Your Portland Trail Blazers vs. Golden State Warriors Game Thread

Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A few beers, leftover pizza, and a Blazers win.

 

Nice game but whats up with Oden taking Roy's foul calls in the first half?

 

Refs hate Oden.

 

Funny how that international dateline thingy works

 

BTW, the much maligned Mr Outlaw was actually sighted playing some decent defense tonight.

 

The headband suits him. Nate won't let him wear it long term though.

 

I'm so happy with how Aldridge has been playing. The way he opened the season, it was an open question whether he'd end up joining Roy as a star player. But now he's starting to show that he may end up taking a big step forward this year after all.

The future prospects of a Roy, Aldridge, Oden, Bayless, Batum, Fernandez core are tantalizing. They all either look great or are showing huge promise.

 

Best photo shot of the night was Rudy looking at Roy after the alley oop....pointing to Roy's hammy, throwing up his hands and laughing like "was it really ever hurt? Giving him that smirk.

 

I noted tonight that both Frye, and Diogu did not play. It might have been the matchups, but I am wondering if Nate has just decided to go with Outlaw at PF. Outlaw has looked more comfortable the last couple of games, and I wonder if it is how Nate is using him.

PG defense tonight was horrible, again. Our PG get rubbed off of screens like a deer being hit by an 18 wheeler doing 75 miles per hour.

 

And yet, Sergio and Steve had 3 steals each while the entire Warriors team had 5.

I thought both teams showed moments of brilliance and moments where they got faked out of their socks.

That's entertainment!

 

Yes, Nate noted yesterday that was exactly what he was going to do with Travis.

As far as horrble D by the PG....really? There was such little penetration by anyone but maggette i did not notice that. Watson and Crawford shot mostly long contested shots.

Azubuike is a fucking player! He can play. And Maggette looks great in Nellies offense.

 

That was a fun game... a buddy of mine got me some good seats, it was pretty loud in the RG!

Things I noticed:

Golden State is an absolutely terrible team. There were times where they looked like the Corey Maggette and the d-league all stars out there.

Nic Batum needs more minutes, whether or not he is scoring. He is such a heady player for his age, and always hustles after any loose balls. Not a shock, but he is arguably our best defender right now.

Aldridge needed the pressure of Roy being out to come into his own this season. He is much more vocal, more active on defense, and just everywhere on the court. That was the most well rounded game I have seen him play.

Outlaw had his best game of the season, and his defense was better than usual. He still takes shots at terrible times, tho...

Oden is gaining quickness and explosiveness every game. He had a couple dunks that were very impressive. He seems to be able to jump without gathering himself after catching the ball, as was the case earlier in the season.

Roy... well, was Roy.

We would have a team of all-stars if we could play the GSWs every night!

 

Just back from the game...

The Blazers shot like crap and didn't play defense in the first quarter, but I just knew tonight was going to be a Chalupa night - come on it's the Warriors.

They really picked it up in the 2nd quarter. There was a short stretch in the middle of the 2nd quarter where Oden grabbed two offensive rebounds that he converted into 5 points. That really seemed to turn the momentum in Portland's favor and got the crowd into the game. About two minutes later Portland tied the game and then took the lead. Oden had a good, solid, if unspectacular game. He was a handful for Biedrins, was active on the offensive glass and stayed out of foul trouble. I really thought he'd get more PT tonight based on the way he was playing.

Great game for Aldridge. He has become such a polished, versatile offensive player - and again was very active on the offensive boards. Just an excellent all around game from Aldridge tonight. I think he grew up a bit while Roy was out and now seems more comfortable taking over offensively. His improved offensive play is going to be huge for this team during the second half of the season and come play-off time. And, if he keeps playing like he has been, the Blazers WILL make the play-offs. He's now scored 20 or more points 11 times in his last 15 games and has scored in double figures 25 games in a row. Incidentally, the last time LaMarcus scored in single digits was on November 18 when the Blazers lost to the Warriors and Aldridge fouled out after scoring only 4 points on 2 - 7 shooting. Both his performance tonight and the end result were much better this time.

And, it was SO nice to have Brandon back for the 4th quarter tonight. Without him, it would have been tough to hold off the Warriors down the stretch. With him the Blazers won going away. And, that ally-oop in-bounds dunk was just sick. Anyone who still doubts Roy's athleticism should watch that play in slow motion a few times.

Fun time, fun win and we further padded our lifetime supply of Chalupa coupons. That's five games in a row we've been to where the Blazers broke the 100-point Chalupa barrier.

BNM

 

So you are saying you have put on a few pounds?

 

I don't want to be too hard on Travis tonight, as he had a pretty good game, but he looked absolutely helpless trying to stop Maggette. It's ironic that he seems to do a decent job guarding back-up power forwards, but has absolutely no chance stopping a powerful small forward like Maggette, who has a strong upper body and can put the ball on the floor.

So, Nate might be doing the right thing moving him back to the role he played most of last season - back-up power forward. They certainly get more production out of him in that role than either Frye or Diogu. And, while he's a weak rebounder, he's almost always in the game with Oden or Przybilla. I'd still like a banger who can play defense and rebound as our back-up 4, but we don't have that on our roster. So, playing Outlaw there seems like the best alternative. He's going to be outplayed on the boards and occasionally over powered on the low blocks, but he also creates a mismatch that he can, and does, exploit on the offensive end.

BNM