According to o-live, Blake is starting tonight, Sergio backing him up. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/01/blake_back_and_will_start_toni.html
It'll be interesting to see if Bayless can get some minutes. I hope this turns into a blowout for us so he can get a lot of burn late in the game. I'm glad that Blake's back. His outside shooting will be valuable.
Why play a guy if the shoulder is so sore he can't take a moderate bump even with padding? He didn't even want to shoot, between the soreness and the restriction. Very strange decision on Jensen's part.
I haven't been all that impressed with Blake. He's steady, safe and rarely makes a significant impact. GReat backup caliber PG, but never going to be the kind of guy who wins a title as a starter.
I find this post odd. 1) Blake has made significant impacts in many games (@ Sacramento, @ Phoenix, Boston, Phoenix, @ Chicago, Detroit) 2) Steady & Safe isn't all that bad when you have 3 starters named Roy, Aldridge, and Oden. We don't want a PG like Allen Iverson or Baron Davis who need the ball to make an impact. Ron Harper, Derek Fisher, Avery Johnson, and BJ Armstrong combined for almost every championship from 1991-2002. None of them were perennial all-stars, and none of them were all that great when they played for other teams.
Of all those guards you just listed, Ron Harper, Derek Fisher, and Avery Johnson, every one of them was better on both sides of the ball than Steve Blake, especially on the defensive side. The only one you listed there that wasn't, was Armstrong, who was a phenomel 3 point shooter beside Jordan. It just so happened Jordan made a lot of pheneomel 3 point shooters. We don't have Michael Jordan. Enough said.
What criteria are you going off of to come up with this conclusion? Ron Harper was a better defender, no doubt. During the second three-peat he average around 7.5ppg, 44FG%, 70FT%, 28-3pt%, 3apg, 1spg. Blake is as good or better in every category. Avery Johnson was a decent defender, but nothing to write home about. He average more assists, but couldn't hit a 3 to save his life, and was a sub 60%FT in the 98-99 championship. He had knock down shooters on both wings, and TWO hall-of-fame posts down low. Derek Fisher. Better defender, who takes a lot of risks. His best season with the Lakers during their championship run still barely matches the numbers Blake is putting up this season. Again, this was with Kobe Bryant and Shaq. If we expect Roy to be a HOF player, with Greg and LMA being All-Stars, I think there is plenty of proof that a player of his caliber can start on a championship team. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to improve our PG situation, but history has shown me that if we don't upgrade, we can still win it all with Blake.
Those guys actually put pressure on the defense, though, either posting up or getting to the rim. As Iverson has shown for years, shooting percentage isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to being difficult to defend.
