Bayless, Not Oden, Is Rookie To Lead Blazers Past Nets
By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Having a breakout NBA game felt better than making a hole-in-one in golf. In fact, it felt better than making two holes-in-one.
That was the opinion of Jerryd Bayless, and he knows of that which he speaks.
There are three distinct athletic exploit memories that’ll forever stick in Bayless’ head, the third of which happened Thursday night as the rookie third-string point scored a career-high 23 points in a 105-99 victory over the New Jersey Nets.
“I’m a basketball player, so I think I have to say this is a better feeling. Golf is something I rarely do, I used to do it a lot with my father when I was younger, but I really don’t do it anymore. Playing in the NBA and having a good game here is something I’d much rather have than that.”
The notion of Bayless being more of an impact player for the Blazers than Greg Oden would have seemed preposterous as recent as a couple days ago, back when Steve Blake was putting together his best stretch of games all season and Bayless was riding the pine, pressing more than producing in the scant playing time he was receiving behind Sergio Rodriguez.
But when Blake suffered a shoulder separation Wednesday night in Philadelphia and flew back to Portland on Thursday (he is expected to miss 7-10 days, coach Nate McMillan said), Bayless knew he was going to get his opportunity.
He came off the bench behind Rodriguez, but he was on the floor for the final 9:08 of a fourth quarter in which he scored 11 of Portland’s 37 points.
It was an overall performance so rock-solid and steady (6-for-9 from the field, 11-for-11 from the line) that McMillan said he’ll consider moving Bayless into the starting five Saturday for Portland’s final stop on this four-game road trip, in Charlotte.
But whether McMillan can coax a little more out of one of his permanent starters, Oden, will likely remain a more pressing concern for the Blazers over the long haul. Oden sat the final 18 minutes of the second half and finished with just two points and one rebound in 13 1/2 total minutes of playing time, his second consecutive exceedingly underwhelming performance.
Oden was thoroughly outplayed by New Jersey’s Brook Lopez (17 points, six rebounds, two blocks) when the two were on the court together, although Lopez was unable to do much of anything defensively against LaMarcus Aldridge in the fourth quarter when he (eight points), Travis Outlaw (nine points) and Bayless carried the bulk of the offensive load.
“For me, I want to be out there. I want to help the team, I want to contribute. But a lot of time, with matchups against quicker five men that are really four or three men, a lot of times that doesn’t really work, and it’s not my day,” Oden said.
Oden’s inconsistency has been one of the hallmarks of his delayed rookie season. He leads the team with 11 double-doubles, but this was the 12th game in which he scored four points or less, and this was the fourth time that he grabbed just a single, solitary rebound.
Asked what he tried to do Thursday to avoid a repeat of his dud the previous night, Oden said: “I thought it was play with some energy, try to be more lively out there, try to get this team some pep in my step. But I tried doing that tonight, got a couple of fouls, and there it goes.”
Instead, the energy came from a 20-year-old who had accounted for a total of only 53 points in his previous 18 games, a player whose first taste of sudden success came half a lifetime ago when he was a 10-year-old standing in the tee box of a par-3 at the Mountain Shadows resort, watching the flight of a small dimpled orb as it sailed straight toward the flag 120 yards away.
“I hit it, and it was one bounce and in. It hit the flagpole and went in. The second one was with my friends in high school. One of my boys, his dad worked at a course in Chandler, and we went out there messing around and decided to play nine. It was a par-3 again, I just hit it, and this one rolled in. But I didn’t turn that one in. I didn’t get the plaque for that one, but I did have to buy the Gatorades.”
Now, Bayless has a new memory that’ll stay as clear in his head as those old ones — the memory of the night when he wasn’t just wearing an NBA uniform, but became an NBA player.
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider