Some post-game thoughts (Magic edition)

Well, that one ended poorly . . .

• The Blazers hung with the Magic on their home court for three and a half quarters tonight, but then just ran out of offense.  Their defensive effort was solid, holding the Magic to just 92 points.  


• Offense was another story.  LaMarcus Aldridge had one of the worst games of his career, scoring only 3 points and pulling down 1 rebound in 31 minutes.  Had the normal LaMarcus showed up, the Blazers probably would have won.  


• The same was true of Martell Webster, who couldn't hit anything.  He was 1-11 from the field and 0-2 from the foul line (with both shots missing badly).  That's really disappointing given how well Webster had played in the last few games.


• Virtually all the scoring came from the guards tonight.  Roy had 33.  Miller had 16.  Blake had 11.  Bayless had 10.  No one else was in double figures.  McMillan was so desperate for scoring that for significant stretches of the game, he played all four guards at once.  Roy played at least 10 minutes tonight at power forward.  It's really hard to win like that.  Just ask Golden State. 


• Jerryd Bayless followed up his breakout performance on Thursday with a less impressive one tonight.  He had a good second quarter, scoring 10 points, but couldn't put much of anything together in the second half.  He was aggressive, but his shot wasn't falling and he wasn't getting foul calls when he drove to the hoop.  He's bound to have nights like this. I still think he deserves to play 30 minutes.  


• Jeff Pendergraph was apparently activated prior to the game.  He didn't make an appearance, though.  Neither did the newest Blazer, Anthony Tolliver.  It will be interesting to see when/if Nate lets either of those two on to the court.  Given how little the team is getting offensively from either Juwan Howard or Dante Cunningham, I say give 'em a shot.  Playing four guards at once isn't going to work.   We need to get some scoring from front-court guys.    


• The Blazers are now 16-12 on the season.  Given the tough schedule ahead, they're going have to battle hard to stay above .500.  They need to beat Miami or things could really start getting ugly.