The reason we won 3 times in this series is LA was demanding so much attention. Our offense fizzles when he's a "decoy". He's the straw that stirs the drink, & we simply need more from him to win this series. The Rockets didn't figure out how to cover him all the sudden. He had a bad night. His jumpers were WAY off. He was slow to react when they doubled. Those two FTs he missed - 2nd one was so short it hit the bottom of the rim. And the fast break where he was running back, got turned around twice, then tried to swipe the ball as Parsons jammed it . . . that's not the guy we've watched terrorize the Rockets all series. I'm a big LA supporter who gets tired of the LaSofty crap. I hate it & I hope this is just a wake up call for him. His critics will have a field day if the Blazers lose this series and he plays like he did tonight after the way this series started. He wants to be "the man", he wants this to be his team, and MOST of us want that for him too. I'm looking for a bounce back performance in Game 6. Not asking for 46/18, but a helluva lot more than 8 pts and 3/12.
Seemed like whenever he got the ball he passed it off. I remember several times he was passed the ball again and gave it up. Maybe he talked to his bookie lately. Who knows.
Dame has been special. But he hasn't literally dominated a game in the way LA has. LA is responsbile for two wins this series.
I'm the one who invented his nickname, "The Big Decoy." (pats self on back) Glad to see others starting to use it.
Just to compare: Over the five playoff games: LA - 29.8 ppg on 50% shooting, 10.8 rebounds, 3.2 blocks Dame - 25.6 ppg on 45% shooting, 7.4 assists, 6.4 rebound, and 1 steal Here's the thing, over the last three games: LA - 20 ppg on 40% shooting, 9.3 rebounds, 3.6 blocks Dame - 26.3 ppg on 51% shooting, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals So without those first two games, Lillard is clearly the star on this team. He has consistently brought his "A" game every night.
He can't improvise. He functions well only if conditions are perfect. He's too civilized. The tablecloth has to be arranged just so. A true star can eat whatever he finds, off the ground.
Lillard is amazingly consistent! I really liked Batum dribbling the ball to an open spot then either taking an open shot or drawing another defender and making the pass inside. He should do it every chance he's got.
The problem with Aldridge is his defense. He doesn't keep his arms up, he swipes too much at the ball and when the offensive player gets it above his shoulders he has an open shot. Freeland plays great defense by just keeping his feet set and his arms up and boxing out. He also is better than Aldridge at recognizing when to help on a drive and also isn't afraid of contact, with Aldridge he is most of time more worried about not being on a poster than blocking a shot. His man-to-man defense was actually very good and he was able to be effective guarding Parsons when they went small and we stayed big but having him as our only big puts us in huge disadvantage on defense and on the boards. Howard made it to the finals playing as the only big in Orlando, Aldridge is not the same player. IMO when Houston plays with 4 small players we should either stay big with Aldridge on Parsons or try a different approach with Aldridge sitting and one of our other bigs playing.
LA is our best player most nights but he should never be held to 8 points in a playoff game or any game that he did not leave injured, got ejected from or was a 30 point blowout win. I said LA needs 8 shots in the paint per game at least for us to win, last night he had 12 total not easy to hit that mark when you do not shoot. Game 1 13 shots in the paint Win Game 2 8 shots in the paint Win Game 3 3 shots in the paint Loss Game 4 10 shots in the paint Win Game 5 4 shots in the paint Loss We had less turnovers more FTA's and lost because the bench sucked, LA sucked and we got beat like a Southerners wife who burnt dinner on the boards.
The only thing I didn't like about LA's performance was that he lost the edge. When he DID touch the ball he didn't take in the whole court, didn't plan out what to do...he looked shaky and tentative. He did ok on the D so I mean EVEN with quiet offense we were still in the game till the last 3. Gotta iron it out and play game 6 as a must win. I think LA brings the drive back at home.
It wasn't just that. LA came out with a fucking vengeance in games one and two. I'm just not seeing that from him right now. A couple times last night he watched the ball just go out of bounds without even trying to save it. The effort and energy simply wasn't there.
LaMonster challenges the defense and takes what he wants. LaMarshmallow meekly settles for the path of least resistance. The latter showed up and the Blazers lost. No excuses.
After about 8 years of Bad LaMarcus, Good LaMarcus showed up for 2 games. He's a superstar, the best player in the league. 8 years from now, Good LaMarcus may give us one more show before retiring.
Harden was terrible as well... But I understand that Blazer fans are only concerned with our own players.
I forced myself to rewatch the game, and they were bringing the double to him quickly. Also, getting those two quick foul calls took him out of it and messed with Stotts rotation. He found the open man, but never got on track, so eventually, they didn't have to double him. Great strategy. Bottom line, when Terence Jones has better stats than LA, we're not going to win. Game Six is our Game Seven. We need to end the series here.
I agree with this. I counted like 5 times, when LMA allowed a rebound to fly past him without any effort to get it. I will openly admit that LaMarshmellow was playing last night. It was frustrating to watch.
