Nuggets @ Blazers GAME THREAD (The Blazers strike back edition)

Matthews can certainly drive, but it's mostly just left or right. He doesn't have the body control or the ability to change directions like Roy. And he certainly doesn't have Roy's pull-up ability, which puts him in some bad situations when he gets in the paint but is surrounded. He is a lot more active than Roy though, so that leads to a lot of easy points with nice passes from Miller.

 

I didn't find it boring at all. Great defense, some fast breaks, crisp execution all made it very enjoyable. Dre running the offense is a delight to watch. I'd take him over that chucker, Chauncey any day of the week.

 

1. He runs

2. He hustles

3. He plays defense

Those are three things that Roy generally does not do.

 

I agree with yuyuza1, this game was very exciting to me.

 

Yep. Great hard nose defense. We missed a lot of point blank shots though that went in and out. The back door alley oops are not exactly boring though.

 

A 20-30 PPG scorer? No, I don't think anyone thought he was that talented.

I never said he didn't have talent. I said it would be nice if it turned out that Matthews was MORE talented than we thought.

 

Wasn't meant to criticize him. He's great at what he does. He's been worth every penny so far.

 

I think this game shows how difficult it will be to win when we don't have Roy. As hard as we worked, (took 20 more shots than Denver), if Denver could have made a shot or two at the end, we lose. Despite the offense looking more freeflowing at times we scored only 86 points. Aldridge showed again he can't be depended on at the end of games. Miller will get too much attention at the end of games to be able to finish, so I don't know who will help us win close games, and I think most of our games will be close. I wish I was feeling more optimistic but at this point I'm not.

 

Matthews got some points cutting to the hoop without the ball and finishing on nice dishes from Miller. That shows a level of involvement in the offense that Webster never seemed to understand. I think the way I'd describe it is that Webster had a passive offensive game while Matthews has an active offensive game. Webster was happy being the "stand at the perimeter and wait for the ball" guy. Matthews actually wants to make something happen.

 

At the same time, we aren't going to miss half our free throws every game. If we made just one or two more, the game would have been put away a long time ago and we wouldn't have the crazy finish.

 

Cost us another game didn't it...

 

The highs and lows of this (and every) game thread are comical. How people can bash guys like LMA, Miller, and Nate so hard when they are some of the biggest reasons we're ever in games is beyond me.

 

Looks to me like the team is still listening to Nate, because as usual he gets a superior effort from a short handed team. That seems to be one of his strengths. This game was won because of effort. We shot like shit and won because we scrapped. That is all I care about is the team plays hard.

 

That is why I go back and read these things when I get home from games! It's hilarious how much certain people absolutely bang on Nate and players when ever we are behind or lose. Then just move on and compliment the team on a W........ as if they were just killin' 'em!

 

25/6.5.......... I'll take that from Wes the rest of the season. Not bad #'s for 2 starts. Now he's going up against his old team. I'm sure he'll set a new career high on Saturday, maybe in assists.

 

I will stay away from the obvious Nate issues.

It's nice that we finally beat a team over 500, even though Denver is a mess. Man they are a bad team. And if 86-83 is what this season brings, it will be tough to watch them. Portland simply isn't going to win most of those games.

I thought LA and Matthews played great tonight, and Miller played well. Camby and Batum had their moments, but struggled a bit.

 

My guess is shot attempts