Thierry's Blog: Greg's 18 fuel victory over Hawks
TrailBlazers.com | November 4th, 2009
Welcome back Blazers fans, Thierry reporting in TrailBlazers.com. You've got to love it when trade rumors surface in places like Toronto and New York about a player being on the block in Arizona. That's what has been on the papers over the past few days, as outlets in both places had Suns forward Amar'e Stoudemire being traded this season or testing free agency at the end of it. They probably should have checked with the Suns, however, as a source close to the situation said today that there is absolutely no truth to the notion that they're shopping Amar'e. It's not hard to see where the trade talk is coming from: Shaquille O'Neal (now in Cleveland) wasn't happy about the level of intensity he was seeing from his teammates in general, and Amar'e specifically. He's been more than vocal on that point. Amar'e is expected to be one of the biggest names in free agency during the summer of 2010, and that won't change a whole lot even with his current lackadaisical approach to the game. It will generally be assumed that he'd play harder for a different coach or in a different system. And he did. Look at his stats... no surprise the Suns are 4-0. Will he test free agency waters, stay at Phoenix or look for a championship somewhere else? Portland, maybe?
Only time will tell.
(4-1)(PLAYED)
Greg scored 9 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter and Brandon added 17 in our 87-76 victory over the Hawks Tuesday night. “The fourth quarter, usually the best players of the team have got to step up and lead the team,” Greg said. “I just couldn't afford for us to lose this game, so I had to impose my will on it.” Today he was the best of the squad. Greg also had 8 rebounds and one key block in a Hawks run to help us keep pace in the tight Western Conference race. Greg was 9-for-12 from the field. He made three straight dunks in a two-minute span in the third quarter as we opened a 20-point lead and finally put away Atlanta. “I got a little rhythm going and I took over the ballgame.” Way to go, Greg. We also outrebounded the Hawks 44-36, but they had 11 second-chance points against 2 from us. Hawks coach Mike Woodson decided to put Jamal Crawford in the place of Marvin Williams, and had 25 and four assists for Atlanta, who started the season 0-2 but after that, thay defeated the Lakers at the Staples Center.
“They beat us pretty good on the boards,” Woodson said in press conference. “Our defense wasn't bad, we had quite a few second-chance baskets, but our field goal percentage was terrible.” Yes it was, the Hawks shot 39 percent (29-of-85) while we shot 53 percent (39-of-73). Honestly, we looked sluggish in the first half. We ended the game committing 12 turnovers (5 by the Hawks), we committed more fouls, but the bench was again impressive: 29 against Atlanta's only 3 points. Yes, 3 points: Williams' 2 and a free throw by Joe Smith. Apart from Crawford, Joe Johnson was the most active Hawk on the floor, fighting for boards and scrambling for every loose ball, as he racked up 20 points and seven assists. “We weren't playing very good,” said Johnson. “Every possession, everything counts. You're not playing very good, you're not getting easy baskets, you need to play hard. It creates more possessions for you and it gives you more chances to score.” The Hawks now play four of the next five games on the road, the most important, the last one, at Boston (now, 4-1), the next Friday. “Every game is important,” Johnson added.
Mike Bibby flirted with a triple double, posting 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. “It took us until the third quarter to really find our defensive energy that was needed to win the game, but Portland had it all game long,” Bibby said. "We got an all-around night from Jamal and Joe, but it wasn't enough.” We built an eleven-point lead in the second quarter, but the Hawks stayed close behind Bibby and Josh Smith, who scored 8 points in the first half; he finished with 13. Lamar aggravated his finger injury on a drive into Al Horford just before halftime. He winced as he walked to the free-throw line but hit both shots to put us up 39-33. Then, we rebuilt our eight-point lead early in the third. Crawford made a 3-pointer and Horford dunked over Greg to cut it to 48-45. Trout had a putback and converted a three-point play to push the lead back to eight. He had a steal later in the quarter that led to an easy layup for Steve.
This deserved a separated paragraph. One good stat and one bad stat. I just couldn't believe LaMarcus game. J-Smoove was over him all night long and he couldn't shoot comfortably, most of the times trying to pass to his teammates in the last seconds of the possession. His night: 6 points and five rebounds, but seven assists, a team-high. The good news is, Martell had 9 points and 4 assists in 10 minutes, shooting 4-of-6 and also making a 3-pointer that posted a 23-point lead in the third (the highest of the night). A lot of fans asked for some minutes to him (my mailbox was full, Chris Hova from Germany, that was for you). Oh, I almost forgot, you will see in the video, a halfcourt shot by Steve. The strange thing is, there were 20 seconds left in the possession and 9:11 left in the quarter. “I couldn't believe it either,” Steve told me. “I was running to the other half of the court and I think I didn't step correctly, and I got a cramp in my left foot. It was like a reflex, I shot the ball and it got in.”
Next game: Friday, once again at the Rose Garden, against my favourite player, Manu Ginobili and the Spurs (2-1).
Music: Deadmau5 - “Not Exactly”
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Throws up a goddam prayer for no reason and after it goes in he makes the moves with his fingers like "Told you I could get one off during gametime guys". Or maybe like "that was planned, guys". Really cool ^^
Keep it up. 
