I agree. I did not think we would win Game 3, as much as I was hoping we would. Once we got into the flow of the game and the hoopla of our first road playoff game, we played better. Not great, but better. I think we take Game 4 and take back HCA. All we need is one.
It should be noted that Joel & Oden didn't do as great a job on Yao as everyone is saying. Yao grabbed 13 rebounds.
I thought they held their ground nicely, defensively. The problem is that on the blazers offense, Nate has the Centers start at the top of the key, not actually Center the offense and then they are in terrible rebounding position.
Some here are complaining about Roy controlling the ball on offense too much, but during the season you complain that he's not assertive enough until the 4th quarter. Look at who Roy is playing with! Steve Blake, a guy who's only good at launching up 3s, Joel butter fingers Pryzbilla, Nicholas the 19 year old Batum, and LarMarcus who hasn't brought his marbles to every game this series. Brandon likes to defer to his team-mates, but right now only a few of his team mates are stepping up. If you want to put a lot of stock in the playoffs, to evaluate who we can count on to step it up with the time comes so far I'd have to say we can count on: Roy, Oden, Rudy The Losers: Outhouse Everyone else is kinda iffy.
We gotta split, so we must win game 4. I don't like our chances of having to win 3 in a row to take the series if we lose Sunday... Looks like my Houston in 6 predicition might come true sadly. Minus game 1 I feel we have played pretty good considering that we are 1-1, with taking Houston to the edge in Houston with our team playing like utter shit. All we gotta do is play Blazer basketball... ball movement, rebounding, limit mistakes, noone dominating the ball, unselfish, push when neccessary, and make sure Roy and LMA bring their A-game. We can definitely do it, but damn, game 4 is huge for us. We take that and all the sudden we become the favorites again... that is how fast it can change. LETS GO BLAZERS!
Winner of Game 4 wins the series now. If Houston goes up 3-1, that's going to be a TOUGH uphill battle to climb. If we tie it up 2-2, we're going to put doubts in their mind again and maybe take it in Game 6. We need that confidence that we can beat these guys in their building, much like how we did in San Antonio. It's just a mental thing and a monkey on our back.
I don't know what your issue is with them, but our centers outscored Yao Ming last night. If that isn't a great job, I'm not sure what your definition of great job is.
He only went 2 of 7 from the field? And 11 of those 13 boards were defensive, which means we missed a lot and he grabbed them. Joel and Greg did a great job.
I think we can all agree that game 4 is a must win. Think we've got a great shot at winning it. Gotta' come out strong.
It should also be noted that Yao, at 7'6 and arms raised closer to 10 feet tall should get 13 boards when the Blazers shoot near 40%. His rebounds aren't what will kills us, his points come so easy when he's scoring that it's demoralizing for a defense. To hold Yao to 18 points the last two games is outstanding work by our centers. Anytime the ball stays out of Yaos' hands 5 feet from the hoop and Scola or Landry or even Battier are taking 18 foot jumpers it's a win for our defense. Lastnight Scola and Landry made those shots, I'm willing to take the chance over 7 games that they'll miss more than they make. Continuing to make the supporting cast beat us is Key, as they are, for all intents and purposes, the "supporting cast".
they were still forcing up bad shots, a few shot clock and/or rushed shots. I liked them getting LMA and Oden involved on the low block. it still wasn't that pretty of basketball, at least compared to what the blazers usually can do.
