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

Please wear knee pads.

That Anderson Varajoa (okay, I have no idea how to spell his name) knee-to-knee SCARED me.

 

I loved Roy's game tonight as well.

He looked every bit as good of a player as LeBron out there.

 

I liked him bumping James, too. Greg said he'd been watching and learning from Joel, and that hard foul and shoulder bump on James had Joel written all over it.

You go, Greg. Don't take no prisoners!

Yo, BengalDuck. Love your sig. It ought to be good for about 10 years.

 

Honestly, I'm in total disagreement about the little shove he gave LeBron if it was indeed intentional. It's not like he was provoked or anything, so I saw it as kind of a villain move that Lamar Odom would do. I wouldn't say classless, but definitely not necessary. And damn, look at how LeBron played after the bump. You know LeBron gets motivated easily.

Other than that, a very solid game. I don't see why Nate kept him out the rest of the ball game. Our odds would've definitely been better if he was playing PF and guarding the middle while LeBron was making those plays inside the paint.

 

In the past two games, Oden has had our highest +/- score. Strangely, Przybilla has been a minus both times. Doesn't mean Joel is playing badly (I watched and he was tremendous) but Oden is certainly having a positive impact.

(Oh, and Durant continues to notch up high minuses. And not just because he plays big minutes on a crappy team - Green and Westbrook play equivalent minutes with lower minuses. Oh, and check out this quote from Sam Amico after watching Greg last night:

.)

 

I didn't see it that way. I saw it as two guys being in the same spot and neither one willing to be the one that gives in and steps to the side. LeBron saw him coming and refused to budge even though as the offensive player who was looking to receive the ball, you don't you usually want to be close to the defensive player? The offensive player usually trys to step away form the defense not welcome it. Greg was moving straight up the court. A court that King James rules.

 

Um, no, he didn't. I love Roy, and he's a great player, but James is definitely better. He got a triple double without even breaking a sweat in the first half. He looks like a man among boys most of the time.

 

IDK about that. Roy has more of a supporting cast that can score unlike LBJ. That's not to say Williams and Frankenstein can't score, but they really defer to Bron more often then not.


Bron is the best, but you take out some scoring and other shit from our other guys, and I betcha Roy has a double double, or triple double as well.

It's all subjective I guess in these opinions, but I know he broke a sweat that's for sure....hell Roy almost won the game w/that last shot..

 

And it's not as if Roy was going all out in the first half either. It looked to me like Roy and Bron Bron were both coasting until the second half. The difference was that James got help from his teammates in OT so the Blazers couldn't double him, while Roy's supporting cast was hitting the side of the backboard on open J's (literally, ) after Roy broke down their double and triple teams.

 

I agree with these thoughts. I really liked the stuff on LeBron from the top down. Awesome.

I did have frustration that Oden had trouble grabbing hold and hanging on the ball last night. Butter fingers.

 

There is an important line between a hard foul and a dirty foul. What happened to Rudy was a dirty foul. Grabbing someone by the neck is a dirty foul. Refusing to cede your piece of the floor is not dirty. It's what we want from Greg. Anyone who wants to get to the basket has to go by him, or around him, or over him, and he'll do his damndest to stop that. Basically, LeBron vs. Greg was the classic irresistable force vs. immovable object.

 

You know I actually don't look so much at Gregs stats, he was doing a great job rebounding and controlling the paint. But what I would like to point out is in the games where Oden has played on the 2nd unit, that while he is in, the Blazers have made positive runs to leads. That, is what is important.

 

Exactly. The drop-off from 1st unit to 2nd unit when we have Greg available becomes much less. As you pointed out, we have actually increased our lead or reduced their lead with the 2nd unit and GO.

 

I loved watching Oden knock people around last night. You can tell he got in the heads of everybody he was playing against. He was like the older version of Shaq, in that he may not score on you but you knew when you ran into him. He just had a real presence about him.

If we had Aldridge last night, we win that game.

 

Check it out.

 

I have to admit Go has played better in his first games back than I expected. I thought he'd be a lot more out of shape and while you could tell he was getting tired when he got his 5th foul, he got up and down and was a lot more active than I thought he wouuld.

I did see one time that I thought he'd get called a foul on and he'll have to watch out for. In the lane he tried to set a screen by just moving his hip into the player. That's going to get him a foul usually.

 

And look at the mins played by the two ahead of Oden.

 

I believe Roy had the highest in the first game back. Though combined theirs are close.