I was responding to the "Do you think Nate will start Miller", and with that statline, Nate certainly won't.
I'm ready to roll with Bayless, we may as well see what he can do. Blake has been awful and Miller average at best.
Roy and especially LMA MIA, get extensions and what happens? I hope these guys start playin some ball or it could be a long season
Both of the main point guards came out and took a big shit in this game. Miller sucked and Blake sucked. Only Bayless came to play. I get that Portland needs to guard Greg from fouls I guess, but has anyone noticed that the team absolutely fall apart when he goes to the bench. Happened tonight with 2 minutes left in the first half. The last two games are so bad it is really hard to tell what the cause is. The effort isn't there. The game plan is shit. LMA has not brought even his C game. The team has an advantage in the paint but never actually uses it. Out point guards has sucked utter shit. Roy isn't scoring when he needs to to stop the bleeding. Frankly they are playing like a team that has given up on their coach and his game plan. I am hopeful they can turn it around on Tuesday, but I am not going to hold my breath. I really expected them to at least try harder tonight. The complete lack of effort is the most troubling thing in the last three games (New Jersey was a moral defeat).
I know, it as my poor attempt at joking that Miller could've scored 90, and Bayless could've shot almost have as many FT's in tonights game as Blake has all season, and Nate would STILL pop-rod for Blake. For those who are wondering, yes. Bayless shot half as many free throws in 1 game as Blake has all fucking season. In fact, for the season so far, in 12 games (and an average of 8 minutes a night) Bayless has shot 10 more FT's than Blake has.
I took a nap before the game and ended up sleeping through the entire game. I'm glad I missed this one. Another foul plagued game from Oden - 5 fouls in 24 min. Awesome.
Yes, because our coach doesn't want him to score - just rebound and play defense, and has designed an offense that avoids getting him the ball and insists on playing him with a PG that can't/won't pass him the ball. Greg Oden is wasted on this team. I never thought I'd say it, but Bill Simmons was right. With Nate McMillan as our coach, we should have taken Kevin Durant. Until now, Nate has never coached a team with a dominant center. Now that he has one, he doesn't have a clue how to use him. At least if we had Durant, he would be getting some touches - as long as he didn't try to post anyone up. BNM
He had a bad fall in the last game. I was wondering if he was still hurting. He played as poorly as he can for a few minutes, then he played no more.
You are so correct that Nate doesn't have a clue. He's got a potentially dominant center and he is playing him as though he were Joel Pryzbilla (sp?). Just rebound and play defense. I've already lowered my expectations for the team this year and based on the continuing confusion apparent in the team, lack of adjustment in the coach to new/different personnel and changes in skill sets, etc., I think I may need to adjust my expectations further. We are a good team just due to the amount of talent we have on the team but we continually show we have a long way to go to being an elite team. Gramps...
Not too be too snarky, but doesn't Utah have to actually miss shots for there to be rebounds. I was at my nephew's birthday party so I only got to catch a few snippets at the end of the game. I can only imagine how it went down from reading the game thread, but it seems to have gone pretty much according to script, which is to say we passed the ball around the perimeter a lot without actually stretching the defense and we probably ended up settling for bad end of clock jumpers. Bayless appears to have played OK in a limited stint. his stat line is pretty phenomenal in terms of his ability to get to the line anyway and it appears he distributed some and managed not to turn it over, did he actually look half-way competent?
There were 11 rebounds at that time and Oden had none of them. Not too big of a deal I guess. Bayless was the ONLY one who looked competent out there. Sad but true...
They shot nearly 70 percent in the first half, and for their defensive rebounding they stacked 3-4 guys in the paint with Greg so he couldn't even offensive rebound either. No one should look at his rebounding numbers and be alarmed at this game. Bayless looked competent, but got his usual dose of fouls at the top of arc with hand checking. He was really good at driving at the Jazz and drawing fouls as the attempts suggest. He was certainly better than Blake and Miller tonight.
Bayless of course does not have Blankey's outside shot. He lacks Blankey's experience and probably his undertanding of the offense. In every other way Bayless is the superior player. If Blankey were to lose his starting job to Miller (IOW, if there is a god), I would play both Bayless and Rudy ahead of Mr. Blankey. Rudy because he is the superior shooter and passer, and he provides constant motion and hustle. Bayless because of his superior quickness, athleticism, and defense, ability to handle the ball, and because he can and does get to the free throw line at will. Bayless also finishes quite well at the basket. Blankey would be relegated to spotting up for a three out of a time out at the end of quarters.
This is genuinely sad: http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/11/utah_108_portland_92_another_d.html
