Rockets: 108
Blazers: 81

It's never fun to lose by 27, let alone at home, let alone in the first round of the Playoffs. But then again, the Blazers have never been too good at getting off to a quick start...

Roy and LaMarcus Shut Down

Aldridge was completely unable to gain any sort of offensive advantage, which crippled our post game enough to turn us into the jump-shooting Blazers of old. The Rockets also did an incredible job of containing Brandon, who started strong but was shut down for most of the game. With those two guys made ineffective, our offense was downright sad. We ended the game shooting 41.7% as a team.



The Oden Factor?

In addition to LaMarcus, it seems that Mr. Oden may be available for some low-post offense. He was pretty much the only bright spot for the Blazers, scoring 15 points, only picking up 3 fouls, and was surprisingly effective in 21.5 minutes.



Yao Dominates

Not only was Houston's defense stifling, but their offense was flowing to the tune of 60% accuracy for most of the game. Yao Ming scored all of his 24 points in the first half, shooting a perfect 9/9 from the field and 6/6 from the freethrow line. He scored at will, plain and simple. He wasn't the only Rocket to dominate the paint, either. Luis Scola shot 7/9 and scored 19 points. Meanwhile, Aaron Brooks had his way with the backcourt (27 points on 10/17 FG).



J-Bay Defense

I've seen a lot of people on the forums talk about how difficult it was for Steve Blake to contain Aaron Brooks, and also how good Bayless's defense looked. Like many of you, it wouldn't surprise me to see Bayless in tomorrow's game a little earlier than normal if things aren't going well for the Blazers.