Blazers Grind Out Road Win
posted: 11/02/2009 at 12:34 AM
Following the loss in Houston on Halloween, the Blazers recommitted themselves to the defensive end of the floor. Nate McMillan, and others, called out the team for surrendering 111 points to the Rockets, and for allowing their backcourt to go for a combined 69 points.
Sunday night in Oklahoma City, the results of the post-game discussion from the night before were pretty impressive. The Blazers held the previously-unbeaten Thunder to 34 percent shooting, and 74 points overall, winning the game 83-74.
It wasn’t the prettiest thing to watch, but getting the first road win was the most important thing that came out of the night. The Blazers shot just 41 percent from the field, but had the clutch buckets down the stretch and held on.
Steve Blake, who had been passing up shots in an effort to get others involved, took more of the offense upon himself in this game. Blake led the Blazers with 18 points, on 6 of 9 shooting, including going 4 for 5 from behind the three-point line. He also hit the dagger three, off a pass from Brandon Roy, with 90 seconds to go in the game, that made the score 77-68, and pretty much ended it.
Roy, who scored 42 against the Rockets on Saturday, had Thabo Sefolosha draped on him most of the night on Sunday. Brandon ended with a hard-earned 16, but went just 5 for 17 from the floor. Greg Oden played a big role in this game as well, as he ended with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and a blocked shot.
Martell Webster had the highlight of the night, a rim-rocking jam over Etan Thomas in the third quarter. He also stepped up and played tough defense on Kevin Durant, who had a nightmare shooting night, going 3 for 21. Some of that was due to Webster, but Durant also missed a bunch of open shots.
Oklahoma City was led by Russell Westbrook’s 23 points, but he ended with a whopping 9 turnovers. I truly don’t remember doing a game where a player had 9 turnovers. You’ve got to give Blake some of the credit there. He drew two offensive fouls on Russell, who repeatedly tried to back Blake into the paint, and hounded him into several bad passes.
Maybe the most impressive part of this win was the fact that the Blazers went most of the way without LaMarcus Aldridge, who went knee to knee with Jeff Green in the first half. He tried to get it loose at halftime, but was in too much pain. It’s just a bruise, so isn’t serious. Aldridge told me on the flight on the way home that he’s just sore, but should be fine to play on Tuesday against Atanta.
We’ve talked so much about expectations and how they can weigh heavy on a team. After losing to Denver at home, and to Houston on Saturday, another loss in Oklahoma City wouldn’t have gone over well. The mood on the flight back to Portland was much, much lighter than we’ve seen in recent days.
It’s a three-game homestand now for the Blazers, starting with the Hawks on Tuesday. The Spurs come to town on Friday, and Minnesota will be in at the Rose Garden on Sunday.
It’s good to be home, and better to be home with a road win. Even if it was ugly.
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Well said MB, as always.
First things first. If you would have made a blog about after the Houston game, this is what I would have said.
Ugh.......*rasps*. That game meant nothing to me really. It probably would have been an impact had we won, but it's still hard to get over the loss to Denver, even now. The Blazers played well, but like you were saying tonight, that would have been a win had the defense been more serious and the Rockets not been red hot.
But now about this game - it was a good win. OKC is playing some great basketball tonight, but made some rising stars easy - and let's not lie, I saw some of the worse calls and no calls in this game than I've ever seen. Such as Oden constantly being pushed in the back, the "out of bounds" being called on Andre Miller after he threw it to Durant who was standing out of bounds, and the lane violation... which I thought was one of the most pathetic calls in recent Blazer history. Not that it changed anything, it's just a "are you serious?" pathetic call.
To me, the refs are just pissed off about their recent disagreements with the NBA. After all, I've never seen so many 3 second in the keys being called. Obviously, from every post I make, I think the refs are biased, but I wouldn't expect peopel to take my seriously on that part since I always complain about them.
