I disagree. We have a better record because of the addition of Rudy & Oden and the improvement of Roy. It ain't our D winning more games.
We don't need to get into fights. we need to put players on the court that other teams wouldn't want to play against. Roy, Outlaw and Rudy offensively, Pryzbilla and Batum defensively and on the boards are tough players to play against. Aldridge should be in the mix as well, of course, as he gives us good production on both ends. Greg Oden I don't mention because he's injured at the moment. That gives us, what? 7 Players. Add Bayless and that's our best lineup going into the Playoffs.
Another thing I'd like to comment on is Batum. I talk about it so often lately, I feel like a broken record but I just can't get how few minutes he's getting. No, he isn't money on his jumper yet but he lives it all out on the floor, makes very few mistakes, plays wonderful defense, always fights for loose balls, rebounds on both ends. If I'm a player on the other team, Batum is one of the players I'm happy to see go to the bench, if I'm the Blazers coach, I see NO REASON IN THE WORLD to give even 1 minute to channing frye when Batum can do everything he does and much more. Batum has been a star for his French team, playing in the French league and against some of the best teams in Europe, I didn't check his minute average but I bet it was at least 30 Per game. It's not like he's used to playing 15 and can't handle more than that. He's one of the best players on the team, it's just foolish not to use him more.
BTW seeing LaMarcus smiling on the bench at the end of the game was weak. We need fire in our players. Bring on Amare in the summer.
I'm not too upset over the loss. No one expected us to win, but I'd rather have it be a closer game and better effort than we gave. Oh well, it's OK. Denver will lose tomorrow and we'll beat Minnesota on Saturday so we'll be back to square one. I was glad to at least see some fight in the third quarter. And Chris Andersen needs to be punched in the face, as well as JR Smith. Those guys are annoying bitches.
Add Melo to that list. The way he was trying so hard to get 40 when the game was over was disgusting. Shows his priorities pretty clearly.
Back in September, the Nugs were the consensus pick as the WC play-off team that was headed for a big drop-off. Now, they represent a "relatively unwinnable" game. And people can't understand why some of us are frustrated. Oh well........how many days until the draft?
My point being I don't want a dude on the bench clowning around in a blowout loss that dropped us to #7 in the West. It's unprofessional and weak.
Honestly, I think they give a good effort. They were on the second game of a back-to-back and playing in thin air. Denver jumped out to a fast start, which is common for tough home team in a big game...Portland still fought back to basically even it. They just ran out of steam, which is understandable considering the circumstances. They burned what they had left in the comeback.
I watched him and Roy on the bench and they were obviously talking about all the holding going on. They were not amused. Calling it Unprofessional and weak is ridiculous in my mind.
That's a nice mischaracterization of my point. My point is not that any random game against the Nuggets is unwinnable, obviously. I said the factors in this game made it relatively unwinnable. Those would be: 1. on the second game of a back-to-back, 2. on the road and 3. in high altitude thin oxygen. Under THOSE circumstances, yes, a game against a very good team is pretty unwinnable.
