Blazers Roll in Jersey
posted: 11/19/2006 at 12:04 PM
The Trail Blazers are now 4 and 1 in their home white jerseys. They were wearing them on Saturday night in New Jersey, because the Nets had requested the opportunity to unveil their new alternate red uniforms. They unveiled them, and then probably wished they hadn't. Playing in the whites, the Blazers jumped out to a 13-0 lead on the Nets, led 25 to 8 after the first quarter, and put together a wire-to-wire dominating effort for their second road win.
After the 13-0 start, the Nets never got closer than 10 points, and that was just for a brief moment in the third quarter. By the middle of the fourth, the Blazers had the lead back up to 17, and late in the game it grew to 21. They finally won the game, 86-68. It was as dominating a Blazer win as I can remember in the past two seasons. They've had nicer wins, against more impressive opponents, but haven't jumped on top, so quickly, and never even showed the slightest hint of letting down. That's what happened on Saturday.
The win couldn't have come at a better time. The Blazers had just been pummeled in Boston the night before, and were very down about the loss. They had to watch the Celtics put on a clinic, and have a lot of fun, in the second half. They came out of that game determined to turn things around.
New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank said, before the game, it was their game plan to step on the Blazers from the opening tip, and put them away early. It was a good plan, and one he felt confident his team would execute. They were coming off a very complete win at Indiana on Friday, but looked totally unprepared for the inspired Blazers.
When the Blazers arrived at their hotel in the wee small hours on Saturday morning, Jarrett Jack was so upset with the loss to Boston, and particularly his performance, he dropped his bags and went straight to Nate McMillan's room.
"He was upset with the way he had played, and just wanted some direction, and an idea of what he could to get better," McMillan told me on the plane on the way home late Saturday night. "We talked for a while, and then watched the entire Boston game over again. We stopped the DVD over and over again, and looked at just about every offensive set. It was a great chance to sit one-on-one with my point guard and pick apart everything we're doing."
It was obviously a productive meeting, even if it meant neither man got much sleep. Saturday morning, rather than hold the normal game-day shootaround, the Blazers met in a meeting room at the hotel for three hours. The bus, on the way to game, was very quiet, and very intense. This was a young, shorthanded team responding to a disappointing situation. They weren't about to be embarrassed again.
Perhaps the most impressive stat in the game against the Nets was the fact that Portland had 22 assists on 31 made field goals, including 16 assists in the first half, when the major damage was done. That shows ball movement, obviously, and it shows balance. When Zach Randolph is doing everything on his own, the assist numbers are normally very low. On this night, the Blazers had Zach, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Jamaal Magloire to go to down low. Add to that the deep threats of Ime Udoka, Jarrett Jack, and Juan Dixon, and the New Jersey defense was off balance.
Zach ended with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Aldridge, who's getting better with every game, had 12 points on 5 of 9 shooting. Magloire looked as good as he has so far for this team, and had 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting, and also grabbed 5 rebounds in just 14 minutes.
The Blazers end the road trip 1 and 3, and with a bit of a refreshed attitude. The mood was certainly lighter on the plane on the way home. The coaches were still buried in their DVD players watching tape of the New Jersey game, and preparing for the San Antonio Spurs, but everyone was pleased.
We didn't arrive in Portland until about 3:30 am, and Nate gave the team Sunday off. They'll hold their shootaround on Monday, and will get set to host the Spurs on Monday night (7pm FSN).
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Mike --
Congrats on the newborn. Hope all is well in Blazers land. It is amazing how much of this league is based on belief and how much is bounce back or bounce flat from good or bad performances.
Mike,
In your opinion is Aldrige for real or is this the honeymoon?
It's nice to see this team shut down an opponent on the road, after a disappointing loss.
Way to go guys! I didn't even realize they were wearing the white jerseys, but that is pretty sweet that New Jersey would just give us a win like that.. hahaha.
... Who are the captains?
Nate had this to say after the loss at Boston:
"We are giving up points way too easy and then you start searching for people that can help you, and the only people that can help you are yourselves."
I think that statement pretty much sums up what a great coach Nate McMillan is. Since Brandon has been out the rest of the team has been looking to Zach for all of the offense. With Martell struggling and JJ focusing on distributing the ball it's become a nightly guessing game on who will score points and help to take the pressure off Z-Bo.
New Jersey was a gift, truth be told. They just played a horrible game. We'll see how well Nate's three hour
meeting sticks tomorrow night against the Spurs.
Re: Brandon Roy's orthopedic boot. I have a couple of questions. Number one, what exactly is it, and number two, how is a wearing a orthopedic boot supposed to correct an irregular talus bone in a couple of weeks? I'm no podiatrist, but I'm looking at a player who could no longer play basketball because of the pain in his heel and is now wearing a special boot that may or may not completely alleviate the problem. How this issue could have been overlooked or missed in a physical I can understand but how he played 4 years at Washington without any issues and six months out of college can no longer compete because the pain is so intense I don't. He's gonna need surgery, I'm telling you. I just wish the team would recognize and admit to it and not waste any more time because we need him back. It's a bummer but these things happen.
Jack, I stand corrected. Jack has been looking much better on the offensive end as a point guard. He has been solid the whole year as a player but didn't seem to be creating for his team mates until this last couple of games. With Jacks obvious advantage on the defensive end combined with his experience (2 yrs experience is alot on this team lol)if he can keep playing like this he is without question the starting point gaurd in this group of guys. Can't wait till BRoy comes back and wouldn't be surprised to see Roy and Aldridge hoisting the rookie of the year trophy together as co-winners! (it is possible, remember Sabonis and Damon?)
Hey Mike,
Congrats on the new addition and boy are you in trouble hee hee.
So,everyone still thinks that they won't win more than 25 games?
I believe they have that and more as long as Mac stays true to the players.Mac is the truth with his style of coaching,but laying it on the line with heart not being afraid to get close and show emotion with your players is something I hope he will give these kids before christmas.without it these kids will be like the other team,looking toward each other for it and finding them selves in trouble.Money doesn't replace love and closeness,it numbs it,but can't replace it.
Great to see the team bounce back like that. They had every right to be down after getting plastered by the Celtics the way they did. But they turned it around, put the hammer to the Nets early, and never let up. So now we know this team can rebound from a huge, disappointing loss as easily as they can dig themselves out of a large deficit. And that is a VERY encouraging sign.
Big game tonight vs. the Spurs. This team is full of surprises, but can they do it again tonight vs. the 8-2 odds-on Championship favorites? Can't wait to find out!
Two more items:
1. When is Joel available for action again? And will Nate push him right into the starting lineup, or will he continue to go with LaMarcus?
2. Brandon and the doctors really should quit messing around with his heel and just do the surgery. Had they done the surgery when the pain first became an issue, Brandon would already be well down the road to recovery.
GO BLAZERS!!!
PBF
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