Blazers/Mavs, Game 2 Liveblog
Some more of this in Game 2 would be nice
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- Well my liveblogging is off to an auspicious start as I’m reminded that I have a Skype conversation scheduled at 6:30, the same time as when the game starts. Fortunately for me, that late game on TNT never starts on time and they will ALWAYS stick with the East coast game, even if it’s a blowout.
- On that note, I do have the choice of watching the game on TNT or on our local affiliate and I’m going to choose TNT. I like the local announcers enough, as their homer tendencies just make me laugh, but after that first game and the way the whole refereeing thing is shaking out (Dallas media is already pinning an eventual loss tonight on Joey Crawford being the ref) I don’t think I can handle two hours of complaining about the officiating and how the Blazers are getting jobbed.
- Of course, if the refs are out to get the Blazers, I’ll be sure to complain ;)
1st Quarter
- Shawn Marion easily has the worst looking shot of any guy who has made a living out of being able to shoot (if that makes any sense).
- Hmm, they seem to be calling this a bit closer to start the game -- not letting as much go. Not sure if that necessarily favors either team.
- I’m surprised that more big men don’t use the Marcus Camby “tap out” rebound method. He gets 2 or 3 of those a game and I don’t seem to see other similarly sized guys do it very often.
- Nice move down the lane by Aldridge with the pump fake. Don’t see him drive to the rim like that very often.
- Dirk is way off on his shot to start the night. Of course, last game proved that he typically still finds ways to hurt you on offense. Still, he seems to be a bit bothered by the Portland defenders, so that’s a plus.
- Wallace hits a three -- I’d still rather he not shoot those. But that’s a good sign if he’s going to hit that as it should get him some more room to drive.
- And just as I write that he gets another call on a drive to the lane. Nice.
- Um, Wesley Matthews looks like he’s dead after that head butt. That’s not good.
- Hmm, Rudy comes in for Matthews…interesting.
- Aldridge will kill the Mavs if he continues to hit that jumper (as long as he doesn’t fall in love with it).
- Ugly, ugly, ugly three attempt by Batum.
- McHale thinks that Batum is the worst possible person to be guarding Dirk? With brilliant analysis like that it isn’t any shock that he ran the Timberwolves into the ground.
- Stop with the threes already Blazers…and Dallas hits on on the other end. 2 point game.
- BATUM-SHAKA-LAKA. He needs to hit that shot WHEN HE’S OPEN (and make it).
- Ugh…another wide open 3 by Dallas.
- And so ends the quarter -- good back and forth by both teams. Should be fun the rest of the way.
2nd Quarter
- I just realized it’s hard to get worked up when playing the Mavs. They just don’t have a lot of those players you really hate.
- Rudy…what was that!? Batum goes down the next shot and drains a nice jumper. And then two plays later the steal and the dunk
- That was a better idea by Roy on the drive…it’s still sad to see his inability to get around guys, though. *sigh* And then he misses both free throws.
- Peja is certainly shooting good thus far tonight.
- With some of the fouls being called for the Blazers, then perhaps that $35,000 fine McMillan paid was worth it. Lots of touch stuff going their way.
- It’s amazing how good Andre Miller is at moving the ball up the court. It’s amazing how many easy buckets the Blazers get when you consider they are the slowest paced team in the league.
- BATUM!
- Just as I wrote why don’t more guys do the Camby style rebound, Chandler does one.
- McHale seems surprised that Dallas is shooting a lot of 3’s. Um, they were 5th in the league during the regular season Kevin.
- Jason Terry is one of those guys that I’m always surprised can dunk the ball. He looks smaller than he really is.
- McHale on Jason Terry: “You know why they call him the Jet, because he puts the flaps out”. Is that a comment on his ears?
- You have to be kidding me on that Kidd
4-point3-point play. That was some kind of shot. - Ah, the alley oop. Dallas has been guarding surprisingly well on those tonight, so it’s nice to finally see one.
- Oh man, Matthews is starting to heat up. If him and Batum are on, I like the Blazers chances to win this (as I stated in the preview).
- Another alley oop to Aldridge! He is so, so good at getting into position for those.
- Hehe, they aren’t going to call your flop Tyson…and here comes a technical. The booing scene in Dallas is something I have seen time and again at Blazer home games and I roll my eyes at it 98% of the time then, too. Most of the time when it happens you can look up at the scoreboard and free throw attempts are just about even.
- Not sure if “ref, you suck” chants have a positive effect on the refs.
- Not sure how 20-second timeouts work…I hit the 30-second skip the moment it was called and it’s still going on for another 30-seconds after I skipped.
- Eh, that was a blocking foul. Don’t move those feet Batum!! Oh well, Haywood misses both of the foul shots.
- That’s a pretty great half for the Blazers as they are doing just about all the things they need to do to win and never really had a lull throughout the first half.
Half Time
- That’s one big screen Kenny is standing in front of.
- Charles says one punch can’t knock him out…hehe.
- And did Kenny just say that Charles has been in a lot of jails?
3rd Quarter
- Hmm, probably shouldn’t let Jason Kidd just walk down the lane like that.
- Ugh, Blazers getting killed by the old man and some bad switching defense.
- Wallace needs to do a lot more of those post ups this half. The Blazers have a tendency to start drifting about this time.
- And Wallace with a missed three…see previous bullet point. Yuck.
