Yeah i agree. I saw that play by Roy as more of a positive sign then a sad state of affairs. Pietrus had the angle, and by pursuing it Roy would have been out of position on D. It was a smart play by Brandon IMO.
This victory was about effort. Pure and simple. Sure Miller ran the offense. But if you look across the board, the Blazers out rebounded Orlando, got more points in the paint than Orlando, got more steals than Orlando, got more offensive rebounds than Orlando. If you look at Batum's game, almost his whole effort in the structured offense went for very little scoring. His scoring all came off of rebounds and put backs, and steals, and he ended up with a double double. That is what I was talking about a few games back where he was dropping a doughnut in the stat column. Even if he is having a bad game offensively, he should always get effort stats. Last night was a prime example of that. I don't give a shit if the Blazers win or lose if the effort is good. As long as they play hard, I am happy. Last night's effort was excellent.
We won because we guarded with single coverage and stopped the other guys. In the second half, Joel played some great D on Howard. Last night's win was about D. Yes, Miller was great but he hasn't done that consistently. Roy's not consistent either but he did have 20-5-5 against the Suns earlier this week and got to the line 9 times. Roy's not dead, guys.
Good post. I agree with all of it. Funny how they flipped a switch, because when they were down by 14 they looked passive. Of course they also had a few bad calls go against them that hurt. Especially the offensive foul calls. One was a 4 pt swing.
Orlando is basically Dwight Howard and a bunch of chuckers. If they aren't hitting from outside, or if teams are closing out on the long range bombers than they aren't really that great of a team.
OK I may have been wrong with my prediction on the outcome of the game. (Why I chose this one time to agree with Mixum I wil never know) but the rest of what I said today was dead on. The offense runs though Miller, but Roy needs to shoot every time he is open. One dribble and shoot.
