A Whole New Series
by Chris on Apr.25, 2011, under Main Page
Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last couple of days, you have no doubt heard that Brandon Roy single-handedly pulled the Blazers back from the brink of destruction on Saturday, outscoring the entire Dallas team in the fourth quarter and erasing an 18 point deficit to win the game 84-82 and tie up the series at two games apiece.
What do our beloved Blazers get for all their trouble? Game Five tonight. In Dallas.
The stats still favor the Mavericks in this game: They have a deeper bench, they have a lot of veteran savvy, and they have one of the best closers in the NBA. Worst of all, according to ESPN’s John Hollinger, the win-loss record for series where the higher seeded team has won the first two games is 64-8.
However, there are several things for Blazer fans to be hopeful about. First and foremost, Portland’s lanky defenders have done a good job of keeping Nowitzki contained for at least three quarters a game, and they did a great job of denying him the ball in the fourth quarter Saturday. Second, emotions flow like tidal waves, and right now Portland is riding a really high one. Third, losing a game when you had a 23 point lead with 13 minutes left is enough to shake anyone’s confidence, especially a team that is fighting the demons of early Playoff departures. And finally, the Dallas Mavericks are one the Not-So-Elite Eight who have found themselves on the wrong side of that 64-8 ratio that Hollinger talked about in his article today.
No matter what demons may be lurking in the back of the Maverick’s minds, Dirk and Company aren’t going to lay down and give us anything. Portland will need to scratch and claw its way to a first round victory. So… what does this mean to you? It means that you need to offer whatever prayers you can to whatever deity you admire… maybe offer up your first born… maybe poke pins in a little blonde-haired doll with a 41 on its back… maybe even sacrifice an errant virgin or two… whatever it takes. That’s what it means to be the Sixth Man.
The game will be aired at 5:30PM on KGW.
