| 07 November 2010
Portland Trail Blazers guard Andre Miller handled the ball on the left wing, surveyed the area, then made his move. He slipped between two cemented Toronto Raptors in dazzling fashion, dribbling the ball between his legs, then confused the three others with a show-and-go before passing off to Dante Cunningham. The Rose Garden crowd oohed and awed at Miller’s display, and then cheered as Cunningham dished to Nicolas Batum, who completed the sequence by draining a three-pointer from the right baseline for his 18th, 19th, and 20th points. The culmination of this possession sent the sellout crowd out of their seats and put Portland ahead by 21, 90-69, late in the fourth quarter. In these five seconds everything clicked for the Blazers. While the trio made it look downright simple on this play, the home team was far from perfect against the lowly Raptors.
Before taking over late in the fourth quarter, Portland was hard to watch. They built a lead, and it hung around double digits for a substantial amount of time, but the advantage was solely maintained because Toronto, which entered 1-4 on the season, managed to play worse. Careless turnovers were committed by the Blazers, bad shots were taken, spacing was poor, rebounding was lacking, and it was clear the effort wasn’t always there. Missed free-throws by the Raptors were grabbed by the Raptors. Portland would stand still, with each waiting for the other four guys to corral the miss. Their performance was unacceptable, and it is evident a change in style of play may be necessary.
Portland won by thirteen, improving to 5-2 on the season and bouncing back from a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That defeat was difficult for the Rose Garden crowd to stomach, but so was most of this contest. The first quarter was the sloppiest the Blazers have played in recent memory. Both teams were poor, but Portland managed to stoop to the Raptors' dysfunctional, disorganized level. They were missing shots, yet part of the problem was their reliance on the half-court offense.
That’s head coach Nate McMillan’s style. That’s the scheme Portland has played ever since he’s been at the helm. And it has worked: the Blazers reached the playoffs the past two seasons and they're off to a solid start this year as well. But the downside of running a methodical half-court offense reared its ugly head against Toronto.
The Blazers have the point guard, Miller, to excel at this pace, but an uptempo style would be more adequate given the talent and athleticism they have at their disposal. When these Blazers run, as they did against the Thunder and at times against the Raptors, they have shown to be successful. But then, predictably, they slow it down. In this game, with the sloth-like pace came predictability and stomach-churning possessions.
Portland fought the shot clock far too often. When McMillan’s play call was snuffed out by Toronto, the team was lost. They improvised, and sometimes it worked. During the late run that put away the Raptors, Brandon Roy made something out of nothing. After dribbling into the lane and back out, he faced the crowd on the left baseline then turned back towards the hoop and threw up a off-balance 15-footer that happened to swish through as the timer neared zero. It was a great shot by Roy, but the Basketball Gods were in a generous mood on this night.
The box score says Portland shot a respectable 45 percent, made 25 of 28 free-throws, and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds. It also says 18 turnovers were committed by the Blazers, that the bench scored just 15 points on 5-15 shooting, and that the Raptors snatched 17 offensive rebounds.
Portland came up big when it mattered most. That’s all well and good, but it was a bad win — a concerning win. The Raptors were 1-17 from three-point range and shot just 35 percent from the field. The Blazers were certainly helped out by their opponent, and it was lucky they were.
Portland may have underestimated Toronto and thought they could just coast to a win. They might still be trying to get acclimated to a new coaching staff alongside McMillan. They might need of a change in direction, a transformation from a half-court to up-tempo offense. All three could explain the Blazers sluggishness, especially the latter. Whatever made the Blazers struggle for the better part of three and a half quarters needs to be rectified, quickly. The Los Angeles Lakers are next, and similarly difficult opponents are on the horizon. Performances like this will only beat the Raptors of the NBA.
photo: daylife
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