My eyewitness report (a little late)

Damn was it fun to be there. I sat four rows behind the blazer bench and could hear Nate during the huddles.
I have heard most of the analysis of the actual game and Its really funny how different you see the game when your right there on the court. I just wanted to let you guy know all the little juicy tidbits I noticed.

1. Jamaal Magloire is already on vacation. He never listened to one word from the coaches on the timeouts. He told monty williams that he was going to the bathroom during the start of the second quarter and didnt come back for 10 min.
   
   
2. Zach may have struggled with his shot but he played hard out there. Lamarcus was outstanding last night but there is a reason he had 10 offensive rebounds. its because they left him every time Zach took a shot. Zachs shots were rolling around the rim for easy putbacks. Zach did have a bunch of turnovers but many of them really came from the lack of movement of our guards, double would come and guards were standing around the three line completely covered. Also Iverson was shooting the passing lanes all night.
   
   
3. Everything that Nate said during timeouts were completely obvious. during the first timoute I heard him say "dont settle, dont settle, weve had four jumpshots on four straight possesions"
   

next timeout he says "I need you guys to get back and hit the boards".
Now these things were all true and I would have probably said the same thing, but I was hoping for some great insight into the game from a basketball legend.

4. Travis has confidence in his jumpshot. when he takes it, he believes its going in. I cant say the same thing for Martell.
I watched Martell come out from halftime and take six warmup jumpers from about 18 feet.............he missed ALL of them.
He just looks like such a kid out there. The only thing he does well out there is rebound.

5. I understand now why Ime is not a long term solution. I like him, I really do, but he is just not big or athletic enough to play the NBA 3 postion. He is a thick guy who is tough as nails but when dealing with long athletic 3's like Melo he just looks like a scrub. I would say he would be a great 11th or 12th man on the bench, but starting? ouch. If he's is starting for the first game next season then something is terribly wrong.
   
   
6. Jarrett Jack got absolutely CLOWNED by Allen Iverson. Not many people can stay in front of A.I. but Jack really wanted to and Allen would blow by him only to slow down a little bit and go up for his patented " And 1, off the glass layin with the right hand". Jack really tries but he gets down on himself when he doesnt perform or Nate takes him out.
   

After one timeout Freddie jones came over to Jack and tried to coach him on how to deal with allen Iverson. Jack is the anti fast break. The only fast break points I remember were scored by Jack when Roy took the ball up court. Nate is not giving Sergio chance. Nate does not like freewheeling. My guess is that he'd probably have a coronary having a Steve Nash at the helm. Nash is the man but you have to deal with the overdribbling and 3-5 turnovers a game.

7.Nate looks uptight. He is intimidating and intense. Every time he took a player out of the game, they would walk by him with their eyes down and neither would exchange words. The only one who would say something to him was Mags, I didnt get a good feeling about it.

8. Most Blazer media has been saying that this team is tight in the locker room and has great camaraderie. If you compared the two teams it was night and day. The Nuggets were having a great time warming up, joking with each other, making up games in the warmup. The Blazer players hardly talked to each other. No joking, no energy, no nothin.....exept for Zach talking nonstop.
   
   
9. LaMarcus is GREAT for this team. he has such a spring in his step. He had a great game doing what he does, being in the right place at the right time. He scored what, 24 points and NOT ONE of them was a long jumper. he must have had 16 just on puttbacks and offensive rebounds. He had 6-8 on dumpoffs right under the basket. He didnt need any sets. but...........he got so burned in the first half in transition. He seems to be a pretty good man defender, but as soon as he leaves his man, its layup city for the other team. His craftiness doesn not shine on the defensive end. He got 4 blocks which is great, but he also was responsible for many Nuggets points. He needs help being a great help defender.
   
   
10. The guys on this team trust Zach and Roy. It is obvious that they are the teams leaders. I think they should be co-captains next year.
    
    

alright, well its a little wordy but I hope you enjoy the report.
jans