On Sunday, it’s fair to say that the Portland Trail Blazers, to steal a quaint English phrase, caught ol’ barney off the Memphis Grizzlies Sunday. The starters on both teams struggled, but when the Blazers’ thin bench came in, Beno Udrih of the Grizzlies spat fire and burped ice, draining his first seven shots and keying a Grizzlies run that put Portland away before halftime.
A few thoughts on how the Blazers can do better in tonight’s Game 2, restoring some broken pride, showing Memphis that they won’t go quietly into the night, and maybe–gasp!–even steal a game on the road.
(I’ll wait until the laughing stops.)
Udrih had an awesome series last year against the Oklahoma City Thunder in relief of Mike Conley, so his outburst didn’t surprise me a bit. I think I even mentioned him in my preview, referencing his sterling efforts in nearly dragging the Grizz past OKC in 2014.
Apparently, the Blazers coaching staff lost that videotape. Udrih picked up right where he left off last year, getting into the soft midrange spots in the super-conservative Portland defense and draining 17-foot pull-up jumpers. When the Blazer bigs started taking away that jumper, Udrih simply dribbled around the slow-footed Robin Lopez and Chris Kaman, and scored at the hoop.
Conley is limited again by injury this postseason, but he also looked very good against the Blazers–though that’s more the product of who he was playing against than anything else.
I don’t know how to put this any other way: Damian Lillard sucked in Game 1. Every part of his game was awful: his decision-making on offense, his shots going awry, the total lack of punch allowing Memphis to bother LaMarcus Aldridge into an inefficient night (13-34 FG, 32 points), and the defense. Oh God man, THE DEFENSE!!!!!!!
Lillard’s defense is nothing short of horrid, and the bad positioning, along with his habit of smacking into picks and sticking there like a fly on a spider web, allowed Udrih and Conley on a bum leg to compromise the Blazer defense, and give the flailing Memphis offense some much-needed juice.
His hesitance shooting from the perimeter is also troubling, and very unlike him. Earlier in his career, whenever his defender went under a screen when Lillard ran the pick-and-roll, Lillard would take offense and fire off a three. Wouldn’t matter where, and he didn’t care if the Blazers were up 20, down 20, or tied with six seconds to go in the game. He would pop a three in your grill, and make it too; I’ve seen Lillard drill 30-footers with no conscience at all.
On Sunday, whenever Tony Allen, an elite defender whose job is to hound Lillard, went under a screen, Lillard didn’t pull up and jack one, like he used to. He forced the issue by driving into the paint, and tossing up shots that didn’t have a prayer of going in.
Lillard hasn’t shot well from the paint as a professional, but he improved this season. Perhaps he’s taking that criticism to heart, too strongly. He’s determined to drive into the teeth of the Memphis defense instead of doing what made him a star in the first place.
Scuttlebutt says Arron Afflalo will try to play in Game 2. Good. Any team that has to play CJ McCollum 37 minutes in a playoff game is cruisin’ for a bruisin’. In case you thought that was too strong, CJ shot 1-8 for two measly points, and his “defense” on Udrih was the start of the Grizzly avalanche.
Afflalo might not do any better on offense, but he’s long, tall, and he’s a veteran–things McCollum can’t say.
Remember that line about Aldridge passing the rock more on Friday? Taking 34 shots, many of them with either Zach Randolph bodying him in the paint or Kosta Koufos in his grill, isn’t the path to a Blazer victory.
Those 34 shots were the most anyone has taken against Memphis in the Grizzlies’ postseason history, and with Aldridge suffering Lillard’s fate at the rim (sooooooooo many awkward one-handers at the cup…), I bet the Grizz were just fine with Aldridge providing a static target, if you get my drift.
Nicolas Batum actually didn’t have a bad game, scoring 15 on 5-12 shooting, but he wasn’t immune to the frost wave that chilled Portland in the first quarter. Continue the strong play, Nic, but cut out the schoolyard-like quotes, like “We don’t lose to Spanish players.” That was a shot at Memphis’s Marc Gasol, who happens to not only be a Spaniard, but anchors the Spanish National Team.
Spain and France, whose national team Batum starred for at the World Cup last summer, are bitter rivals on the hardwood, so I have no doubt where the ill-advised words that graced the Blazers’ locker room originated. That was about as safe as, well, as poking a sleeping grizzly bear with a stick.
One last thought: Portland’s made a habit of starting off slow, especially against good defensive teams, for years now. That’s nothing new. It’s like coach Terry Stotts and his players are feeling out the game, searching for cracks in the defense, then attacking those cracks like my dogs attack their dinner.
As the series advances, look for Portland to search out those cracks earlier. They do exist, believe it or not; Conley’s on a bad leg, Allen’s got a hamstring issue (though he looked awfully spry on Sunday, I admit), and Udrih, Jeff Green, and the fossilized Vince Carter are all minus defenders.
The first quarter on Sunday was the feeling-out process combined with historically bad shooting. If the Blazers can coax some of those open shots to go in, and create more of them as they get more familiar with the Grizzlies, they could have a shot to do what they’ve failed to do five times this season–beat Memphis in a game of basketball.
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