This Week in the Mercury
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Sports Well, That Was Nice
Posted by Ezra Caraeff on Thu, Nov 20, 2008 at 9:13 AM
No one said the Greg Oden era of Portland Trail Blazers basketball was going to be pretty. You can see the above image for proof of that. But, damn, if his home debut last night wasn't a game for the ages. The Blazers obliterated the Chicago Bulls by a dominating score of 116-74, and it wasn't even that close.
In addition to the comical stats you can extract from last night's national televised blowout--their bumbling mascot Blaze the Trail Cat missed more shots than Joel Przybilla, and Blaze used a trampoline--the real news is how quickly this team is coming together, and how Oden--glass bones and all--is improving his game at a freakish rate.
It was about three weeks ago that Oden unceremoniously limped off the court after playing just a handful of minutes, looking brittle and, well, old. But in the five games since his return, Oden has gone from meek to monster, and appears to be absolutely dominating any unlucky defender that gets in his way. Oden also looks clumsy and awkward, but it's difficult to focus on those things when you watch the man dunk a ball so viciously that it leaves the backboard dangerously swaying in his massive wake. Last night it took all of 21 seconds from the time he checked in to the game, to the time he was hanging on the rim following a monster dunk. That is ridiculous.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a surrounding cast of Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez, and a reinvigorated Przybilla, but as dominating as Oden looks right now, after just a few games, it seems like the best is yet to come.
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The first thing I noticed during this recent run of games is that Oden doesn't look like he's huffing and puffing down the court. Good sign. I am just fine with seeing him come off the bench for a while, getting 20-30 GOOD minutes a game. If he can stay healthy (and we all know that that "If" is bigger than Oden himself at this point) he is going to be, dare I say it, a Shaq-like force inside. OK maybe not, but he looks damn good these past few games.
Very happy to see the Blazers do what they did last night. Brandon Roy is my Dad.
Maybe the best thing about Oden last night was that he and the rest of the starters got about a quarter and a half of rest last night. The schedule looked bad before; it gets worse and they all needed that bonus time. I agree he doesn't look winded, just sweaty. That was a thing of beauty, and they really were playing about 85% of what they could do,even. Crazy.
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