Everyone post your thoughts about what the Blazers need to do to win. Just a few thoughts from me first. I have been very surprised lately when watching the Suns at how much better they have gotten on defense. I know, sounds bizarre. I am not saying that they are a defensive juggernaut, but they are also not the no-D-Suns from seasons past. Nash. On offense, Miller needs to post him up draw some fouls. Be physical on him. When Miller is out of the game, Bayless can also post up, but I would actually like to see him use his speed vs. Nash and run Nash ragged. Of course, Nash only plays 32 min per game, and Dragic is actually a pretty good PG also. On Defense, I would like Nash to see a lot of different things and force him to keep adjusting. Batum and Bayless should be two primarily tasked with defending him, but Miller, Rudy and others should all get their chance. Amare. We are going to need a lot of weak side assistance to try and contain him. He makes a lot of points lately via fouls, and the Blazers are going to have to find a way to have their length bother Amare without non-stop fouling. Camby and Aldridge really need to work together with him. When Batum is not on Nash, I would like him to front Amare with Camby or Aldridge behind. Basically, we need to contain Nash and Amare and force the rest of their team to beat us. Considering how good the Blazers have become at help D and switching lately, I think we can use that to put just enough pressure on the rest of the suns while concentrating on the big two. Your thoughts.
Start pendergraph. Have him punch Stoudamire in the nose REALLY hard at the opening tip. Make sure he is out for the playoffs. Start Patty. Same to Nash. /Series
Oh, I suppose the follow up move would be, re-sign Patty Mills, 4 years, 20 million, same for Jeff in the offseason. Thanks for the help guys. Cunningham does it in the second round to Dirk or Duncan. Diener in the WCF to Kobe. And then finally, Howard to Lebron in the Finals. All get big paydays in the offseason, to go along with their championship rings.
This is going to be one of those games where "Nate McMillan Basketball" pays off. The Suns always sucker teams into playing at their pace, but it's hard to see that happening after we've played 82 games of plodding basketball. Batum's ability to cover Nash will be absolutely crucial. If he can take him out of his normal game, Portland stands a chance even without Roy.
Ok just a few things I have noticed: 1. Distinction between bench and starting units. The bench and the starting unit play much differently. It is very important to register that in players mind during the game. The second unit relies primarily on 3 point shooting and running. The starters not so much. The second unit has basically no shot blocking inside, unless you consider Admundsen a shot blocker. I consider him more of a "dirty foul machine". 2. I agree you have to attack Nash with Miller. Be prepared for them to just switch off a bigger guard or Grant Hill onto Miller though. That is what I would do. I don't believe Bayless has the post game in his repertoire. 3. How to deal with Jason Richardson will depend on Roy. Jason Richardson tends to lose his confidence when facing Roy, but becomes much more confident and aggressive when any of the other guards are on him. Not having Roy out there will make him much more agressive on the floor, and we will have to figure out how to deal with his physicality. I am not sure Rudy can. He doesn't deserve a double team, but we have to make sure our guards get weak side help. 4. This is the most important part to playing PHX: You absolutely positively, have to attack the paint mercilously. They thrive on teams taking lot of 3 pointers and running off of the long rebounds they provide. PHX tends to play the zone a lot more than other teams, and dare you to make your shots. When Bayless is in, and with how Rudy has been shooting, I would not be surprised if they did this to the Blazers until the Blazers showed they can beat it. Know at some point they are going to drop the zone on you. Be ready to attack it. 5. Plan on them platoon mobbing Aldridge every time he gets the ball. With no Roy, they will mob him every time. We must have cutters making the right play. Our cutters must finish strong. This will be playoff basketball, they won't want to let folks get layins.
I super-hope he proves me wrong, but I think LMA is the worst of our bigs (Oden, Przy, Camby, Howard, even JP) at passing out of the post or double-team situations. I'm cringing at the thought of how many fade-away contested J's he's going to put up in the first quarter. That said, if he even just passes it back to the perimeter for Rudy/Miller/Webster/Batum to swing the ball around, there's gold in them thar hills. PHX doesn't rush out to 3pt shooters that well. Someone please remember that Channing Frye can shoot open 3's like Kyle Korver. I don't want to see a post title of "Channing Effing Frye scored 33 on us?!?!?". Just get a hand in his face. I liked what I saw from Webster denying K*be and Durant the ball these last couple of games. Have LMA start out on Stoudemire, and have Camby playing cleanup. They'll be switching a ton on the Nash P&Rs anyway.
Yea I agree with you to start LMA on him. Plus that way, if LMA gets into foul trouble, we can always cover up by switching Camby over and letting Lamarcus guard one of their less heralded center types. The one positive we have, is when Collins is in at center, our centers can roam freely and block shots without much risk.
One major thing we lost by not having Roy is the pressure he puts on the other team with his drives. He causes about 7 fouls per game on opponents. Those 7 fouls, comined with the 7 that Miller normally gets, the 3 that Aldridge gets and the 2-3 that Bayless gets usually causes one, two, or three opponents to miss playing time during the game because they get in foul trouble (such as 2 fouls in the 1st Qtr...got to leave, or 3 fouls by the 2nd Qtr....gotta leave). It also slows the game down, gets us to the free throw line so we don't have to make as many buckets (something we aren't as good at as other teams). I don't think we can make up those 7 fouls. I know how Nate feels about it and he's going to try to get it through their thick skulls (not Miller's, of course). Batum has the capablity of getting 2 or 3. He usually gets only 1. The same goes with Martell. But, I think Bayless, though I hate the idea of him getting 15 or more minutes per game, is our best chance of getting 5 or 6 or 7 fouls on their opponents and doing it in 15-18 minutes of playing time. Bayless does that and we win the game late in the 4th Qtr. We won one of our games against them because we shot 10 more free throws than they did. I know that's what Nate and that's what Andre will try to emphasize to everyone. We've got to not take outside shots, and pound that ball inside with cuts and slants and drives to the hoop by Batum, by Webster, and by Aldridge, and definitely by Bayless. I don't want to see Bayless taking one shot outside of 2 feet in this series.
