Written by Zach Harper | 30 October 2009

Whether you had trouble watching the Bulls-Spurs game or not because it was fairly low scoring, you had to have loved the Brandon Roy-Carmelo Anthony shootout.

I'm still confused as to how this Blazers team lost the game. While watching, it felt like the Blazers were up 10 or 15 points the entire game. And maybe it felt that way for the players too. I was shocked everytime I looked towards the bottom of the screen to see it was either just a margin of two or four points or tied. Carmelo Anthony is just that good I guess.



Now, let's get to the game links for last night:

Bulls 92, Spurs 85

From Bulls By The Horns: "Joakim Noah was Chicago’s best player in the first half. He grabbed four offensive rebounds. He blocked two of Tim Duncan’s shots. He hit one of his patented ugly-as-hell jumpers from 17 feet out. He played with the kind of energy and intensity you won’t see in a box score. Trust me, his final stats (10 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks) may not knock your socks off, but the Bulls would have gotten blown out in that first half without Joakim."

From Pounding the Rock: "Right now RJ has no idea how to fit into the offense and he's struggling. We don't seem to have any idea how to use him and either the coaches aren't asking what he likes or he's not offering. We've got to start getting him a couple of easy buckets before he starts jacking threes. He's pressing."

Nuggets 97, Blazers 94

From Blazers Edge: "That Roy passed the ball in that situation was something of a surprise although it was absolutely the right play.  Feeding Oden in such a pressure situation showed a reactive, reflexive trust in his center that we haven't often seen before. That the foul was called before Oden could pass the ball was unfortunate because Fernandez -- who loves big moments and was 6 of 9 for the game, 2 of 5 from distance and 8 of 8 from the stripe, for 22 points -- was absolutely licking his chops, hoping to deliver."

From Bust A Bucket: "As for tonight, the Blazers just missed. Portland doesn’t look like a finished product yet. There is still work to do before they become the team they can be this season. While the turnover onslaught of opening night did not show up there were still numerous occasions where the guys looked to still be getting used to each other. Denver is a team that has a lot more things figured out. Loses are never as good as wins but the fact that Portland came so close is encouraging."

From Roundball Mining Company: "The Nuggets also were able to stir themselves from an early malaise to play some very good team defense. They held the Blazers to only 34.6% shooting - - including 37.7% effective field goal and 47.5% true shooting - - very impressive numbers. Denver struggled on the defensive boards in the first half, but put forth a much better effort on the boards in the second half. The Blazers took a startling 20 more shots than Denver did largely due to their offensive rebounding advantage, yet Portland only made 28 shots, the same total as the Nuggets."

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