This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 23, 2011 4:49 PM.
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He just led the Blazers to what may have been their most improbable come-from-behind victory in their history. Down 23 points in the second half, and 18 in the fourth quarter, they beat the Dallas Mavericks to even their playoff series at two games apiece. Now it's a best-of-three-game series, and the scene shifts to Dallas for Game 5. What a miserable plane ride back to Texas the Mavericks are about to have. Let's hope the misery follows them into the next game. Go Blazers!
With a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 61-41 - I'm thinking the Blazers are down twenty points, and it's take nearly three quarters to score twice that - there is no way they can even make the score respectable.
But the thing about this team, they keep playing, don't make excuses for the injuries, the lack of depth - sometimes they don't play very well (witness the 4th quarter scoreless stretches), but they keep at it.
It was apparent from the opening tip that the NBA TV demands did neither team any favors - 16-11 after one quarter? Both teams were shooting in the 25% range in the first quarter, both looked extremely sluggish.
And to add to Bill McDonald's theory of remarkableness, there was something, at least initially, about the comeback, that it seemed unremarkable. Just a made shot here, a stop or Maverick errant pass there - then everyone was focused - but just on the play at hand. Sometimes it seems teams that are trailing try to do too much all at once - like make the 20 point shot. And we got to witness the most amazing comeback in Trailblazers history.
I'm still exhausted - and, as Jason Quick pointed out today in the O, it's all for naught if they Blazers don't win this series.
Brandon said "I played on the edge today" That is how you win championships. Takes a lot of courage to play that way. To trust your shot & ball skillz to simply take it to the hoop at will and make things happen. A fairy tale ending to an ugly game.
I haven't heard much mention of this but all of Brandon Roy's heroics took place after a very nasty fall in the first half. Throw in the double knee surgeries this season and I'd say the perseverance is strong in this one.
As many of us probably noticed, for over 3 1/2 quarters very few drives, inside passes were made by Portland. Not until the last. Why is that, does Coach ever bring this up in the timeouts and insist it be done? If they don't, yank the players not helping to do so. You'll lose anyway if you don't go to the well occasionally, just to mix it up, especially when few Blazers aren't hitting the three pointers in a particular game.
In the history of the NBA, fourth-quarter comebacks happen all the time. Have you all forgetten that Portland was on the receiving end of a record-setting one from Utah just last year?
Two things happened last night--Roy got in a shooting rhythm, and Dallas didn't play good defense. here, I'll make a prediction: in the next game, Roy will have 14 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds. A decent game for a solid player. But the Blazers don't have the fire in their bellies or the consistency to maintain a high level of play over multiple games like this one.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (12)
Final score?
Posted by Lawrence | April 23, 2011 7:04 PM
Streak shooter. Dallas in 6, unfortunately.
Posted by Don't Shoot the Messenger | April 23, 2011 7:30 PM
There is no way Dallas is going to win a Game 6 in Portland, my friend. That was conclusively proven today.
Posted by Jack Bog | April 23, 2011 8:12 PM
Jack, I'm loving your 'tude!! Don't give it up!! Thanks!
Posted by PDXLifer | April 23, 2011 9:05 PM
Yeah, well the city is still broke. And we're all going to grow old and die someday.
Posted by Sigma | April 24, 2011 12:40 AM
Probably one of the most exciting Blazer games ever.
Posted by Dave A. | April 24, 2011 7:59 AM
Probably one of the most exciting Blazer games ever.
Would have been, but for this little spoiler. I gotta learn to stay away from the Internet while the game is still "in the can".
Posted by Allan L. | April 24, 2011 8:36 AM
With a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 61-41 - I'm thinking the Blazers are down twenty points, and it's take nearly three quarters to score twice that - there is no way they can even make the score respectable.
But the thing about this team, they keep playing, don't make excuses for the injuries, the lack of depth - sometimes they don't play very well (witness the 4th quarter scoreless stretches), but they keep at it.
It was apparent from the opening tip that the NBA TV demands did neither team any favors - 16-11 after one quarter? Both teams were shooting in the 25% range in the first quarter, both looked extremely sluggish.
And to add to Bill McDonald's theory of remarkableness, there was something, at least initially, about the comeback, that it seemed unremarkable. Just a made shot here, a stop or Maverick errant pass there - then everyone was focused - but just on the play at hand. Sometimes it seems teams that are trailing try to do too much all at once - like make the 20 point shot. And we got to witness the most amazing comeback in Trailblazers history.
I'm still exhausted - and, as Jason Quick pointed out today in the O, it's all for naught if they Blazers don't win this series.
Posted by umpire | April 24, 2011 10:30 AM
Brandon said "I played on the edge today" That is how you win championships. Takes a lot of courage to play that way. To trust your shot & ball skillz to simply take it to the hoop at will and make things happen. A fairy tale ending to an ugly game.
Posted by genop | April 24, 2011 1:03 PM
I haven't heard much mention of this but all of Brandon Roy's heroics took place after a very nasty fall in the first half. Throw in the double knee surgeries this season and I'd say the perseverance is strong in this one.
Posted by Bill McDonald | April 24, 2011 2:26 PM
As many of us probably noticed, for over 3 1/2 quarters very few drives, inside passes were made by Portland. Not until the last. Why is that, does Coach ever bring this up in the timeouts and insist it be done? If they don't, yank the players not helping to do so. You'll lose anyway if you don't go to the well occasionally, just to mix it up, especially when few Blazers aren't hitting the three pointers in a particular game.
Posted by Lee | April 24, 2011 4:57 PM
In the history of the NBA, fourth-quarter comebacks happen all the time. Have you all forgetten that Portland was on the receiving end of a record-setting one from Utah just last year?
http://www.nba.com/jazz/schedule/022110_jazz_at_blazers.html
Two things happened last night--Roy got in a shooting rhythm, and Dallas didn't play good defense. here, I'll make a prediction: in the next game, Roy will have 14 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds. A decent game for a solid player. But the Blazers don't have the fire in their bellies or the consistency to maintain a high level of play over multiple games like this one.
Posted by Don't Shoot the Messenger | April 24, 2011 7:40 PM