I was busy with some Chinese clients and found out we lost by 5. Does anyone know what happened? I looked at the box score and saw we shot well and held them to a decent %. I did notice they had like 30 fouls shots. Was the game ugly?
Very ugly. Bobs could not hold onto the ball in the 1st half, and we turned a lot their t/o's into points. Problem is, that was about the only offense we could muster. We didn't establish LA early, which seems to be the key to any kind of offensive execution these days. Still, we were up the whole game until the 4th, but we just couldn't build a lead. It felt like we should have been up by 20 as bad as the Bobs were playing, but we let them hang around. In the 4th, Steven Jackson went nuts. We started the 4th up 6, and all of the sudden we're down 9 with about 6 minutes left. We made a run, and actually took the lead on an LA jumper with about 1 minute left. But Steven Jackson (that guy!) made a 3 point play to give them a 2 point lead. We had chances from there. 'Dre drove into the lane on the next play and fumbled it away. We got the ball back (sweet block by Wallace) with 8 seconds and called our last time out. Nate drew up a sweet play. Wesley inbounded it, then sprinted to the basket where it looked like he had an open lane to the rim. But he ended up getting fouled. He goes to the FT line needing to make 2 to tie. First FT = went all the way around the rim and then out. First miss for him in his last 30 attempts. That was pretty much it. Too bad he didn't make the FT, but that wasn't the real issue. The game should have been over in the 3rd. Just didn't step on the gas hard enough.
Basically the Blazers like to play to their level of competition, which can be good (Miami). Unfortunately the Bobcats suck, and the Zers followed suit, never capitalizing when they built a small lead. They looked downright lethargic at times, and let the cats stroll right back into the game. See Kaydow. ^
Basically what happened was the Blazers put it on cruise control a tad too early. They had a 10-point lead late into the third and got relaxed. Jackson then played out of his mind in the fourth. It was a game the Blazers should have won.
