Anyone wanna address the elephant in the room??

Interesting seeing John Henson up there. We could have had him instead of Leonar_

 

It's there, you're just looking in the wrong place. Here you go!

BNM

 

3. Despite allowing opponents to shoot 46% from the field (Ranked 21st out of 30), forcing the least amount of turnovers per game (12), and giving up 195 field goals in the paint (Ranked 25th), the Trail Blazers are still winning. Is this a recipe for long-term success? How are they winning in spite of these defensive numbers? And lastly, are they correctable?

Holdahl: Probably not, but when you've got one of the most efficient offenses in the NBA, you can overcome those kind of defensive deficiencies. Portland's net rating, which is the difference between the number of points they score per 100 possessions and the number of points they allow per 100 possessions, is seventh-best in the league at +4.4. That might not be a recipe for success in the playoffs, but in the regular season, it's fairly manageable.

As for fixes, the Trail Blazers need to find a way to limit the number of points in the paint they're giving up a nightly basis. The issue isn't that other teams' low-post players are scoring a lot of points, it's that Portland's guards are having a hard time keeping opponents in front of them. The Trail Blazers also seem prone to letting teams force tempo early in games, resulting in easy points in the paint attempts. Terry Stotts has switched Nicolas Batum onto opposing guards in the fourth quarter in an effort to lock down in crunch time, and with some success, but it's not a move he can make from the start of the game. It's incumbent on Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews and Mo Williams do to help Robin Lopez and LaMarcus Aldridge out by slowing down their individual defensive assignments.

Haynes: It’s definitely not a recipe for success. Those are massive weaknesses that require repair. However, the Trail Blazers are stroking the ball extremely well from three-point distance and that has offset those glaring flaws. If Portland can keep up its hot shooting, they’ll continue to be in ball games. One shouldn’t be surprised if the electric shooting is here to stay. They’re one of the best, if not the best, at moving the ball and finding the open man.

Gunderson: Right now they are winning because of their currently third-ranked offense. And yes, the fact that they currently lead the NBA in opponents shots inside the restricted area per NBA.com is not a good sign. The biggest problem so far, aside from the transition defense, has been pure one-on-one defense, as we saw yesterday against the Raptors and I'm not sure how correctable something like that can be. But, it's not all bad news on defense because of how they've defended the three-point line. They allow the fewest corner-3's, which are the highest value threes because they are closer and they've also allowed the seventh-fewest from "above the break" according to NBA.com. Terry Stotts has made a point of mentioning effective field goal percentage a lot this season, a metric that includes the value of three-pointers and can be up to 150%. Last year the Blazers ranked 26th in that category defensively, and also finished 26th in defensive efficiency. They are currently in the top-ten in the league in eFG% with a defense ranked 18th. They'll want to curb the amount of attempts at the rim surely but it seems that their effort to run teams off the three-point line has helped them defensively so far.

Acker: I don’t think Portland can continue to win games if their defense doesn’t improve, especially when the Blazers start to face Playoff teams from last season. Right now, though, the Blazers are able to win games because the offense has been so dynamic. Portland added a bunch of scorers in the off-season. LaMarcus has started hot. Nic and Wesley continue to develop as offensive players. Damian can fill it up every night. Mo Williams has been great. Dorell Wright is a knockdown shooter like Portland hasn’t had in a long time. And even Robin Lopez has been better on offense than anybody probably expected. The defense is an issue, that’s for sure, but I think some of the serious problems will be righted with enough time. Remember, this Blazer team is still very new. So much of the roster just needs time to get used to playing together. Defense in the NBA is about knowing and trusting your teammates, hopefully that will come.

Deckard: Let’s compare winning to getting a hot air balloon aloft. The Blazers are pouring on the flame with their accurate shooting and offensive rebounding. The issues you mention—and you might be underselling because the Blazers are dead last in the league in points in the paint allowed per game—are like a rip in the side of the fabric. Right now we’re getting liftoff but the Blazers have to work extra hard to keep the thing inflated. Again, how long will that last in an 82-game season? How much heat can you generate before you run out of fuel?

http://www.nba.com/blazers/news/running-break-taking-league-storm

 

Thanks - I did find that. It's just maddening that it's on a separate page from the shots-by-distance data: http://stats.nba.com/leagueTeamOppShots.html?pageNo=1&rowsPerPage=30

 

Well, "PapaG" wasn't banned, either, when I posted under BGrantFan. Eventually, it just made sense to stop the foolish ruse.

Water under the bridge to me...

 

great post ToB

Nine games ago I would have been in full agreement with the conventional wisdom. At this point, I think that there is a certain genius in our new style of D. It is easier to guard the perimeter for the outside players. We dont have to switch off as much..lock down their ability to hit the three, use our passing to get easy threes ( and lets face it, not all of our threes have been easy. They are just confident) let the bigs do what they can..last year we had two and a half guys that could hit a three, but for the most part we did not defend anything..if I remember correctly, teams had some of their best games from the three against us..

 

Eat that biatch!

 

And the trend continues, as does the winning streak - now at 7 games in a row.

Tonight:
Blazers, 44.4 3FG%
Nets, 23.1 3FG%

Oh, and we also outscored them in the paint 40 - 30.

BNM

 

There will be a day when the world will understand our strategy and praise it. Until then, we will just keep winning and proving doubters wrong

 

I can't believe you left out how Portland dominated Broke-lyn in fast break points too!!! (5-4)

 

Unlike u guys I will gladly say the blazers played GREAT defense in 2nd and 3rd. However in fourth nets missed easy shots. Wide open looks. Raps made em nets didn't only difference.

No problem admitting blazers played well. It's called being fair.

 

Nets made 16 shots after 1st qtr. good defense

 

I don't care if none of you have the sacko to say it, but Breaking Bad was a damn good show!

 

Hahahah have u read this thread? If I said the sky is orange u would have 100 posters saying it was black. And with conviction!!! It's like dealing with younger step child siblings