Trail Blazers now believe they can handle Houston

On Sports

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Apr 28, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

It’s been hard work, and a bit of a wrestling match, but Joel Przybilla (left) and the Blazers are adjusting defensively against Houston’s 7-6 Yao Ming.

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

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Now the cat-and-mouse game begins. Houston pulverizes Portland in the opener. The Blazers make some adjustments and follow the game plan en route to a Game 2 victory.

Both coaches will continue to tinker with strategy as they enter Friday’s all-important Game 3 at the Toyota Center.

The onus will be more directly on Houston’s Rick Adelman, obviously disenchanted with what he saw on the Rose Garden floor during Portland’s 107-103 victory on Tuesday.

Yao Ming, undeniably one of the great offensive weapons in the game, took six shots in 31 minutes. To Adelman, that was up there with the Lindbergh kidnapping as the Crime of the Century. The coach blames Yao’s teammates but doesn’t exonerate his 7-6 center, either.

“It’s a combination,” Adelman says. “He has to find a way to get position better, and to hold (defenders) off, and we have to have the patience to look for him. We ran some stuff and he came in the middle with a man on his back and we chucked it up there. We weren’t looking. It’s not going to work if you do that.

“When (the Blazers) front him, it opens things for everybody else. But everybody has to understand what we’re trying to do. We gave up on (Yao), never came back to him. We took way too many fliers. Any time we have 12 assists, then we’re in big trouble.”

Ah, Rick, but the Blazers had only 11.

Houston’s shot quality deteriorated down the stretch as, with the game in the balance, Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks, Von Wafer and Ron Artest all missed attempts from 20 or more feet.

“We don’t have patience to just see what’s going on out there,” Adelman says. “As a result, we put ourselves in a bad position. We have to get into our offense quicker, and then we have to have patience.

“It’s disappointing when it ends up being a four-point game. It’s something we have to learn. When the game’s on the line, you have to make sure you get good shots.”

Portland benefited when Yao got into foul trouble in the third quarter. With backup Dikembe Mutombo injured — and now out of the series — the Rockets must go to forwards such as Scola, Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes inside.

“We had no presence at the rim,” Adelman says. The Blazers “were getting to the basket and getting to the line. When Deke went down and Yao was out, we become really small. That’s a problem for us. We have to somehow do a better job of putting a hit on them earlier and not allowing them to get to the basket.”

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