Suns Pull Away Late
posted: 11/02/2008 at 9:24 PM
The Trail Blazers had a rare opporunity on Saturday night. With a win, they would have snapped their longest-active losing streak to an opponent, for the second-consecutive night. You don’t the chance to exorcise two big demons , in two days, very often.
They beat the Spurs on Friday night at the RoseGarden, despite the fact that San Antonio shot a scorching 56 percent from the field. On Saturday, the Phoenix Suns were also in that neighborhood as they shot 55 percent, and this time it was too much for the Blazers to overcome, as they lost 107-96.
It was Portland’s 10th-consecutive loss to the Suns. Perhaps more impressive (or depressing, depending on who you root for), is the fact that the Suns improved to 14-1 against the Blazers since Steve Nash returned to Phoenix before the 04-05 season.
The Trail Blazers played well in Phoenix, and certainly gave themselves a chance. They fell behind by 12 points in the first quarter, but rallied to take an eight-point lead in the second quarter and went to the half up by one.
In the second half, not only did Nash come alive, but Amare Stoudemire, who went scoreless in the first quarter, took over the game. He scored 23 points in the final three quarters, and was helped by the rest of the Suns’ starting five, who all scored in double figures. Nash had 20, Matt Barnes had 21, Shaq had 16, and Raja Bell ended with 13.
Looking at just the stats, there isn’t much to focus on if you’re looking for weak points on Portland’s side. They shot 46 percent, 41 percent from three-point range, made 13 of their 14 free throws, and turned the ball over only 11 times. The Portland bench also outplayed Phoenix’s bench, and that’s the reason why they built that 8-point lead in the second quarter.
As sometimes happens, the substitution patterns changed in the second half, and when Terry Porter went to his bench late in the third quarter, he kept Stoudemire in the game. Unlike in the first half, when Steve Nash came out, the Suns actually grew their lead, and the Blazers could never recover. They did stay within striking distance, and had the lead cut to seven in the final three minutes, but couldn’t get the big defensive stop they needed.
We mentioned on the air several times in the second half the fact that the Blazers were playing in the second of a back-to-back, but I didn’t really see any sign that fatigue hurt Portland in this game, and that’s a good sign. This was just a better, more veteran team, making the plays it had to win a home game. And, don’t forget, they lost their home opener on Thursday and had extra motivation in this game.
The Blazers were led by Brandon Roy and Rudy Fernandez, who each had 20 points. LaMarcus Aldridge, who had to battle Stoudemire and Shaq inside all night, had 16 points, and Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake each had 11.
The Blazers will take Sunday off, and will return to the practice floor on Monday. They’ll practice on Tuesday as well, and then we’ll fly to Salt Lake City to get set to take on the Jazz on Wednesday. After the game in Utah, it’s back home for a game against the Houston Rockets on Thursday. Schedule keeps getting easier, right?
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Seem like ODEN could have slowed down Shaq a bit more than Pryzbilla. Why does Shaq love to punk Joel...Even in interviews? Seems like he gets up to play Joel more than anyone.
Do you agree with Adande at ESPN who says Oden should not come back until he looks more like the thinner version that played at THE Ohio State University? Is it even possible to get back to that size...seems like the man has simply matured physically and we know he loves the weight room.
Adande is an idiot. Oden needs to play basketball to get back into that shape and he isn't going to get in that shape in light work outs. I think getting out on the NBA floor will get Oden into the OSU shape after 2-3 months.
