Miami 107, Portland 100: Trail Blazers Continue Slide
Don't let the final score fool you, the Blazers got crushed again. By the Heat. In Portland. Let's just get through this recap the best we can.
LaMarcus Aldridge sat out nursing a banged knee. On the positive side he looked very debonair in his suit. In his place the Blazers started rookie Dante Cunningham, who provided some much needed hustle.
Energy like Cunningham’s is something I am craving more and more as we sit and wait for the team’s bigger personalities to sort out their issues. I want a hyperactive role player power forward to just go nuts out there and provide me with some sort of vicarious catharsis. So thanks for giving me a little of that, Dante.
When young Cunningham went to the bench, the slightly less young (I’m using deep time as my scale here) Juwan Howard came in and provided instant offense, even beating the buzzer in the first quarter with the same non-jumping turnaround banker that the older guy at the gym kills with during pick-up games. He finished the half with 12 points (5-5 FG, 2-2 FT), 2 rebounds, and 2 assists. I love Juwan Howard.
Also of note from the first half was the play of Brandon Roy. In the first quarter he scored 14 points on nine field goal attempts with zero assists. He nearly outscored and out shot the rest of his teammates combined; they managed 14 points on eleven attempts.
In the second quarter Roy shifted to the other extreme, scoring no points and taking only three shots. He finished the night with 25 points on 25 shot attempts. I am now in waiting; waiting for Roy to show that great leadership and make the declarative “buck stops here” stand that rallies the team and turns things around. Would be wise for me to hold my breath?
Portland’s defense was terrible. Miami shot 53 percent from the field for the game. When a Heat player would beat his defender on the perimeter, which was very normal, the scorekeeper might as well have automatically put two points up. Beasley had more free throw attempts in the first half (8) than he has had in any game this season.
The Heat had 60 points at half. What was that thing we used to have all the time back in the day? Oh yeah, defensive intensity . Being interested in helping each other might work too (I refuse to be sorry for that Half Baked reference. When the team plays this bad I get to trot out any reference I please. It's in my Bust a Bucket contract).
Greg Oden was a bright spot tonight. His career high 20 rebounds featured eleven off the offensive glass. He also had 13 points (albeit on 4-13 shooting) and 4 blocks. He was a force even beyond his impressive numbers. He altered shots that he didn’t block, some all the way out on the perimeter.
Even when he wasn’t scoring he was a factor offensively, Miami even sent some double teams his way. And of course Greg was a constant threat to nab an offensive rebound. Jermaine O’Neal got into foul trouble trying to keep Oden off the glass and once O’Neal went out and the (allegedly) 6’9" Joel Anthony came in Oden made Miami pay even more.
After watching Greg struggle with foul trouble so much it was beautiful to see him inflict some whistle-pain on his opponent. Imagine a world where Oden is consistently getting other teams into foul trouble. It may be closer to reality than you think.
Tonight was Andre Miller’s 550th consecutive game, which is an active player record. He contributed 18 points and 6 assists. Blake had 9 and 3. Just so you know.
The video stream I watched had the Heat announcers and Australian commercials, which was novel enough to add a little entertainment to my evening. It also meant that I had to watch a replay of Quentin Richardson breaking Roy’s ankles 337 times.
It was easily worth it when they ran a game show segment at half-time where they ask Udonis Haslem weird questions and add a laugh track and canned applause. I was impressed enough to take a screen grab:
I would also like to note that Sheed warned you all that “Civil War Night ” was a bad idea. Clearly all that UO and OSU clothing in the crowd confused the Blazers into thinking that they were at an event where they would be watching somebody else play a game. I hope we all learned a valuable lesson.
