Why? Why? Why? Why does Mac ride Blake so long when he's continually getting burned, generally being slow, missing shots (read: his only offensive strength), not penetrating, not slashing and dishing, and missing open post players (read: Oden)??????? I'm so tired of him walking the ball down the court, handing it off to LMA/Roy, and going to camp out in the corner so he can make/miss a 3 if he gets open. Run a fucking offense! drive! dish! set up cutters! What are you doing? God forbid he still has the ball when the shot clock is winding down, because I cringe every time I see him try and create his own shot, usually a bricked floater, or weird-looking turnaround jumper that he doesn't have the athleticism for. When his 3 isn't falling, he's completely worthless. & I mean completely. He is pathetic, and what's more frustrating is trying to explain this to casual fans who think "blake is really sick". I'd rather see Sergio and Bayless get the burn, even if it means them screwing up, because at least they will learn something and develop their games.
I think it's hysterical that people are actually suggesting we play Bayless major minutes. You know, the guy that's been warming our bench for most of the season. I'm not saying it's a horrible idea or anything...but if Nate didn't trust him in the regular season, do you really think he can trust him in the playoffs?
not Bayless, I want Rudy to get 34 mpg from here on out. Roy 40, Rudy 34, Blake and Sergio can each have 11.
Rudy on point guards = FAIL You guys are overreacting because Brooks is a horrible matchup for blake.
What I get really tired of is some people using a bad game as justification to dump all over a player. Blake's had a solid year. He's never going to be an All-Star, but if the Blazers had lost him for the season to the shoulder injury, IMO, they'd be sitting out the post season. He looked bad on Saturday, but then other than Roy, so did the rest of the team. There will be plenty of time in the off-season to talk about changes to the roster. How about supporting the team during whatever remains of the playoffs instead of playing the blame game?
I agree with e_blazer & Deebag, but it's more than that. And it's more than going home with the one who brought you to the dance. It seems someone, or someones, always have to have a scapegoat. Right now it's Blakie. Crap. It's a team game and a team does not get their heads handed to them because of one guy. Was Blake supposed to defend Yao Ming? Rebound? What happened to the players who were supposed to do those things? I think this is someone who has the hots for some washed up has been (Mike Bibby) or some never was (Adam Morrison) so has to put down the point guard the team has. And why don't we wait for the end of the series before deciding who needs to be scrapped, which at any rate is not our decision?
I wouldn't mind seeing more of the Roy - Rudy backcourt. Rudy is not any less capable of guarding a quick PG than Blake, and he might actually do a better job, due to his length. He would surely bother more of Brook's shots.
Blake getting minutes is no mystery. Frye gettting any run at all in the playoffs is. Why in the hell did we have a line-up without either Roy or LA in the game for even one second? Frye followed up his best game as a Blazer with one of his worst. He shouldn't ever get off the bench in this series. Other then that, I don't really see what line-up would have enabled LaMarcus to hit a shot or Outlaw to get a rebound. That was a back-alley ass kicking. We will learn a great deal about this team on Tuesday.
Freshtown- please change your avatar. It's demeaning and distracting. Makes me be embarrassed to post here.
True dat. But what other option do we have? Don't even think about blaming Brandon. We can't make Joel the scape goat. We all love Joel. LaMarcus can't be a scapegoat. He's awesome and he should have been in the all-star game this year. So what if Luis Scola doubled his production. Just wait 'til next game. I suppose we could make Greg the scapegoat, but the game was pretty much over before he got in. Plus we have to defend him at all times lest the throngs of trolls just beyond the wall screaming "BUST!!!" would see our concern and there would be flood of "I told you so"s. We could blame Nate for not having a better defensive scheme for Yao Ming. But that would break the Nate hate paradigm. Everybody knows that the reason Nate sucks as a coach is that he sticks with the point guard he's comfortable with rather than playing the up and comer that we all KNOW is going to be an all time great. So the scape goat for the game is Steve Blake for not being awesome and Nate for playing him.
Horrible matchup because he's slow? What's a good defensive matchup for Blake? Another slow white point guard? And no, I'm not just 'freaking out' because blake had a bad game. For anyone that watches the games and not just looks at the box score, it's been so clear all year that blake is absolutely not a starter quality pg. He's a good backup. Nothing more. The same people who moan 'why do we suck at defense' but somehow think blake is really good or something is really bizarre. What does he do when his three is not on? Can anyone give me a good answer? I don't care if he has a good shooting night every 3 games. He hurts our team and the minute coach Mac realizes this is the minute we start to improve. I realize our options on the bench are limited; I'm just frustrated.
