The good news is... LaMarcus Aldridge says his mom is too ill to fly, so he is glad Blazers play in Dallas, so she can see him play. His mom is battling cancer Quick via twitter
LMA has had some really good games in Dallas this year and has used his mom being there as inspiration. He's going to win in front of his mom. That's all I meant. As someone who has had a mom fight cancer I know that it isn't good news.
No way Mags, I don't agree at all for a number of reasons. #1. I think this is a best case scenario for Andre Miller, and I think he's going to have a field day with Kidd trying to guard him. This is the team he dropped 52 points on last season, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some big games from Miller in this series. If Miller can do his thing, the Mavs are toast. #2. Gerald fucking Wallace. Who on that team is going to stop him? #3. We have two guys who can guard Dirk. I feel better about this series than I did about Phoenix, and waaaaay better than I did about Houston.
Come on Nate and whomever else believes that I am actually worried. I am a homer by fault. Do you honestly believe I think any team can beat us? I just thought you guys were tired of me saying we are gonna win it all!
Unless your name is John Canzano. I predict now that Canzano will milk this angle for all it's worth and we'll see at least one tear jerker column about LMA's mom per playoff round. Seriously, I feel bad for both LaMarcus and his mom. Cancer is no laughing matter and I'd never wish it on my worst enemy. BNM
how/when the fuck did the mavs pick up corey brewer? miller = kidd? wes < teri gwall > marion lma < dirk camby = chandler roy = peja lol mills < rbois batum > brewer cj < heywood rudy = barea
Terry has been in decline for the past two seasons. He's 33 now and only slightly better (and just as streaky) as Wes on offense. But, Matthews is WAY, WAY better on defense. Definitely, on both ends of the court. Marion's better days are long since passed. Wallace is now what Marrion was 5 years ago in his prime. Again, you're only half right. Dirk is better on offense, but Aldridge is better on defense. And, for all the shit he takes around here, Aldridge is a better rebounder than Dirk. I'd actually give the edge to Chandler on this one (as long as he can keep his cool and not get tossed). Chandler has improved on offense and is a better man-to-man defender. Camby is a slightly better rebounder, a MUCH better passer (Chandler is a total black hole who makes Eddy Curry look like Steve Nash when it comes to passing the ball) and better at team/help defense, but is very limited (even compared to Chandler) on offense. Roy and Peja are both players who aren't nearly as good as the used to be due to injuries, but if I had to pick one of them to hit a big shot, or have a big game, I'd take Roy. The bench rotations will be shortened during the playoffs. I don't expect guys like Chris Johnson and Corey Brewer to play enough to matter. DaShawn Stevenson and Brian Cardinal will both play more minutes than Corey Brewer. You should also be comparing Patty Mills to Barea (two pipsqueak, shoot first, defensive liability back-up PGs that talk with funny accents) and Rudy to Beaubois (two skinny, streaky shooting, back-up SGs, who sometimes try to play the point, shoot and miss too many 3-pointers, run around frantically with very little net positive impact, and again with the accents). In all seriousness, I expect the Blazers to stick with an 8-man rotation for most of the play-offs. The first three off the bench will be Batum, Roy and Rudy. If you consider Terry a bench player, our top three off the bench are at least as good as their top 3. And, if Terry is coming off the bench, that means they are starting the skinny, undersized, underperforming (PER = 11.4) Beaubois at SG, which gives us another advantage in the starting line-up. Mills will also get a few spot minutes, but likely not enough to matter. Same with the Dallas deep bench guys. They will go deeper than 8 as Carlisle will need to chose whether he wants offense or defense off the bench, but big deal if their 9th, 10th and 11th men are better than ours. In the big picture those aren't the guys who will decide this series. It should be a close series, but if you consider both offense and defense, and a short 8 to 8.5 man rotation, I give the edge to the Blazers. We are much better defensively than Dallas, and that will be the difference. This is where they miss Caron Butler, as he was really their only player other than Marion that is above average at both ends of the court (and Marion isn't nearly as good as he used to be, and is inferior at both ends to Gerald Wallace). We have Aldridge, Wallace, Matthews and Batum who are all average, or better, at both ends. Advantage us! BNM
Roddy Beaubois may not play and definitely won't start. Stevenson is starting at the 2. http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/mavericks/post/_/id/4676422/carlisle-on-pulling-roddy-it-was-time
