The only good reason to continue to play Outlaw so much over Batum is if we really are trying to get Travis looking good for a early season trade…

Otherwise.. trust the go get it guy.. Batum!

It seems outlaw played very madiocre, he had a couple good moments, and a couple terrible ones that really hurt us..fouls, turnovers, so much for his unblockable shot… people this season have really caught onto him.

if you’re Nate, and you’re ahead of the Jazz on thier home court, and it’s late in the game, do you go with a guy that has been there before and that can (not will, but can) be effective, or do you go with the rookie, a kid you’ve seen very little of, who you really don’t know what to expect offensively from?

If I’m Nate and I’m 4 games into the season, I probably go with what I know. You gotta think that if Nate does go with the rookie and we lose that he probably gets some flack from the media for putting in the untested kid.

Sergio. Blake has been unimpressive , his shot’s not falling and end sergio see’s the floor better

After watching that game I am simply amazed at how out of sync the players are. There were fast break opportunities that were blown because players didn’t know what to do or where to move and that’s not Nate. I’ll probably write about it tomorrow after I chill a bit. To some up my thoughts from watching, the cheerleaders had better outfits, but still ugly, the mascot sucks and should be shot, and the blazers have some talent but are AMAZINGLY raw. I am officially moving away from my stance of " we don’t need a veteran". This game made it painfully obvious that we do need someone out there to direct and help teach these guys on the floor. I’m going to sleep and breath and revisit my thoughts in the morning. I new we’d lose in the 2nd half because we never controlled this game.

We beat san antonio, but still. The missing piece to the puzzle is a point gaurd who can create for everyone. Even when blake has great shooting games it doesnt do a whole lot for the team. the refs did play a factor also.

paradoxically so is Travis so the rationality behind playing Travis THE ENTIRE 4TH QT. when he isnt even shooting well is non existant.

Im livid to say the least.

Sophia

Brandon and LaMarcus lost this game. Stars have to play like stars.

I’m not arguing that there weren’t some questionable adjustments in the game. Though I’m not arguing that there were either. Hindsight is 20/20, but homer goggles make it even better than that, right? (don’t worry, I’m one too, I’ve just come to grips with it.) Anyway, the thing that is really striking to me is the idea that you, the fans, 4 games in have seen more of the rookie, also 4 games in, than the coach, and you know more of what to expect and how to play him. The professional NBA coach. The guy who is building the game plan and has to live with the decisions he makes. The guy who has spent a ton of hours working with both of these players. The guy who has millions of dollars in salary (and even more than that) pending on the results that he produces. Yes, what happened tonight was a terrible way to lose, but staying in a game like this (do I really have to lay out the enormity of the challenge this team was presented with tonight?) isn’t something to be this upset about. Moreover, to say that you are a better judge of how the rookie will react if put in a certain in game situation than Nate does is just unrealistic.

This is gonna get very annoying if someone makes a fan post everytime the Blazers lose and begin blaming Nate for the loss.

Hint: It’s very rarely Nate’s fault.

Tonight was just a case of the Jazz being a better team.

I thought he did a pretty good job of trying different line ups to try and find one that worked. Yeah the decision to put Travis in annoyed me, but Travis was mr. 4th quarter last year, and you go with what you know. The players lost this game for us. They just got out grinded. The Jazz are tough at home. They will themselves to victory, and we just got punched in the face and couldn’t punch back. Also Travis’s 2 quick fouls didn’t help, but I don’t blame Nate for that. He was just trying to use all his assets.

that we had the lead at the half. All of that has been accomplished by using our regular units in their proper orders. In each of the games Nate has completely messed up the 3rd and 4th quarters trying to reinvent the wheel. Nate is being completely reactionary (someone compared him to Avery Johnson, and I think there is some validity to that), and isn’t playing to the strengths of our own team. With the way things look now, for at least the next 2 months our lineups will be in a constant state of flux. We don’t need to feed that machine anymore than it will already be fed. We need our coach to implement some consistency in the units, and to stay true to those units throughout the entirety of games. With our given personnel its not rocket science. Just let the fits be fits. Quit trying to out think the room.

It’s his fault we lost the game.

Travis doesn’t know where he belongs…he ran over our point guard (blake) somewhere in the 4th quarter…

I don’t care what he did out there last year..he doesn’t mesh with the offense at all, his D is marginal, his rebounding isn’t like Nic’s…the idea that he MIGHT be a better isolation player in the last seconds does not make up for the liability he is all the rest of the time.

Handing him the ball and hoping he might create something beause it’s the 4th quarter is a rediculous offensive plan..bringing him in in certain set plays in pressure situations might be worthwhile if you are gonna bnk on his past performance as a solid predictor of he present, but having him out there the whole fourt quarter cost more than one or two shots could make up for.

Batum adds intangibles that make everyone else around him look better — TO does the opposite and it shows..am i supposed to believe that that was the “clutch” team out there? by what measure? And why predict that Batum can only produce in the first half? do they rearrange the basket for the 4th quarter? heavier ball or something?

Nic was the thing that made it all work — Off rbds, tipped balls, defensive stops, blocked shots, proper floor spacing — b a s k e t b a l l — not continuing to use him in that game was a poor coaching decision ESPECIALLY after the team demonstrated 0 cohesiveness and flow… it was made by thinking rather than by observation

that is a 19 yo rookie shouldn’t be depended on, might make mistakes, might could should — whatever — the observations were that he was contributing in ways no one else was and that his spark mighta helped win the game. how will we ever know if he is a pressure player if we won’t put him in pressure situations?

No.