So, some of us like to try to put a positive spin on things. I'm one of those people. Would it be possible for the like minded to have one thread where their observations through rose-garden-colored glasses can be shared without being bashed? Probably not, but I'm trying anyway. I think it's arguable that there was a lot to be learned from tonight's game, and several potentially positive takeaways. Looking at the box, I see that Wes/Nic combined to shoot 5-26 from the field. If that improved to a very reasonable 12-26 (46%), we may well have won this game. Plus, I notice that as a team, we missed a total of 57 shots, 20 more than OKC. However, despite the huge disparity in defensive rebound chances, we were only outrebounded by 3 in total. Not bad for a team for whom rebounding is supposed to be a weakness. I'm particularly impressed by the 27 combined boards from Aldridge/Hickson. Anyone else want to add in a homerific take?
Lillard is looking more well rounded than Westbrook in just two games. And for as bad a game as Batum had, he's one of the best matches for Durant in the NBA.
Just looking at FG%, Eric. Anyone else besides Nic shoot worse than 5-15? That said, I think that will be more the exception than the norm for Wes this year.
We got Damian Lillard for the husk of Gerald Wallace, thereby advancing our rebuild by about 2 years. No matter what happens this year we're playing with found money on that one. After James Harden, the debacle of the Lakers, the new Nets arena, and maybe Anthony Davis, Lillard may be the most compelling story in the league right now. Imagine how fucked we'd all feel without him. With Price and Smith dueling it out for starting PG duties, this team would be utterly unwatchable. But with him, man, this shit is going to be fun no matter how many games we win. I can shrug when Batum shits his pants all over the floor or Howard destroys our bigs for ridiculous points and rebounds or Durant once again rubs our noses in his greatness. Whatever, man. We got Damian Fucking Lillard, and he is one bad mother.
...precisely, this takes making every single Blazer game a priority to watch to a whole new level! [video=youtube;6_tbKQ0wS34]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_tbKQ0wS34?t=10s[/video]
The thing is, this team (regardless of personnel) has lived and died by the three pointer for a long time now. Even when we had a healthy Roy, I think this team relied heavily on the threeball. That hasn't changed. When our shooters are dialed, we are damn near unbeatable. Against the Lakers, both Wes and Nic were on fire from deep. Conversely, when our guys are ice cold like they were last night against OKC, we have a very hard time winning a game. We don't really have a guy on the team right now that can slash (outside of Lillard).
That's true, but we never had three of them as starters. Miller was terrible, Crash was pretty bad, Roy wasn't that great at it (although certainly better than those first two.) It's pretty special to have 3 starters who will likely log 35 mpg who can all hit three pointers with lethal accuracy. That's something those nice Nash Suns and Ray Allen Sonics teams could do. Also the Shobe Lakers, and Orlando back when they were relevant. It doesn't happen often because so few PG's are elite shooters as well as good passers. There were only 3 last year who shot over 37% and averaged more than 7 assists. When you have that many good shooters, it seems like one of them is bound to be hot on any given night. Just like last night--Matthews hit 4/9 while Batum and Lillard stunk it up. I really like Stotts idea of building around transition buckets and three pointers. And it was nice seeing LMA going back in the post. I definitely agree we need more slashing. But I think a lot of people are underrating the Blazers, and the two big reasons are because Lillard hasn't earned a reputation yet, and Portland (if it stays healthy) should be one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.
The thing is, LMA didn't go back in the post until after he got into it with Perkins. It's like the only time he gets aggressive is when he's pissed off. The rest of the game he was content to just sit at the top of the key and shoot 18 footers. Maybe the team should find a way to get him pissed off before every game.
