Houston at Portland Neither team can stop the other, which sounds sort of like the prophecy in Harry Potter and also counts as a disappointment for the Rockets. Houston actually did stop some people in the regular season, finishing 12th in points allowed per possession. Portland has been the league’s best postseason offense so far, even as LaMarcus Aldridge has slowed down since a volcanic start in the first two games. Patrick Beverley is Houston’s only above-average perimeter defender, and he’s battling knee issues, a fever, dysentery, severe diarrhea, Breaking Bad withdrawal, and chronic dizziness caused by the Blazers’ pinwheel logo. James Harden has defended with lazy lack of interest, disappointing the hopeful who assumed he would play with a heartbeat in the postseason. Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum have both hurt him in the post, and he has been chronically inattentive away from the ball: The rest of the non-Beverley crew has been leaky, and using Troy Daniels to goose the offense only makes the Rockets’ defense shakier and shorter. Damian Lillard has grown friskier as the series has wound on, realizing he can blow by any non-Beverley defender, and that he might be able to turn the corner against an occasionally shaky Dwight Howard and get to the rim. Ditto for Nic Batum: Lillard is slinging fiery off-the-bounce 3s anytime the Houston perimeter defense suffers even the slightest slip-up: Howard and Omer Asik, as sweaty and sad-looking as ever, have contained Aldridge over the last three games, but his influence looms over every Blazer possession. The Rockets in Game 3 began rotating a third defender over very early on sideline pick-and-rolls where Aldridge fades toward the baseline. Watch how early Terrence Jones scampers across the baseline and into Aldridge’s space as Asik and Howard leave Aldridge to double the ball handler: The Blazers have a chance in these scenarios to play 4-on-3. They haven’t taken full advantage yet, in part because Aldridge is not a great passer. But he’s decent, and Portland has found ways to scramble Houston’s defense until a drive or open shot emerges. The Trail Blazers are also feasting in transition. Portland has shot 46 percent from deep and scored nearly 1.35 points per possession, a mark that would have led the league by a long shot in the regular season, per Synergy Sports. During early stretches of the second and fourth quarters, Houston has tried to junk up the game by going small, switching a ton, and scrambling Portland’s offense. That manufactured chaos has worked at times, including during the Rockets’ monster run in Game 5 on Wednesday. The downside: when Houston scrambles the matchups so crazily on defense that it cannot find the appropriate assignment in semi-transition. Little things like this over short stretches of bench-heavy play can decide a series this close. The turnover battle is another such thing to monitor. The Blazers nearly set a league record for fewest forced turnovers in the regular season, and the Rockets — the league’s most turnover-prone non-Sixers team during the season — are indeed taking much better care of the ball in this series. A sudden case of the yips could cost someone their season. http://grantland.com/features/nba-p...ckets-portland-trail-blazers-toronto-raptors/
Re: Avoiding NBA Extinction - Houstin @ Portland Or "ow-ston" for those of you remember the story about Akeem flying into Texas for the first time. He told the cabbie to take him to "university of owston" and the guy tried to drive him to U-Texas thinking he was saying Austin.
I thought that article was interesting but you fucks just want to focus on a typo. Bastards all of you!
We might get Spud to join us. Just find some respectable-looking homeless dude by the freeway onramp and offer to buy him dinner for being the designated driver...
