A Statement Win for Denver
posted: 10/29/2009 at 10:55 PM
The NBA season is very long, but this one will sting a while. No one should need to be reminded how much games against division rivals mean, even if it is October.
For the Denver Nuggets, it's a very impressive start to the NBA season. They've started with two victories over the two teams that came into the season poised to steal their division crown- Utah, and Portland. And, they've done it without sharpshooter J.R. Smith, who is serving a seven-game suspension to start the year.
This was the very definition of a grind-it-out win for Denver, who was playing in the second of a back to back. It was ugly. Both teams struggled to find any flow. Denver hung around, stayed in the game by shooting 49 free throws, and won it when Portland opened the door by missing free throws late in the game. They outscored the Blazers 35-27 in the fourth quarter and won the game 97-94.
The Trail Blazers held a seven-point lead with just over seven minutes left, but the Nuggets never faded. Behind Carmelo Anthony, they chipped away with clutch makes, and repeated trips to the foul line. Anthony, who ended with 41 points, was 18 for 19 from the foul line.
Portland got a huge third quarter from Brandon Roy, who ended the game with 30, and saw Rudy Fernandez step up in the fourth quarter. Fernandez, who ended with 22, was 6 for 9 from the field, and 8 for 8 from the line.
Until the final 2:25 of the game, the Blazers had been very solid at the free-throw line, going 30 for 33 until that point. But, a Roy miss at 2:25, followed by an Andre Miller miss at 1:40, and a LaMarcus Aldridge miss at 35.5, gave the Nuggets life. Despite the shaky trips to the line, the Blazers still had the ball trailing by one in what appeared to be their final possession. Greg Oden was fouled with 4.6 seconds left, and missed both free throws. The Nuggets hit two, and then survived a long three-point attempt by Roy as the final horn sounded.
Oden will be kicking himself for missing on both attempts on his late trip to the line, but it's not like that was the difference maker on this night. The Trail Blazers struggled from the floor all night, and ended up shooting just 35 percent from the field. Roy got the 30 points, but was just 6 for 16. Aldridge ended 4 for 15. Miller, off the bench, was 3 for 11, and Travis Outlaw, who was so sharp against Houston, shot just 1 for 8.
This game had an odd feel the entire night. Honestly, I had an uneasy feeling about this game the entire day. The Blazers survived 26 turnovers to beat Houston on Tuesday, and in this game looked to be thinking way too much about that. They were tight, tentative, and just couldn't get into any kind of a flow. Perhaps fearing turnovers too much. They turned it over only seven times, but I'll take 26 in a win versus 7 in a loss.
As I've mentioned for weeks, there are going to be nights like this early in this season. I have fully expected some struggles as this team acclimates to the new rotations, and new roles. It's natural. It doesn't feel any better to say that after a tough loss like this, but at the very least it's understandable. And, it's an opportunity to learn (sucks to say that, but that's all you can say).
To listen to Nate McMillan's comments after this game,
click here.
Friday morning we hit the road for the first time this regular season. Saturday night the Houston Rockets, who bounced back nicely Wednesday with a win at Golden State, will host their home opener against Portland. They, no doubt, are confident they can beat the Blazers given the way Tuesday's game ended. After the game in Houston, we head for Oklahoma City to take on the talented Thunder.
Talk to you from the road.
RSS FEED
Tell Greg it's not his faul we lost. It's a team loss. They all could have done better. They'll figure it out, this team is still meshing. Forget this game and move on. Greg needs to keep his head up.
It's really impressive how fast you get these out after a game, Mike. Really appreciate it.
No, it's not Greg's fault we lost, it was our relying on jump shooting, yet again, and a 34% from the field on top of crucial missed FTs that set the tone late.
Where is Aldridge? He had an excuse with those early and consistent fouls against Houston, but he just didn't show tonight. I guess most of our players didn't though. Roy did his job as always (sweet banked three) and Rudy and Martell were a lot of fun to watch, but Blake, Miller, Outlaw... they barely sniffed the game.
I appreciate the selfless distribution and effort early on but we need to learn to put a team away when we're close to 10-up in the 4th. Yeah Melo was amazing with his 41 and though we outrebounded them for most of the game, we can't keep surviving off of perimeter shots -- take it to the paint first and foremost, always. We have the talent and size to do this, so why the hell don't we?
It's a bitter loss to me because we had this one and let it get away, against our division rival, tired from a back-to-back and on our own homecourt no less.
BRoyFTW - I completely agree. Oden's gonna become the player we all are hoping he will be, and if we (the raucous masses) come down on him too hard for things like this, he's going to fork over all of his earnings to a clinical psychologist for the rest of his playing days.
Go blazers.
Mike, I really truly miss listening to you and Rice during the games. I don't even want to watch another freaking TnT or EPSN game because those guys won't shut the hell up. You've got one guy talking about some stupid game earlier 50 times throughout the broadcast, you got Reggie Miller thinking he knows everything about Basketball, and you got Marv going "OH WHAT A SHOT!" after a flipping free throw.
Kodus to you - because I can't stand how these people are "professional broadcasters" when they make the game annoying and frustrating. Even during a blowout win for the Blazers, they annoy me. Maybe it's just me but they just need to shut up and let us enjoy the game!
Okay moving on, this game had a lot of downs. It seemed like a totally different team.
Horrible shot selection, LMA didn't do anything, and we again didn't get to see Joel or Oden play. I don't know if it's the jitters of being on National Television, but this seems more like the 41-41 team rather than the 54-28 team last season. Drive to the rim and spread the defense. The Blazers were *HORRIBLE* about that during the 2nd half. The only thing keeping us in was that Brandon Roy got to the foul line and Rudy Fernandez was the only one in rythme all night.
