Game 3 Recap: Blazers 107, Rockets 111
by Dave on Oct 31, 2009 9:19 PM PDT
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PrintNow, you want a bad game? That was a pretty bad game.
The Blazers lost because of a couple obvious shortcomings.
First their defense got exposed. And if your defense gets exposed by the Rockets, you got exposed. Aaron Brooks aside, the Rockets are populated with players who have about two moves apiece. Take away the basic options from any of these guys and they have trouble scoring. When a guy has two choices and you actually let him take one--or worse, both--you did something wrong. Yet the Blazers let the Rockets run a litany of basic plays tonight with nary a bother. My guess is you could use this game as a video lesson on running their playbook.
For much of the game the Blazers played defense by rote, almost as if they were running their schemes against NBA Team #4 instead of the Houston Rockets. To wit: Houston doesn't have a formidable inside attack. I know they can score there, so no hate mail from Rockets fans. But in general you'll take your chances with Scola and Landry providing all of the Rockets' offense. They might get buckets but you're not going to lose that way. However whenever the Rockets got the ball inside in the first half the Blazers collapsed like they had Dwight Howard and Shaq down there. One or two passes later...open three. And wide-open threes are on that "one or two" list for all of the Houston wings.
To their credit the Blazers tried to step it up as the game closed down. But they still couldn't create containment on enough possessions to stop the Rockets from rolling. They stayed home on shooters but couldn't stop the drive when those shooters took Option B. Once again extra men were required...this time to stop layups. Once again Portland couldn't recover. This time it was a quick flick for a close attempt for the help guy's defender or to a shooter. Either way Houston's point flow continued.
The story here is that the Blazers could either stop the inside game or the outside game tonight, never both. And sometimes neither. 107 points should be enough to beat Houston unless you're Golden State or Sacramento. Tonight we defended like Northern Californians.
Second, and this is far less explicable than the first, the Blazers once again got outhustled by an opponent. Granted Houston was playing their home opener. We mentioned in the preview that the Blazers weren't just going to be able to walk in and out-talent them. The Blazers should have known that too. If they did it didn't really show up when the ball was loose. We saw too many toss-ups go to the Rockets. They got too many offensive rebounds. They moved their feet quicker and sacrificed their bodies more. They were the mentally superior team tonight and it showed.
On the bright side the Blazers did shoot 51.4%, hit 33% of their threes, and got 31 free throws, hitting 25. The offense was well-run against a tough defensive squad. But if you let Houston shoot 50.6%, 50% from three (12 of 24!), and only gain a 6-point advantage at the free throw line and you're going to lose.
Individual Notes
I have a long-standing practice that when the Blazers play a generally crappy game nobody gets individual credit or blame. They take it as a team. But since we're so new in the season and we're learning things each game I'm going to note some of the players who showed a different or noteworthy wrinkle.
Brandon Roy finally put together some shooting with his free-throw prowess, firing at a 12-20 clip, hitting all 13 of his foul shots, and finishing with 42. They couldn't stop him.
They couldn't stop LaMarcus either, so everybody can stop worrying about him on the offensive end. 13 for 16, a few post moves, 27 points.
Greg Oden did well enough in 22 minutes. He had 5 personal fouls but they got him for some touch fouls tonight. 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, and only 2 turnovers is just fine, plus he put the ball in the hoop a couple times for 6 points.
When Brandon Roy wasn't being Brandon Roy Andre Miller tried to step in as his understudy. He had 15 points, mostly from attacking the rim in the second half and drawing 9 free throws, hitting 7. He seemed to sense when the game could be turned and tried to do something about it.
The rest of the supporting cast shall not be spoken of, other than to mention that combined they hit only 7 shots out of 26 taken. Most of the flaws that you already know about with each individual came out tonight. Or, put another way, Brandon Roy had 9 more points than Trevor Ariza, Houston's leading scorer tonight. LaMarcus Aldridge and Andre Miller each finished with 1 less point than the second and third leading scorers respectively. That left Portland +7 in their top three, and this despite career-like nights from the Houston guys. We took their best blow, responded and then some. But their ancillary players outplayed ours. Part of it was effort. Part of it was overall dependability. Part of it was that their supporting cast got better shots in the flow of the offense while ours went one-on-one because they broke down our team defense more than we broke theirs. But any way you slice it this wasn't a good way to lose.
Check out the celebration at TheDreamShake.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
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WHO CARES????
GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Life is hilarious.
by SolGoode on Oct 31, 2009 9:25 PM PDT reply actions 5 recs
Pretty much my sentiment
I’m too happy with the Ducks’ total domination of USC to be bothered by an NBA regular season loss.
Yes
I wish i could make this green all by myself
by Bicycle Rider on Oct 31, 2009 10:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Who cares about the Ducks? Do they post “who cares, go Blazers!!!!!!!!!!!” on Addicted to Quack after a bad game?
But slowly things happen that they cannot help and the Blazers Fellowship of the Ring begins to break apart
but, I do think it is a little rude...
I meant to comment on the Blazers game last night, but it was late and the gf was wanting me to get off the computer.
Anyway, despite decent defensive numbers in the Blazers first two games, I did not like the way they were playing… on defense. There has been a significant lack of defensive cohesion. It just got worse against Houston and Houston was hot from distance. I think it is primarily the responsibility of the coaching staff, though fleeter footed guards and wings wouldn’t hurt.
