Game Time: Portland vs Minnesota

Tuning in just before halftime

First Half

• It was 45-36 Minnesota when I tuned in with about 2 minutes to play in the half. Rudy
• According to the commentators, the Blazers big men have dominated in the paint. Przybilla has led the charge. For Minnesota, Big Al has missed a lot of shots he normally makes, while Love is 0-2 from the field.
• Rudy Fernandez’ movement off the ball was brilliant there on back to back possessions, causing Minnesota a lot of worries.
• Aldridge is 0-6.
• Roy fouled on the elbow, not called. Nate is pissed, gets a tech. Wolves make it.
• Roy turns the corner on the screen and roll, drives right, drive and kick to Rudy, three pointer right sideline, nails it
• Miller high screen and roll, drives right, to the rim, Aldridge blocks it … fastbreak Blazers, Blake has it, misses, offensive rebound Roy, putback.
• Telfair from midcourt? Misses.

Halftime

• Minnesota leads 49-43
• Portland leading 24-20 on the backboards. The Blazers have 10 first half offensive rebounds
• Portland have 7 assists on 15 field goals, making only 15-39 shots for 39% shooting. They are 3-9 from three and 10-14 from the line.
• The Wolves have 14 assists on 21 baskets, making 21-45 shots for 47% shooting. They are 1-5 from three and 6-9 from the FT line.
• Al Jefferson was only 3-10 from the field in the first half. Only 1 FT also. He finished with 7 points and 3 blocks. He only had 3 rebounds though.
• Kevin Love was 0-2 from the floor and in 10 minutes finished with 1 point, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
• Brandon Roy leads Portland with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. All team highs.
• Four Blazers have between 5-6 points, and Blake adds four more points. Balanced scoring behind Roy, but no second scorer.
• Aldridge is 1-7 from the floor and 4-6 from the FT line. He does have 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. Przybilla has 4 rebounds.  Frye had 4 rebounds (plus 2 blocks) off the bench, Outlaw had 3. Sergio had 3 dimes off the bench.
• Rashad McCants led the Wolves with 13 points on 5-8 shooting in 11 minutes. Craig Smith and Randy Foye had 8 points apiece. All three players came off the bench and have 29 of the team’s 49 points. Ryan Gomes also came off the bench, he has 4.
• The starting backcourt for the Wolves have 4 points each, Telfair has 3 assists while Miller has 2 boards and an assist. Brewer played only 7 minutes and has 2 rebounds.
• Martell Webster has removed the protective boot from his foot. His recovery is progressing.

