Jon Barry: Portland/Houston the two worst Western Conference playoff teams

Absolutely!!!! Wes is the ultimate warrior! He's putting his team first, which helps our chances each and every game. He has honestly been the MVP defensive player of this series, IMO.

 

Fuck yeah, me too!

 

The guy holding the sign in the back ground.

 

Hahahahaha I didn't even see that!

 

We are the only team that has a series lead over a team with 54 or more regular season wins. We are also the hottest team in the NBA.

 

I think it's been well established, long before this thread, that Jon Barry is an idiot. His younger brother is infinitely more intelligent and insightful.

He must have forgotten Dallas made the playoffs in the Western Conference. They had a worse defensive rating (and a lower scoring offense) than both the Blazers and the Rockets during the regular season. So, his conclusion is based on a fallacy to begin with.

But, that's not the only error in his conclusion. There is more to defense than ppg. Both of these teams are offensive juggernauts that play at a very fast pace. I'm sure John just looked at how many points these teams give up and dismissed them as poor defensive teams. One great indicator of playing good defense, especially when playing at a very fast pace, is opponent's FG% - and this is why the Blazers are winning this series. They are holding the Rockets well below their season average in both FG% and 3FG%. If you look at the series stats on nba.com, you will see Houston is shooting .438 FG% and .309 3FG% for the series, compared to .472 FG% and .358 3FG% during the regular season. That means, during the playoffs, the Blazers have the 3rd ranked defense, in terms of both FG% and 3FG%, of the eight Western Conference playoff teams.

What is even more impressive is the job the Blazers are doing on James Harden. They are holding the Rockets leading scorer and "superstar" to .350 FG% and .268 3FG% - compared to .456 FG% and .366 3FG% during the regular season. And, they are also doing it while keeping Harden off the free throw line (relatively speaking). During the regular season, Harden was 3rd in the league in free throw attempts, trailing only Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin. Harden averaged 8.6 FTA/36 during the regular season, but the Blazers are holding him to 6.2 FTA/36 during the post season, while playing the kind of tough defense that has resulted in much lower FG% and 3FG%.

Dwight Howard is scoring more in the post season, but that's by design. Robin Lopez is playing him straight up on defense, which means fewer open looks for Harden.

The Blazers, on the other hand, have a higher FG% during this series than they did during the regular season (.464 versus .450) and are shooting almost as well from 3-point against the Rockets as they did during the regular season (.362 versus .372). And, that's really the difference in this series. Forget the refs and all the other nonsense. The Blazers are winning this series for the very simple reason they have shot the ball better than the Rockets - better FG%, better 3FG% and better FT%. And most the credit for that goes to the Blazers' effort on the defensive end - especially on James Harden. Harden is scoring a lot, but doing so very inefficiently. Jon Barry needs to step back and look at something more than ppg before he opens his mouth again, but I'm sure he won't. That's not part of his act. He intentionally says stupid shit to get a reaction. Which is why the guy is a joke. For intelligent, insightful basketball analysis, give me Brent any day of the week.

BNM

 

Very good point, especially since Nic/LMA/Lillard/Wright are all playing above their season efficiency on offense.

 

Great info.

 

And why should we be listening to this guy in the first place?

 

If anybody knows bad defense, it would be Jon Barry. Yet he's wrong on it, this time.

 

I think it's funny that Brent is not only the better basketball player, but also the far superior analyst.

 

Seems pretty logical to me. It's not like either had oodles of talent that made knowing the game optional (ala Clyde); in that case, the better skilled player would probably be more skilled because he knew more about the game.

 

Jon said that as kind of a funny offhand comment. I really doubt he put any thought into it and just tossed it out in a "heat of the moment" type comment

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

Magic Johnson was terrible as a TV analyst. Same with Kareem.

 

You fell asleep halfway through my post again?

"oodles of talent that made knowing the game optional (ala Clyde)"

Or... are you agreeing with me?

 

I think what BC was saying was that neither of the Barry boys were that talented overall, so they needed a lot of knowledge to make up the difference.

 

1) yes, but you didn't think we'd even be .500 this year, so your constant predictions of doom have been consistently wrong. Yes, eventually you'll be right because only one team wins the championship and it probably won't be us.

2) John Barry criticizing a team for defense is almost as funny as Charles Barkley criticizing teams for defense.

3) We've matched up well with SA for at least last year and this year. Duncan even had a quote at the end of our first matchup this year (in which we won): "I don't know why I've never really been able to win in Portland." Call me crazy, but I think we have a good chance.

 

That's because he was born to be a talk show host.

 

I dont know what games Jon has been watching, but I believe that this Portland vs Huston matchup has been the very best ball of all the playoff games that I have watched.

good god, watch chicago vs washington... or the vaunted Pacers vs the Hawks..a one seen vs an 8 that is tied two two...holy bat crap...almost every game in the east is a snore..the west are better, but not nail biting like ours..

 

He did have an "anything can happen" caveat, so he's covered. I love it when the long-time negative posters show up when things are good. They'll be the first to celebrate should Portland blow this 3-1 lead, and will overrun the board with "I told you so!" posts.