Fun event. Our old reliables were pretty much on cruise control(Roy, Pryz, Aldridge). I was more curious about the younger players and the point guard/small forward competition anyway. Oden--physically much improved. His second jumps and bounces were much faster and springier. He didnt look nearly as winded running up and down. His movements and footwork were smooth. I mean....he was the best story of the night in my opinion. Super encouraging. The guy is already a rebounding superstar. No breathtaking blocks, but he gobbled space and altered the flow. IMO it seems pretty silly to start Joel over him at this point. Rudy--I dont agree with the other posters. I was very encouraged by his play. He was allowed to run point guard a lot tonight. So, we got to see his halfcourt passing and playmaking on display. His shot was off, but he showcased a lot more in his arsenal than the spot up three. Martell--Looked good. The explosion they were talking about was evident. I like that he's aggressive in his slashes. Far-cry from the guy who stood at the 3 point line awaiting kickouts and nothing else. Like Rudy, he showcased a variety of shots that we havent seen much from him before. He even took a Jordan-imitation fadeaway jumper that came up just short. Blake/Miller-- I think its silly to say Miller played better tonight. His long term prospects may weigh heavier, but on this night Blake was better. I think he led everyone in scoring and he had over 10 assists. I'm in favor of Miller coming off the bench for now.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/10/rose_garden_fills_for_blazers.html Blake had 17/11 -Woah Rudy had 4/9 Miller had 12/6/5 Aldridge had 13/10 Batum had 18 Webster had 9 Oden had 12/12
Thanks for the vid yuyuza! Good stuff. Good to see Bayless hitting some jumpers, Batum looked good, GO was a beast, & there was even a DC highlight in there. The Steve Blake fast break was hilarious at 3:30. Classic Blakey. He was on fire from outside though. He was hitting those DEEEEEEEP.
Man, there had to be some generous assists being handed out. Rudy looked like crap last night and he ended up with 9 assists? No way. I don't believe it. I already had my suspicions after seeing Blake had 11 assists, which seemed really high. I don't see how Rudy had 9. Anyone else puzzled by this?
All I know is, once Dre came out and Rudy took over as the point man, the white team sucked ass. There's no way Rudy had 9 assists. Maybe 3 or 4.
I was referring to the Clippers game of which there was a video posted. Someone said he had 8 or 9 turnovers. He had 2. 17 assts, 2 turnovers.
This is a sweet video! [video=youtube;OAqGYljpKQE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqGYljpKQE[/video] Has pretty much everything you need to get excited.
While Batum looked better than Webster, Batum did just come from a euro season so is in mid season form, while Webster as everyone knows was out all of last season except for a few mins. I was really impress with Webster taking it to the basket. He would have had two dominating jams if not for just missing one. That miss was still pretty nice considering where he launched from. He's showing he's a lot more that just a wait for a pass and shoot it player. Oden looked excellent! I was happy to see him so successful mainly for his own confidence. He's going to be a beast! I can't wait until Tuesday! It's going to be tough for Nate to decide which player to start at PG. Blake showed what he does best tonite and Miller had a good game too. Something I forgot to mention in the last scrimmages that were posted here is that Roy didn't seem to miss a outside shot. I think he missed one tonite. He has really worked on that and I think that alone will mean he'll work well with Miller too.
No, somebody responded to Maris' characterization of Blake's performance in that game as "Sergio-esque" by implying that there would have to have been 8 or 9 turnovers in order for it to truly deserve that label. Context is key.
Someone mentioned Bayless so I figured I would give my impression of how he played. When he played point guard he wasn't very good. When he played shooting guard next to Blake he was very good. Obviously this is because the kid is a shooting guard. Hopefully he will get a chance to prove himself on another team, cause he isn't going to get a chance to shine in Portland.
That's me. We've got tickets to 14 games, and may still add one or two more. We only have lower bowl tickets for one game. Most of our tickets are in the purple sections, but for the Cavs, Lakers and Celtics, we're in the tan section - the nose bleediest. But hey, we're in the building. My kids always love to watch the Blazers beat the Lakers, but this will be their first time seeing LeBron and KG. So, we're looking forward to another great season. I've taken them to 24 regular season games over the last two seasons, and they've only seen the Blazers lose once - in double OT to the Clippers. BNM
I got a kick out of 1:48 - 1:55 of that video - Miller throws it away on the fast-break and then Blake throws a nice alleyoop on the fast-break... Of course, 2:18 - 2:28 tells a different story, but still.
