As of right now, we are 1st in the league in points allowed (88.1) and opponents' field goal percentage (41.2) I have not heard much about this on here. It seems this is the reason why we are pulling out W's in spite of our struggling offense. That is a pretty amazing accomplishment for such a young team. This is the type of trait in my opinion that will continue to help us win games.
I was just thinking that from the sounds of things around here, NOTHING is going right on this team and we aren't doing this and that. Well we are 9-4 and like I said before about to be 11-4. Maybe we should look at some of these games where we are definitely struggling on the offensive end and see that if we weren't kicking so much ass on the defensive end we might be 4-9. Could you imagine the meltdown if that were the case?
Dude if it was 4-9 I wouldn't be able to come around here. It gets bad enough around here as it is, man, even if they were just 7-6 it would be horrible. 13-0 wouldn't be good enough.
I expect a perfect record with greater than 20 point win differentials every night. Anything less is unacceptable.
The points allowed can be skewed because of pace, so the stat I love is the 41.2 opponents' field goal percentage. I think our tandem of G.O./Joel are a big part of it, and we're doing it without our best perimeter defender with Nicolas. We'd be even better I think with Batum, and not having to go small in the starting lineup. Tough luck to have these bad injuries.
Against Detroit there was a play where Gordon shrugged off Blake on a pick and is suddenly covered by Aldridge. There's about 10 seconds left on the clock. Gordon probes a little, then makes a nifty dribble "around" Aldridge to about 15 feet out along the baseline, and suddenly realizes that even if he manages to get completely past LA (not easy), Greg Oden is just salivating there for a block under the basket. So he backs out, Aldridge follows him, and by then there's only 2 seconds left so he jacks up some ridiculously ugly three point attempt over Aldridge's outstretched arms. The shot barely grazes the rim for an easy Oden rebound. What really stood out to me in that play was that split second of hesitation Gordon had on the baseline. His body language seemed to say, "Man, I'm fucked." And he was. We've got a seriously badass defensive PF/C combination. You can get away with a lot of defensive mediocrity among the rest of your players if you have that.
Stop complaining about those who are complaining about the complainers. You are bogging this forum down with your complaint about complaint complaint.
Not exactly the same, but............ [video=youtube;MhBM7H-ggvY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhBM7H-ggvY[/video]
Back on Topic. HCP has a great point. Defense is what will put us over the top. I'm okay with the lackluster offense in the early season, but the defense has been extremely good. Oden ane Prz are huge influences.
Hollinger has the Blazers at #2 for defensive effenciency for those discrediting for the slow pace Nate favors. Also of note, Detroit and Charlotte are the only teams with a slower pace. #11 in offensive rebounding rate #8 defensive rebounding rate #21 in turnover ratio #3 total rebounding rate #18 effective field goal rate #11 true field goal percentage http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/holl...teamstats?sort=offeff&seasonType=2&league=nba