Another complaint about TnT - the officials are always horrible for *BOTH* sides. I could complain and rant about officials, but we all do that enough with no results. All I can say is that Martel was tackling Anthony but they took 3 seconds off the final clock. We could have seen an overtime game if the officials can tell what a foul was, but yet I guess it's too hard to ask in this league. I'll just say I've seen better officials officiating elementary basketball! But yet, Anthony invading Andre Millers space is a foul, but not a tackle to stop important seconds on a clock. But like I said, there were some fouls I thought should have been called on the Blazers as well.
35% or less shooting is the reason the Blazers lost. They *NEED* to get to the rim and get better shot selection, but credit the Nuggets defense. They wanted this win, regardless that they stayed up as long as I do.
I agree with BRoyFTW. I'll be even more ticked if I see people blame Greg. He was put in a bad situation, but it is a team effort. Our future All-Stars were having troubles. I totally forget LMA was even playing today, he was totally shut down.
Frustrating game with a frustrating loss. Division title or not - I can garuntee that Denver will *NOT* repeat this year. Carmelo Anthony is trying to much to be Kobe Bryant, but he doesn't have the team to back him up like Kobe does. When a player starts playing without his team than they'll hit rock bottom.
Mike: Great post. Not much you can say to cheer most fan's up. It was sad and bad to lose like that. It was us coming up with the big plays last year.
I don't get to see many games so of course I really enjoyed the game. I kept thinking that LMA's shot would start falling and we would be alright. Then I thought when Rudy and BRoy got it going we would still win. But, it seems like we are just jinxed after all.
But hey it is early in the season and there will be many other close losses. Sometimes a loss gives us something to build on also.
Like I said there is not going to be anything that can be said to cheer up the fans. I know there will be a lot of finger pointing and maybe by me also tonight.
We will survive this
hg
Shame about the outcome, but it was nice to see good nights from Howard, Webster and Fernandez.
Howard's line might not look too special, but he stepped up and challenged every play.
Webster didn't make anything easy for Carmelo. I feel like Batum can get well knowing that someone's going to scoop up a couple blocks in his absence.
Fernandez was a pesky defender, hit a couple crucial threes, and went perfect at the line. Sixth Man of the Year.
If we could have engaged our bigs a bit better, we would have had this game in the bag. We were out running them but failing to get it inside. Our centers combined for only eight shots. They were definitely mixing it up, picking up ten fouls and tearing down fifteen rebounds, but they weren't getting the ball near the hoop on offense. It seems like they were getting to their spots just a second too late.
I know these guys are going to crystallize, they just haven't quite yet. This is just the beginning.
Well said Mike. I really don't like it when people point at Oden for the loss when there was quite a few other issues the Blazers were having, and you cleared that up nicely! I missed you and Mr. Rice for the game tonight, The commentators for TNT bother me because they wont stop talking about how good Carmello is, even if right before hand the Blazers made an amazing effort to get a bucket. Anyways cant wait to see ya guys next game!
Hey MB: first week of the season - remember, it's a LONG haul! Growing pains for sure with this loss.....BUT, we come back & win in Houston! GO BALZERS!
Yeah keep your head up GO. That's just he way it goes sometimes. There are going to be games like this unfortunately. These games are heart-breaking though, but all we can do is bounce back and win the next game and take it from there.
They said that they needed to not let other teams get a lead in the openning quaters and they did exactly that. third quater went ok. but i hope Greg isn't hurting himself over his misses it could have happened to anyone. the team just need to stick with it and they can go far this season.
Wow! I'll I can say is, I was on the edge of my seat most of the game. Even if it wasn't a lights out offensive effort, the defense looked good, they held on to the ball, and got calls. It all came down to, "You gotta make your free throws." Having said that, I feel bad for Greg late in the game. He looked very disappointed in himself after missing those two shots, and a 2 makes may have helped, but I don't blame him at all for the L. I don't think anybody does, so hopefully he can get past it. I am sure he will.
I liked seeing the offense start to go through him a little earlier in the game. I was hoping to see Greg in there with Juwan, but there are 80 more games, so...all in due time I guess. It was also nice to see Miller in at the end. I feel like things were going well in the last minutes until Blake came in, then whatever rhythm was there got turned off. It was wise of MacMillan to put Miller back in, although it ended up being too little too late. Don't get me wrong, I like Blake, he's a team player, but he just didn't seem comfortable last night in the last 2 min. I am not sure if he was feeling the pressure of the possibility of "not" starting, or maybe he just felt like he needed to prove himself more? I don't know what it was, but it was awkward at best.
All in all, a very heartbreaking loss, but an exciting game none the less. Good to see Martell ligthing it up, and Rudy looks like he's found his stroke. Can't wait till Sunday!!! Go Blazers!!
That was a perfect example of where we will miss Nic.Last night ,we could have called Melo "bus driver ".Because he took the Blazers to SCHOOL.We had no answer for him.Martell played him tough,though. I think we only doubled Melo a couple of times,wich I can't figure out why we didn't do that more. Make someone else beat you. Roy was Roy-like. He looked great.He's a big game player.I think Martell and Sergio were the only Blazer who matched his energy. It was good to see Sergio break out. Poor Greg ,prssure on the line at the end.Tough for even the best players,I had a bad feelin about that trip to the line.He just can't seem to shake the foul trouble.(Might be the refs!)I mean ,he had 3 at 6:30 in the second and he had 5 or 6 boards and about as many points . Dre shot about 3 too many 3's.Just distribute the ball to the scorers.Guard play in general was lacking .LMA, please don't shoot 3's,Post em up,throw it down big fella. Howard,finally,was allowed to show that he could earn Nates trust as a competent backup.Bout Time. Martells general energy has impressed me.He had a slam then a block on Melo that were both energy plays.When his outside shot starts goin,he is going to be a demon! Trav is much better on the rebounding end,which is great to see. This was about free throws,face it,it was a tough one to watch at the end,gave me a gut ache. Its true it was a grinder, neither team led by double figures.Missed opportunities. We were so close............AAAAARRRGHHHHH!