Well written post, Dave
Not like I’m the preeminent judge of talent on SBN, but you really do have a nice product here at Blazer’s Edge. This blog is a well oiled machine- you’ve got a healthy group of readers who really know their hoops, intelligent comments, lengthy well informed articles to boot. Total package as far as a blog is concerned. As a Rockets’ fan, I would read The Dream Shake as well as this blog during the playoffs to get the two perspectives. Overall, you and your readers are very fair and aren’t unnecessarily mean spirited. Kudos to you for developing that culture.
The Crawfish Boxes, Astros blogging at its finest.
by Evan Hochschild on Oct 31, 2009 9:28 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
High praise all around
You sir (assuming your are a sir), are a class act.
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
FLUSH
The Blazers took a massive dump tonight in Houston and now let’s flush the toilet and open the windows to clear out the stench.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -- Thomas Paine, US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)
i am done defending Nate
His loyalty to Steve and Travis no matter how poorly they play is going to sink this season and hopefully get him a pink slip
by southern oregon on Oct 31, 2009 9:39 PM PDT reply actions
getting there myself
I’m frustrated that we seem to get so little from such talent. I look around the league and see teams with less talent than we have, yet somehow they seem to put there player’s in position to maximize their abilities and “do more with less”, whereas we seem to “do less with more”
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
Only Roy feels comfortable with Nate,thats why Nate call him for a private chat.
Im frusturated cuz our players seem scared of Nate. You can see it in Oden he is not sure what to do on defense. Thats why he gets called for touch fouls. Dont you think its strange that you allways hear that Nate is a defensive minded coach but, player dont know what defense is. And I hear Nate allways say that the team looks to run the fastbreak first and if nothing is there they look to set offense. I never see that they try to run the break first at all. Nate talks about pick and roll defense, but our bigs get stuck on the perimeter with guarding guards, so they either get beat by the dribble or jumper. Blazers themselves dont know hot to run pick and roll, cuz nobody rolls to the rim. I dont know what to think of Nate? I have this feeling that somehow players feel scared or whatever of him, so they try not to do mistakes, and thats not the way to play. Its playing to your weakness.
And Oden, once again, is a rookie, so non-stop fast break basketball is like fast-forwarding a song while he's trying to learn the lyrics.
by RipCity on Oct 31, 2009 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, I share that frustration. I'm glad Nate didn't sign his new contract.
The fact is I am pretty happy with our roster, and when I get the feeling they aren’t relating to the coach, or it has to be through Brandon ambassador, well, no, that’s not my style. “Captain Hook” not building confidence. You want the coach to radiate confidence, not uncertainty. Yeah, its a tough job, but it does pay well. So when I start looking for someone to blame, its not a player who is playing when the coach tells him to. Of course it is too early to get serious about this, but before the season sinks, I am more open to a coaching change than a major roster shakeup. Then we gotta figure whose available that is going to do a better job coaching. But Nate has a good record so far with the team, so, again, I know, it’s too soon to throw him under the bus.
"Travis went all wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow on everybody " Dave's recap, season opener
Avery Johnson and Jeff Van Gundy are the obvious ones
Avery Johnson is known to be abrasive which would normally lead me to dismiss him, but right now I don’t feel like the Blazers need molly-coddling. Would possibly be some duplication of issues currently experienced with Nate though.
JVG is probably the best option for a number of reasons – someone like AK could probably explain why far better than me though.
I’m not giving up on Nate yet but I don’t think he is effectively using the proven talent we have and on the flip side, despite not utilising what we already have he is also not doing anything to help our unproven talent develop. I’m already frustrated by some inconsistencies between what he says and what he does but I hope he is just learning and struggling like the players are right now and will improve. Otherwise, let him go coach the Lakers (Kobe loves him apparently) and bring in someone new who is more flexible and allows players to determine the style of play rather than his ‘system’.
Avery Johnson is a lot like Nate.
He never gives his PG’s a long leash, which is why Devin Harris suddenly looked like an all-star in a new system. I think he’s probably a better coach, but we would have a lot of the same problems especially with Miller.
I always liked JVG and he seems to do well with defensive minded centers. He would probably get my vote.
by Nick Van Excellent on Nov 1, 2009 5:22 AM PDT up reply actions
Avery Johnson is a better defensive coach than Nate McMillan, although he's an ...
even bigger control freak — which cost him his job with the Dallas Mavericks — so that makes him a no-go in my book. Johnson is like Scott Skiles, who’s also a hard-nosed defensive-minded coach with not much of a shelf life ’cause of his high-strung attitude.
Dear Paul Allen:
Waive Patty Mills & sign Ime Udoka.
Sincerely,
AK1984
I'm glad we agree on forgetting about Avery Johnson...
JVG, on the other hand, is an interesting option. Nowadays the Blazers gotta look like a coaches dream. We should have options.
And, I suppose there is a list of exceptional assistants around somewhere.
I somehow find this more interesting than player trades at the moment.
Really, we brought Nate in in a different world for a much different team. And he was good for us. Then there is the story of how, with Brandon’s help, he backed off on the hard practices at the end of last regular season, and the team responded favorably. This suggests Nate can learn and adapt… maybe. Substandard performance could be a motivator to break any stubbornness. We have to wait and see. I guess a big question, I don’t know the answer to is: how does the team really feel about Nate ?
