The Blazers lost another close one on Friday, ugh. They battled back from a 22 point deficit and traded blows right until the final buzzer, but in the end it was a little known player named Yogi Ferrell, an undersized point guard on a 10 day rookie contract, who scored the killer blows. Yogi was the game's high scorer with 32 points, including a dagger three pointer with 30 seconds to go and Dallas came away with the win, 108-104.
The crowd gave a nice cheer for former Blazer favorite Wes Matthews at the start of the game and he returned the favor with a gutsy 27 point performance, making us all miss him more. The first half was pretty much a disaster for the Blazers, though much of that was simply due to the hot hands of the Mavericks. And no one's hand was hotter than the aforementioned Yogi Ferrell. He ended up hitting 9 of 11 three pointers, an insane statistic for any NBA player, much less a guy who arrived as an emergency rental 4 games ago. This is what Ferrell looks like, in case you are wondering. He's number 11, the guy chasing CJ McCollum:
Things started to get exciting towards the end of the 2nd period. Evan Turner led the charge and CJ McCollum drained a sweet buzzer beater to bring the Blazers within 13 at the break. Blazers fans have come to expect this pattern this season: the team finds itself in a deep hole, but also has the heart and drive to dig itself out. As fans poured into the hallways during halftime I went looking for interesting Blazer inspired ensembles. Here's what I found:
A cheerful couple!
A stylish couple, tall too!
Check out this vintage jacket. The owner said he got it on Ebay a while back for $2.95:
Stylish ladies!
This family even co-ordinated their Blazer colored outfits:
Back to the action. The Blazers came out firing in third and the anticipated comeback was on. Evan Turner continued his strong play, scoring a season high 24 points, while freshly back from injury Ed Davis provided some hustle on the boards. Usual Blazer superstar Damian Lillard was having an off-night, ending up shooting only 4 for for 20 on the game.
With about 4 minutes to go Al Farouq Aminu hit a big 3 to tie things up and the crowd really got into it. It's pretty awesome to be at a tightly contested Blazers home game in the 4th quarter. Things went back and forth in the final minutes. Old man Dirk Nowitzki hit a crazy deep 3 to keep Dallas in front, but then CJ McCollum answered with a slick drive to the hoop. In the end though, it was that guy Yogi, the undrafted rookie who nobody wanted 10 days ago, who hit the crucial shot, a devastating three-pointer with 19 seconds left and Dallas up by a point. The Blazers couldn't answer that one, sadly.
Afterwards the media rushed in to get words from Yogi and teammate Wes Matthews. It was pretty bittersweet watching Wes talking about hustle and heart, but for the wrong team. We miss you man!
In locker room things were pretty somber, predictably. Mason Plumlee fielded questions while reporters wondered whether Lillard would want to talk at after his rough night. Dame was open to questions though, answering thoughtfully and ending on a positive note. "We can still go into the All-Star break finishing strong. We can still do that." Right on, Dame.