The Blazers continue with poor shooting (both poor shot selection and just plain poor shooting). No inside game at all. We won't win many games jacking up last second jumpers at 35 percent.
Mike, thanks for expressing what I was trying to formulate in my mind about the game.
There were some thrilling moments provided by Rudy, Martell, and Brandon, but the game just didn't flow like it needed to in order to pull away for a victory. Our shots needed to fall better, and we were too tight on the foul line at the end.
I know this is not the team's best effort. We looked rusty much of the time. The coordination will improve, and we will flow much better in the near future. It looks like we are favoring perimeter action rather than taking it inside. Once inside, we need to connect with the basket rather than get flustered and anxious.
There is work to do, but it is a long season. Keep your heads up. Use this game as a building block.
PLEASE HELP ME TO UNDERSTAND THIS
can anyone please explain to me why Nate didn't double team Melo in the Second half, especially in the 4th? The best defence is not alowing whoever you are guarding to even touch the ball. Now i know that is hard to do, but denying your guy of getting it is the best D. If he gets it and he's hot like Melo was why not double team him and get the ball out of his hands. why not make Nene or Martin try and beat you in the 4th? Come on Nate, use your head. Why would you leave a guy who is hot in a one on one situation every time down the floor. those guys had like 4 pts each.
HERE IS AN IDEA, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK
When a game starts why dont you attack the best player on the other team every time you have the ball. No one is perfect a D so eventually they are going to pick up 2 quick fouls and sit on the bench, then go after their next best player, over and over again till they have to sit on the bench with foul trouble. There goes their scorers.
Mike-
I was at the game last night, and your statement about the flow of the game was right on the money. I commented on it myself. Those ten minute TV timeouts are rediculous. The players spend three minutes at their bench and at least an additional five leaning against the scorer's table waiting for the signal that it's OK to put the ball back in play. The 100 free throw attempts didn't help matters. I thought the real officials were supposed to be back. It sure didn't feel like it with all the phantom calls on both ends of the floor.
Martell's energy electrified the RG last night. The Garden was in mid-season form. I really wanted those two FTs for GO's sake. Think it would've been something for him to build on. Hope it burns inside him a little bit and he goes on a rampage at Houston. Go get it, big fella!
RIPCITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Same mentality, different year. If the Blazers think they can be a jump shooting team that doesn’t fast break or take the ball to the rim, they can expect more games like this; more games like last years playoffs. I’ve heard several Basketball TV analyst says the same thing, “The Blazers don’t get any easy baskets”. THEY REALLY DON’T.
This team has historically been one of top rebounding teams in the league. The main difference between this team’s rebounding effort and earlier successful Blazer teams (Drexler’s teams from the late 80s early 90s for example) is that THEY MADE PEOPLE PAY FOR A MISSED JUMP SHOT. They were relentless. They made opponent mistakes into absolute chaos. If a team came into memorial Coliseum and threw up a lot of jumpers, usually that team would get RUN out of the gym. One missed jumper and Porter, Drexler, Kersey and Company were running the ball down your throat. This team has the athleticism to run, but they look unsure of themselves and confused. Ah, who cares right? Let’s just chalk it up to how early it is in the season, right?
Without sitting on the net wondering through every stat in existence just to prove something, I’m sure Drexler’s team probably wasn’t as proficient from the outside as these young Blazers, but when you get the lay-ups and dunks as they did, you tend to get confidence in your outside shot. Besides Brandon, Rudy, and Martell, everyone else was basically sleepwalking. I remember in the second quarter, the commentator basically said that the second unit is the running high energy unit. Wow. Was that what we saw from that unit? Or was he just talking about Rudy?
We don't need a guy to score 40+ points to have won. THe reason the Blazers lost is because Roy missed a free throw, Miller missed one, LA missed one, and Greg missed two. That's five crucial down the stretch free throws that doesn't put us in a position to tie with 1.9 left.
No one should blame Greg. This is not about blame anyway. He’s a young player on the rise. He’s down in the paint battling Nene and company while trying to contest every Nugget that got into the paint.
As I’ve said before, you can excuse Bayless, Webster, Fernandez, Joel, GO, and Brandon from this question; where is the fire with this team?
Buck Williams never had LA’s size and jump shot, but he was a force in the paint and a leader of men. Kersey never had a great jumper either, but HE ALWAYS RAN THE FLOOR with intensity and fought for the ball. I hope we all have seen him take off on the wing after a Blazer ripped down a rebound.
They all did back then. I even remember Duckworth running on the break from time to time.
Can Outlaw do that? Sure!! Does he have the want to? No comment.
Porter could shoot but he also ran the show. He could post, he could shoot, he could drive, and he was tough enough to know take over from time to time.
No comment on our point guards, especially last night.
I spoke on the “mild temperament” and questionable toughness of this team last year during their playoff run. I think some of the “daily bloggers” that spend their time on this site thought I was too critical. They considered teams Like the Pistons and Blazers from the late 80s were “bullies”, not just tough championship caliber teams. I’ve been watching Basketball pretty consistently since 1985, and I just haven’t seen a lot of jump shooting, mild mannered teams transform into aggressive teams that take the ball to the rim. As I said a year ago, there have been many good talented groups (Lenny Wilkens Cavaliers from the 80s. just to name one) with quality depth. I just can’t remember champions that settled for jump shots and didn’t have “bite”. I just don’t see it from these guys.
