Blazers-Celtics: Oh, We Are Supposed to Shoot BEFORE the Clock Expires?

The paltry 8 assists Rondo was credited with on the night do not show how dominating he actually was. A better example is the 58% the Celtics shot from the field. That was due in no small part to Rondo breaking down Blake repeatedly, Boston making the extra pass, and taking shot after shot after shot after shot with no Blazer within 5 feet. By getting into the offense early, Boston had plenty of time to move the ball after Rondo got into the lane.

Interestingly enough, one Blazer did the same thing to Rondo.

Sergio Rodriguez was making Rondo look slow. Rodriguez has games where he comes in, is explosive, creates offense, defends brilliantly, and changes the game around. Then, there are games where he just...disappears.

And often enough it is not his fault. At one key point in the second quarter he was being guarded by Eddie House. He hit a 3 and then, on the next possession, broke down House, got to the rim, and scored a quick bucket to give Portland a 39-23 lead. There was a television time-out and, for whatever reason, he was pulled.

Now, normally when Brandon Roy comes into the game it is a good thing. Portland, obviously, has nobody with his talent level. In this case, however, it was the right substitution at the wrong time. Portland would watch their lead shrink to 7 at the half. By then, despite their lead, it was obvious they were going to lose.

And so much of it came back to the offense.

Portland had two players capable of creating offense: Rodriguez and Travis Outlaw. Outlaw was having a stellar game, however, so much of it was coming against the shot clock that it was pretty much unsustainable. On the bright side, Portland identified who was scoring for them and started riding Outlaw.

Unfortunately, instead of getting him the ball in the center of the court, they started getting him the ball in the corner.  Outlaw's superior speed and agility was neutralized as Boston used the baseline as an extra defender. Players such as Grant Hill are excellent at playing the baseline offense while Outlaw is much stronger in the center of the court.

There were some bright spots for the Blazers.

Aldridge clearly has an agenda when it comes to Garnett. He was calling for the ball.  When he finally got it with both time on the clock and the ability to avoid the double-team, he was very effective.

At one point, instead of posting up, he got the ball foul line extended right. He drove left, Garnett backed off, Aldridge pulled up, and hit a 15 foot jumper. Then, he made sure Garnett knew he had made the move on him. That is a brave strategy for a second year player and, at least in this game, it would not come back to haunt him as Garnett had a very sub-par game.

The bright spots for the Blazers were few and far between, as Boston simply had too much offense, and Portland had too little. A lot of it was by Pierce after a pile-up on the floor, which got him interested in the game.

It seems strange to score 102 points and talk about struggling on offense, yet that is exactly what happened.

In the end, Portland got beat by a better team.

There are lessons to be learned that will help the Blazers become a threat in the playoffs in a year or two, but for now, Blazer fans will have to be content with watching Roy develop. Assuming, of course, that the re-injury of his groin that limited him to 26 ineffective minutes is not serious...

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