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The team comes together in the wake of the Darius Miles incident, then comes
back to beat the Clippers
Saturday, January 29, 2005
JASON QUICK
Life is made up of them, Maurice Cheeks likes to say.
And they pass, he says. Good or bad, they pass.
But on Friday night, Cheeks savored more than just a moment after the Trail
Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 90-86 at the Rose Garden.
He savored redemption, which came from his players, who witnessed the
tongue-lashing administered by Darius Miles the day before. Those same
players played their hearts out for Cheeks while overcoming a 12-point
deficit.
He savored the affirmation of his coaching ability -- increasingly
questioned, it seems, on all fronts -- which came by way of the final score
Friday. It was Cheeks' decision, after all, to go against conventional wisdom
and not start leading scorer and rebounder Zach Randolph, instead using him
off the bench.
And Cheeks savored the perseverance, which he always preaches to his players
but which now had to come from himself.
"I wanted that win," Cheeks said. "I wanted that win for me. I wanted it for
them. I don't know if I was emotional . . . but I wanted that win more than
normal."
It didn't look as though it would happen early. The Blazers (17-25) were
"flat," as Cheeks called it, and trailed 48-40 at halftime.
But then, as quick as you can say two-game suspension, it all came back.
Theo Ratliff was back to his old, shot-blocking self. Ruben Patterson was a
blur up and down the court. Damon Stoudamire was hitting every shot in sight.
Sebastian Telfair was eliciting oohs and ahhs from the crowd. And Joel
Przybilla, that unheralded center, again was holding down the fort in the
middle.
It translated into a second half that produced 50 points, which complemented
a second-half defensive effort that produced six blocks and three steals and
held Los Angeles to 38.9 percent shooting. In the pivotal fourth quarter, the
Clippers (20-23) missed 11 of their first 16 shots.
The defensive surge was led by the continued resurgence of Ratliff, who
blocked seven shots, including several that had fans leaping out of their
seats in amazement. In short, he was the Ratliff of old, even though he said
he was "not all the way back, but my timing is getting a lot better."
Ratliff is starting at power forward in place of Randolph, largely because
when he is teamed with Przybilla, it creates a formidable defensive front
that can block and rebound. Przybilla again produced impressive statistics,
recording 10 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in 28 minutes.
"I'm just trying to get every rebound," Przybilla said.
Stoudamire continued his remarkable surge, finishing with 22 points, seven
rebounds and six assists. Since being re-inserted into the starting lineup 10
games ago, Stoudamire has scored at least 21 points in nine games. In the
other game, he had 18 points.
And Patterson, the epitome of hard work and effort that Cheeks has been
preaching to his team, again was in the middle of the game's most exciting
moments, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals
and about 10,000 gestures imploring the crowd to pump up the noise level.
It was a team effort that wasn't any different from those in the past three
weeks, but there seemed to be a little sentiment, a little extra oomph by the
players to show they still were behind their embattled coach.
"Cheeks is a great guy, and he hates it when it comes to something like this
with a player, because he is all for players all the time," Ratliff said. "So
tonight, I think everybody wanted to play hard, play aggressive . . . and
just win for the team. Because anytime you have turmoil, you want something
positive to come out of it."
Nick Van Exel, who gave Cheeks a book of inspirational sayings after the
blowup with Miles, said it wasn't a "win-one-for-Cheeks" scenario.
"I don't look at it as us having his back or anything like that," Van Exel
said. "I think it comes down to having the passion to win, and we have guys
like Damon, Ruben, Theo. . . . we're a team, a team. We've had one instance
of negativity, but other than that, guys just want to win.
"But the thing is, history shows that when something like (the Miles-Cheeks
confrontation) happens to a team, the players tend to find a way to lose a
game. We didn't do that, and that was huge."
Note:
Derek Anderson missed his third consecutive game after having double root
canal surgery Wednesday. Another surgery might be required, trainer Jay
Jensen said, after one of Anderson's teeth became infected.
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