Rapid Reaction: Portland 93, Golden State 91

Portland Trail Blazers

93

Final Recap | Box Score

91

Golden State Warriors

	Gerald Wallace, SF 39 MIN | 6-13 FG | 8-8 FT | 6 REB | 0 AST | 24 PTS | -6 With Portland’s offense floundering in the fourth quarter, Wallace was the catalyst that got the team back on track. Ten of his twenty-four points came in the fourth, including two huge threes. His only knock came on the defensive end where he allowed David Lee to notch twenty-nine points, but that can be forgiven as he was playing out of position.
	Nicolas Batum, SF 36 MIN | 7-13 FG | 1-1 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 17 PTS | +5 Remember when Batum wasn’t in the starting lineup? Yeah, me neither.
	Marcus Camby, C 30 MIN | 5-11 FG | 2-4 FT | 11 REB | 2 AST | 12 PTS | +2 Twelve points from Camby, which was much needed scoring in LaMarcus Aldridge’s absence. A silly foul in the closing minute on a defensive trap of Nate Robinson is exactly the kind of play that leads to close losses, though, and he has to be docked for that.
	Raymond Felton, PG 39 MIN | 4-15 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 10 PTS | +5 I saw Felton fight for an offensive rebound tonight. That one hustle play alone kept his game from being an F minus minus. Other than that? Felton looked completely lost, unable to either initiate the offense or put the ball anywhere near the basket on his shots. If I could grade in sad emoticons, Felton would have earned a hundred of them.
	Wesley Matthews, G 34 MIN | 4-12 FG | 0-0 FT | 3 REB | 4 AST | 9 PTS | 0 Matthews started hot, knocking down his first four shots. And then he missed his next eight. Enough said.
	Jamal Crawford, G 28 MIN | 5-13 FG | 3-3 FT | 3 REB | 6 AST | 14 PTS | +7 Crawford was huge in Portland’s thirty-seven point second quarter, knocking down jumpers, finding open cutters, and actually playing like a competent point guard. That he also found his range when Portland needed a scorer in the fourth, including hitting a huge three towards the end of the game, was just what the Blazers needed to get over the losing close game hump.

Three Things We Saw

1. Make that 2-9 in games decided by five points or less. Wallace and Crawford were both huge in the fourth, stepping up and hitting the shots that needed to be hit. Hopefully this is the beginning of a winning trend in close games.
2. The bench (outside of Crawford) was a total non-factor, hence not being mentioned above. Because of this, Nate McMillan ran his starters for huge minutes in the middle of a back to back to back. Don’t be surprised to see some tired legs tomorrow in Portland against the Clippers.
3. The Blazers scored thirty-seven points in the second quarter and only fifteen in the third. Consistency is not a four letter word.