If TRob had a good game and I have no doubt that he did. What kind of game did Patrick Patterson have?
My fav teams won today. Cowboys kick the Eagles on the road to take first place in their division while the Blazers took care of business at home. Good day!
The thing that really has promise was how well we ran the pick and roll with Lopez and t rob. It seemed Batum was the facilitator most the time in those sets. Lillard was used as the decoy. I missed the pick and roll!
Lillard scores 28 as Blazers beat Kings 109-105 Damian Lillard scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half, helping the Portland Trail Blazers edge the Sacramento Kings 109-105 in a preseason game on Sunday night. Lillard had 16 during the third quarter, when the Trail Blazers (4-2) opened a 19-point lead. Read more http://www.nba.com/games/20131020/SACPOR/gameinfo.html
That was probably my favorite part of last night, having the guys actually roll to the hoop and making plays at the rim instead of the constant pick and pop is just such a more efficient play . If we can get that consistently a few times a quarter, even just with Lopez and Trob, our offense will be much better overall.
amazing what having talent can do to a team. Even a team that is still struggling on offense and defense, can hide that fact because they actually have talent coming off the bench. Even without LaMarcus playing, the team has played decently (outside of that one stretch in the Clipper game) lately. Not that Robinson or Freeland will have similar games as to last night, but I think in scale, they will. I hope Robinson allows LaMarcus to play 32-35 minutes a game instead of 39. I hope Lopez and Freeland can be a 30-18 mix.
More and more I cant wait till see the whole team together and clicking. There are going to be nights when nobody can beat us.
On a similar note, I'm kinda hoping Freeland and Robinson get the majority of the backup 5/4 mins, with Meyers only getting spot PT in blowouts or when others are in foul trouble. Actually, I'd put Claver ahead of Leonard in the rotation too.
I think a caveat should be added that if Leonard learns how to play as a true center, then obviously he should get more minutes.
Mo Williams is single handedly outscoring our entire bench from last season. Another 17 points last night. Wright had 8, Freeland had 7, so our bench is drastically improved.
Our bench should be averaging around 28 points per game this season. There are no reasons why it should be. But, the biggest differences will be in other areas, IMO. Rebounding, defensive stats and assists should all go up too. Our bench didn't score well last season; but it was even more God awful in the other areas I mentioned.
We are flat out gobbling up rebounds right now. Lopez, Robinson, and Freeland are like madmen out there.
I love it! I am a huge fan of rebounding dominance. It used to be our forte years ago. I hated when our team would get out rebounded each year. With the new group; our rebounding looks solid! Everyone is helping everyone. There isn't the guy that gets rebounds at the cost of the team. They all work together, boxing out and tipping to each other. It reminds me so much of the late 90's squad. You didn't have that 10+ rebound guy. Just a good amount of 6-8 rebound guys that usually had the team at top three in rebounding each year. The way it should be! P.S. don't forget Batum and Lillard too. They seem like they are benefiting from the good box outs by those three.
Tried Killer Burger last night. Completely opposite of my Sizzle Pie experience. I paid $10.50 for the classic burger. It was hot, fresh and tasty. Not a huge burger fan but I'll go back. Spoke to a friend who said he got sizzle pie pizza at the game last night and liked it. Most know, but Lopez is a real character. He is fun to watch during warm ups. Blazers just need Aldridge at 100% and they should be ready for the start of the NBA season. I can't believe Matthews can just flip a switch and getting bad vibes of an off year for him. But Mo and Wright can substitute in for heavy minutes. Sure wish Blazers had CJ this year
