During the last two games, Oden has been given little playing time and really hasn't been in bad foul trouble. Is he hitting the rookie wall or is Nate just not going with him inside? He had one of his best games of the season against the Bulls and then gets nothing the next two. What gives? I didn't get to see the first halves of the last two games, so I'm wondering what everyone else saw.
Um... we gave the ball to Oden, he backed Lopez in and scored easily. Then, on the other end, he blocked Lopez. Lopez started stepping out for open jumpers while Oden tried to protect the basket from a driving Devin Harris. Lopez made a couple. Oden got yanked. Played a little at the top of the second half and that was it. Was never given a chance to really play. Yes, he played 12-13 minutes, but they were in two short stints where he never had a chance to get comfortable. Look at Bayless tonight. Tonight was the FIRST game all season where Bayless KNEW he would get big minutes. So he relaxed and dominated. Greg would do the same thing if we showed him some confidence, left him in the game, and gave him the damn ball.
Because Oden is barely ready for a team that has even a decent option at center? Brook Lopez kicked Oden's ass tonight. I am sure this won't be the case in the future, but Przy at least showed an eagerness to rebound. Oden can't even do that the past two games. Get some fire, Greg. Or is you are seriously injured, shut it down again.
To summarize, Joel was the much better option tonight if the team actually wanted to win the game. Ball don't lie...
No, I can't watch the games due the craptastic TV deal. I even went to eat at a place, and they couldn't get the game because Comcast wanted to charge them $100k to install cable instead of DirecTV. So, since I didn't get to watch it, why don't you illuminate Oden's performance tonight. Maybe I missed something in his 13 minutes, 2 points, 1 reb, 1 block, and 2 fouls. EDIT - just saw the ESPN highlights, and Lopez pump-faked Oden into the air, scored, and converted a 3 point play. That was it other than ESPN clowning Oden (undeservedly) in their intro to the game.
Oden scored pretty easy on Lopez? When, one time? Are you content with Oden's performance the past two games, considering what he has showed in other games this season? Is it wrong to wonder if something is wrong with him?
oden scored easily that one time and the 2-3 other times oden got the ball in the post lopez fouled him. other than that, he didn't get the ball even when he had position. i only saw part of the game last night and everyone looked terrible. tonight, i thought oden had the potential to dominate the interior if he had been given the chances and minutes, but he did a bad job defending the pick and roll and left lopez wide open a few times. it's hard to say what would have happened had he played more minutes.
At the beginning of the game, we gave Oden the ball, he backed Lopez all the way into under the basket and then layed it in right over him. It was part of a 7-0 run to start the game in which LMA hit a turnaround shot and Roy hit a jump shot And 1. During the Philly game, Roy was very passive early on and it cost us the game and he knew it. So tonight, he got very aggressive with his own offense (effectively) and so we didn't keep going to Greg who, I'm sure would've been able to continue scoring on Lopez or draw fouls. But Roy took over. Oden picked up a 2nd foul which SHOULD mean that you sit out the rest of the first quarter, but for some reason, Nate held him out the rest of the half. Then Oden played a little at the top of the second half but we didn't give him the ball.
FURTHERMORE, the only reason Oden had a good game against Chicago was because we DID forcefeed him. But WHY did we do THAT? Because Roy was missing every shot he took. If Roy had been on, we probably would've never gone to Oden.
His stats are terrible tonight regardless of what he had the "potential" to do. I was hoping for more than your opinion to show me why he isn't a concern at this point. It's maddening to me how the guy can look like a future star in one game and then disappear for the next two. I can understand the scoring, but the rebounding? Oden should trip into at least 2 rebounds per 8 minutes.
On that, you are right. When a shot is missed, he does often touch the ball but he doesn't always GRAB it.
oden would have dominated the inside had he been given the ball. i guess potential was a bad word to use there. he scored easily over lopez and the only way lopez stopped him was by fouling. i wouldn't be too worried about the rebounds. it's not like the nets bigs were abusing him and dominating the glass. portland outrebounded the nets(and i'm pretty sure they outrebounded the nets specifically in the minutes oden was in the game as well). i don't see any reason to be concerned about oden. he needs to work on defending the pick and roll, i'd like to see him given a little more freedom playing through foul trouble, and they should go to him in the post a little more especially when it's working. other than that, he'll be fine.
I would say that if you don't watch the game, then you really can't say much about the game. That said, Oden did not bring it on defense so Nate sat him. I think that when Oden gets a few touches on the offensive end it helps his defensive intensity. They didn't give him the ball tonight. When they did, he was triple teamed and fouled immediately, save for the one play where backed Lopez down and scored on him. It would have been nice for Portland to pass him the ball more and try to get Lopez out of the game. Oden is currently not very good at defending the high post. It will come as his explosiveness returns, but for now that is the way it is. In Oden's defense, Joel didn't do a whole lot better. Lopez has a really nice touch from 10 to 12 feet out. As far as rebounds go, a lot of the time Oden was in when Portland missed it was off of a 22' jumper. Since Oden was near the basket he really didn't have much chance to get those rebounds. That's why Roy had so many in the game as opposed to Oden. Joel, on the other hand, was in with Bayless a great deal. Portland didn't take as many bad long range shots, so rebounds were easier to get around the hoop. Oden's play in the game tonight is the result of several factors. One, he is still recovering from surgery and will be for the next year. Two, he doesn't quite get a lot of what Nate wants him to do in the team defense. When he is one on one he is fine. Three, he rarely gets the ball passed to him. The Nets fronted him like mad and Portland was unable/unwilling to pass the ball over the top. When they tried to make that pass they did it too low and the ball was stolen or deflected. After the second time that happened, they simply stopped trying. Four, when Oden got the ball he was immediately fouled, so he didn't even get into a shooting motion. The fact that the Nets triple teamed a rookie and fouled him whenever he touched the ball tells me they were very concerned about stopping him. Which in turn tells me that other coaches in the league fear what Oden could do. That is reason to believe he will be fine. Lopez, on the other hand, never got more the single coverage. Portland would have loved for him to take a ton of shots, since every shot he took was one Harris didn't take. Portland not only didn't fear Lopez, they encouraged him to shoot. That makes a big, big difference in statistics at the end of the night. And fuck Sports Center. They took their entire opinion of the game from 5 15 second clips. Their opinion is therefore worthless.
He was given the ball last night against Dalambert and couldn't finish. I'm not concerned, I am commenting on his D-League performance the past 2 games after a solid game in Chicago.
Couldn't finish? He had 3 shots. D-League performance? You didn't see the fucking game. How do you have any credibility to talk on the game?
