Game 5 Preview: Blazers vs. Suns

i like your captions

I expect another win

Dave just called out the Debbie Downers!

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, losing to the Suns in a blowout isn’t the end of the world.

is that too much to ask for?

the mavs beat the suns in a playoff series a few yrs ago by letting amare score and not letting anyone else score, should we do the same? seems like they go on a roll when the other players shoot 3’s one after another, but amare in the paint the only one scoring seems safer to me.

Although, I took issue with Jerryd’s laziness in closing out on the open man after the pick and roll broke down.

why not put in pendy for a few fouls when amares in? you know he won’t take any of his crap.

Did everyone see it in the 4th? Use Batum on Nash and double him high with LA when he’s
got Amare. He fronts Stoudamaire to a degree but also seals the lane from Nash, who is so deadly on penetration.

Why does it / did it work? Because the switch of it is good enough to maintain defense. The problem ordinarily is Miller or Bayless or Roy or Rudy or even Marty—all of whom
except Roy have guarded Nash—can’t handle the switch on the big. Similarly, Juwan and Marcus aren’t so good at staying in front of Nash.

But notice in Game 4 Batum and LA could do both well enough to denude the pick and roll. I didn’t see an answer for it in Gm4; if the Blazers use it more and the Suns adjust are the questions. But I hope they definitely do, because it works.

All the games in the series so far point to the fact that the suns blow open leads with their transition offense, but also that if it is frustrated they inexplicably stop going for it and start going slower.

Game 1 and 4 had them not producing in transition early and often, and resulted in them, by the 4th quarter, almost never pushing the tempo even with Gentry desperately trying to get them to. Game 2 and 3 had them succesful early on pushing that tempo and throughout.

I mean it sure is easy to say “slow the game down”, but the real key is use up some of that energy early on and reap the rewards later. It may seem counterintuitive, but all 4 of these games have been decided in the first quarter just as much as the fourth. When the blazers stay in the game and competitive, the suns lose something they never seem able to gain back.

Beat the Suns at their own game by 14.

Do I record the game and watch it when i get home OR race home and catch the end on the radio.

That’s right Dude. They’re a bunch of -—— amatures.

but the game is on TNT tonight…. and we know how the Blazers play on TNT and we know how the Suns play on TNT………….

I don’t want to overrate the mental stuff, but like this years western-conference where every team is capable and does not have obvious advantage to one another, team’s mentality becomes the most important factor. I see this series that way from game1 through game 4.

Because of that, it might sound funny but If the Blazer’s had the home-court advantage, The Suns were probably ahead 3-1 at this point, just like the Spurs.

The magical return of Roy in one of the most dramatic fashion in playoff history, boosted team’s mentality and the Rose Garden, rode Blazer’s to definite win in game4, but it can’t and shouldn’t carry over the Purple Palace with the Suns team in a must-win mentality. I will be surprised if the suns can’t win by 10pts or more in this game.

The series will be up to the Blazers,
if they can win game 6 at the Rose Garden.

Then,
 it is anybody’s game !!!

p.s.
oh, by the way, if Nate selected that theme song from “Rocky”,
he should be the Playoffs coach of the year. That was unbelievable!

Game 4 is evidence. Roy hardly did anything but the Suns had to keep somebody on him which took the guys off LMA. I say we ought to keep bringing Roy off the bench in situations where we need LMA to get hot, because having Roy on the floor does that.

can we now take advantage of the fact that Nash can’t guard a tissue?? Match-up problems for the Suns!!!

This got me thinking:

The home court hasn’t been telling in this series but emotion has. In each case the team with the most to lose in the contest has summoned the emotion and won. Tonight that’s Phoenix.

I agree that emotion and energy have been huge in this series, but I’m not sure that the team with the most to lose has won each game. In particular, it’s not clear to me who had more to lose in game 1 or game 3. A case can be made that the home team in those two games had more to lose—since losing meant relinquishing home-court advantage. On the other hand, game 2 and game 4 were classic bounce-back games and it did seem that the more desperate team won. But, with the series tied 2-2, I don’t see how Phoenix has more to lose than the Blazers. In my view, this game is of equal importance to both teams. For both teams, losing means needing to win both of the remaining games, once on the opponent’s home court.

