Blazers Beat Back the Lakers

With home court advantage already locked up throughout the Western Conference playoffs, there was little reason to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Portland Blazers on the other hand, had plenty of reasons and first and foremost on their list was to get out of playing the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Outwardly, the confident, young Blazers have said that they like their chances against the defending world champs. But as most will agree, the Lakers would make quick work of the porous middle occupied by Portland’s frontline. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell this to the Blazers as they forged ahead in the final period to take a 91-88 victory at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant (20 points on 8-23, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) and Derek Fisher (14 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot) both came up short in the final seconds with missed free throws that would have sealed the win for the Lakers. Instead, Kobe missed both of his attempts after being intentionally fouled by Martell Webster with the Blazers ahead 88-87. Fish then missed the front-end after Pau Gasol (23 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocked shots) had snared the offensive rebound off of Bryant’s second miss. Fisher’s second free throw knotted the score at 88-88 with just 4.7 seconds remaining, but Webster (16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist) would make amends on his unusual foul earlier by drawing a shooting foul on Bryant with 3.1 seconds left. Webster was clearly behind the arc when he was fouled and he calmly drained all three free throws to give Portland the final margin of victory. Gasol’s three-point attempt from the top of the key was straight as an arrow, but a few inches too long as the Blazers danced off the floor in celebration.

The game itself started well enough for the Lakers as they jumped out to an early 11-2 lead behind a stingy defense and good ball movement. Fisher was effective on Andre Miller (15 points on 7-20, 7 assists, 2 rebounds) as he muscled him out of his post position in the paint where he does the bulk of his scoring. Lamar Odom (16 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot) was active early as he punished the smaller Blazers with dazzling drives to the hoop. But Portland’s athleticism would get them back into the game as second chance points and points off of turnovers began to sway in their favor. Kobe, back in action after missing the previous two contests, had his first shot blocked by Nicolas Batum (5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 blocked shot) and immediately went to the hole and scored on his next two possessions. The Blazers were able to stay close at the end of the 1st period, 23-20 as the Lakers bench was unable to sustain the offensive execution and began jacking up ill advised outside shots. Portland would tie the score at 25-25 in the 2nd period on a backdoor lob pass to Webster as Phil Jackson immediately called for a time-out. But the Blazers started finding the range and began to heat up as the Lakers continued their poor play away from what had been effective earlier.

Just as Portland was beginning to feel good about themselves, Brandon Roy (2 points, 1 assist in 11 minutes) went out with a knee injury after colliding with Ron Artest. Roy limped around in pain before a stop in play finally allowed him to get back to the bench. It was another freak accident in a freakishly eerie Blazers season. Roy will get an MRI and be reevaluated tomorrow. Jackson had had enough of the poor play off the bench and brought back Fisher and Odom. Fish paid immediate dividends as he lost Miller on the high pick and roll and drained an elbow jumper. He then found a trailing LO for the jam the next time down the floor and suddenly the Lakers were in control again. Portland’s bench began to fail them as well as Kobe and Pau took advantage of the mismatch game as Kobe expertly drove the lane and fed an uncontested Gasol for the tip-in. But the Lakers would go into halftime with only a 46-45 lead as the Blazers staged a 7-0 run to close out the quarter behind Miller, Marcus Camby (10 points, 17 rebounds, 4 blocked shots) and LaMarcus Aldridge (24 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists).

Learning that Roy would miss the rest of the game made the Blazers the hungrier team coming out for the second half. Behind Miller and his herky-jerky drives to the basket and Rudy Fernandez (9 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds) finding open teammates as the shot clock wound down, the Blazers would take the lead and go in front 53-52 after an Aldridge layin. Fernandez’s three-pointer would extend the lead to 60-55 and the Lakers looked like they were running into trouble after controlling the tempo for much of the game. As if on cue, the Lakers would go on an 8-3 run to draw within 64-63. The teams would trade baskets and exchange leads through the rest of the quarter. Sasha Vujacic (3 points, 2 rebounds) would cap the period with an inbounds pass from Gasol, a dribble drive to the basket which included a head fake and capped it with a two-handed slam over (around) Camby to give the Lakers a 71-69 lead after three periods of play. Both teams struggled to find the basket in the final period. But it would be the Lakers who would go over 5-minutes without recording a single point. Portland seized the opportunity and went ahead 74-71 before Gasol’s score would break the drought. Aldridge would continue his offensive proficiency and nailed an uncontested jumper for a 79-75 lead after Pau failed to move on the high screen and roll. The Blazers were really in their groove now, scoring on almost every possession. Webster would convert 3-free throws after getting fouled behind the arc for an 82-75 advantage. Artest would score on a long jumper, but a stumbling Fernandez would find Aldridge for the alley-oop to counter. Fish would waltz in for a layup to trim the lead to 84-79. Portland was getting to the basket with little or no resistance. Miller would continue his forays and would score around LO for an 86-81 lead with 0:54 seconds left to play. Kobe would drain a long three-pointer out of the time-out, and then follow that up with a traditional 3-point play to give the Lakers their last lead at 87-86. Camby would tip-in an Aldridge miss for an 88-87 lead only to have Webster mysteriously foul Kobe as he brought the ball upcourt. From there on out, it was the Lakers who could not convert from the line as Portland hung on the dramatic, if not unusual win.