Three in a Row for Blazers in Vegas
posted: 7/10/2006 at 11:52 PM
A quick update to last night's blog for you. I'll be posting a new one tonight, following our radio show, but wanted you to get an idea of what people are saying down here who are watching these games. As you know, NBA TV is taping some of these games, and have many of their people down here. Rick Kamla is here, and this is what he wrote today.
Click here to read it, and I'll be talking to you later on the radio, and then later tonight right here.
Portland 72 Washington 68
The Trail Blazers played their best first half of the Toshiba Vegas Summer League on Monday night against the Washington Wizards and built a 17-point lead before halftime. They followed that up with perhaps their worst second half of the summer league. But, fortunately for them, they were still able to hang on to win their third-straight game, beating the Wizards 72-68.
Portland put 30 points on the board in the first quarter, and led the Wizards 46-34 at halftime. But, late in the fourth quarter, Washington battled back to tie the game at 68, before Brandon Roy hit two clutch free throws. Kevin Pinkney sealed the win with a tip in with 30 seconds left. The Trail Blazers now stand 3 and 1 in the Vegas Summer League, and finish their play on Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns at 1 o'clock.
Roy finished the game with 18 points on 6 of 9 shooting, and continued his outstanding play at the point guard position. Martell Webster, who scored 15 points in the first quarter, led the team with 19 points on 3 of 6 shooting from long range. LaMarcus Aldridge had his best offensive game of the summer league with 12 points, and also pulled down 8 rebounds in 33 minutes.
It was the best game so far for Travis Outlaw, who scored 13 points and recorded 6 rebounds for Portland. Travis, who struggled in the Blazers' first game, has rebounded nicely, and Monday night was efficient in his 32 minutes.
The Trail Blazers shot 51 percent for the game, after shooting 67 percent in the first half. Unlike their previous three games, the Blazers grabbed an early lead and didn't have to battle from behind. Washington never led, and the only tie of the game came at 68 with a minute to play.
Assistant coach Monty Williams handled the head coaching duties for the Blazers, after Dean Demopolous coached them in the first three games. Williams will also serve as the head coach in the final game on Wednesday.
Tuesday will be a day off for the Trail Blazers, before wrapping things up against the Suns. Unlike Saturday, when they had a day off from games, but went through several scrimmages and a short practice, Tuesday will be a true day off.
It will not be a day off for the broadcasters, however. I know, that's shocking to many of you. We will host our radio show,
Courtside Monday Night, presented by L.A. Weight Loss, from the ESPNZone, inside New York New York Hotel and Casino. It'll be at the normal time, from 6pm to 8 on KXL-750 am in the Portland area. If you're outside the Portland area, you can hear the show on kxl.com. Our guests will include Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, player personnel director Kevin Pritchard, and possibly a couple of other players. I'll know more about it tomorrow when I get a chance to talk to a few of the guys.
I wanted to get to a few of the questions you fans have been asking. The one I've heard the most is about Roy, and whether or not we'll see him playing the point guard spot during the regular season. He has done such a great job of playing this new position (new to him, anyway) in this summer league. I talked to Nate McMillan about it and he told me he would be suprised if Roy spent much time at the point during the regular season. I'd be suprised if he didn't spend at least some time there, especially seeing how he's run the team during these past four games. As you probably know, the Blazers have several other point guards who will handle the bulk of the minutes. Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack, and Dan Dickau are more than capable, and will allow Brandon to return to his normal position at the shooting guard spot. All I know is Roy has more than shown good things happen when the ball is in his hands, and don't think that's been lost on the Portland coaches.
The other question I've been getting a lot concerns Hector Romero, who was invited to play with the Blazers during the summer league. Hector is from Venezuela, and has been a very nice suprise during these games. He has shown a toughness the coaches love, and has even been solid at the offensive end. His three-point shot isn't the prettiest thing in the world, but he's shown the ability to hit it, and has had several spectacular dunks. Tonight, following the game, we (the broadcasters) had dinner with the coaching staff in a restaurant at Mandalay Bay, which is an incredible place, by the way. After dinner we ran into Romero, who was walking around the hotel with his girlfriend, and a hand-held video camera recording some memories of Vegas. Hector is leaving tomorrow to return home to play for his national team in Venezuela. We congratulated him on a great summer league and wished him luck. It's possible he could get an invite to training camp in the fall, but with so many players already guaranteed contracts, he's probably a long shot, at best, to make the Blazers roster for the regular season.
Dinner with the coaches was great, and I want to thank Kevin Pritchard for always including us in things like that. I don't really know how things work with other teams, but we're allowed access, are so close to this staff, and have built great relationships with the coaches. I can't imagine that it's this way with many other NBA teams. We're very fortunate. We get priviledged information, and some of it we're allowed to pass on to you. This has been a special time for all of us. I was talking about my blog with Demopolous tonight, and all the great responses I've received from you fans. Dean had a puzzled look on his face at one point and finally asked me, "what the heck is a blog?" I tried to explain it, but clearly he doesn't spend a lot of time surfing the net.
