One of the best things about last night's game was that Andre Miller was the best point guard on the floor--outplaying the genius Steve Nash on his own court. Miller had 31 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. He shot 10-17 from the floor, and 10-10 from the free-throw line. Nash had 25 points, 9 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. He shot 10-18 from the floor, and 2-2 from the free--throw line. I can't believe we wanted Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Milsap more than this guy. Just goes to show you what Pritchard knows!!!
You got that right. I have to pinch myself everytime I see Miller play lately. He fits this team perfectly, and I'm thrilled that we have him. He is MUCH better than I realized.
It was fun to watch, but on the subject of Hedo and Milsap, I think Milsap would have been a great addition ... and could have been a true coup if KP had landed him and then turned around and worked a sign and trade for Miller.
Yup. As much as I liked and respected Miller, I was absolutely on board with Milsap being the higher priority. Milsap is big, productive, good defensively and young...he would have been a great add. But I am glad at how things turned out. To me, the only discordant note last summer was Turkoglu. I was against him being targeted from the start and somehow he's managed to fall short of even my meager expectation for him.
Miller has been a workhorse all season. I don't know where we'd have ended up without him. Much to the chagrin of a few skeptics on this forum, Miller has turned out to be exactly the player we needed this season.
Miller is one of the best I've ever seen at getting to the rim. "Crafty" doesn't even begin to describe his slippery, darting moves. The guy is amazing. And once he gets to the rim, he almost always scores, unlike say, uh, Martell Webster.
He really IS one of the best finishers I've ever seen. Such a stark contrast to someone like Damon Stoudamire, who couldn't finish at the rim to save his life. Sometimes I can't believe the layups he is able to get in.
It's baffling - some of the drives he scores on I think he's getting in too deep, and then miraculously the ball find it's way through three sets of defender arms and into the hoop.
Of course, he does get stuffed a fair number of times, but I think one of his great strengths is that he NEVER lets that phase him. Do I recall correctly that Miller used to be quite a Blazer killer back in his pre-Portland days?
Miller is the best PG finisher at the rim this team has had since Rod Strickland. He's really playing well and keeping the petulance at a minimum. Let's hope it continues.
A couple of days back Miller was talking about how he felt he was slighted when they talked about the best point guards in the league, how he was always left out of the conversation. I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Nash takes the full brunt of that.
Indeed; Think of how porous our defense was against driving guards last year, and how bad Blake was against larger guards. Add Andre "drive the lane or post up wimpy guards" Miller. Stir. Serve cold.
aside from his scoring and assist, he also earns several extra possessions every game. He gets a couple very important rebounds a game, steals, and draws fouls on broken plays. Those extra possessions are the key to a slow down style of game.
This guy changed his entire game for McDillon's system too. Funny that McDillon will get all of the credit for this run too, when most of it should go to Miller and Camby.