The “relax, they are still young” philosophy goes out the window when you see how tough and aggressively Webster, Bayless and Roy play……
So how much is fire and desire worth? I still would have considered trading LA, Outlaw, Blake, and a pick for Blake Griffin, but well, we going to have to dance with whoever we brought……
PS- Hey Nate, it’s alright to teach these kids the value of a fast break. You played in the West when teams like the Blazers, Sonics, Lakers, and Suns could run you out of the gym if you missed a few jumpers. Who knows? These kids might even enjoy playing this great game a little more…..
Good recap Mike.
I hate to say it, but GO choked when it counted most. I agree with most of you that he should not have been put in that position to tie the game or take the lead. You can't win games against good or bad teams by missing 5 FTs in the final two min. of a game. No way!
This should be a hard lesson learned.
Best of luck next game!
On a lighter note, a few points on style...
Blake looks good with a little hair. Some fuzz on top suits him.
Roy is rocking the racing stripes. Gotta love that.
Thank goodness Miller got a trim. He was looking like we scooped him out of a free soup line.
Does Bill Bayno moonlight as a variety show host in Vegas? The shiny pinstripes with a mustard yellow tie... Obviously a man more comfortable in sweats and a tank top.
Back to the game--I agree that Oden and the guys shouldn't beat themselves up over the missed free throws. Sure, we could have had the game if those 5 misses were makes, but if the game is that close when you have out-rebounded the other team and took 20 more shots, there is a greater problem.
The final games of last season showed us a new LMA. He was stuffing it in players faces, mixing it up with the bad boys and making his presence known. In this game, Tex was going for the long shot. A lot of smooth fade-aways that were not going down. Once again, I was beating the stuffing out of my couch, shouting "TAKE IT TO THE HOLE!" I mean, c'mon, he took 15 shots and only went to the line for 2. I want him to be sinking those jumpers when the defense sags back because they're afraid the L-Train is gonna knock some teeth out. That won't happen until he teaches the league to fear his inside game.
Also, Bayless had a pretty good night against these guys in the preseason when playing in tandem with Miller, it would have been nice to see a hard-hitting unit of Miller, Bayless, Rudy, Howard and Przybilla. I would have also liked to see us turn to Cunningham when Outlaw's shot isn't falling.
I know some folks are super fired up that Outlaw pulled down 7 rebounds, but to me it looked like he was kinda getting in the way and creating problems in transition. I'm glad he's learning to stick around on defense, but half of the rebounds he was going for seemed uncontested, and headed for the hands of a teammate. I want to see Rice shave his head as much as the next guy, but not if it prevents us from making the fast breaks that we need. On offense, there were a couple times when our guys were fighting each other for rebounds instead of getting open for the easy bucket.
I guess it all comes down to the inside game, and everybody finding their role and getting to their spots. That's the only way we're going shut Sir Charles up.
On another side note--have you ever heard so many good words from those guys on TNT about the city of Portland? "Great basketball city", they said, "Easy to understand why the fans get so into this team" they said. Flattery will get you everywhere TNT.
BlackNCherry......You are not too critical,We can't survive on jump shots ,Dre taking3 3's ,Lma taking a 3 .LMAneeds to get his newly chiseled physique and go inside and go to town.And whoever posted about shot selection,too true.We should rule this team. JCH25....... I had the same thought ,Why was Melo getting single coverage all night.You have to make someone else beat you.I love Nate ,but there were some curious coaching moves last night.
Antraxx..I echo your sentiment.We're still that -settle for the jumper- team from last year.Drives me crazy.Its like going to a 4 star gourmet restaurant and ordering a burger and fries.WTH!
last nights lost was by no means gregs fault, but if we are going to be the team everybody wants us to be we have to get easy buckets in the paint i think everybody agrees on that.
I just dont see how everybody can say oden is gonna be the player we want him to be when in his entire career goin back to high school he has never been an offensive threat he has never had post moves he has 2 left feet and if he can't handle what people say about him then don't listen or man up this is the NBA you got to be mentally tough as well as physically
First of all, hats off to MELO-WOW........
49 foul shots for Denver is crazy...if the reffs didn't take our bigs out of the game, we would have won, we killed them on the boards. We need to run some plays for Greg. I like to see us attack inside out, rather then shooting jumpers.
Nate should have left Miller in, instead of bringing Blake in cold, then changing his mind again. thqt turned into a big turnover. Nate also should have brought Martell back in the secound half, he had the only success against MELO. Or double MELO and make someone else beat you?
On the last play ROY should have ran 1-4 low, instead of setting the pick up-top, it gave Denver a chance to trap..........it sure worked last year........
And I blame Brandon for Greg missing the FT's he should have never gave him the ball.....If nothing was there he should have called TIMEOUT......
WE GAVE that game away.......MB is right that was as big as a second game of the season could ever get......
I think greg is playing great....rebounding, Blocking and or changing shots(he's going straight up) he just needs to keep the ball high on offense, and WE SHOULD RUN SOME PLAYS FOR HIM.....It's definitley not Greg's fault we lossed.......
I didn't read every word printed above but nowhere did I see anyone giving credit to Denver's defense last night!
They took LaMarcus out of the game by mostly denying him the ball, they stayed in front of BRoy and Miller on drives (Billups and Lawson maybe the best defensive 1-2 PG combo in the league), they challenged nearly every one of our close-in shots, they stripped Oden every time he brought the ball down low and even a couple times up high, Nene outworked everyone on defense. They played what McMillan preaches.
I watched their game against Utah the previous night and it was the same story, tough, hustling, grind it out defense! When the Blazers learn to do this, we will start to see a contender, not before...
