Bull. Again this team lost a game in the first quarter. Teams don't get fatigued in the first quarter of a back-to-back. That is just a lame excuse for a problem that continually plagues the Blazers. Does Nate need to find a new pregame ritual or warm up routine? Maybe have them spend half the time running defensive drills? I would love for someone to find the percentage of games this year where the Blazers were down in the first quarter; down by 5 in the first quarter; and down by 10 in the first quarter. Something has got to change. I have never seen a team this good have such a continuous problem getting out of the gate. Okay, way too much time on my hands: That is first quarter and final score. Trends: Blazers have 23 losses, but were behind after the first quarter in 33 games. Blazers have 23 losses, they were behind by at least 5 pts after one quarter in 20 games. They were behind by at least 10 pts in 8 games. Of the 8 games they were down by at least 10 after one, one was in November, two in December, one in January, and 3 in February [not including games of -9 and -8] For comparison, they have been up by at least ten after one in six games (but 3 were by 20+). They were up by at least five in 15 games. So, they are more often well behind than well ahead after one. Their season average is -0.3 after one with a final margin of +3.6. In November they were +3.4 for the first quarter. December -3.0 for the first quarter. January and February where -1.4 and -1.1.
I'll give you the solution and it is really, really easy. Quit putting the lineup of Sergio, Rudy, Outlaw Frye and either Joel or Aldridge on the floor, and you will quit going down by mid teens and losing the game. That lineup is flat out horrible. Aldrige is the only guy who can attack the hoop, and that crew is pretty bad at gettting him the ball. All of their shots are from 17 feet + outside, nobody rebounds, and all of the rebounds come off long because they are perimter shots, which lets the other teams run. Every single game we go through a period where this unit lets the team down, and then, Bayless comes in, and a few starters come back in, and the team makes a run. Go back and watch the games. The pattern replays over and over again.
Brandon needs to be a little bit more of a ball hog in the first quarter. He defers to his teammates too much early on trying to get everyone involved. If you watch the first quarter of the recent win over San Antonio again, you'll see an aggressive, determined B-Roy. And we jumped on them early and cruised to a win. On the road, I think it's even more the case. We have such a young team, and I think their nerves get the best of them early on. Give the ball to Brandon, let him get some easy baskets or trips to the free throw line, and the rest of the team will calm down and play ball. -Pop
You know that you cannot use being a young team as an excuse, and then go and saying a young team is tired in the first quarter. That just does not fly in my book. If any teams can handle a back to back better than others, it is a young team.
Wow, look at all the Blazer fans support their team after losing a game at a location that over the years, even when they had a quality squad, have had a tough time picking up a W. Keep up the support guys.
Its 60 games into the season, for some players its the first time they have played this many games, for almost all its only their 2nd or 3rd go at this...hard game the night before, travel....it happens to all teams
i can't think of any other team that rests their best player in the 1st Q instead of the 2nd. don't know why nate is so stuck on that. last night 8 minutes into the game Roy was just getting going and starting to break down their defense... and then he's out. total momentum killer.
You know I did see that one post where you wrote normal words. Are you still amused with yourself by doing this?
Mi unkle and eye shayre a cumpyutr. mi unkle ----> <---- me P.S. Eye am recyding my fryndshup inveyet that eye scent yu.
LaMarcus was on fire to start the game - deferring to him was just fine - we were 12-13 with 6:35 to go in the first quarter. In the next 2 minutes we had one miss by LaMarcus and one block of Nene on LaMarcus (not bad going to him given that he was hot to this time). We had an open miss by Batum and an open miss by Blake and Joel being fouled (and making 1 of 2). Add one bad pass by Blake and in 2 minutes we were down 13-22. From that moment on Roy was looking to score himself - but the entire sequence when Roy was "looking for others" was 2 minutes where he went twice to Aldridge who was hot, 1 turn-over and 2 open misses by others. It was unfortunate that the Nuggests were able to score fast and often to open the game in these 2 minutes - but I did not think Brandon was doing too bad given that Aldridge was so hot at the start and they were going to him. In the next minute and a half before he came out of the game he went to the rim or took a shot 3 times without deferring. We were 18-24 when he went out. What really killed us for the rest of the quarter was the fact that no one else scored or stopped the Nuggets - and we were 18-32 to end the quarter. It was pretty ugly from there on.
And I call bullshit. Out of the players out on the floor, the only ones that would apply to are Rudy, Batum and Bayless. Bayless and Batum don't play enough minutes to even be worn out. Rudy actually had a pretty fair game. Anybody who has been in the league 3 years or longer should be prepared as any pro for the rigors of an NBA season. That would include: Amazingly enough the rest of the team. If you are a young team you should be able to bounce back faster from a game the night before, not slower.
Well my problem is, you act like all the other NBA teams in the league don't have to do the same thing? Give me a break. They all have to play a lot of games, they all have to play back to back games. If this isn't true, then why do some games play so much better in back to back games? It's because they are better. No other reason.
