A huge win. And that might be an understatement.
Here are the facts. Portland just won the first game of a rough 5-game road trip. Always important because it gives a cushion. More important because of who they did it against. You recall the knocks on Portland before the season. Well…. This “youthful” and “inexperienced” team just went into the Palace of Auburn Hills and outplayed the Detroit Pistons. From start to finish I don’t think there are too many people who can say that Portland was not the better team this afternoon. The Blazers out-veteraned (it’s a made up word) the veteran Detroit Pistons.
And I say out-veteraned because of the tough and professional way they won this game. After that great first quarter, the Pistons came back. Kudos to Michael Curry for putting the reserves in because the starters would not have tried. But they came back and took the lead. 31-30 Detroit midway through the 2nd. The best part of it all? The Blazers responded. They didn’t wilt to the Pistons, they didn’t back away from the challenge. Portland responded. They went on a 9-2 run and ended up out-scoring Detroit 20-11 the rest of the quarter. Now why did I go on and on about that sequence? Because they did the same thing in the 4th quarter. That run midway through the 4th is the type of run winning teams go on. A 77-75 deficit with 7 minutes left turned into a 93-80 with 2 minutes in the game. Start up the bus. The Blazers knew it was winning time and just went out and took the game. Impressive. Seems as if the road wins in Miami and Orlando paid dividends here because there was a certain confidence that wasn’t around early this year. I swear it’s like watching a baby turn into a prodigy. Just a very mature basketball game from Portland and if you’re a Blazer fan you can’t help but feel great.
And I don’t want to hear the excuses. I know they are coming on SportsCenter when someone in the stat department decides to point out that the Pistons play horribly on Sundays. And then *insert anchor’s name* cracks a joke about AI missing practice/cracks a joke about the Pistons stucking on Sunday. No, sir. The Red and Black Attack went out and got the job done. Plain and simple. Winning in Detroit is hard enough, but going in there and shooting 52% from the field. Come on now. Come. On. Now. The Pistons have slipped defensively but not that much. To try and put that 52% in perspective, the Blazers didn’t reach that number in either of their home routs over Miami and Chicago, both who treated defense as if it was Magic Johnson in the 1992 All-Star Game.
In the pre-season I stated the Portland had one of the best frontcourts in the NBA when it came to depth. Back then I would have put Detroit right up there with them. Well…Portland’s bigs went to work today. They out-rebounded Detroit, 35-30. They plugged up the middle. They blocked shots. They showed their value. Oden showed flashes of the monster inside. Big Joel continues to be probably our most underrated player. But no one proved their vaule more than LaMarcus Aldridge. This is the LaMarcus Aldridge that Nate and Roy were talking about in the pre-season. This is the guy who said he wanted to be an All-Star. This is the player who had a gigantic chip on his shoulder in October. He showed up today in a huge way. In my pre-game thoughts I wondered if Sheed would show up. He didn’t at all and LaMarcus did in a huge way. I can’t even compare the two after what happened today.
(And if anyone is a Scrubs fan, I feel like that match up today was like when JD told Dr. Cox “I want to be like you…except a more successful you.”)
Also interesting to me is that this may be a glimpse into the future. This was the first game where the Future Big 3 all played relatively well. LMA with 27, Roy with his lunch pail 19, 5 and 4 and Oden with 11 and 13. The consistency will come and if today was a look into the future then let’s be happy.
Other notes:
- Steve Blake….7 assists, 1 turnover. And people had the nerve to question your value. You can’t find a much more solid point guard out there. It’s easy to poke holes in his game but he does a few things. He runs the team, he produces results and he doesn’t take anything away from the table. What more does this team need at the point?
- I like this Sergio Rodriguez. He still turned it over…but I like it. My cringes are down to about 2 per possession so we’re doing great.
- I’ll tell you this right now. Nicholas Batum is making Travis Outlaw expendable. Not trade-him-for-Mike-Conley expendable, but definitely expendable. As much as I enjoy Travis, there’s no doubt that Martell and Batum’s ceilings are much higher than what Outlaw is going to accomplish. That being said….please don’t trade him for Mike Conley. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Ok.
- I’m not sure why Detroit is still trying to start AI and Rip together. It’s not going to work. They are both volume shooters. Apparently no one has watched the debacle known as AI playing point guard. It’s crazy he’s so talented and he has the ability to get whatever play he wants…but you can’t re-program him now. It’s crazy because he’s made the most un-talented PG’s (looking directly at you Eric Snow and Anthony Carter) look great. So Lamar Odom in 10 years I mean Michael Curry…go ahead and let Stuckey run the show, you need a point if you want this to work. Also…don’t start Kwame Brown. You’re asking to lose.