Tough One In Phoenix
Andrew R Tonry | Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 11:58PM 
Give credit to the Phoenix scouts—they did their job.
After Friday’s game, I mentioned that the Wizards made their fourth quarter comeback once Flips Saunders went to the zone. And judging by what happened Sunday, Saunders appears to have found a hole. McMillan even said Friday that Saunders “hid” the zone from them until the fourth quarter.
On Sunday, Phoenix did much the same thing.
The Suns went strictly to the zone down the stretch in the fourth quarter and a four point Blazer lead quickly turned into an eight point deficit. In the final period, Portland put up just 19 points against one of the weaker defenses of the NBA. Possession after possession, the Blazers were unable to find daylight for good shots—many were forced just to beat the clock. On a night where Andre Miller takes—and misses—a whopping six three point attempts it’s safe to say the wheels fell off.
Portland hit just two of 17 three point attempts, which allowed the Suns to confidently sag even further into their zone.
The horrid shooting performances of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge were also eerily similar to the Wizards game. In Phoenix Roy made just eight of a mind-boggling 25 attempts while Aldridge netted six of fifteen. In the last two games the two Blazer stars are have made a combined 24 of 75 attempts (32%).
On the defensive end, Aldridge had an equally fitful time defending Amare Stoudamire. And although Stoudamire was held to just 18—four below his average—on shooting that rivaled Aldridge’s, the Blazer forward was forced into fouls time after time—they just happened to be on the floor. Jerryd Bayless’ held defense was equally ineffective.
The lone bright spot in Blazer colors was Marcus Camby. The veteran piled up game-highs with 16 rebounds and five blocks.
Through three quarters, Andre Miller was in the savior category as well. As Roy and Aldridge couldn’t hit the backside of a barn, Miller kept things close with constant pressure. That was until the fourth quarter when he missed all six attempts to finish with 22 points on seven of 20 (in all fairness, Miller was forced into a number of these shots by way of flaming bag passes). Roy led all scorers with 23.
As a team, the Blazers shot just 36.4% from the field. They kept it close for as long as they did for two reasons: 1.) they had only four turnovers—a season low, all of which came in the third quarter; and 2.) as a team Phoenix shot 38.8%—not much better. It was the first time in 13 games that the Blazers scored less than 100 on the road.
Despite all the horrible shooting statistics, it’s gets worse. The Blazers could’ve stayed in this game had they made their free throws. In the final six minutes the Blazers missed four free freebies (Camby clanked one, Batum one, and Aldridge two). As a team Portland missed eight (21 of 29).
More than ending a five game winning-streak for Portland, this loss is notable because of the razor thing margins separating the five through eight spots in the western conference playoff race. Coming into tonight’s game both San Antonio and Oklahoma City lost. Phoenix and OKC were only a game and a half ahead of Portland. Sunday’s lost kept the Blazers in eighth. With a win they would’ve jumped the Spurs.
Overall, an odd game. A tough barometer, as the scoring Phoenix usually foments was so out of character. Rest assured, with Dallas and OKC on the horizon, we’re going to know soon.
Reader Comments (6)
Portland played tough despite the poor shooting. And if they had hit just TWO of those three-pointers and TWO of the several missed free throws in the fourth quarter, they win the game. That aside, I'm surprised to see so many typos in this post. It says that it was posted near midnight, perhaps you were tired. And "foments"? Really? We can forgive the awkward phrasing. What we can't forgive are the stats. Camby's 16 rebounds were not a "season-high." For crying out loud, man, he had 19 rebounds in the Washington game, three days ago! In fact, Camby has racked up more than 14 games with 16 rebounds or more. And he had six blocks against Detroit back in November.
Hey AJ, the article calls Camby's 16 rebounds a "game-high" not "season-high". It's probably a good idea to read a little closer before you accuse a writer of sloppiness. Just saying.
It was a rough game to watch. I watched it at the Mission Theater and it was a fun crowd until the last 10 minutes.
Moving beyond having nothing better to do than snort adderol and play blog critic-fact police in-between porn sessions.......
Something no one has seemed to mention is the back side of the trade for Camby; the Blazers can't break a zone. Andre Miller taking six threes is going to turn things ugly in a hurry and for all of Blake and Outlaws weaknesses both could get hot and shoot lights out from deep forcing the opposition out of a zone and re-opening the lanes.
Camby was a must, Portland wasn't going anywhere without a center, and Camby has become an instant fit, but damn with Webster playing as big as the TV Webster, Rudy's gimp back, and Bayless's layup range, it could get even uglier down the stretch...
Indeed, and let's not forget which teams put these mind boggling zone clamps around these confounded Blazers, the Suns and Wizards aren't exactly torch bearing defensive teams no matter how deep in the bottle one may be.
It does make one wonder, while Bayless may have a whole heap of 'potential', (which is always a loaded word), how much does this team miss Steve Blake? Especially on the nights the team is going 2-17 from three without an attempt coming from the bench?
Not debating the Camby pick-up, just kind of wondering if we shipped the wrong guard out of town.....
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