Since the first couple of games, I've felt uneasy. The feeling continued throughout the win streak, our loss to Atlanta, and even our win last night. The reason? We seem to be getting outscrapped - a lot. We seem to be as good or better than last year, but I don't know how our results will be if we continue to be outworked by the other team. Mcmillan always seems to have something nice to say about the team, even when they are outworked by the other team. Has he even used the term "Scrap" in an interview this regular season? So, is this my imagination, or do you guys see the same thing?
I don't know if I agree with that. It's no fluke that we are leading the league in "scapping stats" like rebounding, Points allowed, Blocks, Steals and opponent's FG%. I think there are times that we get out of focus and teams can get to the loose boards, but look at the Box score. We still out hustle them in most the major categories. I think we've just grown accustom to them getting every rebound, because it's normal. And when they have their spurts of getting out hustled, it really stands out.
My wife and I were at the game last night, along with 21000 others, thanks to BlazerWookee and his tickets. I thought that the team was quite lethargic except for the 3rd qt. We walked the ball up the court so much that it lulls the team, our team, to sleep. We do very little with a quickness either on defense or offense. The Pistons almost always had their defense set before we attempted an ISO play. At the half the hustle board read Blazers 21 and Pistons 20?????
We are one of, if not THE best rebounding team in the league. However, we have not been acting like it in the last 3 games: Detroit 39 reb., Portland 37 Atlanta 47 reb., Portland 37 Portland 43 reb., Charlotte 40 (of course the game before we outrebounded the hornets by 20!) I'm not meaning to use this as "proof", but I've noticed the other teams working harder than we do.
I think we've just had a tough stretch, which will continue this week, in which they have a lot of travel and games almost every night. Even now after the trip they've got a very busy week so they won't really be able to fully recover for awhile. At least I hope this is why, because I've seen this problem as well. Watching Charlie rip that rebound away from LA last night in the fourth is just one example of many. At least they've won most of these games lately.
Small lineup = poor rebounding. It's no surprise they are getting out rebounded right now unlike last year when most of the lineups were big.
I have been dreaming for years of Portland going big on the lineup instead of small. Big players with speed cause more problems than small players with speed. Every time.
It's not your imagination. This team is flat emotionally and often downright lethargic. So far, an easy schedule has saved them.
I keep seeing Rudy getting his hands on loose balls and tipping boards... in general I'm not noticing the club being outworked. I do think that losing both Batum and Travis is a pretty big blow, and that they are down both in ability and (likely) belief in their chances of winning. Things haven't gone their way but their still is much to be salvaged/gained from this season. I like that Brandon is honing his off the ball game for stretches and I think that having him guarding 3s will likely toughen him up and pay dividends down the road. Integrating Greg and having him gain experience in the league... progress is being made but without all their best players I expect their performance to take a step back. STOMP
