BLAZERS @ SUNS - GAME THREAD - 10/30/13 SEASON OPENER - 7 PM - KGW

Wow. Melt Down Mode so early.


Sent from my baller ass iPhone 5 FAMS!

 

This was worse than a meltdown.

 

That's Aldridge/Hickson Part 2 and that is NOT what Aldridge wants.

 

Great post. Yes, last year's opener ruled.

 

Watching Dragic reminded me so much of watching Hornacek play. Even his body language. In fact, the whole team's personality reminded me of Hornacek. The guy's a gamer.

The most disappointing to me of all the sucky play in the game was Mo Williams. Yikes. He and Matthews were worthless, and in the case of Mo, less than worthless. I wish we could trade the two of them for a SG. Wes didn't look healthy. I watched him late in the game and he was limping around and moving like Greg Oden.

Time to put this one behind us. I do think it matters that this is the first game the starters have played together. Plumlee was playing over his head and out of his ass in the first quarter. There was definitely some home cooking for the 500 or so fans in attendance, and NBA teams almost always win their home opener. Its part of the league's marketing plan.

I don't think the Blazers are a contender (//Captain Obvious) but I'm pretty sure we'll have better nights.

 

My take from this game

I don't know why I actually replayed this game because it was painful to watch, but I wanted to see a few things I noticed from live play.

1.) The refs completely and totally hosed us. There were some questionable "phantom calls" against us and many "let them play" whistle swallows for Phoenix. It was unusually odd, since Phoenix isn't Lakers or OKC darlings… I just think the refs just dropped the ball

2.) Matthews shot better, but something seems wrong. He doesn't look like he's taking defense seriously. Its like he will defend his man, but he doesn't help or recover like he normally does. Whatever the case, that must change. We need Matthews in a big way, especially if we plan to use the swarm defense like we did in pre-season.

3.) Phoenix was completely stellar with forcing Portland to play their style of game. They had us in the palm of their hands.

4.) I'm sorry but Plumlee is not for real and he must have taken one of those "limitless pills". Lopez played him as good as you could, especially in the post. About 80% of his shots were tightly contested, yet his rainbows and hooks looked like "The Dream" was making a comeback. When the season progresses, I doubt this guy averages more than 9 points a game.

5.) T. Rob was a beast, yet played a small part in this game. I would have liked seeing him play more than just 9 minutes a game in the future. He was really pushing people around in the paint, setting up his teammates for the best rebounding position.

6.) The rebounding was atrocious, but it really wasn't the big's fault. Phoenix was shooting a ton of perimeter shots and our guards weren't going for them (Lillard, Matthews and mainly Mo Williams). That cannot happen again! Our guards must stay on the play the entire defensive possession!

7.) Aldridge must live in the paint. I am a huge Aldridge homer, but those outside 16-20 footers won't fall down all the time. It was weird, but he didn't shoot well in the paint, but I blame that mainly on the refs allowing Phoenix to man-handle him without a call.

8.) Lillard was beast…. I don't give a fuck about the assists this game. He passed to open players. They just couldn't drain a wide open shot. There could have been 4 assists if his players he passed to shot better than 25% from the field. This kid should be an all-star this season, but I think it's highly doubtful he makes it.

9.) Stotts was a deer in headlights last night. His substitutions were questionable and he couldn't get his team to get back to the game he sold them on this summer. I expect that to change. I think he panic'd

 

It's not unusually odd. The NBA's refereeing system sucks. Teams are no longer allowed to play defense and the guards are coddled like school children.

And LMA still get's no love. If he got half the calls the guards do he would avg 30 a night.

 

sorry i love lma but he goes up soft. thats why he doesnt get calls.

 

This is absolutely true. As a ref when a player goes up soft, (or between 2 players) creates contact and falls back, he doesn't get the call.

 

If Aldridge plays like he did last night, I agree with you. I am only talking about last night's game when he actually tried going in the paint hard. There were 4 occasions when he went strong and was murdered. No call…

 

What are the season-long winning percentages of those first game opponents for wins and losses, respectively? Your numbers show that everything statistically tends to return to the mean, so it needs a further breakdown of the quality of opponent.

 

Anyone know why TRob only received 9 mins last night?

The team didnt look like the same team we saw in preseason.

 

LA was feelin' it.....can't take him out when he was hitting like he was hitting. I guess they could of had LA slide over to center, but I think they wanted Lopez' size out these to try and stop the PHX bigs.

 

Finding the right rotation is going to be huge for this team.

 

I have no idea - he (and Nic's rebounding) was the only semi-bright spots last night. We need to start prepping and grooming him to take over PF duties so we can trade that softie currently masquerading as a PF.

 

Thanks for response. I would def try to find him more time than 9 minutes. LA maybe that kind of gunslinger every game. Are you going to limit his minutes to 9 every game?

I think this team is better defensively when he is in the game. Based on what I have seen.

 

I agree that we need to get him in the game more. I'm excited for what he can bring to our squad.

 

I couldn't tell you all that, other than the fact the Lakers had a better record than us last year. But the idea that everything tended to return to the mean was precisely my point. It's one game and doesn't prove what kind of year we'll have one way or the other.

 

Bumping this to remind us how horrible a night this was.

 

Read your posts to remember how mUch it hUrT