"Travis went all wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow on everybody " Dave's recap, season opener
Miller did not play much better than Blake
And Miller threw a temper tantrum after he was called for a foul. Bad culture. Bad apple. Bench him. Play Bayless.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -- Thomas Paine, US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)
you would rather have a guy that has 2 points over 2 games
than a guy that 15 points but shows emotion on the court??
bayless leaves over my dead body
andre miller>hedo, blake
START MILLER
by thomasikehara on Oct 31, 2009 11:06 PM PDT up reply actions
I would personally
like to see more of the Blazers “get in the ref’s ear.” It can have a profound affect on team mindset and it even occasionally changes the officials’ outlook
Sucking at darts is not a super power
That's sarcasm, right ?
"Travis went all wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow on everybody " Dave's recap, season opener
And with that take southern oregon, I hope you slip a little farther south and become a Californian
It’s far, far, far too early to talk about handing Nate a pink slip.
Brandon Roy just destroyed everything in his path. There's your rational analysis -- Dave
Also: COMCAST SUCKS!
would you care to point out all the things Nate is doing well?
by southern oregon on Oct 31, 2009 9:55 PM PDT up reply actions
Okay S.O,, I'm back.
First of all I’ll apologize for being so snarky. I guess all this coach and team bashing after one, two and three games is getting to me.
What is Nate doing well? Do you mean this year based on only three games or the past three years where we have seen him make great progress with the team?
Regarding this year, give it a chance for pete’s sake. His performance over the past few years in molding extremely young players into a 54 win team speaks for itself.
I’ve often been critical of Nate in the past for not developing more of an uptempo game. Considering the thoroughbreds he has at his disposal, this just makes sense to me. This year I find myself defending him because of all the way too early criticism he is receiving. I attribute this influx of criticism to all the unrealistic and often irrational expectations for the team that were constantly being discussed during the off season. I warned in a comment or two then that those flying the highest and projecting the most success for the team often are the first one’s to fall off the bandwagon and start bashing the team after a couple of losses.
I’m not saying you’re one of those because I don’t remember, but it would be interesting to know how many victories for the team you predicted this year. If it were in the 60 range, yeah, each of these losses would making your prognostication talents suspect and could be resulting in such early on disappointment.
Like I indicated above, I don’t know if this description fits you or not, but I know several others on this site are wearing it like a glove.
Brandon Roy just destroyed everything in his path. There's your rational analysis -- Dave
Also: COMCAST SUCKS!
I disagree
It’s fair game. Nate had better start motivating his team to play. Neither KP nor Paul Allen was looking all too happy against Denver. Our guys are not playing to the level they could be. The coach deserves a discerning gaze.
World's phoniest apology-- "I'm sorry."
I am still waiting for Twodeeps to reply
It shouldnt take that long,its a short list
by southern oregon on Oct 31, 2009 10:06 PM PDT up reply actions
I noticed that
It’s possible many fans just don’t want to start hitting the panic button or pointing fingers… I can understand that. But I also think it’s fair game to scrutinize the coach for what may appear to be a lack of motivation and basic fundamental play.
Ripcity above made some interesting points about his observations of the team under Nate. I think the team has some wrinkles, but nothing that wont get ironed out soon enough.
World's phoniest apology-- "I'm sorry."
Well...
Nate was terrible in the playoffs. He was completely and utterly destroyed by Adelman. Having Joel play Yao straight up was really silly, and obviously so.
It’s too early to fire him for sure, but he’s not proving anyone wrong either. I’m usually the first one to defend the coach, but in this case I think the criticism is warranted.
by Nick Van Excellent on Oct 31, 2009 10:34 PM PDT up reply actions
On that 1st playoff game.
I don’t think it was such a terrible decision – there was no way to predict the historic Yao beatdown that followed. One might have thought “Yao could have a big night”. But not – “Yao won’t miss, and he’ll score at will.”
And hey, it was right back to fronting, mugging and possibly knifing Yao after that, so all’s right with the world.
If the Red Nation apparatchiks start talking about a Five Year Plan, I'm out of here.
I don't know.
Portland is long. Aldridge is quick. Fronting Yao seemed like a no-brainer to me. I honestly thought Joel was playing mind games when he said he intended to play Yao straight up. I didn’t predict Yao being as dominant as he was, but I certainly thought it would guarantee a loss.
The Blazers had a while to prepare for the Rockets. Nate just outsmarted himself. There were times when he should have gone small, but stuck with his comfort zone. I thought Adleman gave Portland a pretty good coaching beat down.
by Nick Van Excellent on Nov 1, 2009 12:05 AM PDT up reply actions
I agree
Nate has done some pretty baffling things, not fronting Yao in that playoff series was definitely one of them. The other thing that drives me crazy is his tendency to not double players. LBJ hit a game winner in portland because Nate asked Roy to guard him straight up. There is nobody in the league that can guard Lebron straight up, let alone Roy. Even in the Denver game, he wouldn’t double Melo and it lead to 41 points, 19 of which were in the 4th. I just don’t understand what an opposing player has to do for Nate to take the ball out of their hands and make somebody else beat you. I thought it was pretty obvious that Melo was scoring at will against single coverage, and that we needed to double him. It didn’t happen until late in the 4th, and at that point, Melo was red hot and overflowing with confidence…
As a Rockets fan, seeing Portland 2 out of 3 games,
I’d say that McMillan isn’t doing anything crazy. It’s so early, why would you drop a guy? Outlaw blew up on Houston in the first game, why not see if he’d do it again.
