Just a few things I noticed tonight: 1. I believe Greg Oden gets much more energized on both ends of the floor when you include him in the offensive end of the game. 2. Greg Oden played much better with Roy than with any other guard, and also played better with Howard at PF because of the intelligence Howard brings to that position. 3. Roy finally started to look like Roy tonight. It took a real bad call in the 4th to finally get him pissed off, but once that happened, he looked like the Roy we have come to expect. 4. The SF continue to stink it up. They play good defense for stretches, and that is about it. Are we ever going to get some consistent outside shooting from that position? For all the talk there is about our SF outside shooting capability, there isn't any bite to back it up. 5. When the fuck is Nate McMillan going to figure out not to use a short inbounder on the critical inbound plays near the end of the game? Hello Mcfly. You have been making the same fuckup for 3 years now. Why was Steve Blake trying to inbound to Juwan Howard? Use a god damned tall player to inbound the ball so they can't crowd the inbounder with a taller player.
Well, there's some flaws in this golden nugget you just crapped. I'll start with the obvious one. 1. Sergio is trying to earn his minutes in Sacramento, Roy is not. 2. Roy is a 2nd team All NBA, Sergio is not even the best guy named Sergio in the NBA. 3. Roy is a 2 time All-Star. Sergio is not even the best PG from Spain in the NBA. 4. Sergio got traded to the Kings and has to prove himself. Roy doesn't. 5. Roy is black and obviously has the coach calling plays for him because of it. Sergio is not black, and his coach, like Nate, doesn't call plays for Sergio because he's, well, white-ish. Otherwise, he'd be scoring 40 points a game (extrapolated from your assertion that Joel would average 20 a game).
When Greg, Andre and ROy were instrumental in that run that got us back in the lead did anyone else think to themselves "Breakthrough".
That's probably true and it's pretty sad. That a 36 year old guy who has averaged about 8 minutes a game in his last two years is playing better than a guy in his prime years. I hope Nate has the guts to keep playing him.
YES! I had a total feeling of "turning point" during that sequence and it all started with an Oden block.
Just think if they put Howard in at Forward instead of Batum or Webster. Then they could call the unit "RAMHO" (Roy Aldridge Miller Howard Oden) If I see that unit with Miller and Blake in the game again at the guard position I am going to blow a fuse. I am hoping that the only reason it happened tonight was because Rudy was down. The unit with those 2, Webster Outlaw and Pryzbilla absolutely blew ass, and blew the whole lead the Blazers had at that point. Well lets put it this way. They played about as well as any other unit Maris would think would play great. Which pretty much explains it all.
Yah, but with Batum, they could call that unit RAMBO. RAMHO sounds like something Z-Bo does at strip clubs.
Of course with Batum it's "RAMBO", although I am sure it's already been pointed out so I again am offering nothing new.
http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2009/10/18/0010900082_den_por_recap.nba/index.html Highlights. I love how Howard is more excited about Oden's make than Oden.
On this we agree. That game was painful to watch. The replacement refs are totally destroying the game. Neither team could get any kind of a flow going with the refs blowing the whistle every 20 - 30 seconds. Seriously, my son was keeping track and he said they only went longer than 30 seconds without a whistle once all game. Stern needs to put that gigantic ego of his aside and bring back the REAL refs. They may not be perfect, but they know how to call an NBA game. I pay good money to watch the most talented, most athletic basketball players in the world - have a 3 hour long FT shooting contest. Yes, the game was close, but other than Oden's little run in the 4th quarter, it was the most tediously boring game I can ever remember attending. The starters for both teams were saddled with foul trouble - Roy and Oden between them played 36 minutes. With real NBA refs, they would have played 36 minutes each. These refs are used to calling college, NBDL and WNBA games. They simply aren't used to players this big, strong and athletic. They players don't respect them and neither do the coaches. It's obvious from their body language, facial expressions and post game comments (I don't ever remember coaches and players picking up fines for criticizing officials in meaningless preseason games). That's how bad these officials are. So, they call even more unnecessary, ticky-tack crap fouls to prove to the players and coaches that they are "in charge". Trust me folks, if you haven't been to a game with these replacment refs, you can't begin to imagine how they are destroying a beautiful sport. I attend the games to see the beauty and power of the best athletes in the world, not a bunch of second stringers shooting FTs. Bring back the REAL refs now. They may not be perfect, but the NBA is a better, MUCH more watchable product with them than with these inferior scab refs. BNM
I've been very impressed with Howard's passing, and also how he never rushes things or makes stupid mistakes. He seems to be constantly looking to get Oden the ball in the low post, but doesn't try to force it when it's not there. When we signed him, I thought he'd make a good practice player, locker room presence and calming influence on the bench. The way he's been playing, he my actually find a spot in our rotation even if it's just for 5 - 6 MPG. BNM
Yeah, even though it's preseason, every time Juwan's on the floor, something positive always seems to happen. Of course, it'd have to be at the expense of Travis, but it may be for the better of the team if Juwan took some of his few minutes, even if it's for like 5 minutes in the second quarter when LA is resting. It'll be a tough call, but Juwan and Andre have more importantly, seemed to have made Greg into a better player too when they're on the floor.
So far I have been impressed with Juwan and wouldn't mind seeing him as the primary backup for a few games.
Primary backup for a few games? He should be the starter all season long, ahead of that softie Aldridge. A guy with good talent and several coaches (Howard) is better than a guy with a little more talent but only 1 coach in his career (Aldridge). This is why we desperately need players who are more experienced. This is why our players are overrated locally. This is why Pritchard's "bake" philosophy fails. The more NBA coaches a player has had, the more versatile he is across many systems.