Now onto the game - one thing thats been bugging about this season is that I haven't been enjoying the games really. Houston made a run in the first game, but luckily we won. Denver game made me nervous the whole game, and it was killing me seeing Melo knock down shots and the Blazers struggling to make theirs. Houston game was actually enjoyable, since it was score after score. We lost that in the 1st quarter. Seriously, look at the stat sheet. 33 to 28, than it was like 28 to 28 in the 2nd, 25 to 24 in the 3rd, and something like 28 to 28 in the 4th. But it wasn't fun watching the end... brought back too many painful memories. And tonights game had a lot of scary moments until Steve Blake dropped down that 3 that you mentioned.
This was also a must win game in my eyes. The Blazers needed a boost of confidence, and hopefully this gave it to them. Going 3-0 on this home stand is very possible, and I believe the Blazers can do it as long as they STOP PENETRATION!!!!!!!!!!! Tony Parker will murder the Blazers if he is allowed to constantly penetrate the middle. Going 3-0 would be a great boost for this team and their fans going on the 5 game road trip.
One thing I'd like to add in this really long post - I'd like to get peoples opinion. If Batum wasn't injured and he guarded Anthony and Ariza, would the Blazers be 4-0?
Oden had at least 2 blocked shots. Watching the replay he had the one on Green first quarter, and about the 7:50 mark in the 2nd quarter against Green again. Once again the score keeper not giving Oden credit.
Great game.
Oklahoma City was led by Russell Westbrook’s 23 points, but he ended with a whopping 9 turnovers. I truly don’t remember doing a game where a player had 9 turnovers.
That's an interesting statistic, so I had to look it up. It turns out that this happened quite recently! Caron Butler committed 9 turnovers against Portland last January). The last time before that was in 2007 when Pau Gasol turned it over 9 times when he was with Memphis.
The last Blazer to do it? Rod Strickland had 9 TO to go with 10 assists and 25 points back in 1995.
Hey MB: wow - a win is a win, but the Blazers better start figuring out a rotation of players, because the SEASON has started! The refs must be in "pre-season" mode. They blew call after call....also, Travis still looks lost out there - what's the deal? My gut still says a trade is looming in the future.
Mike: hg here.
WOW!!!!! Glad LMA is OK.
First, I have to get my disagreements out of the way. Although (grumble, grumble, grumble) I couldn't see the game. it did not seem to be an ugly game. With OKA being defensive orientated and with your own words Portland rededicating themselves on D, a low scoring game was expected. After the last two games there was no such thing as ugly. It was down right a beautiful win.
Martell's play on Durant sounded suburb. That won't show up on the stat sheet so many of the stat only personnel will be confused (Vinnie, and maybe you) You are always digging up stats but that may be just part of your job. Vinnie preaches Stats as much as I preach the game is won in the trenches not on a piece of paper LOL. Anyway great show Martell.
According to Vinnie stats, Dre played horrible and Steve played great, stats don’t lie, but stats doesn't show the defensive play that was put on Dre and the difficulty driving to the basket. Plus unlike Steve, he did not have BRoy taking the pressure off of him and of course he isn’t good at long range bombs, and he was playing the system passing to the open man. If the open man couldn’t make the shot, BRoy included, and then the stats on assists would be way down Regardless of Vinnie’s stats, Great game Andre. Gotcha Vinnie!!!!!.
On the subject that Durant missed a lot of open shots. You and the other Mike has said many times that if a player is pushed out of his comfort zone, uusing your shot, being tight because the game was close and every score counts makes the basket swrink. So Martell gets all the credit in my book.
I agree with fivehundreddogs on the subject of giving JBay and Dante some playing time. With the injury to Batman and the speed of the guards we have been playing this would be a good time to give them some floor time. Of course this is also a great time to give Rudy extra time and he does earn that. Nevertheless, we need to get those two dudes out on the floor.
Great blog Mike, I will see you on courtside tonight.
This post was written in humor and being light hearted BECAUSE WE WON A ROAD GAME, no insult to you or Vinnie was intended.
hg
a wins a wins a wins a win!
go blazers!
Nice win on the road. I liked that we went to Oden and LA early. Doing both paid dividends. It's to bad LA was hurt and we didn't keep going to Oden or this one wouldn't have been close.
Sure been nice seeing every Blazers game! Got to watch my Cowboys win in the morning and my Blazers win in the afternoon! Nothing could be sweeter except for both of them to win the championship this year!
