Game 68 Preview: Blazers vs. Pacers
by Dave on Mar 17, 2009 11:27 PM PDT
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PrintSince we just played the Pacers a couple weeks ago the full-preview treatment would be redundant. Not much has changed between then and now, save that the Pacers lost three and won one (against the Clippers, natch) in the interim. You can find the earlier preview here.
A basic summation:
- The Pacers score a ton.
- They give up an ungodly amount
- An ungodly amount is more than a ton, which is why they lose.
- They share the ball and shoot from anywhere, including beyond the arc.
- They turn the ball over too.
- They're a good defensive rebounding team.
In addition we should point out that they're a much better home team than road team. (It'd pretty much be statistically impossible for them to be worse, given their road record.) Also they've played near-.500 ball against Western Conference teams. This game is not going to be a cakewalk.
Keys to the Game
1. With their continuing injuries the Pacers are guard-heavy in scoring. One of the reasons the game in Portland was uncomfortably close was their guard penetration. These guards don't usually penetrate that much. Portland was surprised by their quickness and was less that diligent in keeping them out of the lane. That can't happen again tonight. Fair is fair. They can take a lot of shots. They just have to be from the outside.
2. You absolutely must keep up with everyone on this team defensively, even in the halfcourt. They have no pride. They will simply dish it to the guy who's open. The only cure is to not leave anyone open. It's not like they're fielding Kobe or LeBron out there. Single-cover and stay in front of your man. You can help down low if the guards are getting inside (see Point #1) but then you have to recover.
3. Punish them with your own penetration and deep scoring.
4. Punish them on the offensive boards as well.
5. Don't turn the ball over to them.
Final Thoughts
Payback games are seldom pretty. This isn't a good team but this is a capable team even with half of their players gone. This is a team returning home after a couple of road losses. And this is a team that feels it could have easily won that March 4th game. The Blazers cannot coast on the win from Monday night nor look forward to the game against LeBron tomorrow. Winning this one will take some of the pressure off of that one.
Check out the Indiana doings at IndyCornrows.
Enter tonight's Jersey Contest form here. Do remember it's a 4:00 p.m. start.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
P.S. Tonight is a Blazersedge-type meeting in New York. Some folks are getting together in the East Village. To join, follow this link and join the nyc-blazers Google group, where you'll find more info.
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OOODDDEEENNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Travis has more hops than a bunny in a brewery. He elevates so high his seat doubles as a flotation device."
-Dave
by SabonisBonus on Mar 17, 2009 11:34 PM PDT up reply actions
In the movie The 13th Warrior (awesome movie btw)
They shout Odin when searching for an land in the fog (when sailing, or I guess rowing). I always wanted the Rose Garden to play that part on the jumbotron.
Karma
by Sabonis4Ever on Mar 17, 2009 11:41 PM PDT up reply actions
if you can find a vid of this clip...
I will pay you handsomely… and by pay you I mean thank you… and by thank you i mean rec you… get on it! i want to see this .
"Travis has more hops than a bunny in a brewery. He elevates so high his seat doubles as a flotation device."
-Dave
by SabonisBonus on Mar 17, 2009 11:48 PM PDT up reply actions
BOTH!
rec’d to tha max! we totally should use that at the RG. RESPECT THE NORSE GOD OF ALL GODS!
"Travis has more hops than a bunny in a brewery. He elevates so high his seat doubles as a flotation device."
-Dave
by SabonisBonus on Mar 17, 2009 11:57 PM PDT up reply actions
hahahahahahaha
"I saw him in the face"
by RoodiePhirnandizz on Mar 17, 2009 11:58 PM PDT up reply actions
yo!
they should REENACT IT with roy, LA, rudy, travis, wearing those hoods, on those boats in the fog, looking for ODEN! then they suit up in armor and fire a basketball off a crossbow into a hoop!
way better than any other basketball team's advertisements!
Blazers win BDL 2 on 2 tournament!
Skeets: i’ll close it down now … congrats. you bastards
Man they gotta play that at games
Side note, I hate rock music in period pieces set before there was rock music.
Electric guitar just sounds dumb next to vikings and crap. Makes me angry. How do you mess up Vikings?!?! With rock music I guess.
Morty
Did you see the lyrics?
Lyrics for “With Oden on Our Side”
Finally the storm arrives
Out wait is at an end
Under dark winter skies
We make our final stand
For each of us, there are four of them
It matters not to us
We won’t leave this field in shame
We are here to crush!
[x2]
Futile to resist
You know why we have come
Futile to resist
The battle is already won!
