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I am simply tired of hearing that the Blazers should be up 2-0- just tired of it. If it is not most of the national media crying about it, it is some of the Blazers. Have any of these people even looked back to see how the Spurs won?
Game 1:
It took a very hot Rasheed Wallace to keep Portland in the game. Had he had an ordinary day, Spurs win by a comfortable margin. Rider said that Portland played their "C" game. First of all, Rider doesn’t even know what a "C" grade is. Reports have it that he had his classwork done for him while he was at UNLV. But that aside, what game did the Spurs play? I would give them a "D" at best. Outside of David Robinson who played very well (I give him a "A-") and Tim Duncan who was average (he gets a "C"), the rest of the team really stunk up the Alamodome. Only 9 points off the bench is deplorable.
But even with the Spurs playing their "D" game, they were in constant control of the game. This game, although not quite with the same size of point swings, was similar to Game 4 against the Lakers. Every time the Blazers (or the Lakers) made a run, the Spurs absorbed it and answered it with a run of their own. The Spurs looked like they were just on cruise-control. It is not the Spurs fault that Rasheed could not hit his last shot (did he go to the well one to many times?) to make things interesting.
Game 2:
The Spurs came out flat and the Blazers jumped on them with good all around play. To continue giving grades, the Blazers earned an "A" for the first 24 minutes. But don’t they know this is a 48 minute game? The Spurs do and they had confidence that they could come back. There was not luck involved when the Spurs went on a 17-2 run in the third---it is called good defense and offensive execution. You can call it what you like, but there was no luck in it. There was not luck that the Spurs allowed only ONE point in the Blazer’s last five possessions. It’s called "We know we can stop you when it counts."
Now was Sean Elliot’s shot luck? Well, maybe, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he had his jumper all game. He had just a big three right in front of the Portland bench a couple possessions prior. He still had the feeling and told Mario Elie that he had one more (three) left in him as they came out of the time out. The beauty of The Shot was that he was able to regain his balance (and I do think he was balanced) on his toes after Stacey Augmon went for the steal. But athletic plays like that is why we pay to watch these guys. I think it was an amazing display of skill brought out by a tempestuous situation. But that is arguable. Had Sean missed The Shot, the Spurs had both David Robinson and Tim Duncan near the rim with only one Blazer (Grant) to contend with. Mike Dunvealy said he would put $100 down for Sean make to make it again. Well, I would put $100 down that Dave or Tim would have come up with the rebound (and the basket) over Grant had Sean missed.
The bottom line is that the Spurs made stops when they had to and they scored points when they had to. The Blazers did not. Spurs deserve to be up 2-0.
Scatter Shots:
--In Game 2, Grant matched his highest output this year against the Spurs-10 whole points.
--Kerr got some playing time to the shock and delight of many. He went 0 of 5, but he did draw a charging foul on Greg Anthony and gave both the team and the crowd a boost of energy
--The Spurs now have THREE guys that are famous for big time shots. We all witnessed the Memorial Day Miracle from Sean. Kerr’s buzzer-beater against Utah two years ago won the Bulls the title. Elie, in 1995's Western Conference Finals, elected to step back to shot a three instead of a game-tying two to beat the Suns.
--Hats off to the Jermaine O’Neal and the Blazers’ training staff for all their hard work. Although he has not done much in the playoffs, he is a long ways away from that skinny kid that skipped college to join the NBA. He now has some guns on him (I speak of his arms. If we were talking about Rider, it would mean guns literally:) .
--Sean Elliot has improved his play in each of the playoffs series this year. Watch out when the Spurs make the finals!
--A good thing to be sick? At first, I thought that Pop had lost confidence in Daniels again. AD, however, was sick which explained the use of Steve Kerr in Game 2.
By Spurn