Oden also needs to stop having the mentality of playing not to get hurt. That won't work. I'm satisfied with the Blazers play. You can see they just need more experience and to keep getting better. Utah should be a good challenge.
watching amare stoudemire's explosiveness and aggressiveness gave me hope that greg oden will return with level of ability that he finds personally satisfying.
as for the rest of the game, i had several observations. we need to work on our offense against zone defenses. when opposing teams switch to zones, we rely too much on outside shooting. we needed rudy earlier and more often given that roy had a tough match-up with bell, and lamarcus had a tough match-up with amare. rudy should be an immediate third option to spread the floor and attack the opposing zone.
i also feel that the evolution of nic batum's role should be seen as watching a young scottie pippen. pippen, when with the bulls, would often guard an opposing teams point guard, much like how batum was checking tony parker the other night. i missed that effort against steve nash, and would like to see more of it in the future. we should use length against speed. i think this would have given nash's step-back jumper more of a problem as well. i'd love to see nic facing deron williams on wednesday.
the evolution of our starting line-up will have rudy, roy, batum (possibly guarding point guards), aldridge, and pryzbilla (and oden of course). this may be a development that occurs 1/3 of the way through the season, but i think that may be where we're headed. our perimeter defense against elite guards needs this modification. i'd love to see outlaw and martell take on this defensive role at times as well. our interior defense just needs a bit of greg oden!
i ready for wednesday and thursday!
Do we really have a starting PG?
I saw the game and, well, it's just me or Blake always gets the ball, crosses the middle of the court and then he gives the ball to Roy or Rudy to see how the make the play?
His defense is OK but, in ofense... bah.
Mike: Welcome back from the 93 degrees of phoenix whether. You didn't rub it in. I spent some time in Phoenix while in the service. I didn't care for the hot days and thunder storms at night.
Well, I guess the Stats do go on. I had said that Nash, Stoudemire, and Shaq might keep the stats going. I forgot about Raja Bell. His defense on BRoy was noticeable.
I thought we played a good game; we were just not strong enough to keep Stoudemire and Shaq from storing. The bloggers on Oregon-Live said we were playing them soft, but, I thought we played pretty tough. I don't remember the foul situation against LMA, Frye and Joel, but it seemed like the fouls they were calling kept Portland from being more aggressive.
I had to listen to NBA-TV and their announcers. They never blacked the game out in Prineville, I don't know about the rest of the state.
I can almost hear Rice's comment on those goal tending calls. Even the Suns announcers made a commit on the one.
I am not putting pressure on The Big Fella, but I think Oden would Helped against Shaq, Frye is not nearly strong enough to keep him contained.
WADE PEDERSON. I think shaq needles Joel because Joel is a rough competitor. You only try to get in the head of people that you know are great against you, not the easy ones. Joel plays against him well. He just does not have the bulk to keep him out of the box. But remember Oden. Our time is coming. With Shaq, you just need the bulk, He would be done in the first quarter trying to push Oden out of the way.
Nevertheless, I think it was a great exciting game. We played well. We kept up most of the game. With The Suns 12 point swings one way or another isn't really anything with both of our explosiveness.
Keep up the blogs, I live for them. Your blogs keeps my BB knowledge acceptable in Prineville. The weekends are terrible long waiting for Monday and the Blog.
hg
Mike:
Nate is being raked over the coals on his substitution pattern. I don't understand it, but I don't question it either. We are only three games into the season and he hasn't had the time to play or experiment with all the options. Isn't that more or less what Nate is doing? trying to fine out what works while we are playing tough opponents. I don't feel he sacrificed the game by putting Jerryd in at crunch time. Jerryd is a bull dog and will take the fight to them.
Boy I agree with broyftw about just playing not to get hurt. That will get him behind the eight ball real fast.
travis: I feel the same as you. We need to realize that playing against the zone defense that shooting outside jumbers is easier but if the shots are not going in, find a way to get inside.
that is again we are still growing and getting experience.
hg
I am so disappointed to see that several players are choosing not to vote in this election. I am such a fan but don't they realize that this country, which has given them so much, asks one thing of them in terms of civic duty and that is to vote. They should be ashamed.
Better Defense on the Ball, starting with the point guard.
Dribble penetration has been killing the team. Almost as soon as the play starts the defense has to move into react mode as somebody, usually the PG, has let his man get by him. Then everybody else has to cover and leave people open.