Our hearts are full of pounding rage
Our mind hard as steel
Right before the dying day
We will have you kneel
The snow turns red from all the blood
Severed limbs and heads
A sacrifice to one-eyed God
He will claim the dead!
Under the winter skies
We stand glorious!
And with Oden on our side
We are victorious!
No retreat, no remorse
Victory will be ours
Blood on steel, sacrifice
Victory will be ours
Under the winter skies
We stand glorious!
And with Oden on our side
We are victorious!
MY HEAD IS EXPLODING WITH AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!!!
Karma
by Sabonis4Ever on Mar 18, 2009 12:44 AM PDT up reply actions
Vikings must like powdered donuts.
I'm tominhawaii, was dragline, and have never been tominrehab.
by tominhawaii on Mar 18, 2009 12:57 PM PDT up reply actions
Troy Murphy is probably out
that hurts their rebounding and shooting… he’s the kind of power forward that kills us every time.
draft dejuan blair
People don't realize how big of an injury that is.
Murphy has been a double-double machine this season. This will make it MUCH easier for the Blazers to limit the Pacers to one shot per possession. It’ll also be interesting to see how healthy and at what level Danny Granger will be tonight.
Yes! Yes! In the face!
Oden? Ben Says:
game time decision
http://www.blazersedge.com/2009/3/17/801564/greg-oden-gametime-decisio
Oden is the Blazer’s Edge!
Indiana has beaten the NBA's best at home
Even without Murphy, this is a tough game. Pretty much a tossup I’d say.
yeah, I'd say Indy is the one or two point advantage
but it’ll be a really close game
Bedge or go home -- Sabonis4Ever
by prezofdeath on Mar 17, 2009 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions
They're one of those 'impossible to predict' teams
They can and have beat anyone and everyone, but they also lose to the worst and their record reflects it…
We SHOULD beat them but if we lose to them we won’t be the first…
Any team that scores so much and plays so fast always has a puncher’s chance of taking anyone out for one game. If we’re flat, not hitting our shots for whatever reason, and Indy plays their pace, we’re likely to lose. We keep it slow, make them execute and not just run, that’s 80% of the battle (I ran the numbers).
I haven’t seen Granger since he came back. Anyone see how he looked?
I predict 400 threads over the summer saying we should trade for Granger somehow, because it’ll be just that easy.
Mortimer
Really? 400?
I think the Nic love will probably keep it down to 300. You always exaggerate things.
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
Not to mention Travis discussions
If Dave had his way and shortened the season, we could start these conversations earlier.
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
Travis makes like a 1/3rd what Granger makes
But is 3 times the player!!
Rinse and repeat 400 times (sorry Jscot, I’m taking the over).
OH, and the “lets trade our bench players and 2nd round picks plus cash for a lottery pick”. This can be also called “we should just go and get Rubio because it is that simple. I’m an idea man, you guys figure it out”.
After we make the playoffs we’ll miss drafting a lottery pick so much we’ll be willing to trade anyone to still have that thrill.
Mortimer
I wish they'd just skip the playoffs
so we can get on to KP Trading Day.
Then, we can trade away a player who is good enough to start for Indiana, in order to move up two spots in the draft and get back someone we can trade for Ruffin. And everyone on Bedge can gloat over what a genius KP is and how he robbed Larry Bird blind.
Who wants to delay that stuff just for a few basketball games?
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
That's when having a
good front office comes in. Management needs to be able to keep this boat from sinking in the future because if things go right, we won’t be getting any more lottery picks for a while. Unless through trade or through scouting lower drafts picks. Our scouts will definitely need to step up.
Yeah
Can’t get good players with #24 or 25 picks, you have to draft guys from Spain and France instead.
Fortunately, Paul Allen is able to afford specially designed robots that speak French and Spanish, and play like superstars. They built in a lot of early mistakes in these robots, so that people will think they are real rookies. When our real players start to hit their stride, the quality level on the robots will be turned up a notch, too.
It’s a fine line, because if they play too well, some reporter might notice something in the locker room. But so far, so good.
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
Well I guess let's just hope they don't think were
NBA elite status. Not that we are…yet. If they come into the game thinking they really need to prove something this game may end up being harder because they will step their game up.
