Thoughts For Game Three Of The Portland Trail Blazers / Memphis Grizzlies Series

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Before we get to the Portland Trail Blazers’ Game 3 against the Memphis Grizzlies tomorrow, a thought about the postseason in general, and this year’s first round in particular.

Last year, all but one series went at least six games, with five of them stretching to the most exciting 48 minutes of basketball in the NBA, Game 7. One of the series that did not reach the fateful seventh game, of course, was our own Blazers finishing off the Houston Rockets in absurdly dramatic fashion.

The point is, 2014’s first round was extremely exciting, full of action and featuring evenly-matched teams throughout both sides of the bracket, even the 1-versus-8 matchups, which usually are bloodbaths.

2015, on the other hand, has three series poised for sweeps after action Thursday, and the other series with the exception of the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are at 2-0. If you’ve watched the Blazers or Toronto Raptors play, you know neither of those teams are putting up much of a fight in the 4/5 matchups in both conferences, while the 1/8 and 2/7 series on both sides are pretty much going as predicted.

There were exciting games on Thursday, but they were merely the last gasps of young, inexperienced teams playing their first playoff games together at home. The Bucks got buried by the revitalized Derrick Rose, while the Pelicans gagged away a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter, proving that Monty Williams is a bad coach and that Anthony Davis, as good as he is, still has a few things to learn.

Oh, and Stephen Curry is a god. That, too.

There are just two reasons to tune in for the next week; to watch the Clippers and Spurs in what I’m sure will be a classic, and to see the leaders in the other seven series summarily dispose of their unworthy opponents.

Now, on to Game 3 in the Portland-Memphis series:

With the Blazers being held to 86 and 82 points in the games at Memphis, it’s very plain that the Grizzlies are playing Grizzlies basketball: slow, ugly, and full of stifling defense. They call it Grit-’n-Grind, and their home the Grindhouse. Hell, ace defender Tony Allen, the heart and soul of the team, is nicknamed the Grindfather.

As the series shifts to Portland, I know the Blazers are trying to figure out how to get the pace to favor them for more than a few minutes, as well as praying that a few more threes happen to fall. They’ve gotten good shots, but they haven’t fallen yet. Meanwhile, Memphis is making everything they throw up there; even Vince Carter, the ancient shooting guard the Grizz signed in the offseason, shook off his shooting slump and drilled a few.

Starters tend to play huge minutes in the postseason, but playing LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum 42 minutes apiece, and Damian Lillard 40, in Game 2 doesn’t sound palatable when the only result coach Terry Stotts has gotten are two blowouts. Lillard scuffling through another horrid shooting night didn’t help, either.

Allen is making life hell for Lillard on the perimeter, and when the Blazer guard manages to penetrate into the paint, either Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph, and/or the Wing Not On Nic Batum crash down on him, taking away the rim and whatever passing angles Lillard, who’s not a great passer to begin with, can see. Also, Allen by then has rubbed off the screen set by Robin Lopez, and is coming up behind Lillard, cutting off his retreat.

Combine those issues with the absence of his perimeter shot, and it’s no surprise Lillard’s struggling this series. Although he did a great job against Patrick Beverly–no slouch on defense himself–in 2014, Lillard had the benefit of Wesley Matthews’ shooting alongside him, and Beverly was the only good defender on last year‘s Rockets team. Without consistent shooting to space the floor and stretch that stingy Grizzly defense, poor Dame’s getting throttled.

As for Aldridge, he shot under 40% from the field in Game 2, going 7-20. If it weren’t for his 9-10 performance from the free-throw line, he wouldn’t have sniffed the 24 points he eventually did tally.

Aldridge will, at some point, need to explode in this series. Dropping 40 or 45, or 15-18 in a quarter, could give the Blazers the spark they need to challenge the Grizzlies. What better time to submit a truly dominant game than Game 3, down 0-2, at home?

When he’s on, there’s no defense for him. With the Blazers losing six straight going back to the regular season, and seven of eight overall, they need their superstar and captain to just go out there and decide to obliterate everybody he sees in his path.

And can we please, please, PLEASE, get something from CJ McCollum and Allen Crabbe? The two young wings, taking the shooting guard/backup wing minutes, played a combined 52 minutes in Game 2, and shot a combined 4-15 (with McCollum going 3-13), with a combined nine points, five rebounds, one assist, and two fouls on McCollum.

Allow me to put my Genius Cap on, and say that the Blazers need more production from whomever plays next to Batum on the wing, be it Arron Afflalo or those two young witless wonders.

Narcissistic moment of the day: looks like my Grizzlies-in-five prediction is going to be spot-on; the Blazers are too proud to get swept out of their own building. If you doubt my predictive powers, keep in mind that in my preview articles this season, I predicted the results of each game. The Blazers’ season record was 51-31.

My prediction record? 51-31.

Just sayin’.

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