Laverne & Shirley Time! - Blazers @ Bucks GAME THREAD

From NBA.com's game-story:
"ROOKIE WATCH: Portland guard Armon Johnson went 4-for-4, including two 3-pointers, to finish with 10 points and five assists in 22 minutes. "He did a good job of running the team and finding guys," McMillan said. "Creating offense and getting the ball to the open man, and then when he had his opportunity to score he took the shot. Just a solid effort. Tonight he earned the right to play more minutes."

 

Nice story by Jason Quick on Armon: http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2010/11/a_blessing_in_disguise_meet_ar.html

And the money quote from Marcus Camby:

Crazy.

 

I like how Camby is being frank with Quick. Haha, I doubt it ever gets back to Bayless anyway.

 

Armon must have had really good coaches at the high school and AAU levels. He plays a very smart game, kinda like Blake in a sense that he doesn't try to do too much.

 

That's my favorite thing about him. He is only a rookie and his decision making is way better than Bayless' was last year.

 

I was never a Bayless fan. His idea of offense was putting his head down and driving toward the hoop. So out of control and so ineffective against a team with competent bigs. So happy to have Armon, I saw this in him during summer league. A lot around here acted like us that saw the "light" with Armon were just "kool-aid" drinkers.

 

AJ was one of my favorite players heading into the draft and was really happy Portland picked him.

Safe to say that hasn't changed one bit since.

 

I just think it's crazy that Nate is actually playing him.

 

We heard plenty of positive quotes from Nate back as far as summer league about Armon, so I'm not that surprised.


Plus, with Bayless shipped does he have any other options? The no pg lineups have looked bad on both ends for the most part, and Patty Mills sure as hell isn't a Nate type player.

 

Just got done watching on NBA.com broadband (this is working good for me because when Blazers play in the East I can get up at 7:30 and watch the replay as if it is live, and the West Coast games I can just get up a little bit earlier). Anyway, for me that was our best game so far and most enjoying to watch. Even though we didn't have a great start I could see from the beginning that Roy and Miller looked serious, especially about defense. And they seemed to play well together, hopefully this will only develop further. In general the offense seemed to be pretty fluid and I only remember one Roy iso and even then he ended up passing. Like everyone else, hoping LMA can keep it up. And very encouraged by Johnson, even if he had only made half his shots, that would have been a terrific performance; he really seems to know when to pass and when to try to score.

 

I loved how when AJ went on that run in the forth, Miller was set to check in at the scorers table. When the Bucks called timeout, Dre was the first one out there congratulating him. He went to Nate and said, "Keep him in"! Nice gesture by the veteran.

 

Great finish after a slow start for the Blazers. Aldridge has really been stepping up his game of late, and I would have bet money he had more points and rebounds than he did last night. To me, that means he was everywhere.

 

I can live with a 3-1 road trip any time.

 

first lock for the end of the year reel

STOMP

 

It's also a super savvy move by Miller. Something like that can backfire if Armon would have flamed out, but on the other hand when a guy is feeling it, getting extended burn in just your fifth game as a pro, during crunch time when the game is still in the balance can really give a guy a lift ... especially when they deliver. The more critical positions he gets to appear in and the more he's able to step up, the more dividends the team will reap in April when it really counts

 

What he actuallly said was "Keep him in! Put me in for Roy".

Good game.

 

I didn't get to see the game, but good job by the Blazer bench stepping up, and it looks like the team got a more solid defensive effort. I did catch the highlight pass from Armon to Cunningham, that was a very sweet play. I was actually kind of surprised that Cunningham got up after that one like he did. The pass was right on the money. More of that please. Maybe in about a month that pass will be to Greg Oden......