While half our fanbase was busy loading up their fallout shelters, I was looking at our adjustments we had to make. I liked that Nate was talking it out with the team, many coaches in the league will simply up the tempo of practices and become a hardass, but we chose the thinking man's route. The two main adjustments, if I remember correctly, were to get Roy doing what Roy does best, and to loosen Greg's reigns a bit. Well hell, look what happened tonight? Roy getting to the line at will, and Greg absolutely dominating. I, for one, think we're off to a good start. no but srsly roy is a bitch, kp needs to be fired and both of our pgs should be shot out of a cannon
I think the story of the night was GO and LMA. With some sprinkles of Roy doing his job (not spectacular) and DC making an appearance when needed.
Credit to Nate for letting Oden and Aldridge continue to play with fouls. At some point they will have to learn how to play with fouls. The story of the game was Roy was controlling tempo, scoring 18 with 7 assists. Aldridge and Oden both playing great in spite of the fouls. 24 points each, +10 boards each, and dominating the paint. This is the big 3 we all envisioned when Oden was drafted. Sick!
no you are missing the biggest thing of the night.... DUANTE CUNNINGHAM played instead of Howard. he seems like he has a high b-ball IQ. He also isn't 50. If Howard plays I gurantee we blow that lead.
It's just real nice to see that our Big 3 can play together and have good nights in the same game.. and when it happens, we win easily.
If our big three could play that well every night, we could have Howard start at point guard and we'd still win. Most everyone played a great game that was a blast to watch.
Also, did anyone see Oden nearly kick the bottom of the backboard on his dunk after receiving a pass from Aldridge? Dude would be scary to be in front of after one of those.
I like having Miller on the second unit. His ability to get to the hoop and draw fouls. His deft passing late in the clock. Without Travis we need his crafty scoring ability off the bench. And Blake's 3 ball is the right compliment to Roy and our bigs in the starting unit.
Oh I'm definitely not saying that our point guards weren't vital for the win tonight, I'm just really excited to see our top three players do so well on the same night.
Actually, it's pretty immaterial to me who "starts," because the entire starting unit never gets subbed out en masse for the entire second string. "Starting," while it's a respect issue for many players, has no major impact on the game. What matters is who plays more minutes, and I've been imprecisely using "starter" as a proxy for "play the most minutes." I continue to hope that Miller plays significantly more minutes than Blake.
this is completely true. i didn't get to see the game tonight(watching vince beat the texans and texas basketball instead), but the minutes were distributed pretty close to exactly how i'd like them to be for the blazers. the only real difference being that i'd like for rudy to get 6-8 of blake's minutes.
Biggest thing? Hmmm ... A good thing? I agree. Dante brings quite a bit more to the table as a rotation player than Howard and he actually moves around well enough on D and can actually shoot so it gives the guards (like Miller) more targets when they drive the lane. The Howard/Przy tandem in the frontcourt wasn't working; the offense would just die on the vine.
what I posted yesterday (in the "meltdown" thread): How to stop the melt-down: New starting lineup; Nate changes rotation patterns/methods/rules; Trade to acquire back-up PF; Sign Joel to an extension; off-season focus upon the "right" PG to play alongside Roy. I am one that feels our SF situation will take care of itself (we're with a big problem NOW, because Batum and Outlaw are injured and Webster needs to be starting)__________________ Nate played with a new starting lineup! Nate let Oden play through his fouls! Nate's player rotations was pretty good tonight! The Blazers are a unique team: one of the few teams that actually excell when 9-10 players play. It was true last year and I see it again this year. Joel is the NBA's #1 back-up Center! Sign him now to an extension! We held up fine at SF - and Cunningham needs consitent minutes. He doesn't get burned, plays smart, and has a nice shot! Played some decent defense too! While some dream of what a star SF might look like with this team - I still am with the belief that a back-up PF is our ticket to advancing deep into the playoffs. And I'd trade Blake and Bayless + pick to get Hinrich. Blake and Hinrich are the sort of PG that plays well with Roy. And Hinrich would be an upgrad over Blake/Bayless. Hinrich / Miller Roy / Rudy Webster / Cunningham/ (Batum) Aldridge / (Vet banger) / Pendergraph in the Spring / Howard for now (Outlaw when and if he's back) Oden / Pryz this might get us deep into the playoffs: I'm keeping my eye out for a Vet banger to be added by the trade deadline!
Nate has always been able to adjust; that is one of his strengths. But he also has good ideas as far as how he views the team playing to it's potential; and he has the strength to stick with his ideas as long as they seem to have a chance at succeeding. Also I wanted to say something about the point guard controversy; I think a simple way to look at is realize Roy and Miller are our best point guards and you want one of your best point guards on the court at all times. So there is going to be 15-20 minutes a night when they are not on the court together, and it's not really important when those minutes are.
Yep. Although Blake sucks, if you start him you don't have to live with him failing to create for the second unit. Hide him in plain sight. The team's success seems to show that we need at SF some form of athletic warm body ranging between 6'6 and 6'8. Webster qualifies, but he's not exactly blowing away expectations there. Ime Udoka sucked, but I now wish we'd signed him over Mills. Webster is pretty mediocre, but if he gets injured there's nothing else there.