Third Quarter

• Jefferson finishing inside with a 11 footer, good look in the paint, no contest on the shot. Not sure how that happened, looked like his defender wasn’t paying attention, can’t describe it better than that.
• Batum with a rejection on the break
• Aldridge forced into a tough fallaway, miss … fastbreak again, this time Brewer takes it to the rim, Batum blocks it again. He blocked Telfair on the previous layup attempt.
• Jefferson doubled, Batum came down, Miller wide open three, nails it. Batum shouldn’t have left Miller.
• Brewer’s pass is intercepted, Roy on the right wing, finds his trailer, slam dunk. Great effort by Batum to get up there and help his teammates, he was under the basket when Portland began that break. Great end to end effort.
• Offensive foul on Aldridge
• Miller gets the switch, Blake on him, he posts him up on the right block, doubled, pass to the open Brewer on the opposite side of the court along the baseline, hits it
• Roy slowly dribbling, lulling his defender to sleep, takes the pull up J, hits it
• Love inside, going up strong, blocked by Aldridge, gets it back, goes up again, Batum from behind swooping for the block, Przybilla nails him from the other side, smacked in the face, foul.  Timeout. Kevin Love can’t see. Commentators wonder if he has contacts? Or if his eye is bleeding. He’s okay. Comes back to the FT line after the timeout and takes his FTs, makes  of two.
• Batum fouled on the defensive rebound, fouled by two Wolves
• Roy is dribbling very slowly tonight, moving slowly. Not injured, just playing slowly. It’s hurting the pace of their halfcourt offense because all his taemmates have to adjust to his pace since he’s on the ball so much.
• Halfway through the third
• Minnesota ahead 57-52
• Telfair turns it over, bad pass
• Roy coming up again, slowly dribbling, screen comes up from Aldridge, Roy crosses over and goes the other way, he turns on the gas, gets to the rim, layup. That play reminds me so much of John Stockton. Lulling the defender to sleep then blazing by him in an unexcpected direction away from Karl Malone’s screen. It’s hard to do, don’t see it often.
• Timeout
• Blazers on a 7-0 run …. starting to build some momentum
• Telfair drives from the right corner, gets into the middle of the paint, takes the runner, blocked by Blake
• Commentators questioning why the Wolves Head Coach waited this long to bring some of his scorers off the bench back into the game. Fair question. Portland have been building this momentum for some time now.
• Turnover Telfair, illegal screen, stuck out the elbow and hit someone
• Batum misses a three from the right corner, Aldridge rebounds, scores the putback. Batum scored a three earlier in the quarter.
• Brewer scores the three from the right wing
• Big Al fouled inside, makes two at the line. Minnesota lead 62-58
• Roy unwinds from three at the top of the key late in the shot clock, nails it
• Al spinning his way through the post, drawing the foul on Joel, that’s four, he’ll sit, Al will shoot two more.
• Aldridge reples with FTs of his own
• Aldridge is in foul trouble, he’s defending Jefferson, Al low post left block, shot fake, Aldridge bits, Big Al goes inside, layup, misses
• Big Al face up J from 15 feet left wing, hits it
• Minnesota lead 66-63
• Aldridge nails the jumper off the pick and pop
• Blazers haven’t led since they were up 5-3 in the first quarter
• Miller drives into the middle, passes off to Gomes, dunk, Aldridge contests it, Gomes misses the dunk. Aldridge’s presence was a factor there.
• Roy draws the foul on a drive on the other end
• Timeout
• Tie Game 66-66
• Two minutes to play
• Miller shoots a three, sticks his leg out, Frye runs into his leg, no only two FTs, long two, not a three
• Aldridge on the post, finds the cutter from the top of the key running down the middle, layup Sergio
• McCants shoots over Frye on the switch, misses. McCants has to move Frye around more than that if he’s going to take that shot, made it easy for Frye to stay in the play and alter the shot
• Tie Game 68-68
• McCants clearout left wing, drives left, doubled, passes out, miss, loose ball foul on Portland as Aldridge grabbed the rebound. Craig Smith will shoot two. Foul on Sergio. Smith makes both.
• 40 seconds to play
• Sergio brings it up, runs a high screen and roll, doesn’t get anyhting, goes back and runs it again, picks up his dribble, almost loses it, out to Rudy, misses a quick three, offensive rebound Travis Outlaw, fouled on the putback. He makes one of two.
• McCants short arms a three, offensive rebound, nice passing, McCants cuts, runner, misses. Lot of contact. End of the third.

