"Lillard as Cool as a Foggy Bay Area Night"

[crandc]

Good read from SF Chronicle. Probably not news to us but good recognition from a writer who does not, to put it mildly, normally think highly of the Blazers.

Parsons never had a chance. He had become Craig Ehlo. Score a victory for greatness.

 

[BBert]

This was nice:

How fitting for Portland to have that moment during the days of mourning for Jack Ramsay. The 1970s were a wonderful time for team basketball, notably in the hands of Walt Frazier's New York Knicks and the Dave Cowens-John Havlicek Boston Celtics, but the 1977 Trail Blazers crafted an eternal blueprint under Ramsay, who died at 89 on Monday. He had a great center (Bill Walton) and power forward (Maurice Lucas), but got major minutes out of Bobby Gross and Dave Twardzik, sending the likes of Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and David Thompson to the postseason sidelines with pure, unassailable fundamentals.

Ah, memories of great team basketball.

Those days are here again.

 

[fumanchu]

As the players prepared for the inbounds pass, defensive ace Patrick Beverley had perfect position on Lillard, practically leaning on him and blocking his path to any open space. But just before the delivery, Beverley moved over to cover Mo Williams. Parsons lined up behind Lillard, giving him the freedom to race into three-point range, frantically clapping his hands ("I'm open!") as he went. Parsons never had a chance. He had become Craig Ehlo. Score a victory for greatness.

I would like to give Stotts a lot of credit for having Mo take the shot at the end of regulation in game 4. This turned out to be a good poker play in that it made Houston have to pay attention to Mo, more perhaps than they might have.