I'm glad we won, but my God, that game was a letdown. Oden had a nice defensive game, but he still looks like a work in progress. Roy is still struggling mightily with his shooting. Aldridge looked like he barely cared. And we could barely hang on and beat a Rockets team without McGrady or Yao. Yikes. We better get our act together fast. Sigh.
A win is a win, anyone who is let down by a W has some pretty f'ed up expectations in my mind. Yes, the Blazers have things to work on to become "perfect", but that's what they pay Nate and his staff the big bucks to worry about.
I thought there were a lot of great things going on. Travis looked good and so did Webster. When we went uptempo, we dominated them. When they were allowed to ugly up the game, we got frustrated. Aldridge got taken out of the game with foul trouble. We're still trying to integrate the new pieces. We let up at the end of the game and the game got tighter. That being said, we were never threatened. I'm not worried, nor do I think it was a letdown.
A win is a win, but some wins are "stinkers." This game was a case in point. 25 turnovers against a team without its 2 star players??? Abysmal shooting by Brandon Roy?? A total lack of offense from Oden?? I wasn't expecting a perfect game tonight, but this team should have looked a lot sharper than it did.
Houston is just a team that frustrates us. The talent level doesn't matter. For example, we have been markedly worse than the L*kers (before last year) on a talent level, but we matched up well with them and had success against them even when we were getting badly beaten by much worse teams. Dallas is another one that really fucks with us.
To be fair a Nate McMillan coached team hasn't looked sharp on opening night for the past three seasons.
We better get things together in a hurry - the playoffs start in 6 months! It was a comfortable win, nothing more, nothing less.
The game was actually about what I expected. Well, I did think Oden would do more on the offensive side. They are still working it all out.
I don't think the problem with Oden's offense is with Oden. I don't think they're putting him in a position to succeed.
Yep. Hardly broke a sweat. Only Roy played extended minutes. Portland's gonna to be a handful for most of the teams in this league.
Yeah, I don't think the outcome was ever in question once we went up 20. There's still a feeling-out process when the first and second units are mixed together, especially Andre and Brandon, but there isn't any cause for concern at all right now after the first game.
It's funny to me how often people mention how they want those "Defense and Rebounding" guys... but how frustrating they can be to fans who also want a 20/10 monster. Oden has a long way to come offensively (he can start by not rushing things...), but he dominated the paint and was excellent tonight in two of the most important facets for winning.
I'll be honest - I was a little bummed about how ugly we looked despite the win. However, we didn't win many ugly games last year. How many games did we win last year with Roy going 5-18 with and with 25 t/o's? Last year we usually found a way to lose a game like we played tonight. At least we won. Dallas came out tonight and layed a stinker at home . . . and they LOST by 11 to the Wizards. Things that stood out to me. Oden. I can't decide if he played good or bad. 12 boards and 5 blocks is fantastic. but 7 t/o's? Come on Greg - protect the ball. Nobody should criticize the Blazers for not going to him. Every time he touched it - we were going the other way. He looked like he wanted it so badly and I love that. Sometimes last year I thought he'd rather be somewhere else. Jury is still out on his offense though. I don't think we can count on double figures from him just yet. Webster. That back door flush was beautiful, he it his 3's, and his defense was solid. And he grabbed a few boards in traffic too. Maybe the best all around game I've seen him play.
I think it's a combination. He didn't make the most of the times he touched the ball, but it's REMARKABLE how few times he touched it on the offensive end overall. The team won and I know Oden will be better in the future, even if they don't give him the ball as much as many of us would like. Ed O.
Why should they look a lot sharper? This is such typical first game for a team with so many new moving parts. The first month of the season most teams look uneven and imperfect -- even the really good ones; if they are still this disjointed and out of sync come mid December then I can see being concerned and worried. All in all, we beat a team that has given us matchup nightmares for years because of the way they ugly up the game and we got the W. Take it and run as far as I'm concerned.
I agree with this. While I think Oden can and will develop a reliable back-to-the-basket game, I think the team would be better served playing to his strengths: getting him the ball in motion, where he can make better use of his athleticism. Pick and rolls, passes off of cuts, alley-oops. Things of that nature. Get him some confidence and rhythm putting the ball in the hoop with strong, decisive moves. Right now, the team doesn't need the offense to center around Oden and he isn't ready for that. He should just be one more weapon...not a "dump it down into Oden and play off him" scheme but "put the ball in Miller's or Roy's hands, let them create and let them set up some opportunities for Oden."
I never criticize Nate, but when I watched the pace of the Rockets I couldn't help but wonder how the Blazers would look if coached by Adelman.