Tomorrow night's radio show should be great, and I hope you can join us. If you can't, we'll have all of the interviews on trailblazers.com for you to listen to later. I'll post them tomorrow night, following the show. This time in Vegas has gone by quickly, and it's been great to have you all along for the ride. It's hard to believe we've got just one game left.
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Hey Mike, I am so excited about the
new guys... Roy and Aldridge and the returning young guys. I just can't wait for the season to begin.
Now, what about them "bad dudes" ..
were do they fit in with all these
excitement? I can't wait... GO BLAZERS.... MY BLAZERS!!!!!
Thanks for all your hard work. I will be listening to the show live on KXL.com. It's going to be about 3:00pm here in Hawaii. I can't wait to hear the question about Roy playing the point. All i have heard are good things about his passing, ability to find the open man and his overall decision making. I don't see why he wouldn't get a significant amount of minutes there especially if he gives us the best chance of winning. I know we already have jack, Blake and Dickau. From what you have seen in summer league do you think Roy is good enough to beat them out for the starting or backup point position if given the opportunity? THANKS!!
Thanks for your comments Chris. I encourage you to listen to the interviews with both Brandon and coach McMillan, as both have addressed the point-guard questions. Click on Summer League Central, and then select the different game highlights and interviews we have posted. I'm curious to see what will happen come the regular season, and it was nice to hear Brandon has a healthy perspective realizing this is just summer league, and things obviously will get a little tougher come November when the season begins. That being said, everything has gone possibly better than expected here in Vegas with the young guys.
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the great reports. This has got to be one the best covered summer leagues that I can remember for the Blazers.
It's clear Martell can shoot the lights out, which is excellent..but tell him to work on his attacking the basket! He's an athletic, hard working kid, and if he can become as good of a slasher as he is a shooter..he's going to be unstoppable.
Hey Mike, keep up the good work on covering the up and coming Blazers. I'm curious as to why Brandon Roy doesn't shoot more often. It seems like he can do so much more with his offensive skills for the team. Maybe that's a credit to his incredible unselfishness, but shooting 66% when the most number of shots he's attempted per game is 9? That's a bit odd. I would love to see him be more aggressive!
Thanks!
That's a good point Protein, and I've been waiting for him to look a little bit more for his own shot as well. I think the obvious reason he hasn't been, is he's been playing point guard, and is trying to get his teammates involved. He's shown us he can get to the hoop just about anytime he wants, and also gets to the free throw line. He reminds me a bit of Rod Strickland when he gets into the paint, in that he really never seems to get his shot blocked. Rod was always so good at that, and I think is one of the best point guards ever at finishing at the rim. And, yes, you're right, things will get tougher when the regular season arrives. Brandon has told me that several times this week. He knows this is just summer league.
Mike, ditto on the reporting and kudo's to the orginization for setting up the delayed broadcasts and overall fan access to the summer league. I think Roy has been exactly the kind of aggressive player he should be at point guard. Aggresive for his own shot as needed and aggresive to get his teammate's good shots and to keep them into the flow of the game. The comments i've read are alot of "good descision making, every dribble has a purpose, not alot of wasted movements" are the ones that have me excited about our new blazer. His high shooting percentage is further evidence of not only his physical abilities but his descision making abilities as well. Just look how much better the whole team does as soon as he steps on the floor. From what i got out of nate's comments was he wants his scoring gaurd to be able to bring the same types of abilities his point does (last season he did put two points in at the same time alot) I can't wait to see him next season when he will be at the scoring gaurd position. whith the abilities he has shown to create and finish his own shot and his unselfish and smart play i see alot of open shots in webster's future!
Hey Mike I'm really excited about the big 4 we have 1)Roy 2)Webster 3)Aldridge and 4)Outlaw in the league and all are doing whats expected, but I'm wondering about Ha and him not playing much? Also it seems Hector Romero is playing pretty well, what do you or your' readers think?, and What are we ever going to do with Nedzed Sinanovic? Please clear up this, I know you can if anyone can!!!
Hey Mike I forgot to ask a question, How long after we draft a player and they play overseas AKA Nedzad Sinanovic do we hold onto their rights? Thanks.
The consensus around the watercooler is one of optimism. We really feel they are assembling a talented young group. Roy just keeps us licking our chops and Aldridge is showing us why we got him-defense.
Defensively we should be much improved in my eyes, with the addition of Roy and especially Aldridge, whom already has more blocks in the Summer League than Randolph had all of last year. Seriously, he and Joel will combine to make a pretty nasty tandem next year and will alter more than a few shots.
I think this group is intelligent enough to communicate, something the boys lacked last year. I heard a lot about how we lacked basketball smarts. Again with the addition of our new recruits, we haved upped our B-ball I.Q.a notch and that will hopefully lead to more W's.
Man, how many more months until the season tips off?
Too Long. Still, our guys need time to prepare. so, I can be patient...I guess. Just keep up the coverage guys. RIP CITY
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