It was nice to see Nate getting after the refs! I was cheering him on when he got the tech! I know we don't want the players to complain about fouls, but Nate has to get after the refs when it's so one sided as it was last nite.
Oh, and at least in that game which would have you rather picked, Durant or Oden? Oden's double double only tells part of the story. He changes the game on D. So many shots are altered from his D as well as TOs come from his D that doesn't show in the stats.
Also, great game by Martell. He played excellent D on Durant!
Its about time Martell got in the game in the fourth.He has been playing with some of the best energy of anyone all four games.He rebounds plays d ,when his outside shot starts falling,he is gonna be a demon.He has had more than a few rim rocking dunks. Nice to see Blake looking for his shot more. We need help with our perimeter d.That is why are bigs are getting into foul trouble so much,especially against Houston. Maybe Nate should get Bayless out on Brooks.Isn't he our most athletic perimeter defender.Blake and Miller are too slow for Brooks. Also,5-3 in the keys..thats high school stuff.Plus, Our perimeter D on 3's against Houston was pitiful, too.Good to see such good D last night.I still think Oden isn't getting respect on calls.Oh, Yeah,Millers bounce passes have more arch than his jumpers!It is nice when we step up after a bad game.That tells me a lot about this teams pride. I BLAZERSROCK
Herr..I definitely think Melo wouldn't have got 40 with Batum on him.Batum would have been inside his jersey
Herr:
I have been wondering the same thing, Batman would have made a big difference on D and since the games were close I think we might have won the game. Of course we will never know.
Nevertheless, it might be a blessing in disguise because Martell is starting to come along on d and IMO Travis is playing better d. If Batuum was doing all the work it is human nature to let him.
hg
hg....I'll be the first person to let you know if I'm offended.No offense taken. You are averaging about .50 Gotchas per post,I think that leads the league!
G-PA.. I've been stifling my Trav criticism,but i would have to agree that the first game was great,but lackluster since then..I have also tried not to complain about refereeing but it has been ugly,too.Not much you can do about the refs,but its been annoying.
In answer to Herr, no. Our shooting and lack of inside game has been abysmal. At least we finally played some deffense.
Eric....Westbrook led the league last year in that category,so no suprise. hg............This is a stat that even YOU will like.Greg Oden leads the league in blocked shots-2.75 a game.
Frustrating bunch of games so far. As a previous poster mentioned, I realized last night that theres a "fun-factor" that's missing from these games. I don't know if it's the frustrating losses or quite possibly the refs calling something almost every single possession.
At any rate, I'm a Blazers fan so we take the good with the bad, and our team is fantastic!
Side note: I started watching the blazers again early last season, so I never got a chance to watch Webster play. What a great guy!
Vinnie:
That is terrific, but it is the game he plays that is more terrific. He can't take the stats into the game with him because they are not retro-active. IMO, comparing players with stats is comparing the history of the players not what they did in a particular game. Steve did not play any better then Dre last night, but he got higher in the stats then Dre becuase of 3 pters. which I am tickled withb because they are just contributing factors not stats.
All my B.S is just in fun. thank you for being a sport.
hg
The win was a great booster. We have to thank Martell, Steve, and Greg, in particular, for stepping up their game.
We need to learn to protect our lead when substitutions are made. Traveling with the ball errors are just plain foolish. A one time incident is excusable, but several are not what the doctor ordered. Scoring opportunities are diminished, and more often than not the opponent has a chance to catch up.
The defense looked a lot better.
The refs can't always be blamed, but there were some really bad calls.
Greg's foul shooting looks better. However, even some reliable foul shooters need to refine their focus. Hitting just one out of two can really hurt.
Keep up the momentum. GO BLAZERS!
