When the second unit was in: Miller Rudy Webster Outlaw Joel or Oden (can't remember which) We moved the ball. We ran. We saw great ball movement/player movement. The guys were unselfish. It was a thing of beauty. It was what some of us have been waiting for. Some of the easiest and most dominating basketball we've seen from this team in years. We smothered the Rockets. We made them look bad. They looked completely shell shocked. They didn't know how to respond. I want to see more. The starters Blake Roy Webster Aldridge Oden They looked good in the first quarter. Oden was a monster. Aldridge was hot until he got into foul trouble. Roy wasn't bad either. He was playing within the offense. I wasn't unhappy. The defense was a little rough, but overall I was happy. Then the third quarter started. Holy cow. The starters sucked monster donkey balls. Everything they did right in the first quarter evaporated. Everything was forced through Roy. Aldridge got into further foul trouble. So did Oden. Outlaw cooled off. Blake was non-existent. Nate's strange three guard lineups I don't get it. We have guys who can fill the spots. Why oh why are we playing Miller/Blake/ and Roy together. Doesn't make sense. It simply doesn't work. I know Nate wants to keep Blake out there so both his point guards are happy, but this is not the way. Roy This team has outgrown the Brandon Roy iso. It doesn't work. It's not beneficial to this team. We have too many weapons now. There's no reason to clear out for Roy, have him run the clock down, and then run a half assed pick and roll, which usually ends up with Roy double teamed and forcing a bad shot. And the worst part is that the other four guys are just standing around. STANDING AROUND. What could possibly be worse for an offense than having your other four guys standing around? Blake/Miller Was this just a one time thing, or is Blake still going to log more minutes than Miller? I was under the assumption that Miller was going to come off the bench, but play the lion's share of hte minutes, and close the games... If Blake is still playing the majority of the minutes, that changes things. Fouling Anyone else get the feeling that we went into this game thinking it was like the playoffs? We remembered the Rockets cheap/physical play and we went out there with the same type of play. Unfortunately, it's not the playoffs, and the refs weren't going to let it slide haha. I just saw a flipping of the script. last year it was the Rockets pushing us around. Dominating the inside. Last night we dominated the paint. Crushed them on the boards. Ran them out of the gym at times. I know it's not the same Rocket team, but it was a nice thing to see. Overall Good game. Lots of positives. I'm looking forward to seeing the second game.
When Houston had Budinger, Brooks, and Lowry out there at the same time, they had two guards (Brooks, Lowry) that would give fits to any of Portland's guards. Seems like Nate was doing his best to match up.
Miller definitely can't stay in front of those guys. I did like how he was playing a prevent defense, trying to deny the ball to Brooks.
Yeah, it was pretty smart of Adelman to play his 2 PGs at the same time. It basically forced Nate to either go with someone bigger like Outlaw and try to punish them in the post, or to play his two PGs. I watched what Nate did with particular interest because of all the talk about him good/bad either way. The guy overachieves at 54 wins yet he's not universally appreciated for it. What I saw was that he used his entire roster (9 guys 16+ minutes), but didn't do the things the best coaches do: call time out when the other team is on a run, offense/defense substitution at the end of the game with the score close, etc.
I'm happy to take the win, but there were a couple of disturbing trends that jumped out at me and make me wonder what exactly Nate is trying to accomplish. The Blake, Roy, Miller lineup looked pretty brutal (especially defensively) Oden was a a complete non-factor at the offensive end of the court despite him covering up for the poor ability of guards and wings to cut off dribble penetration; these guys are not reciprocating him covering their lapses by rewarding him with the ball at the other end of the court. All in all, I'm getting kind of tired of the Brandon high pick and roll oriented offense and I worry that no real effort is going to be made to generate offense inside-out this year. hopefully we'll see some good things happen in the next game and the next game and the next game ...
While I love Roy's fire and leadership, I see a guy who doesn't want to let go of his comfort zone, and I think that's a bad thing. He looks so uncomfortable out there because at times the team doesn't need him. We have so many scorers that Roy doesn't always need to be the focal point. Hell, there are possessions where he might not even get a sniff of the ball. I hate when people compare Miller and Roy. They're nothing alike. Miller doesn't hold the ball nearly as long. I really think this is critical. We need to figure out a way to get Roy comfortable, but without sacrificing the flow of the team. I would love to see Roy post up more. I don't remember Jordan dominating the ball nearly as much as Roy does. At least not in the way that Roy does.
We looked decent against a scrub lineup, but only for the 6 or so minutes Brooks sat out. Not impressed at all.
