As Wallace himself has said many times, that's his game. He's balls-out 100% of the time he's on the court. That's why the Blazers wanted him for so long. The only way to stop him from doing stuff like that is to bench him. He doesn't care of the Blazers are up 40 or down 40, he's still going to play every play at full capacity.
The dude was amazing last night. His cross over was impressive. He certainly does not take a play off. I share your concerns with him taking punishment. But for now I am just going to enjoy watching him play. He and Rudy definitey play better in a up tempo style.
We were up by 40 with Brandon in the game. It doesn't make sense to me. Has nothing to do with getting Johnson and Babbit "experience" sir. More so has to deal with protecting our guys from getting injured in garbage time.
People always use this excuse, but when was the last time a significant player ACTUALLY got injured in garbage time?
Martell Webster fractured his foot in garbage time against Sacto a few years ago. At the time, he was a major rotation player.
Martell's initial injury was during a preseason game agaist Sacramento. So, I guess by definition, the entire game was garbage time. He re-injured the foot in just 5:15 of playing tim in the only regular season game he played that year. Obviously, the foot wasn't properly healed and it wouldn't have mattered if he was playing the first five minutes of the game, the last five minutes of a clsoe game, or 5 minutes of garbage time. BNM
Roy an Camby are both trying to play their way back into game shape after extended absences. Sure, they can do cardio work, but the only way to truly get in game shape is to play in games. They are both also trying to adjust to their new roles of coming off the bench and playing with the other players on the second unit. With only 14 games left, both players need some PT to be in top shape and fully adjusted to their new roles before the play-offs start. Roy played 14:05, the least he's played in any game all season - before or after surgery. I don't understand why that's a big deal. Injuries can occur at any time. When Oden blew out his knee cap last season, it was 4:15 into the first quarter of the game. Roy is no more likely to get injured in garbage time of a blow out than in the first quarter. Do we just put him on the shelf and hope he'll be able to contribute SOMETHING during the play-offs, or do we give him enough PT to get into game shape and adapt to his new role? Nate chose the latter, and I think it's the right way to go. If Roy had played 30+ minutes, or if it was the first, or second night of a back-to-back, a little more rest may have been appropriate, but come on, it was 14 minutes. BNM
I also have a vague memory of someone like Bonzi or Outlaw hurting their knee in a late-season blowout against Golden State. It was a big dunk and a crazy landing off the dunk into a crouch, and he hurt his knee because of it. Maybe Rider? It's all so fuzzy. I just know I've seen useless injuries happen, but they are indeed very rare and that dunk/landing/foot fracture could have/would have come during a tight game too. I think we're all just overly gunshy because of Oden and Joel going down.
I've earned the right to be afraid of players getting injured by being a Blazers fan. When a game is sloppy like that the chances of an injury are even higher.
Are you serious? McMillan plays rookies who are good. Roy played as a rookie. Batum started as a rookie. Armon Johnson got Bayless fired with his play during training camp and he was only a second round pick. If you're good, you play. If you're not, you don't. If you need time to develop, well that is what the DEVELOPment league is for and that is where Babbitt is. Also, someone has to play. Should we really have played Armon Johnson at 2 guard for the entire 4th quarter? That's what we drafted Elliott Williams for but he's hurt. AND I think this was also a statement game for themselves that when you're supposed to beat a team, you need to punch them to the ground, step on their throat, and don't let up for 48 minutes. It was a great fucking game. Now let's do it again tonight.
