Cavs vs. Blazers--My observations + Poll

by broggerboy19 on Jan 30, 2008 9:11 PM PST Comment 18 comments

Wow. Tough loss to swallow.

At least it was a great game.

No matter how much we beat up Nate for this loss, you really have to hand it to Lebron for an amazing 4th quarter and to the Cavs as a whole for some gritty East Coast D. We looked just plain lost out there on offense several times, including the last possession. It's become clear by now that Lebron can defend Roy, but Roy has no business defending Lebron. We tried Martell on him too and that didn't go too well. Outlaw has the best body for him, and Pryz did a sensational job with help defense.

Just a bummer that we were in control of this game for four quarters and let it slip away on national television. We really seem to have difficulty on the big stage against the biggest stars, whether it be Magic or MJ or Kobe or Lebron.

Oy vay. What do you guys think?

PS., My wife thinks Nate hates Pryz. Pretty cute.

Poll

Who or what won this game, more than any other factor, for the Caviliers?

We were due

7 votes

Nate MacMillan's poor coaching

14 votes

LeBron James, Lebron James, Lebron James

56 votes

Cavs D

4 votes

Lack of Pryz?

10 votes

Roy guarding Lebron?

4 votes

Blake inbounding?

0 votes

95 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 18 comments

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Comments

We shot 35%

I think that's our worst of the season. I guess that's partly Cav's D, but we've been missing a lot of wide open jumpers lately.

by Section323 on Jan 30, 2008 9:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Our Last Possession

Excluding LeBron's 4th quarter play, the one thing I would blame this loss on is not calling a timeout on the last play where Roy threw up a three. There's no way that posession could've gone any worse than that, and a timeout would've set up a trip to the foul line or less time remaining or at least a better look.

by amitp06 on Jan 30, 2008 9:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

The crazy thing is

We had a 20 and a full left. It is so strange that we did not call a timeout. I dont get it.

"I Dare You Not to Like the Blazers" Henry Abbott

by Sabonis4Ever on Jan 30, 2008 9:48 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Magic, MJ, Kobe and Lebron

do that to a LOT of teams.

by jayseyfield on Jan 30, 2008 9:48 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

The play that bothers me

is that last posession where Roy attempted the three. By the way Lebron was playing you knew there was like a 90% chance he was going to score. So you needed to play to win instead of trying to milk the clock and preserve the win.

It's just like playing the Patriots. You know they are going to put up a ton of points, so when you have the ball you need to take some chances (going for it on 4th and inches, etc) to beat them.

by jayseyfield on Jan 30, 2008 9:51 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

THE LAST 2 MINUTES.....

THE BLAZERS LOST THIS GAME TONIGHT IN THE LAST COUPLES MINUTES CAUSE OF LEBRON JAMES....HE SCORED AT WILL AND SHUT BRANDON ROY DOWN...ROY HAD TO TAKE TOO MANY TOUGH SHOTS AND COULDN'T TAKE IT IN LIKE HE NORMALLY DOES CAUSE LEBRON WAS TOO STRONG FOR ROY....AND BLAZERS JUST COULDN'T MAKE SHOTS! PLAIN AND SIMPLE.....THIS LOSS HAS TO RANK UP THERE WITH THE PHILLY LOSS....THESE CLOSE GAMES NEED TO BE WON BECAUSE OF THE TOUGH WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS...EVERY GAME COUNTS, AND IF THEY PLAY LIKE THAT AGAIN IN THE 4TH QUARTER, THEY DO NOT DESERVE TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS.

by ktzeo1823 on Jan 30, 2008 10:08 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Um...

Bizarro fatty?

"I Dare You Not to Like the Blazers" Henry Abbott

by Sabonis4Ever on Jan 30, 2008 10:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Aldridge?

He didnt slide over on LeBron on the final play. Instead he went for the block. I dont want to be too hard seeing as he gets a hard time for picking up fouls when he tries to draw charges instead of blocking shots. Better to make these kinds of errors know than in the next few years when the stakes will be higher.

It is somewhat reminiscent of when LeBron was heavily criticized for deferring to teammates down the stretch. It is not a mistake(?) he seems to be making now. Our guys are going to have to learn by making mistakes.

by jonestr on Jan 30, 2008 10:17 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Yup

We can't lose sight of the fact that every mistake and down moment we have this season is a great learning experience for when we are winning championships. And really, this team is the only one in the NBA where if we do NOT win a championship over the next decade it will truly be disappointing.

Of course there are a few teams built now for a title, but we're actually built for a damn DYNASTY. These bad moments where we make key mistakes haven't been repeated very often by our smart players. It's obviously annoying right now, but will pay off in spades in the long run.

This entire season is one long season in learning how to WIN, and how to play as a winning team in the NBA. We gotta take these lessons as we go, even if our guys are earning an A+ so far. We ain't elite yet, and have a lot left to learn.

Luckily we got a lot of great players and quick learners.

I can live with losing to Lebron, even if there were a ton of things that should have been done differently. We all know them, the coaches know them, and now the players know them. By remembering this is still a learning season and reminding myself that we can't get lost in obssessing on the NOW, it makes these sort of losses a lot easier to accept.

Not during the game, of course.

Mortimer

by Mortimer on Jan 30, 2008 10:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think

Sergio was out in the 4th quarter and not Jack was because KP is looking to trade him. Outlaw wasn't in for as much of the 4th quarter as he normally is, KP trying to trade him? Suspicious, I think so. KP looking at the team he would have left after a trade for Devin Harris, maybe, and I don't really know what to think about it.

