Game 54 Preview: Sonics vs. Blazers--"Just Win It" Edition

by Dave on Feb 20, 2008 10:53 PM PST in News Comment 9 comments

Well, the Sonics are coming to town. Normally, of course, I do the run-down of the type of game the opponent likes to play plus some things I'd like to see from the Blazers. Not today though. The message for today is simple:

Just win it.

I'm not trying to be glib or get out of preview-writing work. I think that's exactly the approach that we have to take for this game.

I'm not Nate McMillan but if I were and if I hadn't tried this approach before, I would try it now. We have prepared you thoroughly 53 times in a row. You know how to win this game. You know you need to rebound hard, contain Kevin Durant, and take advantage of Seattle's unwillingness to defend. You don't need me to tell you that. You don't need more X's and O's right now. The record and the roster both say that you should be a better team than that one across the hall...whether Brandon plays or not. You have to go out there and show it.

If you don't have the desire, nothing can help you win. And I don't mean just thinking it would be nice to pick up a victory, I mean the look, the walk, the confidence, and the opponent-smashing energy to take this game no matter what they try to do. If you want it, nothing can stop you. If you don't want it nothing I say is going to win it for you.

You know what to do. You know who you are. You need to go out there and do it. It's in your hands.

At that point I would absolutely let it go. I would do just as I said and put it in their hands. I would have the confidence in them that they're not showing in themselves. If they come out and take it then a winning relationship has been re-established and you can start to guide them through the next few games, starting with analyzing why they won. If they don't have a good showing then obviously I was mistaken about them being prepared and as soon as is practical we're having a four-hour practice starting from the basics on up. (What the heck, they're not leaving it all out there in games anyway. They might as well do it on the practice floor.)

It's not a night for keys or analysis or heavy strategy. It's a night to just...win...that...game. Period.

--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)

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What if we lost

and Nate DID call for a 'four-hour practise', wouldn't the players then be died by the time they have to play the Sonics in Seattle in the evening? I do agree that the guys just have to win. But without Roy, and with the way the guys think that we're just going to go on another 10-12 game win streak and everything will be fine again, I just don't know!

by VinnyB on Feb 21, 2008 5:26 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

"As soon as is practical"

means not tomorrow before we face them again on the second of back-to-backs.

--Dave

by Dave on Feb 21, 2008 9:56 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Damn right. ...

it kind of comes down to this ... teams go on 5-game losing streaks. It happens. But to go from a big winning streak (over quality teams) to a long losing streak (vs. the Kings and [God-say-it-won't-happen] the Sonics) means there is some internal change beyond strategy.

Just as Joel was missing those layups earlier in the year, and is now bringing them down, I see real shooting-percentage potential in LaMarcus (especially in the paint -- he needs to hit those shots and not settle for outside jumpers, as good as he is) and Martell (who can be a dead-eye ... but needs to be a consistent-dead-eye).

I'd also like to see some of that youth everyone talks about with these Blazers. the GOOD-side of the youth. Where the Hell are the ally-oops? Really, for an athletic team with all this crazy chemistry and love for sharing the ball, there should be some real high-flying Joel/Steve/Jarett/Sergio to Outlaw/Martell/LaMarcus/Brandon antics going on out there. Give me one of those a night, and I promise other teams will be just a little intimidated.

And that's what we need right now. More than swagger, we need some real gunslinging intimidation.

Much love,
Y5k
(www.myspace.com/y5k)

RipCity's a state of mind

by Y5k on Feb 21, 2008 7:05 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

That was like the college game day

Lou Holtz pep talk

The Rose Garden is our House.

by JTDuck22 on Feb 21, 2008 8:38 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

I've been only casually

following the Sonics by glancing at their box scores from time to time, but I have a little more respect for that team that some do it appears. I'm remembering during that long losing streak that they had a number of very close games against pretty good teams.

Am I the only one impressed with Chris Wilcox? They had a pretty good big group with him, Collison and Thomas (who they will probably miss). Neither are Szczerbiak, and Durant slouches. I think Delonte West has been hurt but in my eyes he's a more than decent PG, probably better than Watson or Luke.

I'm just not looking at these games to be "gimmies".

by TwoDeep on Feb 21, 2008 9:26 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

There's no such thing as a gimme

in today's NBA, I agree.

The good thing about Jack inbounding is that he's already standing out of bounds. - Fizbin

by jamon51 on Feb 21, 2008 10:46 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Any team can ALWAYS beat any other team

It's the NBA.

But Seattle is pretty bad. They can't win without scoring 110. Their defense is bad. They don't force turnovers but they commit a lot. The last couple of years Portland was clearly one of the worst teams in the league. This year Seattle is clearly one of the worst teams in the league.

--Dave

by Dave on Feb 21, 2008 11:19 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Putting on my Woddy Paige hat

I looked at the schedule for the rest of the season, and only see eight games that the Blazers should win. They are bound to lose one or two of those. At the beginning of the season, I said Portland could sneak a win away from San Antonio. I was wrong and because of bachi, I now expect Seattle to sneak a win away from Portland. I just hope it is not a home game.

"Darkness warshed over the Dude - darker'n a black steer's tookus on a moonless prairie night. There was no bottom." The Stranger from The Big Lebowski (1999)

by tominhawaii on Feb 21, 2008 11:58 AM PST reply actions 0 recs