Bayless and Sergio had so many open shots that Blake would've knocked down. We had it down to 8 with chances to cut it closer but Bayless couldn't hit. It was sad because I really wanted him to blossom with the opportunity. I hope he gets comfortable these next few games and shows us that he will be able to step up and be a starter for us in the near future, thus making Steve Blake the best back up PG in the league, bar none.
We got within 8 and we just fell apart. It happened when McMillain changed the lineup. I think he took out Oden and Batum, putting in Outlaw and Prz. I was listening so I'm not 100%, can someone verify? Either way, we started the second half well, but we couldn't sustain it. I don't think Steve would have made THAT much of a difference.
Basically what happened is that Bayless got the open shots that Blake always gets but he couldn't make them. Also, at one point, we were only down 9 and we went to Bayless who attacked the hoop but got rejected. If we had scored there, we probably would've won. Bayless had a chance to be a real hero last night but it just wasn't his night.
Uh ... I'm not saying it couldn't have happened, but I got the distinct impression that Philly was just playing hard enough to win in the second half and after absorbing the best the Blazers could muster in the third quarter (which expended a lot of energy) they were able to reassert themselves and took it running away. Last night was pretty much a guaranteed loss once we fell behind by 20+ at the half.