Blake over Miller, though, it’s tougher than it looks. Miller is more talented, but will he run your offense better than Blake, especially with the first unit, especially if Roy wants Blake running the first unit?
What happened to Bayless anyway? Did he turn into a pumpkin? Most teams don’t just let #11 picks rot. What did he do to deserve being disappeared? I know people say he’s not a true point, they say that about Brooks, too.
Also, if PDX don’t make Oden an offensive priority he won’t develop. If dedicated long-time Rockets fans know anything, it’s center play (Hayes, Moses, Sampson, Hakeem, Yao) and your center won’t turn into anything as the 4th scoring option.
If the Red Nation apparatchiks start talking about a Five Year Plan, I'm out of here.
by Xiane on Oct 31, 2009 9:54 PM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
Portland will never trade Bayless, but they aren't giving him PT either
Adelman is one of the best coaches in the league. If only he was supplied with a fully-healthy team…
"I always believe there's a reason why you go through everything." -John Elway
Can I use the bottom two paragraphs as a signature
Pretty much exactly how I feel about my two favourite players on this team.
Thank you, thank you and thank you again.
BTW Bayless is rotting on the bench because for some reason we think playing Steve Blake to keep Roy happy is more important than developing a guy with the potential to be a great second guard on this team. If Bayless can learn how to drive and dish even half as well as Roy then we are gravy – hard to do that while riding pine.
Sure be my guest.
I like Portland, btw, they’re the second team I follow. I’m not trying to run them down, just offering an outside perspective. The back and forth during the playoffs was almost entirely pleasant and fun.
I honestly have no idea if Bayless is any good or not. I suspect he is, but who could tell? Miller doesn’t solve the problem of Brooks, Parker, Paul, etc simply blowing by Blake. Bayless might, if he is as advertised.
I also don’t know if Oden is any good or not. I honestly don’t. I see flashes of a great player, and then a guy who can’t stay in a game, and who has no scoring moves. All the same, I don’t get why you play Oden and then pretend he’s Przybilla. Why not just play Przybilla, as he’s better at the role.
I think a good scoring center causes more devastation on the opposing line up than any other position. He can foul a front court out, and vastly change the opponents approach. Portland HAS to find out if Oden can do this, in real games. It’s worth even losing some games to find out. He needs to spend a stretch of games shooting at least 10-15 shots, and fouling out, if that’s how its going.
If the Red Nation apparatchiks start talking about a Five Year Plan, I'm out of here.
by Xiane on Oct 31, 2009 11:17 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
bingo
and what the heck is going on with the rotation. Let Oden foul out, let him touch the ball. quit subbing in players for 3 minutes at a time.
1. why take webster out? Nate’s answer; bad D. so he puts in Trout, (no d, no o) = fail
2. Figure out who’s the better point guard… duh. Dre is. everyone that knows what a basketball is knows this, what the heck Sarge?
3. If you are going to play someone, 2-3 minutes at a time, you should be fired. (that’s you Nate.)
4. why not put bayless on brooks? McClueless? it’s not as if miller or bayless actually play defense on that level. First off, you have to be able to stay in front of the player.
5. explain to LMA what help defense is. It is NOT watching Joel and Greg cover you on missed rotations.
6. OK, so we decide to switch on every stinking pick and roll. At least switch back when the offense lets you. Several times I saw brooks with LMA on him just sitting there with Blake staring over wondering if he should switch back. Friggin’ double team and then rotate the big back to his man. Dang it!!!! Arggg.
Watching this team so far this year is like dating a someone with OCD and ADD both, can’t make up their minds and can’t pay attention long enough to remember what the question was.
Get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. -the shawshank redemption.
we're losing games anyway
may as well develop the big guy…
How did you guys win that?
"We scored enough points. We scored 107, they scored 105.
-Nate McMillan Postgame, 3/4/2009
Bayless has some quickness laterally but he doesn’t have the quickness overall. although he looks small he actually has a pretty solid frame. Kind of like a Billups or Deron Williams build. Also he has a nasty tendency to get over aggressive picking up his cover and gets called for touch fouls.
My team went to the playoffs in my first year.
Really?
I’ve heard alot of (mostly justified) criticisms of Bayless, but not having overall quickness? From everything I’ve seen Bayless is in the upper echelon of the league in that category.
A group of super-small super-quick, point guards has developed (Brooks, Bynum, Robinson, Paul and now Lawson and hopefully Mills) who are near unguardable under current rules. Bayless’ combination of quickness, pure speed and strength gives him the best chance to at least be able to keep this type of player in front of him while also out muscling them on the other end. Yes he needs to be less aggressive but as has been said previously, it is much easier to coach a player out of silly mistakes due to being too intense on D than to try to motivate someone to play D in the first place.
I implore Nate to give him a chance. It is well worth the risk.
The problem is that we're past the development stage now.
If our 54-win record last season was a chimera, then it makes sense to give Greg more touches and Jerryd more PT. If the team’s championship window is cracking open, then you want your most veteran, most competent players on the floor performing well-defined roles. Nate and KP have decided we’re at the latter stage.
So true
Championship talk this year is very premature. If everything went right (Roy improves, LMA becomes an All Star, Oden can play 30 mins of good D, Przy and Blake repeat their career years etc) it would be a possibility.