Vinnie:
Its about time Martell got in the game in the fourth.He has been playing with some of the best energy of anyone all four games.He rebounds plays d ,when his outside shot starts falling,he is gonna be a demon.He has had more than a few rim rocking dunks. Nice to see Blake looking for his shot more. We need help with our perimeter d.That is why are bigs are getting into foul trouble so much,especially against Houston. Maybe Nate should get Bayless out on Brooks.Isn't he our most athletic perimeter defender.Blake and Miller are too slow for Brooks. Also,5-3 in the :keys..thats high school stuff.Plus, Our perimeter D on 3's against Houston was pitiful, too.Good to see such good D last night.I still think Oden isn't getting respect on calls.Oh, Yeah,Millers bounce passes have more arch than his jumpers!It is nice when we step up after a bad game.That tells me a lot about this teams pride."
Guess what? I agree with your assessment completely.
hg
Herr: Since you asked for opinions; as always, I'm more than happy to share mine. I believe that on an earlier blog you stated that you didn't consider Denver a threat, yet you went on to say that you thought that Denver would win the division. Now you are asking the question "What if we had a healthy Batum"? Playing the what-if game and blaming the refs, is an exercise in futility. I'm in the process of trying to become a police officer, and one of the questions on the psych test is, "Do I ever worry about my health"? Do you see how sneaky that question is? I am very "concerned" about my health, but I never "worry" about anything, especially those things that I have no control over. It somehow makes life so much simpler and stress free. My advice to you is to accept the team for what it is today. If they suck then say they suck, but don't say "If only", because that is just an exuse. Brandon Roy isn't doing it, and neither should the fans. I always read a lot of energy and enthusiasm from your blogs, and I'll look forward to more of the same from you.
Hey Mike -
"Phew" on getting the win, as BRoy stated after the game and . .
"Phew" that LMA will be ok and good to go in all likelihood for next game.
What has gotten into Martell? Gotta love what he is doing, not to mention the jams! I would like to think he is having fun out there and having lost last year, is really appreciating the moment, so-to-speak. I've always been a fan of his - that smooth jumper and was so glad he got over that struggle he was having a couple of seasons ago.
Again, peace from Prague!
Hey Mike. I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, so I don't know if what I'm saying is already redundant, but if Oden will not stand up for himself, why doesn't other Blazers do it for him? Oden's success is very important and when he gets a bad foul call on him, it hurts our team.
Personally I would love it if all five Blazers on the court would confront the ref and have their say and keep doing it until they get the message. I mean how else is Greg going to "shake that rep"?
What I find remarkable is that Oden practically stayed out of foul trouble in the pre-season while the league was complaining about all the foul calls. Seriously, fouls being called left and right to a point where it's a problem, yet Oden stays out of foul trouble. Then the regular refs come back and all of a sudden Oden is in foul trouble all the time. That's a head scratcher if you ask me. Major head scratcher!
The breaking point for me was when Oden was called for a foul on Durant when Durant just stopped and pulled a shot that wasn't a foul and there was a late whistle (I know you won't forget that one).
Seriously, something has to be done about this or the refs are going to take Oden out of his game just about every game and it's going to hurt the Blazers.
Maybe you can bring this up on your courtside show as I think this is a topic worth talking about. Personally I'm starting to miss those replacements and that's saying something.
I just wanted to say i thought dante was gonna get in at either the 3 or the 4 when LMA went out he would have matched up good against jeff green he cant get much better sittin on the bench.
OutlawFaN25..I think that Nate has serious trust issues with more than a few players on this team.His rotation is pretty tight.Dante has skills,And I love Dante, but it is pretty stacked ahead of him at the 3 and the 4,especially w /Broy playin the 3 with the second unit.
hg...Will you stop agreeing with me? First of all, it takes all the fun out of our "relationship". Secondly ,it just freaks me out. Either I'm gettin' soft or you are gettin more agreeable!
Vinnie:
Don't let it go to your head, we are bound to hit the same page once in a while.
I am getting ready for courtside.
later
hg
We are going to get better. Last season we started slow too so I'm not concern at all.
phi slamma, you have a great point. I do tend to contradict myself a lot because most the time when I post early I've got a lot on my mind, than I go back and think about it. On these blogs there isn't an edit option, so a lot of the times I find myself even contradicting myself.
