Hey, how you doin? In the shadow of the "Bing," (which is very close to Continental Airlines Arena) the Trail Blazers wrap their 4-game road trip against the New Jersey Nets. The team had a "sit down" this morning and perhaps asked for help in getting a victory in this game.

The Trail Blazers suffered through a rough night in Boston on Friday night. The Celtics used a swarming defense to slow Zach Randolph early, and were incredible from long range, as they beat the Blazers 118-90.

You can't blame a slow start on this loss. The Blazers and Celtics were tied at 20 after the first quarter, and the Blazers trailed by only seven points at halftime. But, in the second half Boston's offense came alive, and they buried the Blazers with three pointers. The Celtics ended the game 12 for 20 from behind the three-point line, and in the last two games are now 20 for 32 from behind the line. That's a staggering number, and it was way too much for the Blazers to overcome.

Paul Pierce led the way, as expected, with 29 points, but five other Celtics also hit from deep in the game. Wally Szczerbiak ended with 19, and was 3 for 6 on his three-point attempts. Delonte West was 2 for 2, and Gerald Green was 2 for 3. The Celtics, as a team, shot 51 percent for the game.

Sebastian Telfair, who badly wanted to show the Trail Blazers they made a mistake in trading him on draft day, had 15 points, 7 assists, and just 1 turnover. If Boston coach Doc Rivers was concerned that perhaps Telfair would try and do too much against his former team, it never happened. Telfair made the comment before the game, that it's easy for him to look like a great point guard when he has dead-eye shooters to constantly feed in the Celtics offense. Telfair not only spread the ball around, but was also efficient with his own offense, going 6 for 10, and 1 for 1 from behind the three-point line.

Zach Randolph again led the Blazers with 23 points and 12 rebounds, but again was pounded down low by as many as three players on every offensive possession. We've seen several different defensive game plans against Zach on this trip, and on this night, the Celtics' strategy was to simply try and keep the ball from ever getting inside. Ryan Gomes was physical with Zach, and tried to keep him out of the low block. When the ball did make it inside, Randolph was immediately doubled, and at times tripled.

Another team that is playing well, New Jersey, will get a shot at doing the same thing on Saturday night. Vince Carter is off to a tremendous start this season, and will cause Portland defensive matchup troubles.

It's also another back-to-back situation for the Blazers, as they arrived in Newark late on Friday night. Rather than hold a shootaround on Saturday morning, the team held a long meeting at the hotel in Short Hills, New Jersey.

A couple of injury updates for you. Joel Przybilla had a minor surgery on Friday afternoon, as a result of the injury he sustained at Golden State. Joel should be returning to practice next week, but will likely miss at least three or four more games.

Brandon Roy will continue wearing a boot for another two or three weeks. The team was hoping to get him back in time for the 6-game road trip through the east, which begins on December 5th at Detroit. That could still happen, but is probably a little optimistic at this point. It's a tough and frustrating situation for Roy, who had gotten off to such a great start in his rookie season. Surgery isn't out of the question, but at this point doctors are hoping rest will solve the problem.

The Blazers will arrive back in Portland early on Sunday morning, following a cross-country flight home. They'll practice at some point on Sunday, and then will get set to take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.

 

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