oh wait. I'll write what we should Everything is fine! Flowers and sunshine! even if they get run out of the building...good effort! we don't need to win or even compete in order for this season to be a success!
First game on the road in a hostile atmosphere can get to you a little bit. It's not some insane thing to happen to a very young team. They're not the Lakers. But like I said, they adjusted in the 2nd half, and that speaks a lot. They almost took one in Houston.
Why are you judging the whole 2nd half on the first 5 min of the 2nd half? The Blazers as a team were +8 in the 2nd half. That's what matters.
So you'll just throw that to the side. Like I said, you just seem to look at the net effect of it all, not look for areas of improvement. You seem to just justify your point by "relax, they'll get better". Ignore this streak, ignore that streak...hell, ignore the entire first half. If they did score within the first 5 minutes..just a few points we would have won this game. Instead you choose to ignore it and come up with an excuse in order to minimalize the signifigance. Games are 48 minutes, and the blazers need to be there the entire 48, not just selected portions.
Yeah. I realize that. They played very very bad in the first half. The first 5 minutes of the 2nd half was just like the first half though. If they had started their momentum earlier, this would have been a closer game. Also, there was poor timeout management by McMillian in the second half as he had to correct that random ass taste of the "twin towers". You have to look at the mistakes in the game, otherwise they will be repeated. You can't just ignore looking at it and be so flippant about the whole thing, otherwise it will happen again.
I never said the Blazers played a flawless game or anything. I just said they adjusted and played much better in the 2nd half, which they did. Do you not agree with any of this? Just because they didn't win the game in the end does not mean they didn't play a lot better in the 2nd half. And my whole point from the beginning was now that the Blazers got a taste of playing on the road in the playoffs, nothing should surprise them anymore. Playing on the road in the playoffs is a different animal. The Blazers adjusted to it in the 2nd half and now should be better for it in game 4.
http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140394&highlight=blazers game tape that was the thread from the other day that came to mind. The problem is that if you avoid analyzing what the problems are, you are bound to repeat them in the future. The blazers need to get their mental focus together. Hard work will only get you so far.
Game 4 is a trap game for the Rockets. They have a chance to go up 3-1 at home, but Portland isn't ready to go home. The Blazers see it differently, they win and it's tied 2-2 with two games in Portland to seal the deal.
The blazers, overall, played better in the second half than the first. I would attribute that to Rudy and that short stretch with them attacking the paint with Oden and LMA with the pick and roll. They regressed and made the same mental mistakes at the end of the game, however.
The rockets will essentially have the same plan of attack. They are well coached and have veteran experience. Quite the opposite from the Blazers.
The rockets are totally beatable. They shot excellent, but it was due to poor defense and the blazers just not playing a good game on the other end of the floor. The rockets are very balanced, but there's no way we should lose when Yao and Artest don't break double figures in scoring and Scola and Battier is their primary offensive threat.
I was talking more about the Rockets defense. They're pretty good, if not very good, at every position defensively.
Blazers weren't really running much of an offense in the first half to begin with. It was one pass...if that, then the player just took the shot whether it was good or not.
