Ok, before you all think this is just going to be a rip on McMillan, relax for a second. Is it possible that these last two games have been due to coaching not getting the team "up" for the games? I mean, aren't the coaches supposed to motivate? I know that can only do so much and most of the motivating is on the players, but it almost seems as if there have been no real adjustments to the Blazers gameplan since game 1. That has got to be on the coaches. How was this team not ready to play, AT HOME? I think with it being a group effort of being that bad that something has to fall on the coaches. Or is that just me?
Doc Rivers said it last week... If players can't get up for a playoff game on their own, he has no chance of motivating them. I have to agree. I don't know what Nate would need to do to motivate guys when they set into the Rose Garden and it's electric. Kenny Vance and Jay Allen are talking about Nate pleading with the guys during timeouts to bring the energy and want it more than them. If the players have tuned Nate out, that's a problem for the players and for Nate, but I'm not buying that.
Over the last two games, Richardson and Hill have made 38 of 51 shots... that's 74.5% They've scored 99 of Phoenix's 227 points. These are anomalous figures. Like, seriously crazy shooting. Part of it is that we lose Richardson in the corners when the zone collapses. Part of it is that they're having career stretches. This is both a perfect storm of "holy fuck random" chance and exploiting some embarrassing defense.
Even then, it's not a matter of "tuning Nate out" since Nate's not supposed to matter at this point anyway, right? They're seeing shot after shot go in, and they're demoralized. The Suns are making it look effortless, and it'll only be worse when they get crushed next series after Richardson cools off.
First, let me say your avatar sucks. Your post, however, is dead on. The coaching staff is not blameless.
Two words. Hard fouls. Not dirty. Hard. The Suns are playing fucking HORSE out there. You have to let them know they might take one in the face. Make them think about it.
Nate's supposedly an excellent defensive coach. Other teams role players and no-name guys continue to have a field day against us. The players are fine. This coaching staff is not extracting the most from them.
With Camby, we were one of (if not the best) defensive team in the league. Phoenix is one of the best offensive teams in the league. We've held them under the average in 2 of the 3 games. I think our offense is a bigger problem, especially because missed shots lead to easier baskets for the Suns. What suggestions do you have so we could extract the most from our team?
Camby has been an excellent pick-up. We do have some good defensive players (Batum), it's more the match-ups Nate uses and also his schemes. I'm no coach by any standard, but watching other teams play, they make their sets , both offensively and defensively, look a lot more effective and natural than the Blazers do at most times. Our guys look lost and don't play instinctively. I think that's a product of the coaching. I think Nate is a little too rigid in his game planning and needs to really be able to make adjustments on the fly. That doesn't seem to be one of his strengths.
Offensively, I can see how you would think this team doesn't look natural. Defensively, I think we're one of the best (when semi-healthy). Phoenix's style and especially Steve Nash will put any defense on their toes. I don't see our players playing without instinct at all, so I can't really comment on that. I'm not sure if Nate doesn't attempt to make adjustments on the fly or the players are unable to adapt to the adjustment. Jay Allen listens into the huddle and claims Nate is constantly trying to shake things up. In our last TNT game in the regular season Nate was getting tons of praise by the national guys about his ability to communicate with his team. What
Nate is lucky to have a former DPOY in Camby and another great defensive player in Batum. Add the veteran presence of Howard and it's easy to see that we have the tools to be effective on defense. Our defense improved dramatically with the addition of Camby. Nate is an excellent communicator, but, for me the sporadic displays of great defense are down to talent that's been added, not great coaching. I just don't think Nate get's the most out of his players.
I TOTALLY blame Nate for not having the team ready to play. He had them ready to play at the top of the second half but not at the top of the game. Another BLOWOUT for the first home playoff game??? REALLY? Nothing learned from last season??? ALSO- Coach Rudy!!! Either A) Run him off screens and FORCE him to shoot or B) DONT PLAY HIM AT ALL Those three threes he hit in the 4th quarter? That's what we should be doing at the top of the game. Or don't play him.
Nate had the first 4 plays of the game called for pick and rolls to be Rudy and LA. He can't help it that neither made a shot and that both picked up 2 fouls in 4 minutes.
True that. Rudy missed one. Completely turned down another (made no sense). And drove to the hoop on another but passed out instead of finishing. Pissed me off. What the fuck?? Is this gonna happen again on Saturday?
Nate has been out coached in this series, thier is no debating that.... but players have to want to shoot, the problem is the 2 (Aldridge & Fernandez) of the 3 best players are passing up shots...and keep whining that "they don't want to force shots"...while the other Miller is being doubled almost every time he touches the ball... Was I the only one who kept wondering WHY Aldridge kept WAITING for the double team to arrive? Does he not realize the HE is the team's best offensive option? That HE is being relied on to provide a bulk of the offense EVERY SINGLE GAME? WTF? Same goes for Rudy passing up shots, uh Rudy the team NEEDS you to score . Where are POR adjustments? PHX makes two samll adjustments and POR cannot respnd? At all?????? It's not all Nate, but he surely shouldn't escape criticism IMO.
I do believe it was the coaching. Here is what I noticed during the game: 1. Players were hesitant to shoot. Kind of like somebody had got into their head about making the extra pass and they were all thinking about it too much. 2. Nobody was attacking the rim. Does Phoenix have any shot blockers to fear? A 2 blocked shots a game player is nothing to fear in the nba. Nobody was going to the rim. Nobody was attacking the paint. Pretty much the whole team made Charles Barkley's statment about it being a bunch of jump shooters, completely true. Portland needs to get to the line to get the game stops to disrupt PHX game. 3. Once again, Jason Richardson is not forced to defend somebody and once again he goes off on the team. I talked about thisclear back when the season started. The key is Richardson. You have to make him defend somebody in order to take his offensive game away from him. Nobody in the coaching staff seems to have realized that, nor have any of the players.
Right now, we're just overmatched. We've lost too many players and are just being overwhelmed. It doesn't help that none of our shooters has any confidence. It happens. It sucks, but it happens.
Which is exactly why they should have been attacking the rim. You don't make a jump shooting game plan when you don't have anybody that can hit jumpers. You don't shoot jumpers against a team that has no shot blocking on the inside. All of those things are things that the coaching staff could have impressed upon the team to make the game competitive instead of the ass kicking it was.
