Game 36: Clippers 105, Blazers 95
Lack of personnel for the Trail Blazers hadn't been a problem lately, but last night Portland finally tripped up and fell to the Clippers in Los Angeles.
Brandon Roy was covered like a glove, but the scrappy Blazers put together a solid effort before eventually falling short 105-95.
This was the type of game that presumably would have ended in a loss during the Blazers' recent stretch of wins. Guys played hard, but ultimately, they did not have enough talent and size was on the court. Somehow the Blazers managed to win a lot of those games, probably due to confusing matchups and pure surprise by the opponent.
The bottom line is that the Clippers learned from their mistakes last week. They made Roy their top priority and shut him down completely. The Clippers also used their massive size advantage by outrebounding Portland 38-29.
Marcus Camby played a great defensive game. Chris Kaman dominated at times in the paint, and Ricky Davis capped things off offensively with some showboating to boot.
The Good
The Blazers were absolutely bare bones last night. Half the team is already hurt, but to have LaMarcus Aldridge and Steve Blake out too is just ridiculous. The team played really well considering the situation.
Andre Miller was outstanding. With Roy double-and-triple-teamed, he took it upon himself to carry the load offensively. Miller's ridiculous 16 assists shows his ceiling and how he can get a bunch of young guys involved in a game.
Martell Webster also put together a nice game. He helped keep Portland in it for the first three quarters. His 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, 5-of-9 from three, is a great sign when you couple it with his performance on Saturday. Hopefully, Webster has broken through his inconsistencies.
Dante Cunningham, Jeff Pendergraph and Jerryd Bayless all had solid games considering the situation. Pendergraph and Cunningham were overmatched in size but still seemed to get as much as they could on the boards. Bayless was hit or miss as he hit a few nice jumpers but also made some bad decisions.
Once again, I have to give huge props to Juwan Howard. I don't know how he keeps doing it. Not only did he knock down jumpers last night, but he's become the glue and the veteran leader of this team in a lot of ways. I never thought he'd be this important to the Blazers. Oh, and you can't forget about his dunk on Kaman. Wow!
The Bad
There was a point in this game where the Clippers were turning the ball over on every possession. They also had 20 turnovers overall. Portland did not take advantage of this at all.
The way you beat this Clippers team is by taking advantage of their lack of focus. Last night, unlike last week, Portland did not take advantage.
The Blazers' defense really struggled at times. For some reason, leaving Eric Gordon open for three was okay as Gordon was cold in the first half. He eventually scored 16 of his 19 points in the third quarter.
Perimeter defense is very tough without lanky, quicker guys, and Nicolas Batum's return will help this situation a great deal.
Roy had a brutal night. That's going to happen sometimes. The problem is Portland didn't have Alridge or someone else to keep the defense honest. Early on, Roy seemed to be just missing shots, but later, the Clippers took him completely out of his game.
Other teams will now focus on this and do the same thing. Webster, Bayless and Aldridge will all have to step up their games.
The Ugly
Obviously, I am not a Ricky Davis fan—from his comments about the Blazers being cockroaches a few years back, to his general lack of respect for the game of basketball.
Last night, watching him showboat and dance around like an And 1 clown was just too much for me. I am always reminded of this fateful video.
