The Trail Blazers’ fateful second quarter: Game 2 Roundtable
By David MacKay
The Portland Trail Blazers dropped Game 2 to the Memphis Grizzlies, 82-97. All things considered, they actually played pretty evenly. The first, third, and fourth quarters were all decided by just two points. However; the Trail Blazers lost any control they had in the second (POR: 18, MEM: 31) and were unable to make up the ground they lost. So what went wrong in that fateful second quarter?
Bryce Olin: Like Game 1, it’s easy to point to the missed shots, but the biggest mistake in that second quarter alone was allowing Memphis to dominate the offensive glass. In that quarter, Memphis scored 12 points off of offensive rebounds. Portland lost the quarter by 13 points. Take out the points from offensive rebounds, and it was a fairly even quarter.
In the rest of the game, the Trail Blazers did a pretty good job at limiting the Grizzlies’ second-chance opportunities. Memphis only grabbed 12 offensive boards overall, but they still scored 29 second-chance points through 48 minutes.
The Trail Blazers are going to give up offensive rebounds in Game 3, but they can’t let the Grizzlies walk into easy shots by leaking out in transition and trying to steal easy buckets. It’s going to be tough, but the Trail Blazers have to do it to win.
Brandon Goldner: Turnovers. They “only” had three in the quarter (60% of how many Memphis had the entire game), but the Grizzlies scored on all of them, and they all came at crucial times. The first gave Memphis their first lead since it was 0-2; the second came as Portland was trying to squash a 11-0 Memphis run; and the third came as Portland was battling to avoid going into the second half down double-digits. There is nothing more deflating than trying to maintain a lead or make a run and having your momentum taken away and turned against you. Beside the implications on the scoreboard, it’s demoralizing, and the last thing an already downtrodden Trail Blazers team needs is a confidence leak.
Ryan Allison: After the first quarter in Game 2, I believed the Trail Blazers had figured out a way to beat the Grizzlies. Then the second quarter happened. It looked exactly like Game 1 all over again. The Trail Blazers biggest problem was allowing the Grizzlies to go on an 11-0 run turning a two point deficit into a nine point lead. That run spanned almost five minutes of game time, from 10:30 to 5:47. In that span of time, they lost sight of Beno Udrih yet again and made him look like a 5x All-Star. Udrih scored six straight points for the Grizzlies which energized his team and the fans. The scoring droughts are killing the Trail Blazers’ momentum and they need to find ways to stop those runs by the Grizzlies if they want to have a chance at avoiding a Game 3 loss.
Casey Baumann: As promising as Portland’s hot start to last night’s game was, the second quarter proved equally disheartening. The Trail Blazers’ first five shot attempts of the quarter were taken out of isolation sets, on which the team averaged fewer than two frontcourt passes per possession. To say the Trail Blazers’ offense stagnated in the second quarter would be the understatement of the series.
Through two games, Portland has the second lowest assist percentage in the playoffs at just 46.8%. The ball movement has simply not been there thus far. The lack of movement in the Trail Blazers’ offense was particularly evident in the second quarter last night in contrast to Memphis’ penetrate-and-pass onslaught that resulted in a +13 point quarter for the Grizzlies. Portland’s eFG% on catch and shoot attempts in the series is 58.8%, which is really good, but all those shots account for less than a quarter of the team’s FGA. When the Trail Blazers shoot off the dribble against the Grizzlies in this series, they shoot less than 25% from the floor—That is no way to win a basketball game.
Patrick Heath: Like many of us, after the first quarter, I was hopeful that the Trail Blazers would come home with the series even 1-1. After the second quarter, I was hopeful we would keep the game within 20 points. You could take your pick on what the biggest problem was in the second quarter– Missed shots, costly turnovers, poor rebounding, a lack of Arron Afflalo and Chris Kaman— each of these things played a significant role in what turned into an insurmountable deficit for Portland. My personal opinion is that lack of defensive rebounding allowed Memphis to break Portland’s will while igniting a raucous crowd in the Grind House. Game 3 must include some sort of inside presence on the boards, otherwise Portland could be staring a 3-0 deficit and a first round exit square in the face.
David MacKay: The Trail Blazers had issues securing rebounds and stopping second chance points. This problem was not exclusive to the big men. Everyone seemed so concerned about sacrificing position that nobody chased down loose balls. Kosta Koufos, Jeff Green, Vince Carter, and Zach Randolph all took advantage at least once, while the Trail Blazers only half committed to bounces in their vicinity.
Consequently, the Grizzlies had little trouble building a lead. Between a multitude of scoring opportunities on one end and forcing turnovers on the other, they did not need to do any complex strategizing. Just play hard defense and fight for rebounds. The Trail Blazers tried to do both (seemingly intermittently) but were successful with neither.