His el matador defense will get our bigs into trouble early. But I'm sure excuses will be made about how it's not Sergio's fault!
I just cleansed myself from watching this filth of a game by watching the Spurs beat LA. What a killer 2 minutes of basketball to watch, with both teams executing almost right to the end.
the biggest thing w/starting sergio is our offense needs to be totally different, and i just dont see that happening, but we'll see!
I would say to the contrary. Both teams played excellent defense. Execution was just better. In fact, I belive it was the Spurs decision on the last play to double Kobe right away that gained them the victory. Manu Ginobili recognized it, jumped on him, and made Trevor Ariza the guy who had to score.
I agree Sergio's confidence seems to have taken a hit -- again. But I think I'd start with Bayless for his defense against the starting unit; and give Sergio minutes off the bench, the same way the Blazers start with Batum then go to Travis. Plus Bayless is supposed to be a good pairing with Roy -- so let's find out. Plus Roy takes the ball out of Sergio's hands, rendering him ineffective.
Bold prediction: If Sergio starts against the Nets the Nets crowd will be chanting MVP for Devin Harris by midway through the 2nd quarter. The next pick Sergio fights through will be the first. I do get awfully tired of hearing Barret and Rice come up with reasons why the Blazers play like ass from time to time. How about "They didn't bring it tonight and got their asses handed to them." or "For upteenth time the Blazers let a team shoot %60+ against them in the first quarter, so the starting 5's defense is asstastic." Here is another Bold prediction: If the trend of letting teams shoot in the high 50's/low 60's for the first 18 minutes of the game continues, we will be crossing our fingers for a good lottery pick this July.
A shining moment of the day... Quick banging on Gavin and CIP in his story for not checking or verifying their trade rumor of Sergio for Nate. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/01/blazers_insider.html