I don’t get why we have somehow decided we are above playing someone like Bayless who has a few question marks as a player. San Antonio is playing George Hill, Denver is giving Lawson decent minutes, L*kers are playing two backup pg’s who aren’t sure things. Last year, Houston gave the starting job to Brooks at the trading deadline and look at what he has done for them. That wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t given him minutes to show them what he could do in those first few months of the season.
Bayless play last year didn’t warrant any pt. His play in preseason (where Nate said players would ‘work out who gets to play’) does warrant him getting 10-15 minutes of Blake’s time so long as he is playing so godawful.
"What happened to Bayless anyway? Did he turn into a pumpkin? Most teams don’t just let #11 picks rot." - Xiane
Bayless can't run the offense or shoot.
I like his defense, but he gets a little overaggressive and fouls too much. He can’t resist the temptation to hand check. It would be nice to see what he can do these days with the way Blake and Miller are playing.
good post, agree with everything you say...
The problem with Bayless is that he only has one bankable NBA skill right now, attacking the basket. Quite honestly though, he might be our 2nd or 3rd best option on the team as far as that goes, following Roy and possibly Miller. Bayless is at his best when he can turn on the tunnel vision and attack, attack, attack. He struggles passing the ball and understanding the team approach. Once he gets a better understanding of the game, he will get plenty of minutes and maybe even a long term starting job here in portland…
Which of Portland's guard corps has Bayless beat out??
Who should be benched?
"And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make." -The Beatles
If Blake keeps playing this poorly, I would like to see Bayless in the rotation behind a starting Andre Miller
in 10 games or so.
I doubt Blake will continue to struggle
Shooters go through slumps, his track record in the nba suggests he will come out of it soon. Its not like he is over the hill…
but I do agree with you if Blake continues to suck
I just dont think that will happen, he will find his stroke soon enough…
Give Houston credit
They played well. I agree that the PTB got exposed for their weak defensive effort. There’s no excuse for that. Houston took advantage of open looks and shot a high % from outside. They are a scrappy team and they did what it took to win the game tonight.
Nate McMillan had better start motivating his guys to play some D. I think Greg and Joel are doing a very good job clogging up the middle, blocking shots and getting the boards. But they are constantly having to leave their spots to cover for the inept and lazy efforts allowed from the perimeter defenders.
OKC tomorrow has been lighting it up. If the PTB bring that kind of defensive effort tomorrow… start panicking. I think they’ll get it together though and show up strong.
World's phoniest apology-- "I'm sorry."
Blazers will lose tomorrow night in OK City. Book it.
Our team has regressed from last year. Webster and Outlaw couldn’t defend my grandmother in a wheelchair. My grandmother would score 40 points on those listless bags of flesh.
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead. -- Thomas Paine, US patriot & political philosopher (1737 - 1809)
If that's a wager
I’ll take that bet. I think the PTB do have some self-respect and know they are not playing as well as they should. I expect Brandon Roy to get in some guys faces and get them focused.
Blazers win. And since its a jersey contest game, let’s just see who’s score is closer.
World's phoniest apology-- "I'm sorry."
I also will take the bet that Love’s grandmother would not score 40. Especially from a wheelchair. Are we giving odds here? Let me go ask my wife for some betting money.
His grandmother is Larry Bird. Think it over first.
If the Red Nation apparatchiks start talking about a Five Year Plan, I'm out of here.
by Xiane on Oct 31, 2009 10:04 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
And his grandfather is Migic J, so be carefull.
And Oden, once again, is a rookie, so non-stop fast break basketball is like fast-forwarding a song while he's trying to learn the lyrics.
A dead Pete Maravich can still easily score 30 points from his coffin
Point said, Larry Bird scoring 40 at age 50 isn’t outa the question.
I know this is a joke, but still: I always thought Larry Bird looked kinda like a woman. Take that, Celtics fans!
"I always believe there's a reason why you go through everything." -John Elway
Lol go blazers
My limit is ten games .. After , if the team is still playin like this then I’m officially worried .
Honestly does Travis’ unreliability , streaky play and lack of defense suprise anyone ?! Come.on. The whole bench is streaky and we shouldn’t be surprised .
I’m glad lma and Brandon seemingly found their shot..
Things could be worse.
Sophia
The Princess of Blazersedge
It just takes an iron fist to keep the riff raff under control and her princess hand is mad strong- Idoltime
by BlazerFan1 on Oct 31, 2009 10:21 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
good point-- things could be worse
it’s early and more then likely the team will right the ship. We got a great team and incredible fan-base. It’s all good despite a minor little glitch getting out the gate. No real worries here.
World's phoniest apology-- "I'm sorry."
Im glad Blazers are not over achieving early in the season,so KP can make a good trade, if the rest of the team cant figure it out.
Cuz if Roy, and LMA combine for 67 points and Blazers loose, there are either couple of big problems, or alot of small problems.
And Oden, once again, is a rookie, so non-stop fast break basketball is like fast-forwarding a song while he's trying to learn the lyrics.
I don’t know who to blame at this point. I know it’s early but I do have to question why the blazers seem so unprepared to BRING IT. I don’t think the added personal is a good excuse because I see other teams doing quite well despite personel changes. I’m leaning towards Nate just being out coached. I don’t know what else to think. I’d like to see this group with an upper teir coach.
Random thoughts
Chuck Hayes should NEVER outscore Oden. Ever.
Oden’s fouls were(in no order):
Hesitated leaving Hayes and got caught still sliding and trying to block shot on driving Ariza. Obvious call.
