LaMarcus. Aldridge. http://www.basketball-reference.com...=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=date_game Since 2008-2009, LMA is 14-5 against the Spurs.
Interesting to see how poorly he's rebounded in all those games. Also, Lillard averages 26ppg/6.6assists/61%TS over his career against the Spurs. This series will see the roles kind of reverse from the last series. We've become the Rockets, and the Spurs have become us. Portland is coming into this with the two best players who are just dominating at their positions, and it's the Spurs who are the smarter, more cohesive team. One very interesting point will be whether Lillard gets superstar treatment when he goes into the middle. The refs know his star is rising--his game winner was the highlight of the playoffs so far, his shoe contract, the whole Rockets series, the All-Star blitz--and the NBA probably isn't terribly interested in seeing the Spurs yet again in the WCF. You have to go back a long, long time (Drexler? maybe Pippen/Jazz?) to find a series where we are much more likely than our opponent to get the superstar calls. Lillard averages a little over 5 FTA's/game over his career against the Spurs, but he averaged 8 FTA's in the first round. I'll be very interested to see how that plays out in game one of this series. As a Blazer fan who has always considered superstar calls to be blatant cheating, I'm very eager for my team to finally benefit from the cheating.
That may be because SA plays him one on one and will even let him get deep into the paint where he has a very high percentage shot and on the other end Duncan pulls him away from the paint to spread the floor more. I saw a funny tweet that sums up how I feel about Lillard this round Ethan Strauss @SherwoodStrauss 11h I'm selling all my Lillard stock (there's a bubble) and buying it back up after he's guarded by Danny Green for a series
Same thing everyone said about Beverley and we saw how that went. Not to mention, Green is a good defender fundamentally, but isn't the most athletic guy out there. I don't think we'll notice much of a difference, honestly.
Putting green on lillard makes me think lillard will do a lot more catch and shoot and a ton more drives. Id rather have green on lillard then Beverly Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
To me, I think back to 1999. The Spurs just outquicked Sabonis down the floor. If you have that done too you every other day, it will exhaust you. Aldridge and RoLo should be sprinting down the floor. The Blazers are hot right now. They are 13-3 in their last 16 games, with 8 of those wins against playoff teams. Red Hot and Rolling. I respect the Spurs, but they can be beaten. I think the Blazers match up pretty well. They are now coming off of a series win. They are still hungry. It should be one hell of a series.
You have literally doubted this team every step of the way this season, so I'm glad I don't have your "common sense."
Just to add....Derrick Rose during his really nice playoff run a few years back averaged 8 FTA's in that run too. Lillard and Aldridge are both in the top 10 in FTA's in the playoffs. Nobody on the Spurs team is better than 15th (although to be fair nobody logs nearly the minutes our guys do.) Be prepared for Spurs fans to get really fed up with the refs in this series. Especially after finishing off Dallas, where the highest guy was 28th. lol It will be really unfamiliar territory for us Blazers fans to be the beneficiaries of these kind of calls.
We've done so well against SA over the last few years. I think we actually have an even chance to win this series. And the Charlotte Bobcats draft pick just keeps getting worse and worse....
I respect them. I think they're a good team, but I don't fear them. I think we have a really good chance against them.
that makes little sense, respect them yes but "fear" them in the sense we have little chance to bet them no and ehll no. Where's your commmon sense? are you not watchin how well Portland is playing and are you actually a Blazer fan?
Also, the Spurs were second to last in the entire league in free throw attempts during the regular season. Lopez should really be able to play his game without worrying about fouling out against Duncan. Meanwhile, I tend to agree that Pop will switch Duncan onto Aldridge for much of the night. It's also going to be interesting to see if Pop can keep playing Duncan 35mpg. That was a long 7 game series he just played, and he didn't get much time off to recuperate. Timmy is 37 years old, and it's going to be a hell of a workout either guarding Aldridge or boxing out Lopez over the series. This series may feel a little like that '99 one where we finally retired the Jazz from contention by just being younger, stronger and hungrier. Or at least I hope it will.
Some posters constantly questioning my fandom because I look at things from a more balanced view point than them is trollish, and adds nothing but contempt to a great forum.
Dude, I think you have a convoluted view of what is balanced. You are about 85-90% negative. That's not being balanced. I try to be about 50% negative and 50% positive. I get a lot of flack for my opinions on Mo and Wright, but I also post a lot of positive shit. You hardly ever post positive stuff. I mean, seriously man, you hardly EVER post positive things.
