Blazers @ Grizzlies 01/04/2013, 5:00 PM (PST) - GAME THREAD

Us: "Yay! We won!"

You: "Great, now we're mediocre again..."

Us: "Fucking wet blanket."

You: "Was it something I said?"

Us: "Yes!"

 

Nice work tonight Luke Babbitt lover

 

Whats up with you whiners? NO ONE in the media even predicted this team would go .500.

 

Just touched down in Minny! Fucking 10 degrees out! Everybody's in good spirits!

 

Even though my team came up with the L, this was a fun one to watch.

Coach Hollins really pissed me off with the play he drew up for the last shot of the game though. He always puts way too much trust in Rudy Gay and continues to give him the ball with the game on the line, but he's horrible in the clutch. I don't think I've ever seen him make a game winner, but I've sure seen him miss a lot. Hell, looking back to the Clippers/Grizz playoff series last year, he actually bricked two potential game winners, yet he's still Lionel's guy in the clutch for some odd reason.

Two things happened that no one could have predicted ahead of time - Tony Allen got absolutely burned by Wes Matthews and Marreese Speights wound up leading the game in scoring. Weird...

For as good of an offensive game as Speights had though, I think not having Z-Bo is the elephant in the room when you talk about this game. Speights might have put up the rebounding numbers, but the difference is that he missed out on a lot of game deciding boards in crunch time and failed to put in the type of tip-ins that are Z-Bo's bread and butter.

I also agree that Gasol's blocks were pretty inflated. I saw maybe 5-6 legit blocks, but 8 seems a bit excessive.

 

I just got back from ER, feeling much better now, but reading this page I thought we must have lost,,,but no we won! GO BLAZERS!!!

 

Haha, that's great! The funny thing is, I'm usually yelling the same thing when Rudy gets the ball in the clutch but as a Grizz fan.

I still can't get over his bricks in games 1 and 3 of the Clippers/Grizz series. Shooting 40% and 38% in those games, Lionel went to him in both games, he bricked both potential game winners, and we lost both by a single point. That will really stick with you after losing a close seven game series.

Just earlier this week on New Years Eve, we went to Rudy down 3 at the end of the game, and he took a really bad, contested shot with five seconds left on the clock. As sick as I am of Rudy Gay, I'm just as sick with Lionel Hollins going to him in the clutch during every clutch game, especially when we have a legit seven footer that has range out to the three point line and an All-Star power forward that consistently knocks down the midrange.

I'm impressed with the Trail Blazers though. The Grizzlies played a pretty decent game, all things considered, but I never expected an L, even sans Z-Bo. Lillard didn't even have that exceptional of a game.

Rudy was a hack, but the only thing that I can really point to for the loss was Tony Allen's play on both ends of the court. Usually Allen is the reason we win the close ones, but letting Matthews go off for 21 points is inexcusable for Tony Allen, and while everyone knows that he's a horrible offensive player, the thing that stands out about his 2-9 FG is that he actually took nine shots. He's had a little too much offensive confidence lately, and both coach Hollins and Mike Conley should stop encouraging him to shoot.

Allen was absolutely burned by Matthews though, which is the biggest letdown, because in my opinion, he's best defender in the game (although comparing post defenders and perimeter defenders is a complete apples and oranges scenario). His role is to go out there and lock down the opposing team's best player, and he'll lock down All-Stars all year long, yet he let Wes Matthews burn him? That's a head-scratcher.

 

Yep like Miami losing to Washington. Sometimes shot happens; even when you are champions

 

Speights should be Batum's number 88 to rhyme with his name.

 

...or #0 to coincide with the number of possessions he actually plays defense.

 

Divide to find the per minute!

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailyleaders/_/date/20130104/gameId/400278204

 

Hey, I'm a fan of Speights' offensive productivity. I think that having him, Gasol, Randolph, and Arthur might give us the best frontcourt in the league. At the very least, how many teams do you know that would rather have four of their PF/C's shooting the game winning FT than their leading scorer? I've just always been disappointed with his performance on the defensive end (which to his credit, he's improved a lot since his Philly and UF days).

It's also always bugged me how physically intimidating Speights is, yet he's not that great of a post-up player, and he tends to shy away from contact. Guys like Gasol, Randolph, and Arthur can hit the midrange, but that's only one aspect of their games. Gasol, in particular gets unfairly labeled as a Euro-center because of his brother, his passing ability, and his shooting ability, but he's an intensely physical player on both ends of the court. Speights is 6'10", 255 lbs., and is probably very underlisted when it comes to his weight (he looks at least 275+ lbs.), yet his offensive repertoire is like Pau's but without all of the offensive awareness that make the Gasol brothers great.

 

Gasol showed a great hook shot over the shorter Hickson. I bet he enjoyed getting a rare opportunity to use that move.

 

The striking thing to me about the Griz was how little they went to Gasol last night. He was scoring practically at will. Hickson is a terrible defensive center. With Randolph out I would think he would be the focus of your offense.

Gay would drive me nuts if he were on my team. He thinks he's LeBron or Carmello or Kobe and he just isn't.

 

Just finished watching the game on DVR, what a gritty, ugly (in a good way) win!

 

That really confused me too; I thought the butt-ugly players were supposed to be good at defense.

 

lol