I know it was a pretty bad loss, and most people won't be happy (I don't expect you to be), but I've got a few questions as I wasn't able to watch the game. 1. Bayless had 22 minutes, and Andre had 6. I understand that Blake is going to start, but I was a little surprised to see this. What do you think the reason for this was? Were we out of it too much by the time we would've put Andre in or did Bayless just deserve it more than the other PGs? 2. How did Dante do? 3. Roy had alright numbers, but how did he do? 4. Were Oden's fouls legit? 5. Did anyone do their job on defense? Any other tidbits would be appreciated. I'm assuming that the typical issues with Nate's substitution pattern arose as well.
I think Miller is hurt. Bayless is a bulldog. He's a scrapper. He's scrappy. He scraps. I heard Nate likes that. Silver lining of this game: Nate got to clear his bench and give the young guys some burn. Dante looks like I expected he would and why I was beggin Nate to play him. He looks good (IMO) especially for a late pick with little experience to-date. He muscled some nice rebounds, played tough D, hit his open jumpers, hustled, and had the jam of the game on a fast break pass from Rudy. He's serviceable -- at least he would be if the starters would hold up their part of the bargain. Roy had a few nice moves and some nice shots, but he still looks out of sorts. It's a team problem. For the most part yeah. It doesn't seem like he's getting reamed with phantom fouls like last season. His first foul of the game was very legit -- a nice hard foul. He got his money's worth. I like that. The worst thing about the game to me was when the Blazers worked their way back into the game in the second quarter and got to within nine points with two minutes left in the first half, then Nate sat Oden, to 'save' him I guess. It took the Jazz a mere two minutes to bury us. Game over. I called it when Nate sat him down. WTF was Nate saving Greg for? Garbage minutes on the wrong end of a blowout? Apparently, he was.
Oden put Okur on his ass hard early in the game and he never came in the key again. Nice! Maybe the only highlight of the night.
Andre looks like a guy who has been put in a system that takes away his strengths and exploits his weakness.
What do you need to hear....uh coach=ing, if you want to call taking a player out of the game that is hitting his shots....Martell.... MILLER IS AN IRON MAN AND A WARRIOR...even if he is a little injured...he is being kicked when he is down by our coach....HE AND EVERYONE ELSE IN PORTLAND AND THE REST OF THE COUNTRY KNOW THAT HE SHOULD BE STARTING....So when he did go in...he played poorly plain and simple..missed shots, turnovers, mattador defense..back to the bench and there he stayed for the rest of the game.....What is more interesting is that Steve Blake sucked even worse today..walking the ball up the court...not feeding the post...missing shots...uh missing three pointers because that is all he seems to take...no penetration...no rebounds...no stealS,,,,BUT OH YEAH HE REALLY TAKES CARE OF THE BALL...VERY LOW TURNOVERS...WHOOOPPPEEE
