People complain that LMA was playing C instead of Oden or Joel down the stretch because we couldn't rebound, but the stats say otherwise. LMA lead the game in rebounding with 14.
50 of their 97 points came inside the paint. They outscored us by 16 there. If you don't think Oden or Przybilla would have helped there, you don't know basketball very well.
Hawks rebounds = 46 Blazers rebounds = 36 We were killed on the boards. LaMarcus had a huge game there, but he was about it. Atlanta, on the other hand, got good rebounding games from Horford, Johnson, Smith and Williams. Hell, even Mike Bibby had more rebounds (4) than all but three of our players.
Oh, you don't think that having a center in there ALONG with LMA would have helped us close the 36-46 rebounding differential?
The fact remains they got 50 points in the paint. Unless you try to say they were running all night, it's more than likely they were just abusing us down low.
Facts wont help at all, Ive learned awhile ago that there are just some people on this world that just dont know how stupid they are and wont listen to anything factual.
Moving LMA to C allows us to have Outlaw in there at PF. Outlaw and LMA were the hot shooters tonight so he wanted them both in there, wanted Atlanta to have to contend with both of them.
Moving Aldridge to PF allows us to move Outlaw to SF. It's not like Outlaw would have had a harder time with Marvin Williams than Josh Smith. And his defense is equally bad on both positions, so it's a wash there.
I don't know how they could abuse Oden when he only played 15 minutes. (You're making this too easy) More like they abused Portland's stupid small lineup.
At the end of the game it was Bibby, Crawford, and Johnson. I don't want Outlaw guarding any of them.. I want him out of the game.
Blake can't guard his man. Roy hardly ever does. Martell is so so. Aldridge is alright. Oden... Przy is usually good Outlaw sucks. Rudy tries but... Miller really can't. This is just not a good defending team, and I don't think the defense is all Nate's fault. None of his players can stop penetration other than Batum.
Greg inability to stay out of foul trouble is more than half the reason our centers only played 10 minutes in the 2nd half. It's time for him to learn how to play smart on defense. You can blame Nate, Mo Lucus, Bayno, and any other coach, but Greg needs to figure it out himself. Staying out of foul trouble is not rocket science.