But I do not consider Denver a threat... in the playoffs. I think they could win the division title, the way they (or at least Melo) are playing, but to me a division title is meaningless when you have the NBA title. If Melo is so committed to bringing Denver one, I think he needs to calm down. Eventually you'll run out of steam. The NBA has teams played at least 2-3 times a week. Melo, unless Denver is dominating, will be playing the most minutes. He's averaging 40 points a game this early in the season. And like Hg said, it's human nature to sit back and let the people that do it - do it, especially if it hands you wins. That being said, I think Denver's other players will be like New Orleans was during that game we played there when Chris Paul went out, if Melo was to get injured or be out of rythem.
Yes, I blame refs - for stupid calls. My family does the same so they work me up a few times. But, there are few games where I'll blame the Blazers for a loss. One of these games was game 4. I just like to rant about the officials since they make a lot of horrible calls, and make it look like it was on purpose. I know this team needs to improve, and I believe I state my opinion in every blog about how I think they should play. But besides that Game 4 of last seasons playoffs, I don't think I've made purely one post that was made to rant about officials. They do good jobs, but some just make the game more frustrating than it should be.
I'm also not trying to play the "What-if-game" here as an excuse. I'm just curious to know peoples opinions. Thanks for sharing yours.
DowntownVinnie said...
hg...Will you stop agreeing with me? First of all, it takes all the fun out of our "relationship". Secondly ,it just freaks me out. Either I'm gettin' soft or you are gettin more agreeable!
*******
You know it could be that one of your IQs went up or it just might be one of your IQs dropped. I know which way I'm putting my money! :)
the last week or so, i've been confined to highlights only, no full games. bummer for me, but i am starting internet service with clear and considering a league pass "choice" even though it won't bring me blazers games. anyhow, other thoughts....
does kevin durant remind anyone else of danny manning? seeing highlights of him dunk awkwardly makes me fear for his knees. lay the ball in for goodness sake.
it is good to see houston drop utah in salt lake. they have to play in dallas tomorrow, which should be tough and interesting to see where the competition is at.
looking at carmelo anthony, i just get the feeling that he does not care for his body in a way that would bring him through an MVP type nba season. the last 3 seasons he averaged 69.33 games. he has the physique of a player that believes his natural talent will take him where he needs to get. there are so many other players out there (lebron, kobe, wade, b-roy, d-howard, kg etc.) that appear to outwork him. his 40pt outbursts only have me wondering how long it will be before he misses 8-10 games with an elbow injury that could have been avoided with some incredibly modest off-season strength conditioning ( simple bicep curls and tricep extensions).
the nuggets overall would have to have a second, windfall, injury free season to make it anywhere near where they were last season. nene, birdman, and k-mart don't even come close to averaging 70 games a season, and they are going to be fighting to make the playoffs by seasons end. the jazz are a bigger concern to me than the nuggets. and the nuggs will say, "if only we hadn't had so many injuries..." when the reality is that their '08-'09 season was their lightning in a bottle. they let key players get away in the off-season, and have a roster that is perilously thin.
it may seem that i am ridiculously optimistic, or homeristic at times, but man am i geeked about this team. we have something that will be exceptional sooner than later. the rancor and frustration of not being 4-0 is indicator of better things to come.
also, i wanted to point out to someone (i don't remember who) that said greg is in his 3rd season. people have so many unchecked, misconceptions about greg oden. the young guy seems to be trying to hard, and because what he can do is not the most easily recognizable skill set, people slam him without seeing what he truly is. he has played in only 4 games during his second season. he's the current league leader in blocks, and is averaging 10rebs a game. in our two losses, he played 22min each game and we lost by 3 and 4 points respectively. in our two wins, he played 26 and 29min a game. his being on the court a few minutes extra per game is all that we're missing. gaudy statistics and offense are not what he is going to provide. there is something subtle that should be looked at more closely for those who are real fans of this club. there is no other team in the league that has a center that the ability to shape the defensive contour of the game in the way that big G.O. does. when you add joel as his support, and his teammates solidify their defensive concept around #52, we are in for making some serious runs on the league. what we've seen so far is only the primer for what we are all about to enjoy.
and, in case you missed this one:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/oden_sounds_off_and_his_newfou.html
next up, the hawks.