Elbowing Andersen in throat while trying to establish position. That gets called,Yao,Dwight,Shaq all get called for that. Whenever a Center’s elbow/arm hits his defender in throat,head it gets called. The NBA is sensitive to head shots,and it’s occassionaly going to happen when a C fights for position.
Biting on Ariza pump and jumping in air. That gets called.
Going over Battiers’ back trying to get O rebound. That usually gets called,esp when it’s on edge of lane w/a clear view for refs and not in a scrum.
Oden grabbed Hayes’ jersey as Hayes moved away from basket to set a screen. You grab a jersey and hang on and it’s going to get called.
They were all normal calls that are made. But only the grabbing of Hayes’ jersey was a bad/dumb foul,the bite on Ariza’s fake is inexperience and the others are ones you have to live w/-fighting for position,going for a rebound,helping out on D.
If Oden learns how not to foul, I'll be scared
Had he played 30 minutes and not fouled out, he would have got 13 boards and 3 blocks along with 9 points.
"I always believe there's a reason why you go through everything." -John Elway
Quick's recap at O-Live is worth a look
Guys seem pretty angry about their effort on the defensive end. They should be but I don’t get who people are angry at. Insinuation was that Outlaw and Webster were the main culprits but Roy certainly wasn’t innocent. If you want defensive intensity then play Bayless, simple as that (this is my theme for the day). Good, bad or indifferent at least Bayless gives you speed and intensity on that end – who else provides that on our roster?
Nicely put
I have long dismissed calls to play Bayless as fans being impatient, to let the guy earn his spot. But given that the only other quality perimeter defender on this roster is Batum, I think his time may be now. Roy talks defense, but seldom shows it. Blake, Webster and Outlaw are both capable but neither are dedicated. And Miller will never be known for his D. As long as opposing perimeter players are allowed to get to the rim with such ease, ALL of our bigs will continue to get in foul trouble on a nightly basis. At least Bayless will show some desire to play D, especially if he knows thats what will keep him in the rotation.
Nate really really wanted Batum to start to take pressure off Roy on that end having to defend the best wing player. He doesn't have that option anymore.
But slowly things happen that they cannot help and the Blazers Fellowship of the Ring begins to break apart
Y'know, Ime Udoka wouldn't look half bad with Portland in the role Quinton Ross has with Dallas.
On average, Udoka could be starting 8 minutes each half for a total of16 minutes per game. Martell Webster could play the middle 8 minutes of each half, too, while Rudy Fernandez closes the final 8 minutes out each half with Brandon Roy — with Fernandez the 3 on offense and 2 on defense, with Roy’s role the opposite of that — in an offensively proficient wing tandem. Fernandez would also be getting a steady minutes at the 2 each game behind Roy, so his playing time would be at around the 24 m.p.g. mark.
Dear Paul Allen:
Waive Patty Mills & sign Ime Udoka.
Sincerely,
AK1984
I cannot believe the players don't care about defense and aren't trying to play it.
Learning to recognize what an offense is doing and reacting correctly to it requires knowledge as much as effort. That’s why veteran teams do it better than young teams like ours. Instruction, repetition, watching video, and experience are the only solutions, and those take time.
My only real concern is that the players are afraid to make mistakes. Pretty much anything you do on defense can be the right play or a mistake; for example, if you leave your man to cover a teammate’s man because he has rotated to another guy, it’s the right move unless no one covers the man you left. I hope that Nate and the coaching staff are patient with the players during this long, arduous learning process, but when I read things like Nate yelling at Travis for making a mistake, I wonder whether the real problem is lack of effort or fear of failure.
The Good and Bad of Nate's Offense
Full disclosure-I’m a Rockets fan living in LA who watches the Blazers whenever the Rockets aren’t on. I’ve been a fan of the NBA since the late 60’s and am a believer in the value of a dominant C.
From my couch it appears to me Nate has created an offense that is…
1)Designed to give players who can get their own shot room to do so(Roy,Aldridge,Outlaw)(For those who like acronyms,they’re the OAR that paddles the Blazers’ boat :) )
2)Reliant on Roy to get set shooters their shots via his penetration and kicking out(Blake,Rudy,Webster,Batum)
To this end the Blazers run sets that get their skilled players open space to go one-on-one. They are good enough to get quality shots and unselfish enough to move the ball to another when they don’t have an opening. If the set winds down w/no shots,the ball goes to Roy and he usually creates something out of nothing.
Except for those rare games when the team just goes cold,this is an effective offense.
The bad about this is there’s very little player movement and it’s perimeter oriented. This is because players cutting,setting screens and passes into the post create congestion eliminating the space needed for iso plays. The players not entrusted w/creating shots end up standing around on offense. And this results in stagnation and usually leads to bad team defense as the players just aren’t involved in the game.
by Tisbee on Oct 31, 2009 10:54 PM PDT reply actions 7 recs
having the point guard dribble the ball at the top of the key for 10 seconds is a bad idea
Unless you are ahead and just killing time
by southern oregon on Nov 1, 2009 12:22 AM PDT up reply actions
Andre Miller does that
If the Blazers are looking for AM to score, they should open up driving lanes. Otherwise, he’s going to over-dribble.