On the offensive side, I just am not seeing much creativity and ball movement. Blake might be good as getting the plays started, but I think the plays are too easy to defend. What this team needs is not more structure, but more creative movement with guys that know has to find advantages.
At some point I think Rudy should start over Blake. And Batum over Outlaw.
dang hg go to Blazersedge if you are bored on the weekend, i can't pull myself away to get anything done, dangerously addictive.
I think Lamarcus has to play physical no matter how many fouls he has. He played Amare good in the first quarter but after he picked up a couple fouls he just let Amare push him around. Granted Amare can't really be stopped, I did see LA and Joel back off once they got in foul trouble. I say they give you 6 fouls use them! If LA fouls out, no worries we have catfish mister fourth quarter and Rudy to pickup the slack! The Jazz are going to try to push the Blazers around and if the Blazers don't push back I don't think they can win.
I see that Nate (and some of you) think of Rudy as a PG. He can do that job, but he has never play in that position in the ACB League. Only in the SG and SF spots. When playing in Joventut, the PG position was covered by other player (Rudy's last year was Ricky Rubio who you might hear something about...)
I think McMillan might not be the right coach for these players. He doesn't seem to understand the eb and flow of the game either. The starters played embarrassingly poorly in the first quarter. However, when the bench, including fernandez and Rudy came in, the excitement and scoring jumped dramatically. He stayed with the ineffective starters way too long. The best basketball player on the blazers in not Roy, but Fernandez. He is a better passer, shooter and has much better all around basketball feel. Roy is a tecnhically good player, but does not add the excitement that is needed to pump people up.
darth,
i'm not sure that the recommendation is that rudy be the one and only point guard, but rather that we have two combo point/shooting guards in our back-court. depending on the match-up of the night, rudy, roy or our SF may cover the opposing pg, and all three might do so during the course of a game. it is a lot to juggle, but the nba is all about match-ups. against the jazz, maybe b-roy is the best cover against deron williams, or possibly, rudy would do well? is deron struggles with length, let outlaw or batum guard him, if he struggles with strength, let roy, if wiry pesky quickness gives him fits, let rudy go after him.
i would definitely switch lamarcus on to okur and pryzbilla on to boozer. boozer probably needs to be checked by all three of our bigs for some duration of the game, so that no one gets into deep foul trouble early, and then whomever is having the best defensive success can finish the game against him. if frye or someone else can bottle him up for the night, that's all we need. once you have that knowledge of who defends who well, you use it for the rest of the season/career.
we know that b-roy will have to show raja bell something different next time around (a pick and roll, or coming around a screen to the ball, or maybe planned distribution instead of dribble penetration?). lamarcus is going to have to see tape to figure out how he can master his defense of amare (staying down, and forcing him to a double-team?). i don't have the answers, but i'm sure that coach mcmillan and our guys are already putting things in their mental notebooks for their trip back to phoenix on the 22nd!!!
Competing with this "veteran" team is no longer enough. I am a season ticket holder for the first time and I expect this team to do more than just compete. My expectations are based on last seasons end result and the additions of players we have made for this season. It is not a stretch to say Shaq is past his prime. What I saw missing was a point guard who could pressure Nash from end to end, and could run the offense while being a scoring threat himself. We do not have that player now. Blake (one of my favorite players) needs to step his game up. On the ball pressure, run the offense,(and fast break)limit turnovers, and be a scoring threat is all I am asking of him, Bayless, or Sergio. Batum is a solid one on one defender, but does he understand team defense? Put him in the starting lineup and moving Outlaw to the white unit may have made a difference in this game especially on the defensive end. LaMarcus cannot do it all, and Brandon's minutes should be limited as much as possible instead McMillian had to use them up just to compete with an aging uninteresting team. I believe Martells return will help with the team defense and when the big kids ankle is better players like Shaq will not have their way with our centers. God bless Joell but come on he is an adequate back-up at best. GO BLAZERS! STEP UP STEVE! START BATUM! WORK HARDER ON TEAM D! AND JUST WIN ANYONE ANYTIME ANYWHERE!
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