I don't have enough time to really put the thought in to this post, but god damn does it need to be said. I will edit this post later with real thoughts, but the title says enough for some discussion (guessing for some agreement) to occur.
Bayless should have played tonight with no shot blockers in for SA. Plus I wanted to see what he could do agaisnt Parker. (Which I am sure not great). But playing the arm chair QB after the fact, I would have given him Rudy's minutes not Sergio's. SA defends the perimeter very well. And even though they hold alot our best bet was to have another guy attacking the basket. Not that BROY had much luck. SA is just tough to beat on the road because they are aloud to play their style of ball. Moving picks, holding, and slapping, to go along with excellent physical defense. They make everyone look bad and we were no exception. You watch on Sunday.It will be a war and I guarantee it will be close. and Pops and his players will be crying all night long unless they get to play the way they prefer. Very frustrating to see how well they defended Roy.
Hey we had LA, Roy, Rudy and Blake they were without Duncan and Manu! They are a better team top down and it showed tonight! Nate is coaching himself out of a job game by game. The teams defense SUCKS and that is all Nate is supposed to be good at teaching. Mr. Sonic needs to go! Why was Bayless not in on Tony tonight?
To save him from humiliation? Seriously, Bayless would have been schooled by Parker in a big way, but Jerryd could have been an asset on the offensive end for sure. In place of Blake and Rudy he could not possibly have done worse, but hindsight is golden. I did not expect either to have that bad of a game, and I don't expect either to stink next time.
Because Mike Rice said Outlaw had held Tony down better then anyone ever had in Tony's whole career. I wish I just made that up, but I didn't.
As badly as Blake was getting torched by Parker, it's just a joke that Nate didn't try the quick, strong, and aggressive D of Bayless on him even once. I think Bayless could have caused Parker a bit of trouble, or at least forced him to work harder for his points. And I know this has been debated on here and in the Oregonian a ton, but the switching on pick and rolls is just still a major freaking issue. I don't care what Nate or Quick says their scheme is. They switch freaking everything. Unless it's a sloppy or ill-timed pick by the other team, we switch about 80% of the time. Loved watching LMA stuck on Parker at the top of the key. That was great. If Nate can't fix this issue, then he should hit the bricks. Or at least be forced to bring in a defensive coordinator, so to speak. I don't see this as an experience issue, or even a roster issue (assuming Nate plays good defenders like Bayless), but a coaching issue, pure and simple. We have a broken perimeter philosophy. And we won't compete for jack until Nate solves it.
I think Nate is a good coach, but he did a poor job last night. As many have already stated not playing Bayless was a HUGE mistake. There was only ONE player on the Spurs that we needed to worry about...their point guard. Why you wouldn't throw everything but the kitchen sink at him and get him off his game early is beyond my comprehension. I can only guess that Nate was being stubborn.
I noticed something last night. I don't think the fact that Portland switches is the problem. I think the problem is that after the switch, they never switch back. Joel got isolated with Parker several times. Once for about 8 seconds. I can see him having to cover Tony for a second or two, but shouldn't the team re-adjust the defense in short order?
Here is the things I noticed: Nate had something going when he had Batum on Parker. His problem being, that he translated it to trying Travis on Parker. Just because guys are the same height and length roughly does not make them equivelent defenders on Parker. That would be the same as assuming any 6'8" guy on San Antonio can defend as good as Bowen. Nate needs to get it out of his mind that Travis is a good defender, becasue he is horrible. He gives up a lot of space, expecting his athletic ability to make up for it. It doesn't work out that way. Bayless would have put pressure on Parker to defend him, and made him expend energy on the defensive end. This would IMO vastly effected how many buckets Parker would have scored in the game. If you don't have to worry about guarding anybody (Blake, Sergio), then you can save all your energy for the offensive end. Game Over. Can the team jack up any more bad 3's? Quit passing up layins to pass it to guys at the 3 point line, and the game will become much easier.
Nate is also easily amused by bright lights and playdoh. Nate just seems to be very simple minded, as I don't know who in their right mind would put Travis Outlaw on Parker, that was probably just as painful to watch as Przybilla on Parker. Put in Bayless? Nah... that bastard actually takes the ball to the hoop, we don't want that! Keep telling your players to shoot contested jumper after contested jumper. If it didn't work the first 3 quarters, then there's a pretty good chance it'll work in the fourth. Unbelievable.
