Game thread: Blazers vs. Mavericks

Wish I did. That was a hell of a game. I remember I was at Fry's Electronics in Wilsonville watching the game on the TV displays, and when Rasheed hit that shot I let out with a loud yell... and I was the only one in the store that was watching. Pretty low times for Blazer fans back then.

 

Love this quote by Rasheed after that game though.

 

Last second, last minute... who's counting?

 

then where is nate on this? sit guys on the bench if they aren't going to fight through picks. honestly NONE of our PG's fight through picks. bayless has on occasion but it's very rare. at some point nate has to get his point across.

losing guys, come on. bayless lost kidd on a big three from the corner and outlaw loses guys all the time. it happens to everyone on the team but sergio gets it pointed out every time.

 

Sheed shot a three. Missed it and the rebound bounced right back into his hands so he shot again and we took the LEAD. We actually ended up putting the game away on a hook shot by Sabonis, I believe. But Sheed hit the big three.

 

Sergio 1 stl, 1 to

Roy 0 stl, 5 to

Bayless 0 stl, 4 to

Sloppy ballhandling, way too much 1 on 1, and an inability to stop Terry is what killed us.

You don't win many, if any, games with a meager 16 assists to their 28 assists.

Nate brought a shooting guard to an assists fight.

 

I had almost given up during that game. We were down 8 with just a few minutes left and then we came back and won! And then we won Game 6 in Portland by a ridiculous amount. A total rout to come all the way back from 0-3 to force a Game 7.

 

So you sit one of your PG's the entire when you only have two to start with? That makes a lot of sense. Do you actually watch bayless play defense? He is our only PG with the speed and strength to fight through the picks right now as blake is not fantastic at it either. I am not saying he is the ultimate defender, but as a rookie PG that just started getting any playing time I would say he is doing pretty damn well.

 

Don't give me that shit. You take stats and put them as you wish to try and make Sergio look better. Sergio played 14 minutes and only got 1 assist.

 

Huh? Bayless had 4 assts and shot a very high percentage. Sergio had 1 asst and shot 40%.

 

There was a good reason that Sergio didn't get much playing time in the second half...

 

I think Maris 61 is Sergio's agent.....for real.

 

Because he does it the most.

 

There was a reason Sergio was sitting the whole second half. Because Bayless was making something happen by attacking the rim. You could even tell by the end of the game that Mike and Mike are starting to disagree on the issue because Mike Barrett continues to blow Steve Blakes horn. Mike Rice seemed to question it by the end of the game if the PG situation is so straight. Bayless is making some noise and throwing a wrench into the PG situation. You don't play all but 4.5 minutes of the second half unless the coach see's something as well.

As for Dallas, I am starting to wonder if they just aren't a matchup nightmare for us. The reason being, is since Portland seems to not be good at going to our bigs, which is our strength. Dallas just plays the perimeter game, makes open shots, and really attacked the rim very little in the scheme of things. If Portland would just play the inside game they would win. They would get Dallas players in foul trouble and be in position for rebounds. But they didn't. Lots of perimeter shots = lots of long rebounds which leads to easy transition points. Until the team figures that out, they will continue to struggle against teams like Dallas.

 

I think what bothers me about your post the most Maris is the fact that you seem to value your argument and love for Sergio over what is best for the team. You don't seem to care what gets wins or losses. All you care about is your argument for Sergio. If Sergio would do the things that would help the team win, I would have no problem supporting him. But I don't see that. I see a young point guard named Bayless doing that, at least the best out of the group right now.

 

I'm struggling between the belief that Bayless should start, or Bayless should be the #2 PG. Either way, Sergio is now the odd man out, and there is no doubt about it.

I think a case could be made for making Bayless the starter at this point, but I *am* a Blake fan, and I do think he's solid for this team. But Bayless? Man....this kid is making me a believer, and fast.

 

Mike Rice said it the other night on courtside and I tend to believe him; Sergio, Blake and Jerryd can not all coexist, they all deserve PT of some sort or another, but it really does come down to Jerryd being a much different look from the other two and to what does Sergio or Blake do that makes one a better option than the other? Both can set up the base offense, both do a reasonable job taking care of the ball, but Blake can hit the outside shot at a bankable level.

I don't hate Sergio, but I do think he needs a new home. There is no way Nate is going to be able to split the backup minutes between Sergio and Jerryd or give one or the other DNPs, and have either be particularly effective since it seems that anything under 10 minutes a game for either kills their game -- that will equal two unhappy campers.

 

Sergio would be fine in a system, like Mike D'Antonini's offense inflating run and gun game where he doesn't have to defend. But then again, who isn't besides lard asses like Zbo and Eddie Curry.

 

I think the thing that is so appealing about Bayless is that, as a rookie, he's already been much more of a difference maker than the third year veteran Sergio, and he is doing it with less opportunities as well.