the Portland game

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@dartmouth.edu>]

That last minute was something else. I knew they would pull out one of
these 'L' games on this trip. Can they pull out two?
It's amazing that we won despite getting outrebounded by a wide margin
(again!), and with several of our already shooting-challenged players
having poor shooting nights. The difference was that they didn't settle for
the jumper, like in the GS game, but went inside. Also, great games from
Battie and Kenny helped immensely. Pierce somehow went missing most of the
game, if that's possible for guy who scored 31 points, but resurfaced just
in time to win the game. Walker again shot poorly, but this time was more
judicious with his shot selection and gave up the rock to the right people.
Eric Williams is amazing: he can't shoot from more than 5 feet anymore (his
jumpers barely reached the rim), and he can't stop anyone one-on-one, yet
somehow he finds a way to contribute.  That can't be said about JJ, who has
about 10x more talent, but no fire in the belly. 
Concerns: the number of contributing players is down to 6, we're getting
killed on the boards, and most of our contributing players are shooting
bricks. But hey, Byron Russell will solve these problems....
Opposition players of note: 'Sheed is so freakishly talented, he's only
top-5 in the league talentwise. I can't believe some listmembers think
Walker is better or comparable. It's like comparing Battie and Pot, on a
much higher level: they get similar results, but for very different reasons. 
Kestas