A Fearful Reality

After watching game one between the Rockets and the Blazers, all my fears have become reality. Besides the Lakers, they are the only team that I feel like the Blazers can’t beat in a seven game series. I feared three things going into the series against these Rockets.

1. Yao Ming – The Blazers have no one to guard Yao Ming. An overpowering player is the only kind of player that can guard Yao. He’s so tall and so skilled that when he catches the ball in the paint, he is going to score. Przybilla, Aldridge, and Frye all don’t have the strength to keep him off the block. Oden has the size and strength to match up with Yao, but is too inexperience to guard him. Yao has made Oden look foolish many times this season. Yao is too crafty, and has an array of moves that keeps Oden off balance, and on his heels. Oden is a good defender when he attacks an offensive player and is aggressive. Unfortunately, Oden lacks a certain feel for the game, Yao has a great feel for the game, and this creates a bad mismatch for the Blazers.

2. The Blazers offense goes as Roy goes. They rely on his penetration ability to create shots for others. The Rockets have 2 of the top 5 perimeter defenders in the league with Shane Battier and Ron Artest. Battier is crafty, and smart with plenty of length to bother Roy. Artest has size and strength. He is very physical when he plays defense. The constant change between Artest and Battier will keep Roy from getting in a rhythm. Roy shoots a high percentage by getting into the lane. He is also a great passer when he gets in the paint. In the game last night, Roy wasn’t himself. He struggled against the defense shooting a low percentage. What’s really telling about his stat line from last night is that he only had 2 assists.

3. Playoff basketball is a different brand of basketball. It is tough and physical. A flagrant foul in the regular season becomes a hard foul in the playoffs. There is no such thing as an easy basket. The Blazers has never seen this kind of defense. There was uproar after the game that the officiating was horrible. In actuality, the Rockets understand playoff basketball and how physical it is. The Blazers need to adjust to the physicality and just play the game, rather than worry about the officiating.

One more observation from the game last night: The Rockets wanted it more. The Blazers came out flat and went through the motions. This was shocking. The Blazers are young and feed off their crowd. The Rose Garden was rocking. Something happened though that kept the Blazers from coming out energized. It could have been the media considering them as the favorite to challenge the Lakers in the west. It’s possible that they were complacent, thinking that they were going to be able to roll considering that they have been destroying everybody that has come to Portland the last month. The lack of energy could have also been a deer in the headlights sort of thing. The awe of the playoffs could have gotten to them. Whatever it was, it was bad to see considering it was Portland’s first playoff game in 6 years.

As a Blazers fan it kills me to admit that I don’t see Portland winning this series. It could be a very short series unless things change very quickly.