Just caught this one on the DVR (had to do the social football/UFC watching. Funny how a former pro wrestler is the champ though). No business winning this one at all. None. At. All. Escape with a victory. I have a weird feeling ‘breaking down’ this game. I feel almost dirty like out of respect for Minnesota’s pain I should just take the W and be quiet.
(Stick with me…It’s kind of like…I don’t know if you’ve played 2K9 or Madden/NCAA (or your video game of choice) against the computer. Only they are one of the poorer teams in the game. And you win…only things got way, way, way too close for comfort and halfway through the game you’re like ‘WTF is going on’. Then you have to comeback and win. And when you do, you immediately fist pump, turn off the Xbox and run downstairs to watch TV. Kind of like that.)
Let me get this out of the way: this would have been a very disappointing loss had the Blazers not come back in the 4th. The excuses were built-in….but it’s still Minnesota. The Blazers are still a team in progress but the positive steps made in the first 3 games would have been smeared by a loss last night. And the disappointment wouldn’t have been confined to losing to Minnesota. No, sir. The disappointment would have been the kind of loss. A loss to New Orleans or Golden State is ok to swallow, but losing to Minnesota in that kind of lethargic fashion would have left a nasty taste in the mouth. Only scoring 80 points on Minnesota? Come on now.
Four ways to look at this game. The first would be to compliment the Blazers for finding a way to win when they clearly did not have their best stuff. It happens in every sport, moreso in individual sports. The Federer’s and Tiger’s of the world find ways to win on their off-days. The team the Blazers somewhat strive to be (the Spurs) have been the kings of winning games they had no business winning. Yes it was just Minnesota, but correct if I’m wrong….isn’t a staple of a ‘winning’ team is finding ways to win games they shouldn’t? I’m just saying.
The second would be to get concerned about two “lackluster” performances. And I’m only saying this because someone said this to me. The Hornets game was just ugly and this was just a team on the back end of a back-to-back and having been on the road for a while having no energy for the majority of a game. Wouldn’t call it lackluster, strong word there.
The third would be to give our thanks to having Brandon Roy and not Randy Foye. The difference between the two last night….wow. Roy carries the team to victory. Foye has 3 turnovers and 2 assists with 5/14 shooting. Yeah. We win?
The last would be to say a win is a win and that at the end of the day the Blazers are 3-1 on this road trip. That means no matter what happens in the Bay, they will come home with a winning record on both this trip and on the season. And really isn’t that all that matters?
(Still not talking about Oden, this night showed that Rudy really is still adjusting like Nate says and Travis…he is a schizoprenic basketball player. We just need to give Bad Travis a new nickname. Somebody call his momma.)