According to the post game interview with McMillan Roy was playing the 4 not Webster... And apparently the plan was to foul Nash on that last play: http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/12/post_7.html
Here is the TNT recap where they talk about how crazy it is Bayless hasn't been playing. http://www.nba.com/video/games/blazers/2009/12/17/0020900372_phx_por_recap.nba/
Bayless is a shooting guard that can score, as well as distribute better than the average shooting guard. Which makes him essentially the same sort of player as Roy, but sized to defend point guards. That's why I think he makes such a good complement to Roy...neither player is up to snuff as a "point guard," but their distributing ability combined will give the team enough distributing from their backcourt.
We have a legit center in Joel. Amare was a nightmare matchup for Joel because he can put it on the floor, is quick around the hoop and can take it outside and drain jumpers. Not many guys in the league that Joel will be guarding can do that. Except for last year with Shaq, the Suns have always played small in the frontcourt and we usually don't play well against them with the exception of last year when they had Shaq. I do agree with you on the early hole on the road part though. We need to be the agressors in the first quarter.
What Bayless is is a scoring PG. There is no need to over think this. As a regular rotation guy, Bayless would probably give you 16/4
Agreed- I dont understand how people dont think he can be a PG. he put out 4 assists last night and 29 points....what did our other PG's do? 4 or 5 assists? wow..... Shit, if we were going to off assists, Roy's are damn PG. Bayless is quick enough to defend the PG, strong enough to drive and finish, and will eventually get more NBA smarts (w/more PT) to run our team into the future.
That is what I have been trying to tell folks. Just give him the minutes, he gets as many assist as Blake or close to it, but scores way more points. You don't have to settle for a one dimensional guard in this league. That is what we have had for the past 5+ years.
Martell's performance was less expected, certainly more crucial to the win, and Martell has a much less abrasive ego than Bayless. How is it doubly amusing?
We have 5 or 6, maybe 7, SG's on this team and nothing resembling a true team-running PG. Sergio, and before him Telfair, are the only true PG's this team has had in recent years. Until this team gets a PG who can actually run a team on the court, and gets Roy to accept an offense that includes everyone rather than him first and 1 or 2 other guys to compliment him, we're going nowhere.
They are definitely the 'purest' point guards we've had in recent years and they both suffered from identical issues, which were lack of defense, trouble finishing at the rim and no jump shot that any team would necessarily fear. I'm curious to see whether or not a team can make it to the finals and win with such a player. The only player who comes to mind as being even remotely similar is Rondo, but he's a lockdown perimeter defender which seperates him from any Telfair or Sergio comparison. Other championship winning "point" guards in the past ten years or so that don't exactly have 'pure' credentials. Fisher Parker Billups ...
I'll give you 1 & 3, but "more crucial"? I'm sorry, I just can't get behind that; 16 4th quarter points in a double-digit comeback 2-point victory would seem pretty crucial to me. To my line of thinking, if Bayless doesn't do what he did, we lose by more than if Webster doesn't do what he did. IMO.
They were both equally crucial in my opinion. If neither steps up last night then that was a definite loss. Martell hustled his ass off, got some timely offensive rebounds, a sweet game saving block on Amare, and on the other hand, without Jerryd putting the Suns on their heels with his attacking and aggressive play it would have all been for nothing.
Avery Johnson is the one that comes to mind. Weak outside shot, decent but not great around the rim, and probably only average on defense if you eliminate the all-time great team defensive factor he had behind him.
Actually Avery was a pretty good defender ... and his career field goal percentages (career 48% from the field) were excellent for a point guard, even if he didn't have much of an outside shot.
His ceiling is a scoring point guard, in the style of a Tony Parker. I think his expected value is more of a scorer who can do a little distributing also.
Not surprisingly, Sergio show no signs of the weaknesses you mention now that he has another coach. Sergio especially has been shooting well, is near the top of the league in most PG categories per48min, and has been an absolute eye-opener on defense. Also, the 3 PG's you mention are all known for their vocal and decisive direction of their teams on court, which is what I'm referring to.
Parker, who is on my fantasy team, is currently morphing himself into a pass-first guard, and committing many TO's in the process.
blah, blah, blah. I've seen his December numbers and he's regressing to the mean nicely: 35% from the floor, 30% from three, 2.1 turnovers per game, 3.8 assists, 4.6 points in 14.5 minutes