Tough loss!!! Wow, Melo just pounded us! 19 points in the 4th quarter?!?! Can we get some defensive stops and a rebound when they miss in the fourth? LaMarcus needs to rebound more aggressively because Oden and Prz can't do it alone. Plus hg I think when you were thinking LaMarcus' shot was gonna start falling so was he! But this is why he needs to learn to play going to the hoop also, especially when his shot is not falling. I think that as far as I can tell it dosn't look like LaMarcus will ever be that physical guy underneath, which is what we need, not a wanna be Hasheed. If only he could play the way he did the last part (month or two) of last season up until his concussion. He was unstoppable then.
It was nice to see Miller in there till the end but wish he had some more time logged with those guys so they play more efficient together. Miller looked kinda confused and didn't drive as usual.
But the two things that stick out the most, there was a span of a few minutes in the 4th where we absolutely needed a couple of stops, and we got absolutely none! When they did miss then they also got the rebound and scored every time they had the ball to take the lead when we were up like 9 or 10. And we were shooting jumpers, including Roy, in the 4th while Carmelo just relentlessly went to the hoop almost EVERY SINGLE TIME in the fourth.
And I agree with you guys about Oden. This is not his fault. You can't expect someone who has been told "don't worry about your offense, your job is defense and rebounding, we are not running any plays for you, your offense will come from offensive rebounds" to handle that situation in the last possession of the game when we are down!! That was either Brandon's or Nate's fault. Brandon needs to take that shot or find someone like Rudy or Travis, unless Greg was wide open, and he wasn't. As soon as he passed him the ball i knew we lost because I would have fouled him too! Nate should have known this. I wonder if Nate drew up that play?!? or if brandon just got out of control. Either way, it was a team loss, not one person.
Ya, I feel bad for Oden. I hope he has a short memory about the missed FTs. I've heard so many people say if he just made those we would have won, but there was 5 secs left which is a eternity in the NBA and we would have only been up by 1 so no way would it have been a guaranteed win if he made both FTs.
I'm a bit worried about this Rocket game. I hope the Blazers don't let this loss get to them to much.
DownTownVinnie,
Sergio?? :)
I see a lot of people, everywhere, creditting Melo. Sure, he is a great player and is the reason the Blazers lost last night (despire poor shooting, a few bad calls, and Denver playing some tough D), but I'd just like to give my opinion.
Keep in mind - I have nothing against Denver, and this opinion isn't meant to be biased or to put their team down.
But as I said in my previous post, I don't think Denver will be much competition this season. Carmelo Anthony is trying *TOO* hard to be Kobe Bryant. You can't be like someone if you want to be the best. And he doesn't have the team that Kobe has.
I admire Carmelo a lot. He is playing his best basketball and working for his wins. But the problem is, the past 2 games they've played, he's been the one to clean up the mess. Eventually, he'll ruin out of juice, and be too tired to do this every night, and the more he tries the more his team will rely on him.
I don't take Denver much of a threat, regardless of the loss they handed us on Thursday night, unless their game plan changes. If they play this way, and Carmelo gets injured or gets tired, then Denver will be left clueless. A player trying this hard destroys teams, because their teammates rely way too much on them.
Do I think Denver will beat us in the Northwest Division? Probably. Do I think we'll play them in the playoffs? No. Do I expect a western confrence team to win the NBA finals? Nope. Celtics are sadly going to win I think. Picking up Sheed is like closing that hole in the DeathStar that Luke Skywalker shot those lasers into, creating the perfect weapon (sorry I just got done watching the Blue October from family guy).
It's been hard to accept this loss, and will be devestating if the Blazers don't win tonight, but life moves on, and I believe in this team. They just need to fight their hardest when their opponent is giving their best.
Why does everyone feel like they have to give Oden a big hug and say, "it's ok..." It is not okay for him (or anyone else) to miss FTs at the end of the game. They are in the NBA and they get paid a lot of money to preform when it counts. Nobody is babying Roy over his miss. Why? Because he thinks like a competitor. We know that his response will be to get mad at himself and do better next time. I wonder if our and the team's response shows just how fragile Oden is... This concerns me more than the loss last night.
Brian:
Who in the hell told you that getting mad at yourself will make you better. Getting mad at yourself just makes you mad and nothing else. In fact anger in its raw form is a destructive harmful emotion to your body. Anger gets you ready for battle with no place to fight, so you end up beating the hell out of yourself. Do you actually think that would stop anybody in the future from making free throws? You have got to get real man. That is not going to happen. IMO, Greg needs to accept the fact that he is not meant to be prefect, (because God does not like competition)LOL.
Giving Greg a HUG AND LOVE is just the same as giving him hugs and loves if he had cut off one of his body parts. He is HUMAN and we know he is hurting; therefore we are just trying to sooth his pain.
If you choose to be cold hearted that is your choice although you are definitely missing out on half of what life is about because of cause and effect. If no love is given, no love is received.
In the end, If you like being hard and cold that is fine, but don't expect me to be a part of your misery.
hg
i've read some post that say if we would have made our free throws we would have won the game and that's why we lost. Although free throws are very important, that's not the reason why we lost. If you look at the stats for both teams we dominated Denver in almost everything.
REASON WHY WE LOST
we shot 35 percent for the game!! that's why we lost. Heck we had 20 more shots then Denver and still lost. That could have been 40 pts or more for us. That is why we lost. Honestly how many games do you think we would win shooting 35 percent? Don't blame it on Free Throws cause they made just 5 more than we did.
Im not scared of Denver. The way we out rebounded them both on the D and Off end, which produced more shot attempts for us, we should have dominated them and we will in the near future if we rebound the way we did the other night. I don't see us shooting 35 percent against them every night
Herr; I agree that it was because of our play that caused our loss and I think Portland has accepted that and has already moved on.
I agree that that does not take away from Mello's game. He did play good.
