Nate should do with Rudy and Camby what Gentry did with Hill and Richardson as his big adjustment. That is, tell Rudy to shoot better, and Camby to make a lay-up. It's kind of out of the box, but it seemed to work well for Gentry.
I like this idea. Martell plays pretty well at shooting guard. With him on the floor Phoenix wouldn't be able to hide Nash on defense like they have the last two games. Granted, Martell isn't an awe inspiring option. But his size creates a mis-match the Suns would have to address somehow. Make Jason Richardson work on d and Portland can win the series. Let me relax on D and Portland has zero chance.
The team obviously needs to get a bit more scrappy with their play. But seriously, LMA really needs to man up to that Gigantic contract and potential of his. He really is frustrating with his ability to disappear at times. Also, what's with the absence of effort on the court? Do the Blazers need to hire a shrink for motivation/anti-depression? Or maybe it's the medical staff and their nutrition program. I've had my doubts about their handling of injuries over the past couple of years, maybe the nutritional aspect has something to do with the Blazers looking so drab and lethargic??
This if Rudy can actually be a spark off the bench. This whether he starts or not. Take on Nash or run off some screens, people complain about Rudy but he's being totally misused Bottom Line for the Blazers in this series. The rest will come from there.
Not really. We have tried to run him off screens, and the one thing Nash can do reasonably well on defense is run around chasing after a perimeter player and then contest a jumper. It's really not much different for him from what Nash does on the offensive end. When we run that play, the only thing that happens is Fernandez winds up right back where he started with Nash in his face, deciding if he wants to shoot over him. He either misses, or he gives it back to the point guard, which means we wasted 5-6 seconds doing nothing. Nash is at a massive disadvantage when you can dribble drive, post up or rise up and shoot over him him. Rudy can't do any of those things.
Felt like this was worthy of a bump. It took until game 4, but I think starting Bayless was the right move. He just puts so much more pressure on Nash and forces him to use some of his energy on the defensive end!
