If they double with Miller's man then that is a problem. If they double with a center then it will be nice to get Greg back to receive the pass under the basket. If they double with the SF or SG then I will be happy with the open perimeter shot. I don't remember them doubling with Nash though
I kinda like this thread is titled like a facebook status up date. "Mixum: Cant believe nobody is killing LMA"
Once he outlets it, they have to scramble. Sometimes that will work, sometimes it will lead to an open shot, sometimes an easy drive off of a missed assignment. If a team wants to cover one of our guys with two of theirs, I welcome that.
I thought he looked bad on offense and his handling of the double team, but everywhere else I thought he actually played pretty good. We'll see how he handles Kaman, Griffin and Jordan tonight.
I will say that the two times LMA got the ball in position (that I saw) with one man defending he ended up taking fadeaway 15-footers that missed. I'll have to rewatch to get the exact times. That's one of my criticisms (though I don't think it's worth "killing" a man over)...that he doesn't attack the rim or the smaller defender in one-on-one situations. Honestly, I'm ok if he sticks with the pick-and-pop as his main weapon. But I wish sometimes that he had never learned about the fadeaway jumper. Use some footwork (Hakeem-style) or overpower someone (Shaq-style) and get to the rim.
LMA had two 1-coverage deep positions that I saw - one against Turk where he went hard to the basket and got free-throws and one against Frye where he tried to move quick from a pass from Camby and missed - overall I think he played smart, he did not try to force it when it was not there but tried to attack when he was in position. Overall, I liked his game, he played in the flow of the game and the double-teams opened the floor for the Blazers.
I agree with Quick's take that Aldridge sort of took one for the team. He was doubled on every play and he served as a nice decoy for most of the game. Good teams take turns on different nights. Watch the Celtics sometime.
Aldridge commented on this last season, when Greg was still playing, and people were criticizing his stats after getting his big contract, and he just kind of said the guys on this team know what I can do, and what I am doing. I think this is in the same thinking. They know what he is doing out there, and aren't asking him to force his way into a double team when he can kick it out.
I know, right? Honestly, I couldn't care less if Aldridge were 15/5, 20/10, or 17/8. If he helps us win, he helps us win.
One of the reasons that Aldridge is valuable is that he is so long and nimble and can scramble on defense much more than the vast majority of 4s in the league. He can be part of a full-court press, and indeed was on several occasions yesterday. Of course, this doesn't show up in a boxscore. What does show up is that he was +5, which presumably counts for something. By some miracle the team seemed to overcome his suckage and outscore the Suns by 5 when he was on the court.
I wonder how much we'll see of Andre Miller posting up in the future. That way HE can demand a double team, rather than be somebody you can double OFF of when the ball goes into Aldridge. Of course, he did this in the first playoff game against the Suns and they adjusted by putting Hill on him. So then the question is, can Nick punish PGs when they're put on him? He doesn't seem to post up as well as you'd think (even when guarded by Nash) but made up for it by getting a ton of ORs.
I think it will take Nick some time to adjust to posting. It is not immediate - but he did adjust from last year by going in, forcing Nash to rebound (which he did not) or keep up with him when he cuts to the basket (which, again, Nash did not). So, overall - I think we are just scratching the surface of what Nic can do - and if there is one guy I trust will adjust his skills and expand them - it's that guy.
