Many fans will discuss the heartbreak of Tuesday night's game between the Orlando Magic and Portland Trailblazers. The eight point lead with a minute and a half left, the offensive rebounds given up in crunch time and the Blazers inability to put the hammer down and prevent their first home loss. But the biggest concern is the fact that no one felt comfortable with the ball in their hands at the end of the game.
Portland depends so much on Brandon Roy at the end of games, that once the Magic began to double team him everywhere on the court, it threw the Blazers out of whack. The Blazers took bad shots, turned the ball over and were non-existant on the offensive boards in the final two minutes. They let Orlando play them.
The Blazers played well throughout most of the rest of the game. Roy was clutch as usual, pouring in 30 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Aldridge had to have set a career-high in dunks while going for 25 and 13. And Sergio Rodriguez put in some of his best minutes all season. The combination of Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden held half man-half superman Dwight Howard to 14 points and seven boards. The crowd was into the game and the Blazers looked like they would win their eighth straight game easily. But their was a problem...no one told the Magic to shut it down.
Orlando made 14 of 27 three's and hit them when they count. Still, it shouldn't have mattered if the Blazers took care of the ball on their end. No team with this much talent should lose an eight point lead with a minute and a half to go. It shouldn't matter if Roy is double or triple teamed. Basic basketball logic would tell you that there is someone else open somewhere else on the court. But the Blazers buckled without their star player handling the ball. Portland has several other players who are capable of heroics down the stretch. Rudy Fernandez, LaMarcus Aldridge, Steve Blake to name a few. And these players will have to step up in crunch time in the future because when other teams around the league take a look at the game, there is no doubt that Roy will be facing many more double teams throughout the rest of the season.
