I was amazed to see last night that Steve Blake was the difference maker. Every time he came on the floor, the Blazers made a run. And the game really went in the crapper for the final time when the fourth quarter started without him. With Bayless running the point, and the Blazers up 2, it went like this: turnover, OKC fast break score (repeat three times). I think at that point Nate was itching to take Bayless out, but probably second guessed himself because of damaging Bayless's confidence. At that point I went for a snack, and when I came back it was essentially all over. I only say this because over on Blazers' Edge all they do is point out that Blake missed all 5 shots. Did they actually watch the game? He was the only one of our guards who actually looked like he could handle OKC's pressure. And looking at the boxscore this morning, he had the highest + rating of the Blazers (not hard, admittedly). So. I'm not a big Blake fan - he's in the group of players (with Martell and Bayless) that I'd be least sad about losing, but for this game, at least, he made me worry that we'd actually miss him.
Blake was OK, overall. He shot poorly and pulled up on a few easy fast break opportunites. But he also showed his usual ability to hustle. I saw nothing special from him.
Yeah, the start of the 4th was hard to watch. Bayless, Rudy and Martell really stunk it up. I didn't get why Batum didn't start the 4th. Oh wait, typical Nate Mac substitution pattern. Reward the players who helped climb back with benching them for the ones who'd sucked.
I hate Blake but he was better then the rest of the guards last night, including Andre Miller. Honestly, I think that says more about how the other guards played then it says about Blake.
Sometimes just doing not much and not making mistakes is a lot better than guys who make a lot of mistakes. The problem being, the guys making mistakes, and not making plays.
Best thing I like about Blake is his attitude. I haven't heard the guy bitch one time this year. Bayless talked about a trade through his agent. Miller grumbled in the press and blew up at the coach. Rudy is always a play away form an injury or wondering where he fits. Roy has subtly bitched. My hat is off to Webster and Blake for keeping their composure through a very difficult year.
I thought you were joking....You are actually serious? Sorry, but running around out there and providing NOTHING...is not an "upgrade" over the other guards Rudy\Bayless\Martell who were stinking the joint up.... Blake has been HORRIBLE this year...not bad...HORRIBLE.... I mean did you watch him play last night? The guy is afraid to shoot the ball....and when he does, he is missing badly...I mean BADLY...Now maybe it was hard to see last night because he was FAR from alone in that aspect...but you cannot have a guy in the lineup who WON'T shoot the ball and whose ONLY ability is to hit an outside jumper, which he seems incapable of doing currently...... A couple bad turnovers, again he wasn't the only one, but if Nate's reason for having him in there is that he is so fundamentely solid, then he certainly wasn't helping that cause last night.... POR needs scoring....BADLY...and give OKC credit they partially took Aldridge out of the equation (LaMarcus' passivity on offense certainly didn't help)...Leaving who? exactly to score? Right now, whenever Blake is in the game it is like the team is playing 4 on 5 offensively...you can't have that and expect to succeed...
I specifically liked starting Martell and Batum, and having that last an entire 2 1/2 minutes before putting Blake in for Webster. Who was 0-1 with a charge taken. Hardly "get that clown off the floor" play.
He has been horrible. But the facts are, last night he was better then the guys that committed 24 turnovers and went 1 for 18 from the 3 point line before the end of the game......You have to admit, that was pretty bad.
My hat is off to everyone for noticing that Blake had a decent night...aside from his shooting which was awful like almost everyone else's. I don't think Blake is great, I think he's a solid backup that fits well when playing beside Roy. He's a role player that is generally consistent in what he's brings every night. That's pretty helpful and it's it's obvious that Nate values/(over)values that quality!
The starting lineup offense was not working at all... For all the general talk of Nate's rotational rigidity he figured out it wasn't working pretty quickly. And, as soon as Blake came in he managed to get the ball into LA a few times in a row which the starting lineup had been unable to do. LA missed the shots, but it looked pretty clear Blake was brought in to get LA the ball and he succeeded in that role.
Is this thread for real? Blake was mediocre and only looked good in comparison to the rest of the team that somehow found a way to play worse. Blake still kills any fast break opportunities when he's in the game, consistently pulling the ball back when we have numbers. There's almost zero chance of this team getting easy points at the hoops when he's running the point.
Nobody is arguing against that. But last night he was better than the other guys, because they flat out stunk. Maybe once you get that, you will realize what this thread was about. I fucking hate Blake. But he was better than the guys stinking it up last night, which says something about how badly they played.
Seriously? I watched the whole game last night, and while Blake wasn't horrible, in spite of 0-5 shooting, he did some other things well. Obviously Miller's stats (22 PTS, 6 REB, 6 AST, 9-18 FG, 1-1 3FG, 3-3 FT) were WAY, WAY, WAY better than Blake's, but Miller was also the only Blazer on the court last night who was able to create ANY offense for himself and others. Yeah, Miller tried to force things at the end and took some bad shots and committed some TOs, but at that point, NOTHING else was working and he did have some success penetrating. He just took it too far, but the game was lost anyway if he didn't TRY to make something happen. Seriously, if that's a GOOD game for Blake, all the more reason to trade him. He scores ZERO points and people are praising him for having one of his better games of the season, and the sad thing is, they are right. That tells you how bad Steve Blake has been this season. BNM
Blake was obviously better than Rudy and Webster last night...I think he was also better than the tunnel-visioned Bayless. That's kind of his role...consistent, average play...he was missing his shot like everyone else...but at least he brings SOMETHING else to the game when he's missing his shot... Are people actually blaming this loss on Blake?