"I always believe there's a reason why you go through everything." -John Elway
nice perspective
I’ve been trying to make some sense out of the strengths of Nate’s offensive schemes and this is as good a description as I’ve seen. I would add that I think with better teams, this sort of isolation or kick out offense isn’t very effective. Roy ends up working way too hard for his points and everyone else is left standing around the edges to shoot long range jumpers. This approach may work when our shooters are hot, but not sure how effective it can be with top teams over time. I’d also add that it seems like a waste of the talent and movement that feels like it’s dying to break out and express it’s potential.
I still wonder about the developmental stage of the Blazers. Nate seemed strong at turning around and rebuilding this team. I’’m not sure that he is the coach or has the chops for capitalizing on the talents on this team. Maybe things just haven’t gelled yet and Nate shows a willingness to learn and evolve his approach, though I haven’t seen much evidence of this. It’s early in the season, I guess time will tell.
Great that somebody else sees what I see
The offensive scheme is a problem. We need an offensive re-vamp.
by goblazer1 on Nov 1, 2009 11:11 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
I’ve actually felt like either every team plays great defense against the blazers or they just have terrible spacing in the low post. Your assessment supports the latter. This year and last year the team has had trouble when they get the ball down low, and it’s not G.O.’s fault. The lane always seems cloged for the blazers. Not so on the other end. usually easy layups or defensive fouls.
I actually don't think the Blazers played that badly
LaMarcus was unstoppable in the post 1-on-1, and when the Rockets double teamed him it created open 3-point opportunities for our shooters (unfortunately, none of the shooters except Roy were able to hit their outside shots). When we got the ball in to Oden, he drew fouls at a high rate (though he was unfortunately not given free throws a couple times when he should have been). Offensively, we were pretty efficient against a team with a lot of good defenders and were generating good shots. We just need to hit the open shots at a higher rate and not get hit with 5 3-second violations every game.
Defensively, it seemed like it was more a case of the Rockets hitting shots than the Blazers playing poor defense. The Blazers blocked 8 shots (vs 1 for the Rockets), which is a pretty good number. They avoided committing too many fouls (except for the intentional fouls at the end). The zone defense that the Blazers used in the first half probably wasn’t the best option against a team with more shooters than penetrators, but opposing teams aren’t going to hit half their 3’s every game. It’s not like all the 3’s the Rockets took were open looks either, Ariza hit a bunch of 25’ers with a hand in his face (which is surprising since he couldn’t shoot 3’s at all before last year). If the Blazers had hit their outside shots at the same rate as the Rockets did, the Blazers would have won this game.
It just seemed to me that this game was more about the Rockets getting hot and being a little lucky rather than the Blazers playing that poorly. The level of play the Blazers showed tonight is probably enough to beat Houston in Houston 60% of the time, it just wasn’t enough to overcome the Rocket’s hot shooting on this occasion.
but
at what point do we have to say the other teams hot shooting isn’t luck and is just poor defense? this is pretty much the same group as last year that gave up a fairly high percentage to the other team
by gotyourselfastew on Nov 1, 2009 1:54 AM PDT up reply actions
Other teams shot almost exactly the league average FG% and 3P% against the Blazers last year
If they shoot 50% on 3-pointers against us then that means they are getting lucky. No team is going to average close to 50% on 3-pointers for a season, and no team is going to have opponents average close to 50% against them on 3-pointers for a season.
by trk on Nov 1, 2009 9:16 AM PST up reply actions
point taken
but why are we comparing ourselves to league average? If we truly think we are a top 8 or even top 6 team in the NBA, slightly below league average is never going to cut it. if you look at the top 5 teams in fg% from last year, they are cleveland, boston, orlando, denver, and LA. its no coincidence that they were considered the best teams in the NBA last year.
and i agree that 50% is high, but i bet its not real high when the shot are uncontested. look at how the players shoot in warm ups. most of the shots houston took looked about as open as they are in the pre-game shooting.
by gotyourselfastew on Nov 1, 2009 2:14 PM PST up reply actions
andre over steve
i know brandon wants steve but seriously steve blake has been obsolete in the 1st 3 games.
"Good, Better, Best, never let it rest until your good is your better and your better is your best." Tim Duncan
More Dre,Bayless?
Blake might be pressing because Dre is coming on.But he is showing against Houston why we brought in Dre.If he isn’t hitting, he isn’t helping Not much D or dishing out assists. But we have to look at Bayless as a perimeter defender,at least.What have we got to lose?Games.Oh,we’re already doing that
by DowntownVinnie on Nov 1, 2009 10:16 AM PST up reply actions
Don't panic
The Blazers have made some significant changes, it may take a while to get it all working smoothly. Pre-season doesn’t really show how things will work when the games count, sometimes you’re well into the regular season before you get everything in synch.
Brandon tied his career-high from 3 and went for 40 points. LaMarcus went for 27, Miller for 15. And we still lost.
Ergo our defense was horrible. And yes, Trevor Ariza also went for a career-high, in total points with 33 (up from 26).
Dave, time to break out another post on bad pick-and-roll switching, and I didn’t like the closing out on three point shooters either as is a bit insinuated with your remark “they stayed home on shooters”.
But slowly things happen that they cannot help and the Blazers Fellowship of the Ring begins to break apart
very happy to escape with a W here...
Rockets fan here…
just wanted to say: “oh, my God – Brandon Roy is good.” I am very happy and I think a bit fortunate to watch my team escape with a victory over the Blazers last night. Brandon Roy is a beast and the Rockets (and most other teams) have no way to stop or even contain him.
Good luck against the Durants.