I also agree that it isn't likely that Denver will keep this up. But contrary to you thinking Anthony is trying to hard, that is scary good. My reason is that he is making Denver a one or two man team. If either him or Philips is even slightly injured or has a bad night the Nuggets hasn't anybody that can step up. Saying also if we had not played so badly on offense we would have beat them. True, Denver did have something to do with that, but it was mostly us having a dysfunctional part that needs tweaked.
I don't agree or disagree with your play-off picture, Wallace is not the perfect piece for the whole year anyway, which brings me to my point. It is only October and only two games have been played. You may be right. You may be wrong. It is two early to tell.
hg
MGB: I hope he has a short memory too. I was going to ask Vinnie about Sergio's game but since I have been giving him such a bad time I feel sorry for the poor darling. ha ha ha ha ha ha.
What kind of beer to you drink? Dradit. I am glad Greg is starting.
hg
joseph: If you have ever read any of my post you would notice that I am not a big fan of stats. Right Vinnie???
It wasn't Greg's free throw that beat us but the missed free throws were just as much a part of losing as any thing. Especially Down the stretch when the game is close and the opposing team is making you beat them from the free throw line to stop the clock and dare you to make both shots.
Field goal percentage is completely deceiving. If we shot 100% and only shot 20 shots we would still have lost. Denver shot a much higher percentage then we did, but shot what did you say 20 shots less, but it was all the free throws that Mello made that cooked us.
Adding to your comment though, it was out and out poor offensive decision making and settling for out-side jumpers which created low production.
As the Schonz said "you gotta make your free throws" and I believe him.
hg
OUTLAW FAN25: Greg will be as good as he can be because of trying. That will be good enough. He may have two left feet, but he can learn to use them with his monster size to win us some games.
I get so sick and tied of statements like yours that "you have got to man up" when you probably don't have the foggiest idea what the hell you are talking about. Being mentally tough? He took all the S___ that people like you dished out to him last year and came back stronger that is mental toughness. Being physically tough? He went though Micro-fracture surgery, chipped patellae and has come back to learn the NBA. That is physical tough.
Before you start slinging crap, maybe you would care to give your definition of toughness. Is it like one of your video games characters that never get hurt?
hg
Man,full moon is really bringing out the best and worst in all the posts. MGB...........Yes hg is right,I do have a short memory.I was probably talkin smack about Sergios game,his matador defense,inabbility to make an outside shot.Your'e not saying that Dre was Sergio -like are you? I'm a little foggy, so you might have to clue me in on that one. hg..Serg is averaging6.5 mins pg,, 1.5 assists ,,1.0 points pg at Sac On Gregs free throws at the end of the game,that is a position thay even the best of players fail during.Greg IS a human being , first. A basketball player secondly.I myself have been harsh on players before,but we do have to remember that they deserve respect and sensitivety ,too. I'm sure that noone is maddre about it than GReg is. Actually ,I have a theory on the free throws.OK......Rasheed always said that when you called a foul on him and it wasn't a foul,If the player at the line missed the free throws,He'd say"THE BALL DON'T LIE'. Right before the GO free throws Reggie Miller,Who knows almost evertthing about BBall, said that the call was kind of a gift to the Blazers. Rasheed was right...........BALL DON'T LIE.The ghost of Rasheed strikes again.
Duck game vs Blazer Obsession. Can someone hook me up with how to get games on Justin TV.Thanx BLAZERSROCK
hg-
I'm not sure how you get "destructive harmful emotion to your body" from "getting mad at yourself." I think you're the one who "needs to get real." Larry Bird once said, "When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct. My dream was to become a pro." Getting mad/frustrated/disappointed at failure is a perfectly normal emotion for an athlete and a competitor. It is what drives you to improve. It is what makes guys like B-Roy, Kobe, Jordan, etc. work so hard. Have you ever seen those guys after a tough loss? Or even worse, after they individually had a tough night? They are ticked! And that is okay! I hope Oden was in the gym that night or the next morning practicing free-throws over and over again. That is what competitors do.
I don't like getting personal on blogs, but I don't appreciate being called "hard and cold" for suggesting that athletes should get angry and frustrated (mad at themselves) when they don't perform to their potential. First of all, I think anyone who has played sports at a high level will tell you that this IS a healthy and normal response. Secondly, you don't know me and can't possibly know if I am a "hard or cold" person based on a blog post. Seriously, the most outlandish language I used was: "mad."
Vinnie: Try this one it comes from a blogger on Blazers edge, It worked good for Radio during pre-season anyway.
http://www.justin.tv/levelhed
When I was talking about short memory, I was talking about Greg forgetting about his miss. You were talking about, I think Steve, and was calling him Sergio. This is your post that MGB and I were referring to:
DowntownVinnie has left a new comment on the post "A Statement Win for Denver":
That was a perfect example of where we will miss Nic.Last night ,we could have called Melo "bus driver ".Because he took the Blazers to SCHOOL.We had no answer for him.Martell played him tough,though. I think we only doubled Melo a couple of times,wich I can't figure out why we didn't do that more. Make someone else beat you. Roy was Roy-like. He looked great.He's a big game player.I think Martell and Sergio were the only Blazer who matched his energy. It was good to see Sergio break out. Poor Greg ,prssure on the line at the end.Tough for even the best players,I had a bad feelin about that trip to the line.He just can't seem to shake the foul trouble.(Might be the refs!)I mean ,he had 3 at 6:30 in the second and he had 5 or 6 boards and about as many points . Dre shot about 3 too many 3's.Just distribute the ball to the scorers.Guard play in general was lacking .LMA, please don't shoot 3's,Post em up,throw it down big fella. Howard,finally,was allowed to show that he could earn Nates trust as a competent backup.Bout Time. Martells general energy has impressed me.He had a slam then a block on Melo that were both energy plays.When his outside shot starts goin,he is going to be a demon! Trav is much better on the rebounding end,which is great to see. This was about free throws,face it,it was a tough one to watch at the end,gave me a gut ache. Its true it was a grinder, neither team led by double figures.Missed opportunities. We were so close............AAAAARRRGHHHHH!
