Assuming the Blazers renounced Blake to sign a FA and that signing put them over the cap, they could still offer Blake their MLE. Not saying that's what they'll do, but it would be an option given the few number of teams that will have cap space this summer.
Blake really doesn't get enough respect for what he does for the team. He sees the whole court very well, and he's calm, steady, and cool under pressure. I love the way he's elevated his game this year.
He would have had 20 assists had some of the guys shot a little hotter they missed a couple of easy ones. But Blake did a sweet job, and it was awesome to be able to see it.
I watched the game on tape delay, as I was in San Francisco seeing SF Ballet perform Swan Lake. Damn, nothing like TWO classic masterpieces in one day!
It was a great first quarter. I was surprised that he got assists on a couple of them... he passed to a guy at the three point line, the guy pump fakes and does dribble-drive for a layup. And that's an assist? Wow. He got at least two like that at the end of the first. Of course, there were a couple of open jumpers that guys missed, and the vast majority of the assists were very good finds. The Clippers sure aren't very good right now, though Ed O.
I'm a big Blake fan and have been hyping (maybe overhyping) his importance to this team. If this team is too make some noise in the post season, they need Roy, Aldridge, Blake and Joel to be healthy and clicking . . . consistent performances by those 4, and a couple players contributing each night from the supporting cast should make for a fun second half.
Props to Blake. He had a great game. If he can destroy other teams like he did the Clippers, I will have to re-evaluate my feelings about him.
That was really an amazing performance. In some cases he was throwing passes before our player was even looking. Blake just noticed the defender's head was turned and threw it. That was pretty magical. I wonder how much more we could do that if Nate wasn't so worried about turnovers. If you are too worried about TOs to throw the passes that lead to high percentage shots (and I think Nate has done that to our PGs at times) then you are hurting the team. If we get a bucket 50% of the time, we are better off throwing a pass that will lead to a bucket almost 75% of the time even if it gets picked off 10-20% of the time.
What Blake just did to the Clippers was something Steve Nash couldn't do . . . and Nash had two tries.
Doesn't Blake hold some assist record in college? [Edit: to answer my own question... yes. In fact, more than one. Talk about damning with faint praise, though:
14 assists in the first quarter... 3 the rest of the game.. what was he doing... sleeping the rest of the game? j/k great job Stevo
The Blakes at home (at least, at the beginning and the end): <table style="border:0px; padding:0px;"><tr><td><font style="font-size:13px; font-family:Verdana; font-weight:bold; font-color:#293546">Rip City Revival: Steve Blake</font></td></tr><tr><td><script type="text/javascript" src="http://tribeca.vidavee.com/advance/trh/embedAsset.js?vtagView=on&embedded=yes&link=http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2008/08/rip_city_revival_steve_blake_1.html&showEndCard=off&loadStream=off&autoplay=off&width=470&height=264&shareWidgets=${shareWidgets}&vtag=yes&startVolume=50&hidecontrolbar=no&textureStrip=yes&displayTime=yes&volumeLock=off&watermark=yes&skin=v3AdvInt_oregonLive.swf&dockey=0F14F3574443584612553F3318AC8C53"></script></td></tr></table>
yeah. a few years back on hoopsworld, someone did a gif capture during one game where blakey hit a 3 to put the blazers up..they panned to his wifey and that was all the rage.
