Since there was a game last night. Just had this sent to me. Nate McMillan (6:15 PM), Travis Outlaw (7:05 PM) and Jeff Pendergraph (in-studio for 7 PM hour) will all be guests on Trail Blazers Courtside tonight. It should also be noted that Merlin will be making a special guest appearance on Courtside tonight at 7:30 PM, so adjust accordingly.
I LOL'd when I watched Rice, er, Merlin try and put headphones on over that goofy pointed scorcerer's cap............two straight shows! They finally got wise and got him a different mic. That said, thanks for the heads up...as it were.
Travis will put us all at ease by telling us he has been shooting every day. Just what we need him to do when he gets back.......Take shots away from Oden
Nate may be slow.....but he's learning. I really liked what he said tonight in regards to Oden and LMA in those situations whereas they pick up fouls: "They need to learn how to play when they have 2 fouls." Basically, he said he screwed up in the Warriors game by trying to "save" them for the second half. By the time they came back, it was too late. Nate appears to be listening and learning. Personally, I'm OK with that.
Interesting point by Nate on the rotation substitution where Oden comes out @ 6 min... He said that around that time Oden starts to fatigue and pick up ticky tack fouls so he tries to get him out before he picks up those tired fouls.
Fatigue is NOT the reason he picks up fouls. Last night, he looked more energized late in the 4th quarter (after playing most of the 2nd half) than I've ever seen him. How many times have we seen him pick up 2 "ticky tack" fouls in the first 2 minutes of the game? Or a 3rd one seconds into the 3rd quarter? Posturing by Nate. He doesn't want to further damage Oden's confidence by admitting he yanks him at the 6 minute mark b/c he's afraid he can't play MORE than 6 minutes w/o picking up a foul or two. If you manage to get him out at 6 minutes with 0 or 1 foul, you feel fortunate. One thing I noticed last night is that Greg is making a better effort to stay out of foul trouble. He got dunked on twice last night, and I truly believe (especially on the Noah dunk) that it only happened b/c he was trying to avoid the foul - it was really a half hearted attempt at a block. If you watch the replay Greg is pulling back to avoid contact.
Well hopefully, he will learn from his mistakes regarding the sub patterns. What I want him to learn most from protecting leads with telling them to ISO and shoot jumpers. Better to break their backs with terror in the paint. As much as we all love watching those threes drop, I would much rather watch those pretty entry passes and cuts to the basket more.
I'm actually impressed with Oden's court smarts! He makes very good choices; After a team has scored, Oden often is the one who throws the ball into the PG. He's very safe with the ball. Same with outlet passing...and of late, he's making some great passes to cutters when he has the ball in the low post! And I'm truly starting to believe that he's "learning" how to play smarter on the defensive end - it must take great control to let Noah and Rose dunk over you like that. Especially from Oden, who's used to swatting everything down. He's gaining some self-control and it is starting to show! If Greg is a young player who has a capacity to "learn" - - - then we just may have a diamond in the rough - provided he can avoid injury, of course. Go Greg! Keep up the good work. PS: I was amazed at his energy in the 4th quarter last night - just amazed! Could it be "Confidence?" I think so!
As long as it doesn't piss off the best backup center in the NBA. I think Greg's sharing time with Joel so Joel will consider staying. Whether this decision is Nate's, KP's, or Greg's, I believe it is an olive branch to Joel.