You are right about Greg being a human first and not a BB machine. I think some of the posters gets humans and their Video stars mixed up, In fact, I mentioned just that.
hg
DownTownVinnie,
In your first comment on this blog entry by MB you said:
"I think Martell and Sergio were the only Blazer who matched his energy. It was good to see Sergio break out."
As I said Sergio? :)
I'm sure you meant Rudy, but I thought it was funny.
Brian has left a new comment on the post "A Statement Win for Denver":
Why does everyone feel like they have to give Oden a big hug and say, "it's ok..." It is not okay for him (or anyone else) to miss FTs at the end of the game. They are in the NBA and they get paid a lot of money to preform when it counts. Nobody is babying Roy over his miss. Why? Because he thinks like a competitor. We know that his response will be to get mad at himself and do better next time. I wonder if our and the team's response shows just how fragile Oden is... This concerns me more than the loss last night.
I was referring to you saying why does everyone feel like they have to give Oden a big hug and say, "it's ok..." It is not okay for him (or anyone else) to miss FTs at the end of the game. It makes him a human being
You are talking different anger then I am. I said anger in it's raw form is a destructive emotion. Your adrenalin gets worked up. They call it a fight or flight, lower animal instinct. All that adrenalin pumping into you system with no outlet is destructive to your health.
Anger and frustration is normal but, when whatever happened is gone no anger in the world is going to change it. So you just beat yourself up and destroy your confidence.
You are talking about getting determined and taking action as to not letting it happen again. I am talking about anger itself. We give him hugs and love for his mistakes and you beat him over the head for making mistakes that is why I said you were cold and hard hearted. Hard love is not my definition of love. Regardless, I can guarantee you that he will make many more mistakes and being angry all the time will put him back at square one. Like BRoy said it is best to get over it as fast as possible and go on with your life.
If you want to be mad at somebody for not living up to what ever you perceived to be his potential is your business, but don’t tell other people they should be mad at their imperfection.
With all of that, you attacked us first. Why does everyone feel like they have to give Oden a big hug and say, "it's ok..." We give him hugs in order to give him more encouragement. There is nothing wrong with that.
Sorry for the strong disagreement with you, but I was raised by a step-father that felt just like you and I can tell you by experience that beating someone over the head by telling them to get mad at yourself is very destructive.
hg
fivehundreddogs said...
"On a lighter note, a few points on style..."
Not to mention Miller looks 10 yrs younger with his hair cut. Dare I say he actually looks GOOD now? You know, instead of a crack-head?
No one looks as good as Rudy though. Especially that hair: so kickass.
I don't take anything away from Melo for that game except a few flops from his side, but nothing that would have changed the outcome had he not. If you saw the brief taped interview with him at halftime he actually sounds like he might have just changed his old ways. He claimed to care nothing but getting his team to championship and he didn't care how many points he had or didn't.
A MATURE Melo? Go figure... but we'll see if he can keep it up. After all this is after he refused to follow Coach Karl's orders to come out of the game last year.
Nonetheless, he has been mighty impressive these last two games.
Still think Denver are Thuggets tho. Also their logo SUCKS (can't even tell what the hell it is at first or second glance).
Also I'm mostly scared about tonight's game at Houston because we always seem to lose there.
Dohhhh.Guess that was funny.I think way faster than I can type.My fingers have minds of their own.How bout them Ducks?
ya how about them ducks!!!
as for the blazers they were still good, were just ironing out some kinks. brandon proving he is still the man, la showing he can post up with the best, outlaw is rebounding and some pretty good defense along with some nasty blocks. rudys playing good ball so is miller but we still have questions on when we want him to score. i would like him to post up more and lead the break to get his points. what i really like about miller is his passing. miller is getting better with playing with the blazers(and roy) and is starting to get on the same page. when this team gets in sync and fires on all 8 cylinders we are going to make some noise.
ya how about them ducks!!!
as for the blazers they were still good, were just ironing out some kinks. brandon proving he is still the man, la showing he can post up with the best, outlaw is rebounding and some pretty good defense along with some nasty blocks. rudys playing good ball so is miller but we still have questions on when we want him to score. i would like him to post up more and lead the break to get his points. what i really like about miller is his passing. miller is getting better with playing with the blazers(and roy) and is starting to get on the same page. when this team gets in sync and fires on all 8 cylinders we are going to make some noise.
Millertime:
I hope the rest of those pistons starts working soon.
GO BLAZERS
hg
One thing I liked about the Rocket game is we never gave up. We couldn't quite catch the Rockets, but we kept battling back to the end.
hg-
I should have been more specific. When I said "everyone," I really meant those who Oden actually listens to. I was really responding to B-Roy's comments. I think it is safe to assume that Oden does not read the comments on this blog.
You missed the point of my comments. My concern is that an NBA player in their 3rd season should not need babying. I'm not suggesting anyone "beat him over the head," but "forgetting" about major mistakes in games is not what champions do. You don't grow and improve upon things you forget about. I'll refer you back to the Larry Bird quote in my last post. Again I'll say, why don't you see people baby B-Roy over his FT miss?
Lastly, you said "I was raised by a step-father that felt just like you and I can tell you by experience that beating someone over the head by telling them to get mad at yourself is destructive..." I think comparing someone you've never met to your step-father, because they suggest that a highly paid athlete should face his failure head-on and grow from it (yes, I used the term get mad at themselves... I think most reasonable people would not see this as even remotely harsh) is not only insulting, but also completely irrational.