Furthermore, what was with Roy guarding James one on one in the end? Brandon, we all know you are good and you want to be a leader, but you can't handle LBJ, you just can't. It has nothing to do with effort. Why wasn't anyone switching off of the pick and roll? We love you Brandon, but the list of people who can guard LBJ 1on1 is short, if non-existent.

Don't Forget about Oden

by hightide on Jan 30, 2008 11:06 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I hope KP is smarter than that

Dictating to Nate who gets minutes. This does not seem like KPs style. Also, he seems to be into the no midseason trade as he has talked about before. I was interested in the different looks that we were throwing out there. Usually Blake sits the 4th quarter, and it is rare to see Sergio and Roy together (I thought it was great and seemed to be effective as Sergio can really set guys up. I would not mind seeing more of this.)

Who can guard LBJ? I dont think I have seen anyone (Damon during LBJs rookie year?) guard him very effectively. He has the size of an undersized PF and the handles and quickness of a guard. It seemed like the Blazers were encouraging him to use one of his less refined talents in letting him shoot 3s. I was ok with this plan, but it didnt work and we tried to switch it up, but it was too late and was also ineffective.

We will get them next time we have G.O. on the court.

by jonestr on Jan 30, 2008 11:30 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Tough loss

We were due to lose a close one. Honestly, I thought we played well. We shot the ball very poorly and still would have one if not for LeBron's heroics.

Tough loss to be sure and every loss hurts bad in this playoff race. Not a terrible effort though.

by jksnake99 on Jan 30, 2008 11:10 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Perspective

Before tonight's game we had not lost a game all season that was decided by 3 points or less.

Correct me if I am wrong here but Cleveland is the only team other then the Blazers that has a winning record when trailing after 3 quarters.

Lebron went crazy, the Blazers froze up. Lesson learned. We had a chance to win after shooting 35%.

The Blazers will bounce back and while this loss could come back to haunt us when it comes to making the playoffs this year the big picture was never about this year anyhow. It was about evaluating what kind of team we have.

Friday's game is on ESPN too. Let's show the country the clutch Blazer team and the crazy Rose Garden!

by hoopsdreams on Jan 30, 2008 11:18 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

"3 points or less"

No knock on anyone--even ESPN was quoting it--but that's a dumb stat. Overtime losses should count, because those are games we tied in regulation. You can't get any closer than that.

"Ime caught the guy in mid-air with a fist and calmly continued his dispatching of oncoming people." -Gabe Muoneke

by hurryup09 on Jan 31, 2008 5:36 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I thought...

... that Martell did a nice job on James and that either he or Travis should have been on him for that last possession.

... too, that our last possession was poorly executed and that someone else should have been designated to take the shot rather than have Roy go one on one with Lebron.

... it was one of our best games, particularly in light of our poor shooting.

... it came down to James pulling a "Kobe" and suddenly becoming unconscious from outside.

by timg56 on Jan 31, 2008 7:43 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

tough loss

Alot went wrong last night, 35% shooting, bad offensive execution in the 4th, bad no calls by the refs, etc...

The things that stick out in my mind...

1.) Why did we not use a time out on our last offensive possesion? That was the worst look I have seen Roy take this year, and normally the Blazer get a very good look out of timeouts.

2.) I don't know if Brandon was fouled the last couple of drives he had, but it sure looked like it in live action. However the biggest non-calls were when the Cavs had the ball. On the 3 picks Iggy, (the cavs center, I can't spell his name) set for LBJ, he set moving illegal picks each time, forcing ROY to go away farther underneath them then he should have.

3.) On those same plays, LMA should have jumped out on LBJ forcing him to go out further behind the 3pt line. The 1 time he did this, LBJ forced up a much longer three than he wanted to and missed.

4.) I don't understand why Joel was not in on the last play. Even Dave's point makes no since for me, Joel is our best "make up" defense player, my 5 on the floor would have been, LMA Joel, ROY, Outlaw and Jones. Face guard LBJ to make it very hard for them to get the ball inbounds to him, (we didn't do this AT ALL!) then double team him hard to force him to give it up, or shot over the top. LBJ would pass imo, as he is unselfish, then we leave it up to a hurried jump shot from a non-star.

5.) What really lost this game for us, was the 35% shooting. We shot our normal percentage and we win this game running away. The cavs defense wasn't the cause of this shooting either, we have many many open looks that just didn't go down.

6.) Damn the Garden's crowd was awsome last night, very good showing on a National stage, for the crowd and the Blazers even though the didn't win.

by usmcr3049 on Jan 31, 2008 7:48 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I like your 5 on the floor...

Trying to stop a 3 with the body strength of a 4, you would use a good defensive 2 (Roy), 2 small forwards, a power forward, and a center.

That's the best chance of winning, right there.

by timbo on Jan 31, 2008 8:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The fan in the front row taunting LeBron...

should get the credit for the loss. Why would you do that?!? Stop gumming it up with the best player in the league! That's great that you can afford the priciest seats in the house, but check your ego at the door to the arena.

After "the layup" and as LBJ is making his way back to the Cavs bench he did spun around and glared at you, courtside-sitting-guy. It was reminiscent of the movie Gladiator, when Maximus slays the opponent and screams to the dead quiet audience, "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?"

You cost us a quality win on national TV, courtside-sitting-guy.

The Portland Trailblazers... where dynastic happens.

by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jan 31, 2008 11:13 AM PST reply actions 0 recs