i disagree that he should just defend and rebound. he should be getting some offensive touches too. but him trying to punish guys to "make up" for anything just seems like something that ends poorly from trying too hard.
Doubt that. I really doubt Batum would have put up the points that Webster did, and I don't think he could have played any better defensivly. Webster did a frackin good job. Melo is just one bad ass player.
blazerbanter #Blazers' Oden: 'It was tough. I definitely stepped up there with confidence, thinking I was going to hit it ... I put this loss on me.'
He's getting offensive touches. Plays are being run for him. He's not doing much with them, to the detriment on the team. It's not like they are freezing the guy out. It's the dumb fouls, and the phantom fouls, that are inhibiting Oden right now.
Greg always takes responsibility, and takes it personally so I know he probably wont let it happen again. I thought he was going to hit the second, but knew he was going to miss the first because he rushed it and shot so quick.
Truth is, with 10 seconds remaining - I see two failures: 1. Nate ran the old "Roy-on-5" with Roy's only option to pass it down low to Oden. Rudy had come off an incredible 4th quarter. How about let another player win a game? Keep opponents guessing! 2. Oden should NOT have been on the court; a) he doesn't take the ball up strong - often getting the ball slapped out of his hands when he does so in a crowd; b) he's (currently) a defensive stopper - not an offensive threat; c) if he were to be fouled (as he was, barely) he hasn't taken but two or three shots all night - so how can one expect him to walk up calmly and nail two free throws? Oden too knows that he's a 63% FT shooter, no? Just wrong time to have Greg on the floor. He could have been put back into the game for defense - but he should not have been in the game for this posession.
With some tenacity - this game could have been a 24pt./10 rebound game for LMA. Instead, he stayed outside - threw up rainbows - and played with no aggression.
I disagree, it was fine leaving Oden in the game. He does live off offensive rebounds and could have won it for us with a tip in.
Agreed. If Oden can calm himself down when he gets the ball and now wind himself up looking to shoot it, he'll be successful. Right now, he looks nervous and too wound up when he touches the rock.
This is the classic arm-chair quarterback situation. If Nate goes to LMA or Rudy and they miss. Everyone on here is mad that we didn't go to our best player who has won us a handful of games in the last seconds over the past two season. If Nate goes to his best player at the end (which almost all coaches do), and Roy misses, he's an idiot for not going to someone else. I liked the idea of having Greg on the floor because he is by far our best offensive rebound and made the Nuggets keep their biggest defender glued to him and unable to help out.
Agreed. He was calm this preseason, but so far he's reverted back just a bit. I think you and I agree that once Greg gets more regular season success, he'll produce more. We can't force success down his throat, it will happen in time on its own.
It would be nice if more people would accept this fact instead of wanting to fire the coach for Oden's slow, yet consistent, progress.
I knew ESPN was going to do this. Quote from espn headline of our loss to the Nuggets lol, "Oden squanders Blazer's chance to top Nuggets." Looks like ESPN blames it on Oden. To make things clear I dont blame Oden for the loss but I am truly disappointed in him thus far.
He didn't want to shoot it at all tonight. There were multiple times where he would get the ball and all he had to do was go up with it and draw the foul. Instead, he would take the the ball and toss it out. Kind of like the last play of the game. He got the rebound, all he had to do was go back up with it and draw the foul. Instead he threw it out to Rudy. That is confidence. He don't have it right now. I knew just based of that possession that he would go to the line and miss the free throws. Right now he ain't right mentally and he lacks confidence.
It's funny though... if he goes strong and gets fouled, he probably still misses those free throws and we wonder why he didn't kick it out to wide-open Rudy. It's a no-win for him. I personally don't blame him for the loss; his were two misses among many, and not the last time we attempted to win or tie the game.
I blame him equally on the free throws as the rest of the team, but that's about the extent of blame on Greg for this game. I do blame his teammates for not helping him grab rebounds at the end of the game when he was blocking NeNe and trying to tip rebounds out to them, though. Different year, same problem.
