No team has ever won a championship by relying on the 3 pointer. How Nate can preach defense but let his players throw up 3's like they were an entertainment based team is beyond me. Portland seems to be content hoisting up a three instead of putting the ball on the floor and driving to the hoop. This especially goes for Batum, who hasn't shown the to-the-hoop aggressiveness he did early in the season. He's taking the 3 too often and not trying to get the best shot. Like the wise man Charles Barkley said, you never live by the 3, you only die by the 3.
You're absolutely right. We were lucky to shoot out of our minds last night. No one shoots 14-26 all season long. We took way too many threes tonight. When they went down, we made a little run and then we started missing and let them back in. To his credit, Brandon Roy did have success driving to the basket. We should've gone to him more during the third quarter. He sort of disappeared from our offense there while we fell apart.
In general I agree. However, if a team can get wide open three pointers, then it's probably more effective than a two pointer. The trick is getting that wide open shot. Of course, that doesn't mean a team abandond the need for two pointers, points in the paint..., but I think a team could potentially win a title with the '3'- it just would be hard.
It seems that we fell in love with the 3 tonight. After the hot shooting against the Kings, this isn't surprising. I hope Nate tells the guys to get easier shots closer to the hoop and maybe draw some fouls. Roy seems to be the only one that attacks the basket off the dribble. Sergio can get to the hoop, but he can't finish. Our players need to learn how to get points in the paint. Maybe do more moving without the ball and cutting towards the rim. Also, we should go to Aldridge and Oden more in the paint and depend less on the 3 ball.
Rudy and Outlaw didn't play well but that 11-0 run by the suns with all those threes is what killed us.
It's hard to admit - but Jack could have helped us tonight by attacking the rim. I wish we could see more of Bayless - we can't have only one guy that goes hard to the rim off the dribble.
Portland shot horrid tonight. Someone should check those rims. Shaq was a monster tonight, it was like he had something to prove, I liked the dunk when he hung on the basket just to shake the backboard.........we're still doing better than I thought we would so far this season, but I kinda wanted this win to feel better about the start of the season.
Well, we were the No. 1 shooting team in the league in 3-point percentage, so I didn't mind them taking it if they were open. They just settled for it way too much, and on the fourth game in five nights -- all in different cities -- their legs just weren't there even for a young team. Tough game to lose, but can't be all surprised with the brutal schedule.
