Agreed. Webster's 3's really seemed to give the team a lot of energy. All of the sudden Roy looked 25 again instead of looking like 35. Hopefully Webster can continue this.
blazerbanter on twitter #Blazers coach McMillan says he plans to stick with tonight's starting lineup for foreseeable future. #NBA blazerbanter #Blazers' Miller said he's fine coming off the bench as long as Portland keeps winning. #NBA
Martell was quite aggressive. I loved the Chalupa follow up dunk. I love watching Martell throwing those putbacks. Somehow, some way, I'm expecting a follow up post telling me how Blake is responsible for that putback.
Blake is the one that got Webster's confidence going. He created shots for everyone that quarter. Once Webster hit one, he kept driving and dishing Webster. That sent Webster's confidence up and led to plays like that dunk. This is what great PGs do. They get everyone involved and playing at their best. It's what I thought Miller would do when we signed him.
I guess Roy/Rudy/Miller get no credit for setting up players either, considering they combined for 14 assists.
Also by the end of the year I think Rudy will be a better bench player than Outlaw. He does so many other things than just score, which is all you would really get from Travis, other than the occasional game he decides to rebound. Rudy leads everyone off the bench in the NBA in steals. He's pretty good a setting other players up. 5 assists tonight. Shooting is a little inconsistent at times, but inconsistent is Outlaw's middle name. Welcome Blazers to your new 6th man.
The guys after the game (Bob Akamian and Michael Holton) gave their game balls to Webster and Roy, respectively. Akamian specifically said it's for Webster getting the Blazers getting the team going and helping them build momentum. Funny neither gave it to Blake.
Blake dominated the third quarter. It wasn't just his assists but knowing who to get the assists to. He also made sure Oden got the ball almost every time, sometimes two times in the same possession. He played extremely smart basketball. Ignore the box score. Blake completely dominated the game.
I can't forget the most important thing: Rudy's basketball IQ. It blows Travis' out of the water. Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudy
Kingspeed, your posts in this thread and others like it are probably responsible for a good portion of the Blake hate(Travis hate too). You say you have to 'stick up' for players you feel are getting to much of the blame, but you go so far that other posters have to hate even more to actually bring things into alignment. For your posts in this thread, I hope Steve Blake dies in fiery car crash.
+1. I very much agree. I've seen Rudy's potential role on this team as our Manu, and I like it and believe Rudy may very will fill that role eventually. That play at the end of the third when Minne got the ball, started the break, and Rudy cuts through and steals the ball, then throws it down low to get some easy points was fantastic. Rudy plays hard the whole time he's out there. Closing seconds of any quarter, Rudy is going as hard as he ever does and makes sure to play out until the whistle or horn blows.
I think you're right BUT without Travis, we have less flexibility with our lineups. Without Travis, if Oden and LMA are in foul trouble, we are forced to play Juwan Howard far more minutes than we want to. We lost the GS game in the second quarter because Juwan was playing where Travis would've played. Yes, Rudy can give us more scoring, but our front court depth is in serious trouble without Travis.
Totally agree. They basically should give pretty much every Blazers statistic to Blake. Blake should be credited with about 86 points, 40 rebounds, 23 steals, 2 steals, 5 blocks. Very dominant performance.
Just give the minutes to Cunningham, who actually looks like an NBA player. Cunningham's defense has looked surprisingly good in the limited minutes he's gotten.
I agree, though I thought I heard the announcers tonight talking about Nate supposedly tinkering with the idea of Webster playing the 4 some, similar to how we utilized Outlaw. So it's on Martell to step up and make plays. Or we could give more time to Cunningham. He looks like he could be a player.
True BUT He also managed 2 stls and 5 assists. If he's having an off night he's still able to contribute. Not trying to hate on Outlaw, but if he's 1-9, he usually just 1-9. He doesn't do much else. He's very hit or miss while Rudy can bring more to the table.
