The best part about tonight's game (Greg Oden!)

OK, we lost to the Cavs which kind of sucked (but damn it was competitive), but how about our boy GO? not the rebounds, not the trips to the line, but the hard fouls and the willingness to give a little shoulder pop to Lebron; no backing down, kind of a mean streak and just hard nosed basketball with no 'stupid' chippy little fouls.

If this is going to be the new Greg, where he just doesn't give a damn then let me just say, "Bravo, more please."

 

Greg Oden tonight

Sure he didn't play much, but honestly I like what I saw. Just look at the numbers. ONCE he puts it all together he is going to be special. Look at his numbers.

Time FG FT 3P OR R A B S TO F Total Points
G. Oden 12:15 1-4 5-8 0-0 +5 4 9 0 1 0 0 5 7


If you told me that I would be averaging over a half a point a minute, almost a rebound a minute and contribute a block. He actually could be a force for us in the playoffs defensively this year, and offensively in the future (actually the numbers show he is pretty efficient offensively now). And while Joel has been a savior this year, look at how many free throws Oden took in 12 minutes. Teams do fear him and he draws fouls putting us in the bonus sooner. Thoughts?

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

Agreed. However, you can't look past the rebounding numbers he's put up in such short spurts of time, either. I really believe that he'll be able to stay out of foul trouble one day, and when it happens, watch out!

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

Funny you posted this. I was working on an Oden post about tonight at the same time. If the mods want to merge the two thats fine. Again, I liked what I saw from him. Hes coming along for sure.

 

Re: Greg Oden tonight

If not for fouls, his numbers would look fantastic. If he were playing starter minutes, he'd be the easy ROY.

The fouls are his fault, but a correctable one. I'm quite confident that he's going to be a tremendous force in a year or two.

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

Oden actually looked pretty good tonight. He was grabbing every rebound in sight while he was in there, and he seemed a little quicker than usual. I feel pretty good about this game, even though we lost. We went to overtime against maybe the best team in the league without two of our starters. That's nothing to sneeze at.

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

Greg is definitely the physical presence that this team needs. I thought Nate should have put him in with about 2 minutes to go to keep LeBron from getting inside so easy. I'm still not sure why Nate didn't?

 

Re: Greg Oden tonight

Agreed . . . if he can stay healthy.

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

Oden was the best part of the game.

 

Re: Greg Oden tonight

I kept hoping Nate would put him back in. Especially in OT. What the heck, let him foul out. What's he saving him for? He doesn't get to roll it over to the next game.

 

Re: Greg Oden tonight

It's great to see GO contributing. He's going to be a monster in this league.

 

Re: The best part about tonight's game

We also probably pissed off some Laker fans by blowing the game. I'm sure many of them were rooting for us in the end.

 

I wrote in another thread that I want Oden viewed like a headhunting safety in the NFL, like the late Sean Taylor. When you come down the middle against him, you know you're going to pay a price.

 

There were a lot of good things about this game. This was a playoff type game, (Not pretty by any means but a mental and physical war) Great experience for the guys.

But I am most pleased with the defense the last 3 games. All on the road. Think about some of the adjustments that have been made. Mo Williams and TJ Ford both went off us agaist us in the first game and we shut them down in the last two days. How about Travis playing 47 minutes, with most of that against the best player and most physical player in the world. He looked fatigued at the end (as did Roy) but they both battled hard all night.

We need Rudy (or Martel) to help with the offense. But overall I am very happy tonight.

 

Ths is exactly what I was thinking when Oden was playing. I love his new attitude since coming back. I guess he must be getting feed up with being the nice guy and frustrated with the injuries and he is not going to put up with anything. I even liked how he was complaining about some of the fouls but love him not backing down from Lebron. He does seem to be rebounding at a great rate for as little PT as he is getting plus not playing for so long.

 

There were two dives down the lane that Greg made tonight that he got the benefit of a close call. I the past those would have been called fouls. When a player is aggressive he will get some of those calls.

 

I loved what I saw from Oden tonight. He knows that he can dominate the paint as he develops.