...how damn deep this team is. Both Oden and Pryz were monsters on rebounds and defense. Foul trouble will be a non-issue most of the year. Our two big contract players: Roy has an off-shooting night. Aldridge in foul trouble all game. The only guys to shoot reasonably well were Outlaw and Webster. Batum is injured yet we didn't notice. Bayless, probably a starter/heavy role player for ten teams in this league still isn't getting minutes. Yet we still dominated the game. Don't give me crap about the near comeback at the end. It's common knowledge every team has a run or two in them every game. I hate how some people are thinking we barely "escaped" with the victory. I wasn't worried at all.
I thought it was a great win. The Batum injury is exactly why we don't need a "consolidation trade." Our depth is needed when inevitable injuries happen. The most exciting part of the win for me tonight was the play of Martell Webster. He was fantastic. A whole season off, not knowing until the night before that he was going to start, and he played like a seasoned vet. Awesome effort by him. I also liked that Nate committed to a 9 player rotation. It's tough for players to understand their roles when you're throwing 11-12 people out there. Nate committed to certain players tonight and I'm happy with the results. It also goes to show that you shouldn't put too much stock in preseason (that's why I didn't watch a single game). Look at Outlaw. He turned it on when the real season started.
This team seems to come at you in waves. I wouldn't want to be an opposing coach trying to find the weak spot in this team.
I'll tell you what the weak spot is. I'm totally unconvinced that the starters are adept at getting Oden the ball in position to score. Forget doubling him--forget even playing him straight-up. Have a defender shadow Blakey (contested shots are NOT his forte) and make Brandon score 50 on you.
Nah. Houston is completely devoid of star power and a bonafied go to scorer, but they are not a "shitty" team. As long as Adelman is the coach and they have guys who are willing and able to pass and play very very physical defense and attack the rim, they will probably be able to beat a lot of below average teams this year with pure hustle and toughness. This is still basically the same team that took the Lakers to the limit after Yao went down (assuming you consider Ariza and Artest as a somewhat reasonably equal talent swap).
the rockets absolutely aren't a shitty team and they do deserve some credit for not giving up against the lakers after yao went down, but the lakers didn't show up to the games the rockets won without yao. but the rockets definitely aren't a shitty team. they're probably going to win around 35 games, play hard every night, play good defense but without an anchor in the middle, and go through some brutal stretches offensively because they don't have a go to guy but i don't see them ever really being an easy team to completely put away.
This is by design. McMillan told them to play that way. Blame him, not the players carrying out his instructions. It was in OregonLive. Nate wants Oden to learn defense this year and not score much.
I agree with everything except Bayless. It wojuld be better to say he might get off the bench for a minute or two for ten teams and not even that for the rest.
We "dominated" the game against a team without its 2 superstars? Gee, I would hope so. And yet we still had 25 turnovers and let a 20-pt. lead dwindle to 6 points.
What is the big deal? They were up by 20, everyone thought they were done - and they let their guard down. When they went down to 6 (3 possession game) - Oden came in, locked the middle and we won comfortably. Sure they were sloppy, sure we had some ugly turn-overs, and for some reason - the replacement refs with their erratic way seem more fair as they were actually calling stupid fouls on both sides - but overall, it was an early game for a team with a lot of changes - and we did get up by 20 with a new last minute replacement starter, our #1 guy out of sync and our #2 guy in foul trouble. Jump from the bridges, we did not win by 30!
I don't blame him I agree with him. Greg most certainly needs to be fed while he is moving toward the basket. He should get 3-4 alley oops a game and 3-4 post ups a game. But the rest of his offensive game should be off of put backs. If he is in the game with Brandon and LMA then the offense does not need to go through him. He will still get 10-12 points most games.
This was one of Outlaw's best al around games that I can remember. He looked from the get-go to be under control and remained that way all evening. He actually played adequet defense and boarded and blocked shots. Great game Travis. I have been on the fence with him for a long time not knowing if it wold be better to trade him or not, yet lastnight he made me think, lets wait and see if he can keep this up. Hope he can as he seems to be a great guy.
So we basically the Blazers won a game eventhough they committed 25 turnovers . . . in fact after the first quarter, the game was never really in doubt. Not bad for sloppy play.
I thought Travis looked very good as well. The only time he was not in control was leading the fast break one time, but as a POWER FORWARD he should not be. But I loved his agressiveness. He is a nightmare for other POWER FORWARDS to guard.
I consider the Blazers lucky they played a team that bad, last night. Way too many turnovers. The Blazers made up for it with effort, but against a good team that would have been an L not a W.
