Blazers 94, Grizzlies 90 Re-Thoughts
By SJ
I’m just going to start this off with an apology. I’m going to try my best to focus my thoughts on to this game…but I can’t promise anything. The trade deadline is looming over me like a cloud. Or like an encounter with an ex…you know it’s coming, you pretty much know what the conversation is gonna be like (in this case we have a clue what we could be getting) yet there is no way to prepare for it. I just feel like a little kid whose waiting for his parents to come home from a parent teacher conference. Nervous energy, can’t really do anything until I hear that garage door go up. I can’t function until 12 tomorrow and even then I might not be able too.
(And I still have this strange feeling that nothing could happen. I’ve lost my marbles.)
Take tonight’s win over Memphis for instance. What’s the first thing I think about talking about? Not Brandon Roy’s super-efficient game. Not Steve Blake’s return or Oden’s absence. The first thing I think about after this game, kind of re-watching it and looking at the box score…no Jerryd Bayless. The first thing I think about is no Jerryd Bayless. *Gulp*. Now I know Steve Blake came back….but no Bayless? No one else smells something fishy? The night before the trade deadline? Do we pour the liquor out now or later? Also….a lot of Channing Frye. Granted Oden was out…but still. The man had only played double-digit minutes twice in the year 2009 before tonight. Can you say showcase? You see how my mind is all messed up by this. And I have this sinking feeling I’m going to wake up in the AM and the trade will have happened.
Ok, seriously, onto tonight’s win over Memphis. Nothing special. It was comfortable there for a while in the first half and then Memphis starting making runs and we ended up doing enough to win. Portland never really jumped up to a higher gear where you just felt like they were going ot kill the Grizzlies but they just made winning plays. Definitely didn’t get the kind of win that would have put a big grin on everyone’s faces. I think we all wanted a double-digit win with a little attitude to help us shake off what happened before the All-Star Break. But the Blazers played a winning brand of basketball tonight. And that’s all you can ask for coming off the All-Star Break. You know when you have to go back to school after Spring Break and you can’t function for a few days? NBA players need to work their way back into the groove too. When you turn the corner of the All-Star Break you can’t really complain about anything that adds numbers to the W column. The second half wasn’t pretty but enough plays were made to win. It wouldn’t be a fourth quarter with out B-Roy (7 of the 18 points) and a big shot from Travis Outlaw (three ball to put the Blazers up 4). Really nice to see Blake back on the court from a comfort point of view. I’m sorry Sergio but you were making my blood pressure go up.
And I’m still thinking about the deadline. A little over 12 hours from now we’ll know the direction of this franchise for the time being. Are we making a move? Is it Wallace, Jefferson or *cross fingers* Butler? Are we holding pat and going into our normal summer frenzy? So many unanswered questions and ultimately what happens (or doesn’t happen) is going to much more important than this 4 point win over Memphis. That’s just spitting the truth people. I’ll catch you tomorrow, I’ll have every piece of technology by me. We can do this.