They'll come in thinking they need to prove something, anyway
If for no other reason than Jarrett. But also, we’re a fifty win team this year, it would be another nice scalp for them to take. (Indiana does mean they are Indians, right? No? We Scots can never keep all this stuff straight. Next, you’re going to try to tell me it isn’t on the Oregon Trail, and we aren’t in covered wagons, so we aren’t real trail blazers at all. I don’t want to hear it. If our guys really thought they might get scalped, I bet they’d bring that defensive intensity every game. That’s what Ariza was trying to do to Rudy, anyone could see that.)
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
Lets win this game and rest our starters tomorrow
If Pop does it so can we
There won't be clean officiating in the NBA until David Stern is forcibly removed by the US Congress in 2013 for fixing games.
by 123_G.O._RipCity on Mar 18, 2009 12:35 AM PDT reply actions
We will rest Nicolas Batum
if they will rest LeBron James. Trust me, they don’t want LeBron to go up against Nicolas.
—Dave
Whenever anyone says "Trust me"
I know they are lying.
But in this case, perhaps I’ll make an exception.
When I rule the world, everyone will know how to use Excel.
LeBron had a great game against Batum last time we played
Not Nics fault Bron was just switched on that night.
There won't be clean officiating in the NBA until David Stern is forcibly removed by the US Congress in 2013 for fixing games.
by 123_G.O._RipCity on Mar 18, 2009 1:13 AM PDT up reply actions
We'll that's just another reason I'd prefer Martell
on LeBron. He’s build more similar to him and could physically handle him more than Batum and/or Travis. Batum will bother him but I just feel like LeBron will bully him. Then LeBron will switch most likely when on D and physically defend someone else (Roy maybe?). He may hurt us because he maybe able to double on D with giving up much on Batum but Outlaw he might have his hands full.
I really don't think Webster would be better than Boom Boom on LeBron
Batum kept Bron in front of him all night it was just that he was hitting his jumpers. If I am the Blazers I let LeBron keep shooting and don’t double, I am willing to live or die by the 20 foot jumper.
There won't be clean officiating in the NBA until David Stern is forcibly removed by the US Congress in 2013 for fixing games.
by 123_G.O._RipCity on Mar 18, 2009 10:48 AM PDT up reply actions
LeBron's bad games are better than 99% of the league's good games.
So there’s really not much Nic can do. But I am hopeful that we see Batum put up a competent effort on him tomorrow.
Yes! Yes! In the face!
Yeah Lebron was taking tough shots
He just makes them, he is Lebron. A contested 18-20 footer is a shot you will let any player in the NBA shoot all night. Lebron is just capable of hitting them over and over.
Let's try to win with our bench
so our starters get rest tomorrow. Then we can take the tired Cavs starters on Thursday.
Something has to give
Dave – your keys to the game are
1) keep the guards from penetrating
2) single cover
You can’t have it both ways, Dave. You know that as well as anyone (in fact, you refute your own argument at the end of Point 2). The Blazers simply don’t do what you prescribe.
This team has had its best success against quick guards when they trap the guard and then rotate. Otherwise, everyone and their mother simply pick and rolls the Blazers to death, the Blazers respond by switching, and all the sudden the opponent jumper percentage reaches hall of fame proportions.
They CANNOT let Marquis Daniels be a factor
He was killing us last game.
"Respect everyone, fear no one." -TP
Tonight is unofficial Blazer's Edge Night in New York
Some of us are getting together in the East Village tonight! To join us, follow this link and join the nyc-blazers Google group, where you’ll find more info:
http://groups.google.com/group/nyc-blazers
Sticking up for Travis Outlaw since 2008.
I should just put up the location: Croxley Ales, 28 Ave. B, between 2nd and 3rd Streets.
http://www.croxley.com/man_main.html
Sticking up for Travis Outlaw since 2008.
An ungodly amount is more than a ton, which is why they lose.
Very funny Dave, and thought provoking as well……
2-4 the who
is the game on TV????
I cant find it on my cable box?
Hi fans it Brandon Roy.
And ME.....LaMarcus Aldridge
Try looking in a TV Guide instead of in the dust on your cable box
Ha, I am hilarious.
This is what I use: http://www.zap2it.com/
I'm tominhawaii, was dragline, and have never been tominrehab.
by tominhawaii on Mar 18, 2009 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions
nevermind
I was looking for HD, but it is on comcast 37….no HD.
Handicam vision sux
Hi fans it Brandon Roy.
And ME.....LaMarcus Aldridge
one change id like to see from last time
put batum on tj ford. its a layup drill for him against blake
I am starting the coalition to BRING BACK IKE.
It's pretty junk that Shav was the guy in street clothes
It should have been someone else!
I'm tominhawaii, was dragline, and have never been tominrehab.
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