i said this last week... play webster batum and la together. great defense. you could also play roy at pg. miller is useless cause he cant hit a jumper and makes waaaaay to many turnovers in crunch time. roy - pg webster - sg batum - sf la - pf oden - c (if he ever plays)
that is a HUGE lineup. I think Batum would have to have a majority of the carrying the ball across mid-court responsibilities.
It only works IMO, if Webster is having a good shooting night much like tonight. His defense has also become a liability, lately. So if he is feeling it, then go for it. However, I prefer Bayless or Rudy if he is doing well while Roy is still out.
i agree with egame, in that if martell is feeling it and has bought into playing d on that particular night than ride him, la and nic. if not look for rudy or bayless.
I like it. When Roy is back, sit Howard and have LA- Center Nic- PF Webster- SF Roy- SG Miller- PG Not a bad lineup.
Except for the fact that Aldridge is mentally weak at the end of games. Who'd have ever thought that he'd be the forward most deserving of that label?
Really. In what way has Webster's defense been a liability lately? Comparatively speaking to others on the team, which is what we are talking about here.
People sure are all over the board on assessing Martell's Defense. After we beat LA last month he was being hailed as a defensive stopper by some (did a great job on Kobe) And now he's a liability? The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
Against the Spurs, and without Roy, it was the right group. You had sufficient size inside with Howard and Aldridge to deal with Duncan (and Howard had that assignment more of the time - and was doing a good job), you had two shooters who could spread the floor with Batum and Webster, and you had someone who could drive and make good decisions, with Andre. Had Bayless been healthy, I still would've gone with the above lineup because Miller was holding his own pretty well as the guy who needed to drive the ball, and it was nice having two reliable outside shooters (more reliable than Bayless, I'd say) in Batum and Webster. That said - Miller's missed free throws and his bonehead foul could've cost the Blazers the game in the final seconds. But that would have been so out of character and bizarre, I wouldn't have blamed it on McMillan's choice of lineup.
Should have thrown in an "except for lastnight", because dude was anything but weak. Aldridge stepped up big time down the stretch, for probably the first time in his career!
It's kind of like what I talked about before. Going big. It's not mystery that bigger players with enough speed give problems to smaller players. Consider that Batum could probably play PG as well. Throw him out there with Roy and Webster, and make Portlands size a problem for every team in the league every night of the week. You can switch everything on the perimeter. You can make the opposing PG night really rough because they are constantly hounded by taller players. It totally makes sense.
Nic is ALWAYS active. Martell is at his best, by far, when he is active, constantly moving, running off screens, etc. Having the two of them in together, combined with Andre and LaMarcus (who was running the floor after every defensive rebound) meant great player movement and great ball movement which led to many easy baskets. Much better than the all ISO all the time offense we usually see in the 4th quarter. The best part of Nic and Martell together is Martell benefits from being on the court with Nic rather than sitting on the bench worrying about losing PT to him. BNM
how much time do you think nic has been in with andre? i cant imagine its been very much time..... didnt dre say he could get points for nic?
