| 29 May 2009
It was something to behold. Steve Blake was doing what he does best – distributing. Over and over again. Those poor Los Angeles Clippers never saw it coming. Over and over again - 14 assists in one quarter. Now nearly five months later, Blake’s going from passing to procedure.
It was back in February when Blake tied an NBA record for most assists in a quarter. He finished with 17 in Portland’s 116-87 blowout of the lowly Clips. And as I sat there at the Rose Garden watching Blake pass his way into the record books, all I could think was the love won’t last for Blake.
Never does. Soon it will be gone. The naysayers will return. They always return.
Next time he makes one bad pass, people will be packing his bags and forming a convoy to drive him out of town. Next time he lays a brick, he’ll be blog trade fodder. Next time he posts career numbers, it still won’t be good enough. It seems like whatever the guy does it is never good enough.
All the Blake bashing has finally taken its toll.
It was announced Thursday that Blake will undergo right shoulder surgery on Friday in Los Angeles to “clean a few things up and get it stabilized”, as Kevin Pritchard put it. He’ll be shelved 6-8 weeks.
That’s just enough time for Blazers fans to fret more about the lingering point guard dilemma. That’s 6-8 weeks of fussing over lost trade value. That’s 6-8 weeks of saying Portland should have made a move at the NBA trade deadline when they had the chance. That’s 6-8 weeks of more Blake bashing, suggesting now the guy is damaged goods.
That’s 6-8 weeks of knowing we’ll be seeing a lot more Jerryd Bayless at the point next season. Like we didn’t already know that.
I have my own theories on how Portland’s point guard situation will shake out this summer and heading into training camp. And it’s not once included getting rid of Blake or Bayless. Plenty of time to get into that later. It’s a long offseason. But here’s a quick teaser: it comes down to two guys splitting minutes and starts depending on match-ups and a new veteran addition receiving the remainder of the action.
Names will be named later.
Stay tuned.
For now, I’m saying a quick prayer for Blake.
Lord knows he needs it around here.
pic via: oregonlive/the one and only bruce ely
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