Yea, I think Miller did a good job tonight. Its just a combo of bad coaching and other players not stepping up.
Observations: Greg Oden 16 min. Joel Przybilla 19 min. 12 pts, 15 reb, 1 blk, 7 PFs combined. Amazingly enough, with having a C on the floor for 35 of 48 minutes, ATL outrebounded us 46-36. That probably didn't help. 6/21 3pt. Only 16 FTs. Andre Miller: 1-6, 11 ast. Blakey 2-10, 4ast. Blake and Miller played 55 combined minutes. Our two "pure" PGs played at least 7 minutes out of position at the 2. While shooting 3-16--so it's not even like they were hot and forced Nate to play them. LMA was bringing it at times tonight, and ended up 20/14.
well i wasn't exclusively talking about this game, but yes, andre miller played bad tonight even if his numbers look nice after the game. he blew two fairly important fast breaks(which both led to instant hawks points going the other way), bricked a few jumpers he had no business taking, and didn't do anything of note defensively. did you not see those things?
This is how to be Andre Miller in the 4th quarter tonight: Step 1 - Bring it up the court Step 2 - Look for Roy Step 3 - If Roy is not open, drive the lane Step 4 - Miss the layup Step 5 - Glare at Violet Palmer while Atlanta gets yet another fast break dunk I was there. Those boos at the 6:00 mark? They were for Miller.
Oh yes they were. Maybe not in your section, but in my section, the boos were different than the normal "refs suck" boos.
It's a shame McMillan is wasting Miller's time here. If Miller is upset and voices it I won't blame him. It's fucking laughable he isn't starting. Steve Blake? STEVE BLAKE? STEVE FUCKING BLAKE?
Who was it for then? Other than Atlanta for wiping the floor with us for 6 straight points yet again?
Another observation: Greg has had exactly 5 fouls in all but one game (he had 4) so far this season. LET HIM FOUL OUT! LET HIM PLAY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAVING HIM FOR?
Not to defend Nate, because I'm starting to join Soda's bandwagon... but if he's pick up fouls like they're going out of style, why give the opponent one more opportunity to get 2 free throws at our expense? If he's got 5 and is out there, they're just going to go after his sixth anyway the next time down the floor.
They deserved it, for sure. One of Miller's disasterous drives came right then, so I figured it had to be directed at him... at least (for shame) I was booing him.
Why? Because the two free throws he gives up will be at the cost of 2 baskets he saves before committing that foul. Taking him out everytime he picks up a foul leaves him (and the team, because no one else plays defense) without any sort of rythym.
you booed him for attempting a layup and getting blocked? WTF? Guess he should stay back and launch threes.
Yes! Yes I did! Because it wasn't the first time he'd done that in the last five minutes. If he'd at least tried to dump it or dish it, I'd have been more sympathetic. But he drove it in there expecting a foul when he hadn't gotten one the previous times he tried it. What's that in the Nate thread about insanity? I want Miller to succeed here. I think he could be an answer for us at PG. I lauded his arrival. But in that sequence when ATL scored six straight, he was trying to get the ball to Roy once per play, then driving and getting blocked. It was Jarrett Jack all over again.
This only makes sense if you consider Oden a net negative on the floor...that his fouls hurt the team more than his defense, rebounding and occasional offense help the team. If you feel that way, then you should be advocating keeping him on the bench as much as possible throughout the entire game. If you don't feel that way, then your point really isn't logical IMO.
In the sequence where they scored 6 straight, that was his only attempt. But boo his dumb ass for trying to be aggressive. What an idiot. I want Blake in there shying away from the lane. Yes, continue to boo. Brilliant.
It's not black and white like that, though. Between fouls 1 and 4, I agree that he's a net positive. When he picks up foul 5, the assumption is that a decently intelligent team would attempt to get foul #6 on him immediately. If he shies away from the contact to avoid it, all the better. An overly cautious Oden is less likely to be there for rebounds and blocked shots. And with his penchant for getting offensive fouls, he generally won't be a focus on offense after Foul 5, either. It's a win-win for the opponent.