The stats back you up Ben
The Blazers were at .90 points per possession to the Rockets .94. We can’t let teams score nearly a point a possession and win. Not when the rebounding margin is in single digits and/or the percentage of loss of ball is so close. In this game is it was 13% Blazers and 11% Rockets.
In Portland on Tuesday we had a pretty good PPP, but the formula shows if the Rockets could have closed the rebounding gap, (they did last night) thus cutting down on our possessions, they could have won the game.
-
Oden can’t get us 15 boards a night and I agree about our players individual offensive skills. The thing is Nate is putting to much pressure on the players to be able to score one on one, or take shots late in the clock. The game plan doesn’t support a free flowing offense where the players can use movement and the pass to create easy shots. When your told to stand in the corner while one guy goes one on one, it’s not like the coach is giving you options to get involved.
Roy and Aldridge took 36 shots. Thats fine maybe, but it is 9 more shots then the rest of the team combined. You can’t argue that it wasn’t effective last night (we scored efficiently), but the predictability of it hurts us I think, in more ways then one. Besides resulting in some ugly possessions, it also can put our defense in a bad spot having to defend fast breaks after poor shots or steals.
-
Unfortunately the Trailblazers are not looking to hot right now. The offense is inconsistant, and predictable even when its effective, and our defense dissapears at bad times. Rebounding will still save our bacon if we admit to ourselve’s we need it to survive. Because we run an inefficient offense, we need to get as many chances as possible and hold the other teams possessions down. On defense I guess we hope that Oden averages like 6 blocks and 14 rebounds a game….
"Because we run an inefficient offense"
Watch out for this. There are people who are going to argue you to death about efficiency, especially last year’s. I agree, our offense can be much more creative.
What happened with Martell?
I wasn’t able to watch the game due to Halloween commitments (e.g. kids). I noticed that Webster barely got any playing time. Was he just not playing well and got the hook?
"My shoulder is OK. And away we go." -- Nic Batum
"wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow" -- Dave
His defense, according to Nate.
From Quick’s recap of the game:
McMillan also played starting small forward Martell Webster only 14:32, the fewest of any of the nine Blazers who played. He said the reason for Webster’s abbreviated minutes was defense.
Interesting that Quick also quoted Nate as saying he did not want to single-out any of the players yet mentioned Martell.
Martell
Maybe he misssed him battling Carmelo.I think Martells energy has been great this year,Maybe I’m watching different games.He’s playing better than Travs D
by DowntownVinnie on Nov 1, 2009 10:02 AM PST up reply actions
About saying "Its to early", "it's only the third game".... blah blah
In the case of Nate, the guy has been here three or four years? I don’t think its to early to say we know about everything we are going to know about him as a coach. The cards are all on the table by now. It doesn’t matter what game of the season it is when you have 3 years of history to look at.
-
And for the people who say “it’s not time to panic, it’s only the third game”. Aren’t you the same people who say “no one game is more important then any other one game?”.
Those outlooks ar enot compatible with each other! If its panic time, or not panic time, in game 72 when playoff position is slipping away then it is or it isn’t now. If all that matters is that you react to each game in the same way, and if I react with hysterical alarmism…. then just make sure I am consistant.
That drove me crazy about the players this year though, we were so non-chalant about the beginning of the season, like “these games don’t matter, its to early to care…”
My question is: when is it time to start making a better basketball team? Is it time now that the season has started? Was it time in the pre-season? When the playoff push starts, can we strat to get better and talk about how to get better then?
Its never to early is my point.
The Offense
I really think that if Portland ever starts running some more offense with ball movement, everything else will come around. Defense can feed off offense, and when your scoring all comes with difficulty, its harder to defend.
by goblazer1 on Nov 1, 2009 9:36 AM PST via mobile reply actions
Lot of points I agree with in this post...
I thought the Blazers played better on O early last night. First play going deep to Greg was an excellent start. They also got LMA going closer to the rim than earlier, and he responded. BRoy came off several screens in that first half and canned the shots, several for 3.
Unfortunately, the Rockets couldn’t miss. And we got out-worked and out-hustled. And also unfortunately, late in the game Nate resorted to ‘doing the Porland’, and we stopped making shots.
C’mon Nate, let loose the hounds!
We need to run to use our youth, depth, and atheticism.
We need to get an inside out offense going.
We need to figure out how this new-fangled play idea called the pick and roll works.
We need to play with some heart and desire on D.
We need a win…
MatadorD.
Aaron Brooks torched us again.I agre ewith the posts about JBay.Why can’t we use him as a defender on Brooks.Nobody else can stop him.Why in the hell are we not using Martell in the second halfW/Rudy.They are the only players playin with consistent energy every night right now besides LMA and BRoyOur perimeter Defense is what is causing our bigs to get in foul trouble.3 straight games.
Martell
I’m sorry, but Martell has been playin great and I think Nates anal substitution patterns are really bugging me.I still think that we are thinking too much and not playing instintively.5-3in the keys,thats just gradeschool stuff.Little things kill you in games like this.
Is it just me being paranoid?
Or do Brandon’s post game comments seem to be aimed at Andre Miller? While I have no tangible proof or direct quote it seems as if he has not welcomed Andre into the mix with open arms and perhaps feels that the problems they are having defensively/chemistry are Miller’s fault. Just a feeling on my part.
I'm a little confused by your tactics
by oderiferous emanations 74 on Nov 1, 2009 10:56 AM PST reply actions
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