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NBA PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND // GAME 1, PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS @ MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
Final Score: POR - 86, MEM - 100
A word, first, for Beno Udrih.
Beno, for Lord only knows what reason, what confluence of stars, what possessing Earth Majick, what horror show of bonding and separating chemicals in his body, lives to absolutely light the Blazers up. The Blazers' bad point-guard defenders and scheme, which all but concede midrange shots to their opponents, left Beno, possessed by the spark of the Lord himself, with a world of open takes from the middle, and on this day, the hand of God guided his humble offerings into the ring. It wasn't the all-time greatest playoff performance by a Slovenian player in the NBA— that'd be Goran Dragic against the Spurs in 2010—but it is certainly on the shortlist, bronzed and set on the podium in the Slovenian Museum of Basketball History and Miscellany (the "miscellany" is mop manufacturing) in Ljubljana.
The Blazers were trashed up and down the court, burnt with cigars, turned into a shambolic mess.
There is a point in every good Memphis Grizzlies home game when the team does something gutty—an and-one, a big ol' slabby block or the like—and the players on the team start to give the audience a big ol' Flex, like a bunch of basketball-playing Jerry Lawlers, shooting at the crowd in the world's biggest VA Hall, towels waving, whooping, etc., and the audience and the world just know the other team is absolutely boned, caught up in the Mud of Madness, turned into a jobber.
This wave came over the stadium in the second half of the second quarter, when Mike Conley, playing ornery in two different sized shoes to serve the needs of the golf ball-shaped chunk in his foot, blew past Damian Lillard in transition right at the rim, took a futile swiping foul from LaMarcus, sunk the shot and flexed. If even Mild Mike is giving the crowd the Glamour, something has gone terribly wrong for the Grizzlies' opponents.
The Trail Blazers started out totally out of sync offensively, then remained out of sync, and then the game was over. On Twitter, Alaskan basketball luminary Seth Partnow pointed out that without Wes Matthews, the team was running a half step behind on executing its pretty complicated offense. The Grizzlies formidable defense, which has scouted the Blazers extensively by this point, made them bail on their first options and motion/flow goals, and the Blazers would respond by either bailing to the midrange-set pressure valve player or by isolating up the most heinous three-point tries you've ever seen in your life.
I tend to believe that abnormally horrible three-point shooting games, like yesterday's 8-26 outing, are generally the providence of luck, and give me the opportunity to tell readers, or my family, or strangers I confront on the street with Blazers opinions, that they should relax, that the new game is laced with luck, that sometimes you regress and sometimes you progress and that progression is coming if we just believe. But, man, there were some bad hefty heaves in that game, and the Grizzlies were closing out like maniacs, so we'll see if that just keeps being a problem or not.
I do think we can probably count on Lillard not being that bad again, though. He didn't score in the first quarter and got lit by any point guard they stuck him in front of. They switched Nic Batum onto Beno Udrih, for Christ's sake.
Aldridge was out-of-control Aldridge-y. He had 32 points and 14 boards on THIRTY-FOUR shots, which is, like, so many shots. Not a âWestbrook on the warpathâ number of shots, but itâs definitely in âKobe is feeling particularly mistrustfulâ range. Itâs not really all his fault. The motion was a complete mess, Aldridge was on the block, Z-Bo is sort of a good matchup, compromises, compromises, 34 shots. He was doing a really bad job getting deep on those post-ups and often bailed into shots that were significantly worse than they needed to be. He also canât drive baseline because of his hand.
There is something about this matchup that began to trouble me as this game went on. The Grizzlies are the kings of the grinding, play slow, beat ass, defense, defense, defense game. The Blazers aren't really a grinding team, but they are a slow-paced squad who generate offense from perimeter motion and post-ups. They might be playing right into Memphis's comfort zone, 72 degrees and sunny and BAM a bear tore your shit out and made a MouseTrap set out of it! Your ribs are the little cage!
MEYERS LEONARD CAREER PLAYOFF THREE-POINT PERCENTAGE TRACKER
Meyers has never taken a three-pointer in the playoffs before this year. We will be tracking his progress at Willamette Week during the duration of the playoffs.
TONIGHT: 2-3 (66.6%)
IN HIS CAREER: 2-3 (66.6%)
WHAT DOES THIS SUGGEST? A dark cloud around Meyers' three-point shooting. Avoid darkness and Ouija devices.
Corbin Smith is a contributor to the Blazers blog Portland Roundball Society. Follow his coverage of Portland's playoff run at wweek.com—however long it lasts.
WWeek 2015