GO BLAZERS!!!!
MGB,,,,,,,,,,,Weuns down here in Ugene ain't real smart,cause ifn we was, we might think that you was dissin us fo not havin one o dem big ol IQ thangs.Why youuns go and pick on us with lessrer booklearnin',I jes don know.Dat dere aint right,dang it.Ifn I had dat IQ thang ,I'd rattle off me a fancy comeback . Y'all is lucky my haed is only good fer settin my rain hat on and givin my 7 strands o hair a place to live..You big city fellers ,always pickin on dem country folk! BLAZERSROCK
For me, the most surprising thing about this yeam's young season has been the inspired play by Martell Webster. So many times we see athletes take several games to regain their confidence related to their injury. Often we see them shy from contact and do things that are typically outside their game. It doesn't seem to be the case here. Martell has been playing with wreckless abandon with numerous strong takes to the cup and in-your-face defense. As soon as he gets his shot back, and I think he's close, I believe it will be his emotional play, and Greg's defense, that will bring this team together and start them on an awe-inspiring run. I will be at the game tonight against the Hawks, and I hope it starts then.
Go get some, young fella!
RIPCITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Travis:
Once again I agree with you, it’s as though you are writing from my mind. (Boy are you in trouble). I am a homer, but I can see realistically that Denver may not succeed. This is my post to Herr earlier:
"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 feel the same as you do about Greg. All he has to do is walk into the game and he is a threat. "I had a big debate with a poster with a handle of Brian I am saying that I don't think Greg should get mad at himself for missing those two free throws. He missed them because he cares too much and IMO, anxiety set in. If too big of a deal is made of it then he might get the “I don't give a hoot attitude”. Therefore I feel we should give him hugs. Brian thinks we should let him know that it is not ok and he should get mad at himself. I can now see his point, but not smart enough or educated enough to explain the difference between being determined and being angry. I do know for sure that anger is a destructive emotion left unchecked.
I am not trying to get you involved in the debate, just to get your opinion on what is best for Greg. He is such a valuable commodity to our team, but first he is an emotional type person.
Please reply.
hg
the blazers need to start playing like a single unit all on the same page. not have greg in 7 mins longer. I agree he is a game changer and all that but we need the other players to do their jobs. la is starting to come around, broy is still broy, webster and oden have been playing great. blake needs to find his shot more. I know he can't create his shot that well but he needs to shoot when he is open to spread the defense. he started doing this last game. miller needs to stop shooting outside shots and post up more along with pushing the ball when he is in. hes doing all right.
outlaw is playing better d but still shooting hot & cold. rudy doing good and will get better. hes savy. we need to play as a team on offense and defense and games like the houston game we would have won easy. there would be no talk about it if we would have had oden in longer, if trav was hot, broy 5/17...ect
it would not matter because we would overcome as a team.If broy is out 5 games i would like to feel like we can still win those games whether its B, Go or LA out. like that boston game last year. were getting better every game and slowly but surely we will start stringing wins together. beat the hawks to night...GO BLAZERS
Vinnie: If you think it is out in the sticks where you am you ought to be over here where I am.
I thought MGB was talking about my IQ for making one bad beer bet (roll that off your tongue MGM) and now seems like maybe two bad beer bets. But I am not capitulating. We are not coming together with our minds; we are just drifting by each other in foggy, foggy dew
hg
It hurts me to say this, but I think Brandon needs to take a page from Kobe's book.
While he is shooting a respectable 40% from the field this year, he seems to really be having a hard time getting to the rim. As a team, the Blazers are also having a hard time finding open players (shooting or slashing to the basket). I know some of you hate stats, but the Blazers right now are averaging approximately 13 assists per game and 14 turnovers per game. My observation is that a LOT of our scoring is generated from one-on-one play.
Now, some of this will be fixed with time as this team tries to learn their roles a bit better; however, I think B-Roy can help this situation right now. He has got to do a better job of passing out of the double team. He is consistently getting swarmed by opponents’ defense (rightfully so... as he can pretty much beat anyone in the NBA off the dribble). If he starts making effective passes out of the double team. He will be able to find LA and Oden with single-man coverage down low, to pass to a slashing Webster or Rudy, or simply swing the ball to the weak side for an open 3pt shot in the corner.