This is just a pro player we’re talking about, not your family member. Love your
family. Like pro athletes.
To begin, I'd like to express my awareness that we are only three games deep and my faith that we will pull out of this funk and have a terrific season...
Now what the *%#$ is going on?! Why is it that Bayless can have a fantastic preseason, prove that he is on the cusp of a leap in ability, then rot on the bench when there's a point guard tailor made for him, cutting our defense to ribbons? I wanted to see what he could do to Brooks in the playoffs, but understood Coach not wanting to take a chance with that much on the line. Now is the time to experiment, when we have a fairly kind schedule and fresh legs. It's obvious that our PGs are in a funk, as is evidenced by their shooting with Blake at 23% and Miller with 32% from in close and both below 25% from outside. We need some fresh energy.
Another position that could do with a renaissance is the small forward. The vacuum left in Batum's absence must be addressed. The problem is that in place of defense, we now have firepower. Instead of reliability, we have streaks. Last night, all three of our streaky shooters(Outlaw, Webster and Fernandez) came up cold, and there was nobody to bring that steady, solid play. My solution? Dante.
I know McMillan is allergic to rookies, but Cleverbacon might just be this season's Batum. I don't think he'll crack the starting 5 this season, but I do think he should get some consideration as an option to go to when the shots aren't falling for the streakers.
On the bright side, how about LMA! The L-Train was right on time last night! I know he MUST read every comment and couldn't have overlooked my call to "TAKE IT TO THE HOLE!", which must have been the sole reason for his dynamite game. I can think of no other possible motivation for his stellar performance.
Now on to OKC. When Courtside was doing its prediction show, I had The Thunder penciled in as my "Biggest Surprise". They are going to put up a fight, so we can't approach this game with anything less than our best. That will be tough, considering it is the second of a back-to-back on the road and the game takes place early enough that we might not be all the way warmed up come tip off, but it can be done, and it must be done if we ever want to be the championship team that we can be. Champs win, whatever the circumstances. I believe this team can do that.
Brian; I did misunderstand your terminology of anger. Yes, everybody should try their hardest to overcome mistakes, that is dedication to your life, your job (regardless whether it is pro or not) Everybody regardless of their jobs are human first and a worker second therefore everybody will make mistakes in their life and maybe the same one over and over again. Reminds me of the old saying anybody that says they don't make mistakes is either lying or isn't doing anything.
It is just my belief that Greg missed those foul shots because of anxiety so getting mad. (my picture of that is throwing a temper tantrum) would make it worst. The more he gets in those situations the less chance there is at choking. All the practice in the world other then being in the situation will not help.I think that is where my misunderstanding came in.
Whether you love or hate Travis, I don't know. But he suffers from performance anxiety IMO., and that is where his asthma comes from. He is much better now, but they use to have to take him out of the games because he was wheezing so much. Of course everybody thought he was out of shape. IMO again, that is why he did so badly in the Play-offs last year.
If by any chance that Greg was having performance anxiety, beating himself over the head about it would just make it worst because he would lose what confidence he has gotten back. That is what I was preferring to about giving him hugs to encourage him to continue trying.
I am sure I missed many of good points, because people have different definitions for different words. I told my wife I resented something she said to me and it almost cost me a divorce because of her feeling of resentment.
I still disagree with you about Job first, person second. The amount of money he makes has very little to do with it. I was often glad I was paid for what the job was worth then what I felt I was worth.
I apologize for the mistaken belief of your meaning. If a baby was trying to walk across the floor for the first time and fell and bumped his nose, I would pick him up say good job, next time you will do better. But what you were talking about as babying was different then mine.
I also was somewhat abusive with my disagreement. I was being defensive waiting for Greg attackers and haters. I apologize for that the most.
No hard feelings on my part.
hg
After tonight's loss to OKC, we'll be at 1-3, not exactly the start everyone was looking for.
Everything begins at the defensive end. Easy hoops come from stops, not from out of bounds plays after the opponent scores. Miller is great at the full court game but not as effective when he can't run. Got to start getting stops...
this post is late, its even after the loss to houston. But I do wanna say G.O looks horrible. two missed free throws isn't what I'm talking about. If any blazers players are reading this please do the team a favor and DO NOT pass him the ball when he is anywhere near the basket. he holds it low and when he comes up it becomes a turnover. EVERY TIME. its embarrassing and please save him the embarrassment. the trainer who worked with him all summer should be fired. greg had this issue all last season and this issue is the ONE thing to improve, but instead he looks worse. I don't dislike greg, he's a good compliment to Pryz and brings an extra 6 fouls to give and can rebound, but keep the ball out of his hands or the opposing team surely will. And tell nate to play pryzbilla to close the games out in the fourth.
I agree the game looked ugly, but maybe you should have waited 'til the game was over to post. 2-2, on or way home.
This is early for one and late for the other blog. That was a very nice win tonight. It sounded like it was quite a defensive battle. 3 for 20 for Durant. dbl dbl for Greg. Terrific defense from Martell and team d for the rest.
The main thing is we needed the win in the most way/
this post is late, its even after the loss to houston. But I do wanna say G.O looks horrible. two missed free throws isn't what I'm talking about. If any blazers players are reading this please do the team a favor and DO NOT pass him the ball when he is anywhere near the basket. he holds it low and when he comes up it becomes a turnover. EVERY TIME. its embarrassing and please save him the embarrassment. the trainer who worked with him all summer should be fired. greg had this issue all last season and this issue is the ONE thing to improve, but instead he looks worse. I don't dislike greg, he's a good compliment to Pryz and brings an extra 6 fouls to give and can rebound, but keep the ball out of his hands or the opposing team surely will. And tell nate to play pryzbilla to close the games out in the fourth.
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