throws. Things have not come easy for Roy but there’s a few reasons one can point to:
- A major league bullseye on his back after officially breaking out.
- Defenses keying in on him.
- Still feeling this team out.
- And the schedule the Blazers have faced so far. He’s been guarded by Kobe, Bowen/Spurs, Raja Bell, The Jazz in Utah and Ron Artest. That’s 5 straight tough assignments right there.
Not making excuses for Mr. Roy (he doesn’t need them) just pointing out the truth. The road won’t necessairly be getting easier with all of the upcoming road games, but it won’t be as much of an uphill climb.
The Blazers had no answer defensively for Tracy McGrady tonight. It’s a bit worrisome going into every game knowing that great players can pretty much have their way with us. Aaron Brooks and his speed caused major issues. Even if Steve Blake did his best impression of The Professor and shook the former Duck up. I’m sure Blake will be feeling the impact of Brooks in his knees tomorrow. But shutting down Ron Artest was huge as was frustrating Yao Ming, even if Yao nearly crushed my heart with his and-one. I miss the days when he couldn’t speak English.
Looking at Coup’s keys to success from his pre-game piece…we actually did a lot of positive things tonight. First off, the Blazers out-rebounded the physical Rockets 48-36 with Mr. Outlaw grabbing 13 (10 defensive rebounds). Big time statistic right there, especially with Oden out of the lineup and Big Joel not doing one of his 15+ nights. Rudy was a success from behind the arc (3-for-5), Blake was not (0-for-4). Outlaw had probably his best game of the season (0 turnovers and a double double) yet he still managed to make me cringe late in the game.
I wrote that and all I can think about is Brandon Roy. The adrenaline is still pumping. The natural high is alive and well. It’s going to be tough to fall asleep tonight.
Not even Charles ‘I H8 The Blazers’ Barkley can take this feeling away.