Nothing with as many moving parts as a basketball game is ever as simple as that. The Blazers' offense is built around LA. The perimeter opens up if he's making his shots and the other team is forced to double. If he stops shooting, then the rest of the offense tends to dry up.
I would never want him to stop shooting but he is too talented to just settle for 19 foot jumpers all the time
You missed a huge one, FT%. 80 to 64. But that's beyond the point I was making. One on one, mano e mano (when one is guarding the other and vice versa), LA has the edge, and there are no stats specifically for that, only the eye test. Absolutely agree.
Because Griffin has attempted 79 free throws versus only 25 for LMA. Aldridge is shooting a much better ft % but in this case it doesn't matter because Griffin gets so many more FTA. I don't know the stats for one on one, i believe you can get those with a paid account with synergy, but you have to imagine they square off a fair amount playing the same position.
re-read what you were responding to as you missed HailBlazers point. He said Blake rarely guards LA one on one, which is true as Doc puts De'Andre on him more times then not and is quick to send the double when he is matched up on him. In general Blake is a below average Big on D, struggling both one on one and as a help defender. I can recall several Clips/Blazers games where Blake had great stat lines overall, but come winning time in the 4th LA more or less closed shop/shut him down. I'd welcome seeing these teams matchup in the playoffs STOMP
I think something ignored here about Blake is his highlight reel style of play. More often than not, these guys get injured and their knees take a pounding. LaMarcus has seen enough to pace himself and learned to stay healthy. LA will have the longer career. Just my opinion. Time will tell. When Griffin has twice as many years in the league we'll see how he holds up and sorry, he's not even close to LaMarcus on defense.
