(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)
Prior to the game, I was shocked at how demoralized Blazer fans were. For example, at work there were four co-holders of season tickets. Two of them assumed the series was over, to the point where one of them actually bet five bucks the Blazers would lose game two against the Rockets.
All season I have had a very solid read on this team, from my preseason prediction of 53 wins down to how they would fare in each month. As a result, they sometimes turn to me for my take on the game.
Blinded by my man-crush on LaMarcus Aldridge, I said, "L.A. will come out and have a huge game, Roy will have a better game, and the Blazers will win this one. It will probably be pretty close, but they will tie the series."
I got to the game and was talking with the guy who convinced me to get season tickets of my own, a good friend and poker buddy. He also thought the series was basically over. I told him the same thing, but he remained discouraged, even going so far as to say, "I don't even really want to go to a game five if they are down 3-1."
Nor was he alone in his sentiment. The buzz in the crowd was very similar. That game one crushing had the fans completely demoralized.
About five minutes into the game I turned to my wife and said, "They were right. Portland is going to lose."
She looked at the scoreboard which showed the Blazers tied at 15. "Why would you say that?"
I pointed out that home teams which get humiliated in the first game typically come out super energized, build a nice lead, and then end up needing to hold on in the end. Visiting teams typically try to withstand the opening blitz without losing contact and then take over the game. Yet Houston not only withstood the blitz, they had led most of the way.
Furthermore, I had expected Aldridge to come out strong, looking for his shot, and take over the game. Instead, he was playing tentative, not taking the shots he normally took, and was a complete non-factor on offense.
Still, this team was so much fun to watch all year that we settled back to enjoy the ride. And what a ride it was!
Somehow, some way the Blazers overcame every obstacle. They overcame the demoralization from game one. They overcame being outnumbered eight to six on the floor. They overcame having scored 100 pints or more just once in a jaw-dropping 29 attempts against the Rockets. They overcame Ron Artest hitting some ridiculous, ridiculous shots.
Artest, by the way, deserves a lot of credit. He has rightly taken a lot of grief over the years for some of his actions, both on and off the court. But he has also done some things people ignore or do not know about. For example, during the down time between games one and two, he sought out and performed some charity work. This was not well publicized.
He has also toughened up Houston and given them an edge that they did not have in prior years. More importantly, he saw this game was up for grabs and he did everything he could to grab it.
Nicolas Batum is far and away the Blazers' best wing defender. He did a really great job on Artest. Several times he forced Artest into falling away to the left fade-away jumpers at or even beyond the three-point line.
And Artest hit them. Sick, sick shots. He was destroying the Blazers. Roy was trying to match him but Portland needed someone to give Roy some help. As the early years of Michael Jordan showed, no player, no matter how good, can single-handedly win a playoff series. It takes a team.
Sometimes two players can. At the eight minute mark of the second quarter, we finally saw the Aldridge I expected early in the game. He hit a couple of post moves which opened the lane for Roy to score five quick points. Then he went back on the block and scored on four consecutive possessions.
That forced the Rockets to double and triple team him, to focus their defense on him which then allowed Roy to go back to work. Together they had 36 of Portland's 53 first half points. Aldridge shot 8 for 10 in the first half. This was the guy I had expected to see.
Instead of passing the ball off and letting Luis Scola control him, he was imposing his will on Scola, on Yao Ming, on anyone who came near him. With the Rockets forced to divide their attention, Roy was carving them up inside.
The Rockets were also relying on two guys. In the first quarter it was Artest with 15 points. In the second quarter it was...well..unexpected. Yao Ming? I would believe that. Aaron Brooks? Sure, we have seen what he can do. But it was Von Wafer scoring 12 points of his own that kept Houston in the game. He simply could not be stopped.
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