This will also open up his game, because it will force the team to weaken their defensive efforts against him. Now this will obviously also require the players around him to space themselves appropriately on the floor.
Kobe started doing this last year, and it won his team a championship. He became one of the best passers out of the double-team in the league.
It seems to have been true last season, and now holds: Oden gets a double-double, Blazers win.
Travis, thanks for the link. I think we are seeing this young team grow up before our very eyes. First Roy steps up at practice, now Greg's barking during the games. I have to say, I think it's having these vets around.
When Miller first came in, Coach was calling him The Director because of how vocal he was on the court. It seems like everybody has now realized how important that is. Just saying things like, "We need to get a stop!" opens up lines of communication. Sure, nothing new being said in that statement, but it starts players talking and--most important for Greg--projecting.
The part of that article that really interested me was the scene Quick exposed when Greg was reading his scouting report out loud and Coach Nate said he couldn't hear him when they were in the same room, so how could the other players hear him when they were on the court? It hadn't struck me how important that was. If Oden sees a screen being set up to trip up a teammate, how could he warn them with that child-like soft voice that you hear in commercials? The young man has to project to be heard, and it seems like he did in OKC.
All in all, it looks like this team is waking up. I think there are still some rotation issues to hammer out, but the moment of crystallization is rapidly approaching. Let's hope it happens before Friday(SAS).
Hg, I don't know if you were talking to me, but I agree with you. That Denver game reminded me of our loss against the Clippers last season. Steve Blake was in the exact same situation, and is a much better free-throw shotter than Greg Oden (even though Greg himself is pretty damn good). Steve missed both, in a game where the Blazers were actually in the lead, but were unable to rise it, and the clippers put them in Overtime in which they won.
I do agree that Greg cares too much, and got nervous. I care a lot for the Blazers, and I think my posts show that, and I myself had my hands shaking and had to use the excuse that it was (cold). I was nervous as hell!! Greg has shown a lot to this team and it's fans and to the NBA that he cares. I don't think he needs to go up there and get angry about it, because it's the past. If anyone here thinks Steve Blake doesn't care or didn't care when he was in the same situation than sorry but you're a fool.
But onto tonight's game. I see a win tonight. It will be a good game though. The Hawks are a great team and are young. People say they are the Eastern Confrence Blazers.
Mike,
I was at this game. WHAT A MESS! I was so disappointed with the style of play the Blazers were using. I understand that it was the first back-to-back of the season but that is no excuse for lazy defense and a no hustle offense. Brandon Roy is an All-Star. That is not debatable. But when your team loses a big man, like they lost LaMarcus on Sunday, you need to step up and fill his shoes. Roy could score 30+ every night if he wanted to. But he doesn't. Why not? It would take away from the team aspect of the game but hey, if you are an All-Star, you are capable of taking over a game night in and night out.
That said, a win is a win. I was nervous in the third quarter when the Thunder stared converting every time down the court. Martell really stepped up for the Blazers and looks like that knee is fully healed and that he is excited to be back on the court. His defense has been solid and has made the absence of Batum not that big of deal. The season is young but I still am a little scared for our boys. Maybe the high expectations are getting to them, but whatever it is going on, I hope Nate can figure it out.
By the way, next trip to OKC in March, look for me Mike! I will try to get there early so we can have a quick chat before the game. Thanks for all the work you do man!
Herr:
My last post was to Travis the poster. Telling him I agreed with him and showed him the answer to your request about The Denver Nuggets.
I had a debate with Brain about the fact that I didn't think Greg should be mad at himself. He seems to think he should. It sounds like you agree with me. It was my opinion that Greg was nerves and choked up is why he missed.
I was just remembering that you had asked if Denver would continue to dominate and Travis and I think because they put the full load on
Mello" they will run out of gas or get an injury to Carmelo.
I know this is confusing. Travis is a pretty cool dude and I was just wanting his input.
We will win tonight against Atlanta.
hg
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