In the regular season which means jack shit, especially considering the bulk of containing Lillard will go to Green/Leonard.
Clownzano thinks the spurs will win the series. He said he " I won't be a fence sitter, won't be a homer. I have to bet with my reputation." So canzano that will be $0 on the spurs correct?
Could be a turning of the guard kind of Series. Similar to the one in 99 When the Blazers defeated the Jazz. Tim Duncan handing the keys over LA. Parker to Dame. Manu to Nico. Popps to Stotts But I think they will have their work cut out for them.
So Splitter is soft, but somehow he's going to defend the best low post player in the league much better than two elite defensive centers? Apparently Splitter became the best defender in basketball. This'll be fun to watch.
The Blazers offense is going to roll. It was elite all year long and matches up fine against the Spurs personnel. This series is going to come down to Spurs offense vs Blazers defense. If Tony Parker is collapsing our defense and getting open looks for himself or teammates we are in trouble. If Batum can slow him down we'll be big favorites to win.
We lost two games to them this year with Dorell Wright as our starting power forward. I'm really not that worried.
I'm worried that you are putting stock in the regular season at this point. You said it yourself, injuries were a factor in the series...for both teams. Besides didn't we learn last round that regular season records don't mean shit now?
Regular season absolutely means something. It's not like we did poorly against the Rockets in the regular season and then came out and whipped their ass. It was a fucking war. It could have easily gone either way in every single game. If one team has another team's number, it generally holds serve in the playoffs.
going to be replying to several of your posts. Lopez is a big body. Rarely does he get any plays whatsoever called for him. His job is to play post defense, and rebound. So one on one in the post against Duncan is a moot point. The only time Lopez received the ball against the rockets is when McHale tried to defend him with James Harden. Which was just idiotic coaching with how well Lopez finishes when he has time to for lack of a better word.. "aim" his shot. If your trying to point out Duncan will keep Lopez off the glass. I will have to disagree. Howard is still the best Center in the league. He showed that in the playoffs, he's still super athletic for a 6"11 player. He gave Lopez fits, however Lopez clearly got into his head(all the elbows that were thrown) with the size of him. I see the spurs trying to get Lopez out of the game by forcing small ball. If the Blazers are allowed to stay "big" with Lopez in the game. The Blazers have the clear advantage. I respect Duncan so much. Love his game, how he beats people with his basketball IQ. Don't underestimate Lopez's basketball IQ though. Lopez isn't Blake Griffin... Would be a huge mistake for GP to put Leonard on Aldridge. Aldridge showed he will dominate smaller players, no matter how athletic they are. If they are going to double Aldridge putting the smaller Leonard on him will let Aldridge see over the top, and while not the best passer. He showed last series he can hit people when there is a smaller player on him. danny green played well against the heat last year, both offensively and defensively, and Danny green will see some time against Lillard. However it won't be the majority of the time. Due to Wesley/Batum showed when there was a smaller defender on them. they'd take him into the post. Parker has to guard someone. If the spurs want to stop the Blazers wings from posting they will have to do it with their bigger defenders or come with help. Also Lillard is shooting 45% from deep in the playoffs. I don't see that stays at 45% but it's not because of the defense from any of the Spurs defenders. It's from having to chase parker around through the multiple P&R parker gets on every possession. If anything it's that, that slows Lillard down. Not the defense the spurs throw @ him.
Lol are you his mother or something? Nothing about Tiago Splitter is "elite," and certainly nothing on the offensive end. Lmao.
I can see where he is coming from. He did play big for the Spurs against the mavs.. But considering the mavs have basically no one to guard him when putting Dalembert on Duncan... But here are his game by game stats. Game 1 - 30:25 minutes played 8 points 11 rebounds 2 TO 2 steals. Game 2 - 27:32 minutes played 6 points 5 rebounds 2 TO 3 assists. Game 3 - 28:35 minutes played 14 points 13 rebounds 3 assists 0 TO Game 4 - 25:22 minutes played 10 points 12 rebounds 6 fouls 1 TO Game 5 - 32:11 minutes played 17 points 12 rebounds 5 assists 5 fouls 1 TO Game 6 - 32:43 minutes played 19 points 8 rebounds 2 assists 2 steals 0 TO Game 7 - 15:15 minutes played 1 point 2 rebounds 4 fouls So overall not terrible stats for a role player big. Most def not elite, nor is he an "Aldridge stopper".... But Beverly didn't slow Lillard in the least either when people claimed he was a "Lillard stopper"... In fact Lillard improved in every category statistically I believe.
If Splitter can play as well in the second round as he did in the first, I'll be amazed. He had a PER of 23 on USG of 15, a WS/48 of .264 (LMA was .197), and leads the NBA playoffs in Ortg at 143. Difference is that he won't have Dirk or DeJuan Blair defending him in Round Two.
http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2014/matchup/_/teams/trailblazers-spurs No respect, per usual. Only one person picked us to win the series (he was one of three that picked us last round). All good though, this team plays best when guys overlook them.
