July 8, 2005

Mike Barrett

The Trail Blazers offense kicked into high gear during the third quarter today, as they survived a cold shooting first half to defeat a talented Golden State Warriors summer league team 90-74 in the Reebok Vegas Summer League.

Sebastian Telfair was just about the only Portland player who had anything going in the first quarter, and the Warriors grabbed a quick double-digit lead. Telfair scored 12 points in the opening 10 minutes while no other Blazer had more than 3 points. In fact, Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster ended the first quarter without a field goal. Telfair got to the foul line eight times in all in that first half and went to the locker room at halftime with 18. After coming within a rebound of a triple-double in the first game, he put up impressive numbers again in this game, recording 23 points and 10 assists.

Golden State, coached by former Blazer Mario Elie, evidently did some scouting work on Portland and put the clamps on rookie Webster early. Every time Webster touched the ball he had a man in his face, and had just 6 points at halftime. But, ended the game with 15 on 5 for 10 shooting.

The Warriors, who shot 10 for 14 in the first quarter, could only manage 15 for 52 the rest of the way, and ended the game shooting 38 percent. The Trail Blazers were just 5 for 12 in the first, but went 28 for 53 the rest of the way and shot 51 percent for the game. This, after shooting 55 percent in their first win on Wednesday against New York.

The Trail Blazers took control of the game in the third quarter. After trailing at halftime by 4, they put up an incredible 34 points in the third (keep in mind these quarters are only 10 minutes, as opposed to the usual 12 during the regular season). Going into the fourth, Portland had a 13-point lead.

Travis Outlaw, who had a huge first game on Wednesday, scoring 32 against the Knicks, got off to a very slow start today scoring just 5 points in the first half. He ended the game with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Portland got solid play in the middle again today, as Seung Jin Ha ended with 7 points and 6 rebounds, and Nedzad Sinanovic, who played the bulk of the minutes down the stretch, ended with 10 points and 10 rebounds and a couple of impressive blocked shots.

Sinanovich, from Boznia-Herzegovina, was selected with the 54th pick by Portland in the 2003 draft. He’s listed at 7-4, 248, and has only been playing organized basketball for about five years. Last summer in Salt Lake City, that fact was very evident. While probably not ready to contribute during the regular season, he has come leaps and bounds from where he was last summer, and is a great kid to boot.

Speaking of foreign players, the Trail Blazers will hopefully have Sergei Monia join them here in Las Vegas on Tuesday, says general manager John Nash. He’s been trying to get a work visa and hopefully things will get worked out soon.

The star of the game for Golden State, by the way, was former Arizona State star Ike Diogu. The Warriors surprised many when they selected him with the 9th pick recently. He looked worthy of that today, as he recorded 16 points and 8 rebounds, and wowed the crowd with several very impressive dunks.

The Trail Blazers will practice tomorrow morning at 9am at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy, and then return to action in the summer league on Sunday night when they take on the Dallas Mavericks.

Among the recognizable faces watching from the stands today were Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, Don Nelson, Marc Ivaroni, Joe Dumars, and Atlanta general manager Billy Knight.

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