- Another bad switch…leads to a Dirk 3-point play. It’s been a failure of the defense all year, getting killed on switches likes that. In fact, it’s the single reason they lost to Phoenix in the first round last year.
- Blazers really need a bucket here with 7:00 to go in the quarter…and it looked like they had an easy one with Aldridge only for Dirk to get a piece of it.
- At least Dirk is missing wide open 18-footers.
- FINALLY, Aldridge with an 18-footer of his own.
- I like Peja’s defense on Wallace there…just grab him as he’s running, don’t even attempt to play defense.
- Time for the Blazers to make their run? Two post ups in a row by the Blazer guards lead to a 3 point lead.
- Hmm, probably shouldn’t let Peja be wide open for 3. He’s good at that shot.
- MILLER HIT A THREE. IT’S A MIRACLE!!!!! (No, Kevin, he doesn’t make those enough to keep you honest). I said Shawn Marion has an ugly shot, but at least his feet leave the ground when he shoots. I’m amazed that little set shot by Miller even makes it to the rim from that far out.
- And a nice runout lay-in by Gerald Wallace to make it a one-point game.
- I don’t think the announcers are aware they are back on the air here.
- Mills in before Roy? Looks like they are going with the speedy lineup here.
- Brian Cardinal looks like my 5th grade gym coach.
- Patty Mills *shakes head*.
- Down one going into the final quarter, doesn’t look like either team will run away with this. Every time it looks like the Blazers are going to fall into one of their moments of idiocy, they snap out of it.
4th Quarter
- I like Rick Carlisle’s strategy for the 4th -- “stops and scores”. A worthy answer to an asinine question.
- Dirk misses a free-throw! I’m sure he’s going to get plenty of chances in the quarter though.
- Ugh, JJ Barea. Rudy simply can’t guard a guy that quick.
- Just look at how the offense stalls when Miller isn’t in there. Everyone just starts standing around like they expect Brandon to become the Brandon of old. Frustrating to watch.
- Marcus Camby for three! McHale insinuates that McMillan drew that up in the huddle…I don’t know about that.
- Eep…Peja for three. Bad rotations by the Blazers there.
- JJ Barea killing it right now. Ouch.
- Good job by Aldridge to take the ball inside aggressively as they are more than willing to give him the superstar whistles right now.
- Okay, so if a 6’6” inch guy takes that shot from Matthews it’s NOT an offensive foul? Does that make any sense?
- 4:30 to go and down by 8. Bad fourth quarter for the Blazers again.
- Yep, falling apart in the fourth quarter. And they can’t blame the officials this time.
- Down 8. Pretty much need a perfect 2 1/2 minutes to pull this one off…let’s see if they can do it (it’s not like Dallas hasn’t choked one away before).
- Okay…so everything Dirk does is a foul on the other team. I promised I wouldn’t complain, but…
- *sigh*
- Next two games are in Portland. Hopefully better things happen for the Blazers there as that was an atrocious 4th quarter.
7 comments
Love love love this.
Love the pace to this game, up and down, running after makes, etc. Like basketball I remember in the late 80's early 90's that made me such a fan in the first place.
Love Batum's game, totally understand why the Blazers didn't include him in any potential plays.
Remember when Kidd came in the league and his jumper was as ugly as Rondo's? man has he improved that part of his game.
What happened to Roy? I don't know the history of his injury but he looks about 60% of what he was (when him Rose and LeBron were my favorite players to watch).
How do you go from not being in the All Star game to being at worst third team all-NBA? Aldridge is a beast, always saw that coming.
Is Dirk the best white player post-Bird? I can see him playing until he's 40.
Overrated stiff alert: Shawn Marion, Stoyacavich (sp?), etc.
Nice work on this really fun to read and follow. GO BLAZERS!
opps
"Love Batum's game, totally understand why the Blazers didn't include him in any potential plays."
should be
Love Batum's game, totally understand why the Blazers didn't include him in any potential TRADES.
Rick Carlise or older Jim Carey? You decide.
I agree -- this is a really well paced game. Especially after watching some of Boston/NY and Orlando/Atlanta, which were pretty slow paced.
Batum is great. I sometimes wish they either drew more plays up for him through the lane or he was a bit more aggressive. But I see big things for him in a year or two.
On Kidd -- I haven't followed him for a while, so it absolutely shocked me that he was a good 3-point shooter as I remember how bad he was. Shows if you work on perfecting your long range shooting you can stay in this league forever. Good for him.
Roy's knees are simply done (no meniscus there, rubbing bone on bone). I'd say he may be much worse off than 60% of his old self, closer to 30%. That's all there is too it. He has a big offseason ahead of him in an attempt to reshape his game. I hope he can do it, but his confidence looks absolutely shot. Sad, sad situation.
Nothing has made me happier than the Aldridge transformation. He always had him in it, but always deferred to Roy. If anything good came out of Brandon's injury then it was LaMarcus taking the reigns of this team.
I love Dirk. I think he gets the stigma of a "loser" because he's never one the big one. People tend to forget that plenty of great players who weren't Spurs, Bulls, Lakers, or Celtics haven't won championships.
Well, I'd say Peja is an overrated stiff, but he's killing the Blazers tonight.
Okay, now that you mention it, the Rick Carlisle/Jim Carrey connection is there. It's not Mike Tomlin/Omar Epps, but it's there.
Jamie -- if you are subscribed to the comments, then check this link out. Points out all you need to know about Roy's current physical and mental state:
http://eye-on-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/28674308
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