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Did tonight's loss have a silver elbow--er, lining?

Anyone else notice that tonight's Blazers' comeback took off when Roy hit Artest with an "inadvertent" elbow?  Anyone think that elbow was actually inadvertent?  Could that elbow turn out to be more valuable than tonight's loss was costly?

Star-divide

Sure, that elbow was "inadvertent," as Mike & Mike termed it (or "accidental" as the B-team in the studio pronounced it).  Just like Kobe's flailing fists and feet to Bruce Bowen & Raja Bell's anatomy are "inadvertent"--or like Isiah Thomas' famous shot to Karl Malone's face was "inadvertent"--or like Mutumbo's elbows to [pick a victim] were "inadvertent."

When an offensive player is getting popped every time he gets the ball, he has three choices: 1) turn the other cheek; 2) appeal to the officials; and 3) dish out some punishment in return.  As you may have observed, the only reponse that ever works--at least on the road--is option #3.  The trick is to retaliate in a sufficiently sneaky way that you won't get called for an offensive foul or--worse--get ejected from the game.

Kobe, Isiah, and Mutumbo are/were masters at the technique--call them Black Belts (literally, in Kobe's case).  Chris Paul is already a Brown Belt.  Judging from Roy's masterfully delivered elbow tonight, he may finally be learning the art.  If so, I'd say that tonight's loss may have had a silver lining.  Going down the stretch of this season, games are going to be increasingly physical.  The Blazers' ability to deal with other team's aggressiveness will be key to their making the playoffs.  In particular, their ability to make defenders leery of guarding too closely and physically will be critical.

Now, if the Blazers' skinny young forwards can just figure out how to box out the likes of Scola, Artest, Hayes, and Battier...

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It was inadvertant

Roy had no way of knowing/seeing Artest being there, so at most he put his elbow back to prevent RonRon from reaching in and poking his dribble from behind.

"I don’t have the first clue who he is talking about, because all I worry about is Jerome." – Jerome James, on comments by coach Nate McMillan about Seattle SuperSonics players being selfish.

by Devenex on Feb 24, 2009 9:29 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

It's a "flailing" technique

You don’t target a guy’s face—you’re not even looking in his direction. But you “feel” him coming—he’s been popping you all night long—and you flail in his direction to fend him off. Every once in awhile, you’ll connect, and he’ll be much less aggressive the next time.

If you call that “inadvertent,” fine. I won’t argue the semantics; I just hope to see more of it. The idea isn’t to injure anyone; it’s to put a brake on their overaggressiveness.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 24, 2009 9:38 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Oops--this was intended as a reply to Devenex

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 24, 2009 9:39 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

seemed pretty accidental to me

But the silver lining is that we came back within 2 points and had some balls bounced a little better or Yao got called for that foul on outlaw when he drove, we might have come back all the way. That being said we played so bad throughout the first half and spots in the second half that we didnt deserve to win.
To cap it off rudy’s 3 point streak ended. Batum was the only bright spot tonight

by tevisthe4th on Feb 24, 2009 9:53 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I for one am glad Rudy's streak ended,

now maybe he can just relax and do his job, instead of trippin. I’ll bet his 3point percentage goes back up a little now.

Man, we should forfeit before roy’s hammy explodes, knocking him into LMA’s ear who loses his balance and hits Greg’s knee… - HurraKane212

http://www.nba.com/news/miles_10_080919.html

by maid tu rek on Feb 25, 2009 4:44 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I'm with you hurryup

You absolutely feel where the defender is, whether he’s on the side or behind you, you just know. The replay sure looked sneaky innocent.

Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game

by iDea on Feb 25, 2009 8:41 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Didn't he hurt his elbow?

I seem to remember Roy rubbing his let elbow shortly after he hit Artest in the face. I’m pretty sure it was just an accident.

by Nick Van Excellent on Feb 24, 2009 10:01 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

it still was pretty awesome

Want more aggressiveness? Try less Baylesslessness.

by prezofdeath on Feb 24, 2009 10:06 PM PST up reply actions   1 recs

Nah

I’m sure Roy knew where artest was…..he may not have been aiming for his lip, but you throw that elbow back and try and connect with anything.

Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game

by iDea on Feb 25, 2009 8:42 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

If you watched carefully (I rewound the DVR several times)

…Roy’s left elbow went back much farther than in his normal running motion. That was the “flailing move” I believe was intended to ward off Artest should he be reaching in again.

Was the elbow blatant? Of course not: that’s the beauty of it. Kobe finally got fined by the league around the 50th time he “inadvertantly” popped someone. May Roy be as successful. Judging by the responses to my post, he may well be.

Then again, the league won’t watch the tape with such rose-colored glasses as Blazer fans. Heaven forbid our golden boy should pop someone semi-intentionally!!

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 24, 2009 10:46 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

nope

No way it was intentional. Reading something that wasn’t there.

by pklym on Feb 24, 2009 11:42 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

If I'd included a poll in this post, it'd be about 20-1 for your take

With me being the “1.” All the same, I’m confident you guys have it wrong. As I’ve said above, the whole idea of what Roy did (and what Kobe, Mutumbo, et al do) is to protect his space by flailing. Occasionally you catch someone, and they’re more respectful of your space subsequently. If Roy racks up a few more notches on that elbow of his, I’ll have been proven right.