The other emotion at play is anxiety/nervousness. I thought the Suns played very tight in the first game as did the Blazers in the third. It’s hard to play basketball when you are too excited—when there is too much adrenaline flowing through your body. While it is true that these guys are professional athletes and have a ton of experience in pressure situations, the playoffs add an additional element of pressure. So, to me the question is who thrives under that pressure and who cracks. It is a battle of wills, but part of that battle is remaining composed. It’s nice to have Roy back because he seems like a guy that thrives under pressure. Unfortunately, he’s still probably not healthy enough to win it himself.

Of course, it’s not all about emotion. It’s certainly possible that both teams play with determination or that both teams get the yips. Skill and strategy also matter. In both, I give the Suns an slight edge. They have more weapons on offense and a deeper bench. So, all things considered, I think either team could win, but it’s more likely that the Suns do.

I don’t agree with you Dave that there are no more adjustments to make.

I’ve stated before that the blazers, and the rest of the league, don’t handle the near mid court pinch of the point very well. The Blazers did better last game when they went to letting Batum bring it up occasionally, that threw off the Phx game plan, and the blazers got more stops on defense which didn’t allow Phx to set up this kind of defense on the transition.

But on made baskets the blazers could try passing the ball into the front court instead of dribbling: put Batum or Roy or Webster near halfway into the back court and feint an inbound pass to Miller and instead pass to Batum. Batum could then pass it to Camby who would be between the top of the key and midcourt.

they will lose. The only way to slow down Nash’s pick and roll is to change the look consistently. Notice they figured out our “overload” technique after the first game, and slaughtered us in games two and three. Then we came back with a trapping defense, which confused Nash a bit and got us the win. Nash will know that’s coming if we run it again, so we better have some wrinkles prepared.

I would like to see us use one defense against the pick and roll for three quarters, then adjust in the fourth to something wacky and try to throw them off.

Lets hope “our boys” win this on with their game faces on.

at anything at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys win tonight and then phoenix wins in portland, and then both teams get ejected in game 7 and the dallas cowboys play round two against the spurs…well maybe then i’d be surprised. This series has been nothing short of phenomenal to watch, I expect more of the same. Good luck tonight (I don’t really mean it), man I’m on the edge of my seat for this!

Aldridge scores 20+, we win.
Anything under 20… Blazers in 7. ;)

In all seriousness, I really do think whether his shot is falling
will determine tonight’s outcome.

Also, we HAVE TO have one of our middle-tier guys have a
big night offensively, either now or game 7.

                                Martell, Rudy, Rex.
         Now’s your time, gentlemen. Spotlight’s calling.
         Yes, you’re all young. But if you want to make a
         name for yourselves, do it now. You have no
         guarantees at a better chance than this one.

Which one is more cursed/stronger?

My best guess is we’re down 10 at the end of the first and we spend the rest of the night playing catch-up. Our best bet, imo, is to take the air completely out of the ball with the first unit, and run and gun with the second unit. Rip City and oogaboogaoogabooga!! You know why!!

are with the Blazers, winning odd # games on the road and even # at home.
1 and 5 at phx.
4 and 6 at the RG…
done, 4-2 Blazers.
and thanks to my boss – I get to go to game 6 – woo hoo.

SHOOTING…. These guys are scorers, and we are can be too. The defenses should be good, but someone will get shots, when Richardson and Nash can’t miss, we got problems. If Dre, Martell, LMA, and Brandon hit what they hit, plus Camby’s and Howard even start hitting their shots, that really helps. Of course a big part of it is gettin good looks and taking the shot you like. We can, and better do all the other stuff of defending, rebounding, running, moving the ball, but I hope to see the good guys shots dropping, please. It is so frustrating to work in, get the layup, AND MISS !! Points will be needed.
Each game now is so obviously critical, after today each game is elimination, who wins this is off that hot seat.
Fun stuff.

We stopped them in game four, first quarter. They can start strong, we should be ready to match that. A close first quarter will be a good sign.

The tighter they will get on their 3 ptrs. Close in 4th Qtr = Blazers win.