With Parker clearly controlling the game, why not put a great defender in Bayless on him to try and cool him down. And although Frye might be hitting his shots, Brandon Roy and LMA need to be our go to guys down the stretch, relying on Fry to hit jumpers is not going to cut it. It is really surprising to me that Bayless has been relegated to the bench since Blake’s return, I completely expected him to somehow squeeze at least 10 min per game. Especially in a game where Blake is playing so badly..

putting outlaw on Parker might have worked for a few possessions, but come on, that just seems desperate.

When it was proposed that Roy and Rudy could play together in the backcourt. Hello? Not unless you want to see Parker’s sneaker prints all over the paint.

Of course, the counter argument is “NOBODY can stop Tony Parker from going where he wants to go!” Well, part of that is true, it takes better perimeter/team defense than the Blazers are capable of playing at this time. However, if you put a weak defender on Parker, no amount of team defense is going to be able to compensate for protecting the paint and staying “out” on all of the 3 point shooters.

“This” is why acquiring Hinrich was a good idea. “This” is why Bayless is the future. To be that PG defender who will give the Blazers a chance to contain a premier penetrator like Parker and maybe win a few playoff series in years to come.

I appreciate what Blake and Sergio offer to a team’s offense. But if they are Portland’s “first line of defense” this team is going…nowhere. No amount of great defense (or even GregZilla roaming the paint) can compensate for matador PG defense

The effort is there with Steve and Sergio, but effort and desire is not always enough.

Bayless should have been given 20 min tonight. Instead he rode the pine all night long. Blake was off from the start and Sergio does not have the skill set to make Parker work on defense.

This one’s on Nate.

RCR

and by “whole game” I don’t just mean the 15 minutes that Batum actually played. Whenever Parker was in the game, Batum should have also been put in the game to guard him.

It was driving me nuts that Nate didn’t even try Bayless. I mean at least for a few minutes just to see how he would defend Parker. Also to have at least one person other than roy trying to get to the hoop. Way to many jumpshots.

If a team keeps us out of the paint we are more than happy to take jumpshots. I would like to see at least a few charges out of our guys if they arent going to make jumpshots.

If nothing else for the 6 fouls (make them hard) he could have used on TP. Use SA’s own MO on them…you pay for entering the paint.

You know that Bayless is the one that will continuously take the ball to the rack and that is exactly what we needed tonight with Duncan out. Instead we jacked up jumpers at the end of the shot clock. Why not stick him in there and see if he can give a spark? He’s not going to play any worse D on Parker than Blake of Sergio did.
The only one that looked semi effective was Batum. I don’t know why Nate doesn’t let him play 25-30 minutes in games like these, especially when he’s doing well in there.

He should have traded for Jason Kidd at the trade deadline. Then, we’d have had an experienced, defensively-skilled guard to defend Parker. He’d have held him to 37 instead of 39.

Fire KP.