9 points and 3 rebounds last night against San Antonio's second unit. Really? I mean, really? Tim Duncan, who was sitting on the bench in a suit, must have wondered who #12 was for Portland. It certainly wasn't the same guy who destroyed him last time they faced each other. Nope. Our overlooked "All-Star" just couldn't force himself to get interested in the game, apparently, so he mailed it in the way Isiah Rider used to do. Thankfully, we have a guy named Andre Miller who knew it was still a real NBA game that would count in the standings, and came to play. He and Gerald Wallace and Batum bailed us out on a night when Aldridge couldn't have cared less.
A bad day is one thing. Not even caring is another. Aldridge should be able to get 8 or 9 rebounds a game in his sleep.
Sooo Frustrating. It's hard to get going in the game when nobody passes you the rock! Forgetting LMA as the catalyst to the offense will be the death of this team.
See Brandon Roy. Aldridge's numbers have been going down since his return. It might be LA's own attitude, or whatever, but it is happening.
Even if Roy isn't passing him the ball, he can still go after rebounds. If Aldridge can't get more than 3 rebounds against Tiago Splitter, that's pretty pathetic.
It's pretty hard to get into the game if your teammates forget about you. I don't think B-Roy is to blame, I think everyone has a responsibility to look to LMA first and foremost. Then once his O gets going, the beast comes out.
I REALLY love the way someone finds something negative to post after EVERY Blazers WIN. What a great forum this is. BNM
Re: defensive rebounding. Batum had 13 and Camby had 8. That's 21 of the Blazers' 39 rebounds. When those guys are hitting the boards hard, LMA doesn't. He doesn't box out great, and against fat-asses like Blair he can't get a handle on the ball. I once thought LMA could be a center, but that's not for this year; maybe over the summer he can work on his timing and instinct for rebounding. Re: offensive rebounding. There was a lot of guard play tonight, lots of screen and pops where the guard (Miller or Roy) would drive inside. This, of course, leaves LMA way the fuck out at 20 feet and in no position to rebound. Look who got our offensive rebounds last night: slashers and guards. Camby was the only player taller than 6'7" to get an offensive rebound, and he only had one. Re: shots/scoring. This is similar to the offensive rebounding reason: Miller and Roy didn't pass him the ball much after the pick. They took it to the rim. They were effective, too (a combined 14-22). San Antonio employed the Houston Plan against LMA (the delayed double), which the Blazers counter by passing out to the perimeter. LMA doesn't have the ball control yet to go left consistently or the pure mass blast through a double, so he passes to open shooters. He had two assists so we obviously benefited some from this plan. LMA's fantastic run was great and needed, but he still has work to do; the Houston Plan with the delayed cross-key double hurts his drive, and wide low bodies push back too much for him to get good position. Plus, San Antonio was allowed quite a bit of pushing, shoving, grabbing, and intimidation, making those entry passes to him from the guards really ineffective and late. Smother the entry pass, smother the receiver, offer a late double in the key, and you can stop just about any post play. Pop's teams are always good defensively, from 1-12, and they showed it last night.
126 mins in 4 nights. He was gasping for air at every timeout in the second half, while clearly deferring to Nic, Dre, and Gerald. He even said as much after the game.
Brandon was only on the court the same time as LA for 15 minutes or so out of the 37 minutes that Aldridge played. Roy must be putting the hex on LA from the sidelines I guess.
This reminds me of Sheed in so many ways.... LA when he "HAS" to be the man can be amazing but he seems not to "WANT" to be the man on his own. To bad! Good Crash does... I agree that the offense should run through LA but we saw how that went when we did it with Sheed! I said three weeks ago, watch LA's #'s nose dive when Roy returns and they have.... Best thing for the Blazers is for Roy to be benched and for McMuffin to hold a team meeting where he tells all players and staff that this is now LA's team! If I were LA and I saw my coach sending in Roy + having the offense run through a guy with no knees on isolation plays and four turnover in 8 minutes I might be confused too! All offense should run through LA first, Butum off the screen, and Crash attacking any and eveything not going in + Mathews and Miller keeping everyone else honest.
Including 44 minutes the night before. The guy has been averaging over 40 MPG night in and night out for months. Maybe he was a little tired last night. Let's see how he does in NO after a day to get caught up on his rest before we start shoveling the dirt on his grave. Also, now that he's officially playing center, he's guarding, and being guarded by, much bigger players, and that can be tiring. BNM
It also should be noted that teams have figured out how to play LA better than they were a month or so ago. They're forcing him out a bit farther and doubling as soon as he puts the ball on the floor. It seems to be pretty effective as he has trouble dribbling in traffic. Nate needs to come up with some new strategies to get him the ball closer to the hoop. It hasn't helped that LA's perimeter shot hasn't been dropping for him lately.
it really doesn't have to be Roy directly. It might be LA's mindset. maybe he really does still view it as being Roy's team, and doesn't quite play as hard? or maybe the team doesn't feed him the ball because it's Roy's team.....I don't know the answer. I do know though, that since Roy has come back, LA's numbers have gone down, the team stands around more, and we take way more jump shots....especially against the clock
Wallace, who is 3 years older than Aldridge, has played 121 minutes in the last 4 nights--and yet he was crashing the boards and playing hard. He got more than twice as many rebounds as Aldridge. One of Aldridge's mistakes last night was taking too many 18-foot jump shots. Rather than driving to the hoop, he reverted to the old Aldridge, and it almost cost us.
