We tried other looks last night. We put Wes on Parker and he pretty much immediately fouled out. He tried to play physical and the refs were having none of it. We also tried Batum on Parker, so it's not like Parker hung 30+ on Dame. It was on all three of them. Dame spent time defending Green and Leonard as well.
We had a bunch of interior first and second chance looks in the early going that we didn't put in - despite Reggie Miller's insistence that all we were getting were jumpers (he is so damn stupid). San Antonio pushes on offense off of missed shots, and we were feeding right into that.
On a serious note, the Blazers weren't playing badly in the first quarter, they just missed gimme after gimme, and yet the game was still close. Until Mo and TRob came in. That's when the Spurs blew our doors off, and got into an unstoppable rhythm. Game over. We need a better backup point guard and an improved bench next season. At this point I'd rather play Barton than Mo, but the playoffs are no time for that adjustment, I suppose.
Can you elaborate on why Mo and T-Rob entering the game hurt us? Were we mismatched? What kind of advantage did it give the Spurs?
Have Nic and the bench show up. The starters got off to a tentative start but at least for the most part, they came around. Nic never did show up....again, and Barton had as many points in 8 minutes as the rest of the bench combined in 54 minutes. Mo was 'Bad Mo' which we have sadly become quite used to. Nic no-showed in a couple of the Houston games as well and you just can't do that in the playoffs. Is it too much to ask him to be aggressive?
Funny though--I googled it, and yours comes up. I could have sworn select was in there, though... Either way, repped. Edit: We were both right (apparently I just had friends)
Mo has been so god awful in the playoffs, I really think Terry needs to make a change. It's not just his poor shooting and turnovers, but also his abysmal defense. I'm so tired of the Dame/Mo lineup.
It'll be very interesting to see if Terry can make adjustments. He got a bye in the first round, but now we get to see if he can coach in the Playoffs for realsies. First adjustment I'd make? Replace Mo with Will.
Was Batum on Parker decent? If Wes is fouling out, and the refs are calling every touch foul, maybe Batum is the guy we need. I didn't get to watch the game.
I see from the box score we played a lot of small ball. Was it always with Aldridge inside? Were we forced into it by the Spurs? Was it functioning well?
We were shown what playoff basketball looks like. Houston doesn't play much defense, while the Spurs generally bump and grind. LA wasn't getting his usual position on the left wing and Dame seemed really bothered by the defense being thrown at him. We play best when we're free, and they were gumming up the works a bit. We need to up our effort and intensity. It is a much different type of intensity than we had to put up against Houston, where we were involved in a free-flowing game. This is going to be about fighting for a specific spot. About holding our picks. Boxing out better. Not getting frustrated when we're held. I probably should be a bit more concerned, but I'm not. We had our asses handed to us by a great team. Okay. So what? The score of the next game is 0-0. We take Game Two, we'll be in a great position.
Mo came in for Wes. TRob came in for Lopez. Mo made his first shot, then proceeded to stink up the joint. He missed shots, missed teammates, turned the ball over, took the team out of its offense (as usual), and he may as well go get a drink of water as try to play defense. TRob got two quick fouls and was replaced in short order by Wright. Ugh. In his 9 total minutes TRob did basically nothing. In his 5 total minutes Wright did basically nothing. Meanwhile, the Blazers made Aron Baynes (who?) look like an all star. Game over.
Prior to Game 1 I thought this series could be a sweep or go the distance. After G1 I think it's essential that we win G2. If we lose G2 I think the best we can hope for is losing in 5. I feel that what Terry does in G2 will tell us if this is going to be a series, or an exit interview.
