Some post-game thoughts (Clippers edition)

And another one bites the dust...

• Tonight the Blazers lost yet another big man to injury as Lamarcus Aldridge left the game in the 1st quarter with a sprained ankle.  No word yet on how bad it is.  Somehow, though, the Blazers always seem to find a way to step it up when someone goes down.  And they did it again tonight, gutting out a win against a Clipper team that just beat the Celtics a few days ago.


• As usual, the Blazers were carried by Brandon Roy, who finished the night with 27 points, 7 boards, and 6 assists.  And as usual, most of Brandon's scoring came in the second half, including a jumper with less than a minute left that essentially sealed the game.  


• The Blazers would not have won tonight, however, if other folks had not stepped up and had career games.  In particular, Jeff Pendergraph played some inspired minutes at center, scoring 8 points, nabbing 14 rebounds (a career high) and blocking 2 shots in 25 minutes of play.  This was easily the best game in his short career, and a really promising sign of things to come.


• Dante Cunningham also had a fantastic night.  His stat line wasn't as impressive (8 points, 3 boards, 1 block in 27 minutes), but he played some fantastic defense, repeatedly forcing his man to take difficult, contested shots.  He was playing such good defense that Nate left him in to close the game (playing in place of Aldridge).  In one sequence in particular, Cunningham twice cut off a drive to the baseline, forced a pass, and then left to help another defender, forcing a turnover.  The Clippers announcers (who I happened to be watching via League Pass tonight) were impressed by Dante's defensive effort and repeatedly praised him.  


• The winner of the point guard derby tonight was Jerryd Bayless.  Bayless brought a lot of energy and looked like a real point guard out there.  He finished with 14 points, 8 assists, 2 rebounds, and a steal, and was rewarded by being allowed to finish both halves.  His shooting numbers weren't particularly impressive (5-14), but he had several jump shots that looked good but rattled out (including back to back three point shots).  Over all, it was a good bounce back game for him after his poor showing against the Sixers.


• Steve Blake looked to be having an okay night, hitting a couple of big threes and making a few nice passes, but in the last few minutes of the game, he missed several key shots and made two really bad decisions on inbound passes (although, to be fair, he also made a really good inbound pass to Juwan Howard).  He finished with 10 points and 2 assists.


• Andre Miller had an unmemorable night.  He played only 20 minutes and had 6 points and 3 assists (though he would have had a few more dimes if other guys had made some easy shots).  Miller sat for virtually the entire 2nd and 4th quarters.


• Juwan Howard had another solid night, just missing getting another double-double.  He finished with 10 points and 9 boards.  He also had a couple of really nice assists. You can't really ask for anything more from him.


• Martell Webster had a pretty solid game as well.  He finished with 15 points and 4 boards and had the best plus/minus of the night at +11.


• As I noted above, I watched the Clipper broadcast of tonight's game and it was pretty entertaining.  Even before Aldridge left the game, the Clipper announcers kept emphasizing how injury-depleted the Blazers were and how the Clippers had no excuses for not winning.  When Aldridge left and the Clippers still couldn't manage to get a lead, it just got worse.  They kept berating their team for losing to "Brandon Roy and a bunch of nobodies."  They observed that the Clippers were getting out-rebounded by a 37 year old insurance policy and two 2nd round rookies.  They pointed out that the Clippers had three 7-footers and the Blazers had no one over 6'9''.  It was truly hilarious.  I wish I had taped it.  


• It really is remarkable, though.  The Blazers out-rebounded the Clippers 40 to 33 tonight.  The Blazers had 12 offensive boards compared to 7 for the Clippers.  Juwan Howard and Jeff Pendergraph had 23 rebounds between them.  Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, Deandre Jordan, and Craig Smith had just 21 rebounds combined.  That's just embarrassing.  


• I don't know how long the Blazers can continue to pull out wins with this rag-tag crew, but it was fun to watch tonight.  These guys have all kinds of heart.