Fourth Quarter

• Wolves lead 70-69
• Rudy nails a three to open the fourth quarter. Blazers get their first lead since the opening minutes
• McCants misses another shot, a three, he’s cold. Hasn’t been close on any of these shots.
• Aldridge hits the 18 footer over Madsen on the feed from Fernandez
• Gomes out of control on the drive, picks up and offensive foul
• Great work by the Blazers, Frye and Outlaw went hard to the offensive glass, and tapped it off the offensive glass, Aldridge hustles to ensuing rebound, gets to it, goes up, fouled. Great effort from the Blazers frontcourt. He makes two.
• Portland lead 76-70
• Big Al muscling his way into the paint, double comes, passes out to Telfair in the corner, nails it
• Lovely pass along the baseline by Outlaw to Aldridge for the easy dunk
• Portland lead 78-73
• Portland should win this game. They have all the momentum and nobody on the Wolves can score right now.
• Telfair step back J off the dribble from 21 feet left wing, misses. Bad shot to take.
• 9 minutes to play
• Big Al drawing the foul in the low post. He has 15 points but is only 5-14 from the field. These are his sixth and seventh FTs. Jefferson makes two.
• Portland ahead 78-75
• Lob to Rudy, it’s off, Rudy somehow guides it in as he falls on his rear end
• Telfair gets the switch, Frye on him, drives, hesitates, drives again, fouled by a help defender reaching in.
• 8 minutes to play
• Big Al, double there if he goes middle, forces him baseline, Joel right there, tough shot, wants to pass out, looks at the clock, takes it, makes it. Tough shot.
• Outlaw nails a three
• Rudy losing Foye off the ball, he turns down the three, drives, gets stripped, fastbreak, layup, foul. Rudy is holding his face, evidently he was fouled too. Big Al apologises for hitting him in the face. Foye makes the three point play.
• Minnesota have cut the lead
• Portland ahead 83-82
• Aldridge has gone to the bench, now to the locker room. No idea why. He didn’t come out of the game because of a knock or look uncomfortable.
• Foul line, Love passes up the shot twice, posts up Big Al, turns middle, jump hook, misses, offensive rebound Love, he takes a bounce, muscles it up, stripped by a guard on his way up …. fastbreak, pass to Frye who beat Jefferson up the court, foul. One of two.
• 6 minutes to play
• Aldridge checks back in, well in a moment, he’s at the scorers table
• Two point game
• Foye gets a great look 17 feet along the baseline, miss
• Roy is stripped by Jefferson, fastbreak Telfair, leaves it for Miller, layup
• Tie Game
• Roy takes Mike Miller off the bounce, draws the foul on his drive. He splits a pair of FTs
• Nice drive and dish Foye to Jefferson, 14 footer right wing, misses it, rebound Portland
• Roy turns the corner, gets to the rim, misses, rebound Przybilla, layup
• Fernandez jumps into Przybilla on the defensive rebound, almost lose it out of bounds
• Roy misses a jumper
• Four minutes to play
• Telfair scoots to the middle, lefty layup, miss
• Rudy fell over as he was shooting the ball, air ball. He’s pissed off at himself.
• 87-84 Portland
• Randy Foye steps back behind the screen from Big Al, three pointer, misses
• Three minutes
• Blake on the three pointer, miss, contested rebound, big offensive rebound by Aldridge, finds Rudy for a wide open three, miss. Seventh offensive rebound for Aldridge.
• Big Al posts up, double comes, Miller launches a three, scores it. That’s twice they’ve scored off that pass when Miller was on the strong side of the floor.
• Blake scores a two
• Post up Big Al, up and under, scores
• Tie Game 89-89
• Clearout for Roy top of the key, drive and kick, three pointer from Blake on the left wing, two pointer, foot on the line.
• Timeout
• Big Al and Roy trade buckets
• 95-93 Blazers
• 32 seconds to play
• Wolves inbound, Love into Telfair, just avoids a 5 second call, just avoids a turnover on the pass. Telfair gets it into Big Al, up and under, no, offensive rebound Love, putback no, offensive rebound, Big Al, miss, defensive rebound Aldridge as he taps it out and dives on the floor to get possession of the ball, timeout called by Aldridge
• Rudy, Blake, Outlaw … Roy and Aldridge. Blazers FT shooters.
• Blake inbounds the ball to Rudy, can’t foul him as he turns the corner and loses his man, defense rotates over, pass to Aldridge in the FT line, pass to Outlaw in the corner, finally a foul. 5 seconds lost for Minnesota.
• Only fives seconds left
• Outlaw makes two
• Wolves down four, the’yre donePortland up four, Outlaw steals the inbounds pass at midcourt

Good win for Portland in a tough game. Portland are now 3-3 in their first 6 games. Good start considering this is the first team they’ve played that don’t consider themselves a title contender - Lakers, Rockets, Jazz, Spurs, Suns.

There will be a rematch next Saturday in Minnesota. Should be good.

The Blazers are about to undergo a tough 16 game strecth where only 4 of their games are at home. Two long road trips, one cross country, and the other out on the East.