But no biggie either way. The bottom line of this post was to take my mind off the loss—and it’s accomplished that. On to tomorrow’s game vs the Spurs. It doesn’t get any easier; as I said yesterday, this could easily become an 0-4 stretch.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 12:07 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

BRoy was accelerating past Artest

and I think the elbow was part of the physics of that acceleration. That said, I wouldn’t put it past Brandon to design that move- I believe from watching him play that he pays that kind of close attention to his mechanics.

by Blazin' on Feb 25, 2009 12:09 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

this is ridiculous

Roy was driving past Artest, when you drive, you do not think about the people behind you unless you are shooting and worried about a block. Roy was starting his move and aggressively driving, he could not have possibly thought to purposely elbow Artest, and I doubt he even knew what he had done when it happened. Also, why would Roy even want to? Its not like Artest was playing dirty or anything…

Roy is a class act and has shown nothing to contrary throughout his entire career.

by dip city on Feb 25, 2009 1:59 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

How touching, how naive

Did you guys watch the entire game leading up to that point? Did you not see Artest reach around Roy AFTER HE’D DRIVEN PAST HIM on more than one occasion to slap the ball away (whacking Roy’s arm & body in the process)? Did you not note the officials failing to call this—usually an automatic foul?. (They even call it in grade school—whether or not the play is clean.)

As I said above, I’m not impugning Roy’s character here. He’s no cheap shot artist (ala Kobe). He’s just learning to protect his space by flailing a bit, thus making defenders more leery of playing him too close and aggressively. As I also said, you don’t need to look at the defender and take aim in order to pop him. After awhile, you “feel” where he is. Artest hadn’t played dirty, but he’d been riding Roy like a pony all game long.

Following the elbow to the nose, you can be sure he thought twice about sticking it in there again. Mission accomplished.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 11:05 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

What about Blake's elbow earlier in the game?

I love Hurryup toughness posts.

I da man!

by Dragline on Feb 25, 2009 2:40 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

Thank you, thank you

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 11:05 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

When the other team is stronger and more aggressive than you, pretty soon you can't hit wide open shots

Or did you think it was sheer coincidence that the Blazers couldn’t throw it in the ocean last night? You’re being bumped, slapped, and muscled, and you can’t get to the basket, so suddenly you HAVE to hit those jumpers. Consequently, the hoop begins to look tiny. Those are the same open jumpers you drain all day in practice, but now you can’t hit one to save your life. It’s psychological.

So is the impact of a timely elbow. Suddenly, your leader has let the other team know that there’s a price to be paid for playing that closely and aggressively. Your team is going to flail around, swinging feet, elbows, etc., and over-aggressive defenders are going to get popped. The psychological equation is reversed—now YOU’RE the aggressor, and they’re the ones whining to the refs. Suddenly you CAN get to the hoop, and magically those jumpers start to fall—even when they’re not wide open.

When Roy Artest—the biggest bully on the block—went to the bench with a bloody nose, that had an impact. It had to. This pattern is as old as the game of basketball. It starts when you’re playing your big brother in the driveway, and continues thru schoolyard, high school, college, and finally the pros. Brandon Roy is a squeaky clean player, but clearly he understands this. At some point, you have to protect your space on the court, or else you’ll lose the game—plain & simple. Basketball isn’t football, but it isn’t tennis either.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 11:27 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

I'm suprised nobody else thinks it was sneaky

I for two, absolutely believe it was semi-intentional. Roy knew right where Artest was, I’m sure he could feel the defender behind him, that’s just basketball. The replayed a few times on the DVR as well, and certainly looked like it was sneaky innocent.

Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game

by iDea on Feb 25, 2009 8:45 AM PST reply actions   0 recs

OK, that makes the "poll" about 20-3

Writing toughness fanposts is a lonely job. I didn’t even get TiH (or whatever he calls himself these days) chiming in.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 11:34 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

TiH is Dragline

Or better yet, Dragline is Tom in Hawaii. Tom was just a guy in Hawaii and Dragline was Tom in a parallel universe. Tom in Hawaii was inadvertently exposed to high doses of magnetic radiation at the same exact time Dragline was getting shocked touching an electric fence. He was checking to see if it was really electric. The two entities merged into one. Now Dragline in Hawwaii can freely travel between the universes by touching a 9V battery to his tongue.

I da man!

by Dragline on Feb 25, 2009 1:21 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Oh, why didn't anyone explain that to me before?

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 8:21 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Of course, that was intended as a reply to "TiH is Dragline"

I musta got caught up in that parallel universe for a moment and my post got misplaced.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 8:22 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

The true story is that tih walked a fine line and a lot of new kids stepped over it and used tih as an excuse

I’ll probably take a wrestling approach and bring him back later. I think Mick Foley was four different characters.

I da man!

by Dragline on Feb 25, 2009 10:55 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Charlie "Bird" Parker quit heroin because all the young musicians were copying his addiction

But Bird paid a price for being so responsible; he switched to booze and died from complications of alchoholism. That’s a cautionary tale for TiH.

"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla

by hurryup09 on Feb 25, 2009 11:58 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

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