I was impressed with both of them tonight. I say let Greg play until he is tired or fouls out. Joel can handle the rest. They are both great on defense and it really makes a positive difference when one of them is in the game.
Joel had his way with Blair. Though, Blair did make it tough on him on the glass. A 6'5" C/PF, I don't know what he was thinking taking it right at a 7'1" big.
As a guy who doesn't get to see most of the games (thanks Comcast), this was probably the best overall performance from Oden that I've seen. He held his own vs. Duncan tonight and then some. I was thoroughly impressed.
I am so happy for Greg tonight. He outplayed Tim Duncan straight up. He didn't rush his moves in the post, he had his hook shot goin, and just overall looked very confident out there. He even made the proper adjustments after he got in early foul trouble, and kept his arms straight up in the 2nd half. That block on Duncan was fucking sweet, especially since it wasn't from the weakside. Timmy took it to him mano a mano and Greg owned him. Very proud of our big fella tonight!!
If you'd like to see the whole game replayed, go here: http://espn.go.com/broadband/espn360/player?gameId=293112390&sportCode=&league=NCAAF
Yeah, they were great! So it still puzzles me when Nate has stretches when both sit at the same time. There was a five-minute stretch when both were on the bench.. and I think that was to begin the fourth when the Spurs made their run.
I think it's to mix things up. Even though it looked like a bad call, I was understanding why. Nate changed the tempo of the game, the entire game. He was in total control <<< KUDOS BTW. So he would make the spurs run around more with the "No center team", then when the power players came in, they were a little tired.
I understand about mixing things up, but we did that against Atlanta as well, and they killed us inside too and came back to win that game. LA doesn't have a rebounding mentality, and Travis doesn't either.. and when you have those two as your PF and C, it hurts our inside game defensively. We have the best C combination in the league, we should use it, especially when combined they're putting up good numbers.
The difference between last night and the game against Atlanta wasn't that. We didn't make the right sub decisions. When we had the big lead against Atlanta, we failed to score inside to keep the pressure on them. We were hoisting up perimeter shot after perimeter shot. Also, the Atlanta 3 guard line-up wasn't working together to take away the perimeter penetration. I think Parker and Gionobli are a much better penetrating combo than Bibby and Johnson or Crawford. Our players didn't have that sense of urgency to give them an outside shot and take everything inside away from them.
I agree 100% and as I mentioned in another thread, the ONLY time we should EVER have neither Greg or Joel on the floor is garbage time. The small line-up sucks. It has failed every time Nate has tried it. He played Greg and Joel a combined 10 minutes in the second half against Atlanta, and we all saw the results. He tried it in the 4th quarter against Houston on opening night and it let Houston back in a game that should have been an easy win. With no shot blocking center, other teams just drive down the lane for easy lay-ups and dunks - like Chase Budinger in that Houston game. Houston cut the lead to six. Oden comes back in and within seconds blocks Kyle Lowry's lay-up and Portland wins. For a guy who preaches defense, Nate sure is quick to give it up (Oden and Przybilla) in favor of offense (Outlaw). Not only does out defense suffer (greatly) with Greg and Joel out. It allows other teams way too many second chance points. And it' hurts our offense. Joel may not be much of a scorer, but he leads the league in offensive rebound percentage (ORB%), by a wide margin, at 22.8%. That means when Joel is in the game, we get an extra possession for very 4 - 5 shots we miss. That's HUGE - especially in close games. We get another chance to score AND a new 24 seconds on the shot clock. BTW, Oden is 3rd in the league in ORB% at 16.0%. To not have one of these guys on the court is just asking to get beat. Defense and rebounding wins games. We are blessed to have two of the best rebounders and interior defenders in the league on our roster. Voluntarily giving up those advantages is just plain stupid. BNM
Last year, the Blake-Fernandez-Roy-Outlaw-Aldridge unit was our 3rd highest in win% There are places where it works and there are places where it does not. Against ATL - it did not - but the absolutes just do not make sense if you look at past data - see 82games.com for details.
91 total minutes over the course of an 82 game season is a pretty small ample size. According to 82games.com, that unit was also our worst defensive unit all year and easily the worst rebounding unit of our top 10 in minutes. If we have a big lead, that unit might be able to score a few quick points and pad the lead, but I certainly would not rely on it in a close game with the game on the line. I'll take defense and rebounding every time. BNM
