was the two players mostly in question played the best basketball last night. Webster and Outlaw did a wonderful job last night, IMO. Not crowning anything like "Take that naysayers!" but it was pretty ironic seeing them being the most consistent.
That's the nice thing about this team. We have, literally, 10 players that can have a major impact on a game. Our depth is the best in the league.
On offense, maybe. Although I thought Miller looked really good too, at least in the second quarter. Oden was our best player, though. Even with all the turnovers. Houston shot 37% for the game. It wasn't because of anything Outlaw or Webster did. Aldridge and Przybilla defended well too, but Oden more than anyone else owns that 37%. Houston seemed to take every interior shot with the fear that GO was going to swat them again. You could just see it in their body language and from where they took all their shots in the second half.
I can agree on that. And I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. It's just I see more concern on players like Roy and Fernandez moreso than the "role players" we have on this team. I really am worried about the "flow" of the game. It seems really hard for us to score lately. And with this amount of talent, it shouldn't be this hard.
Yep. Greg was the difference last night, followed by Miller. Even the Rockets announcers kept repeating that the Rockets could not get in the paint when Oden was in the game. I did think Travis and Martell both played well offensively though.
Portland put up 96 points, despite a ridiculous number of turnovers. They literally more than doubled (26) their average number of turnovers from last year (12.9). If they just turned over the ball at an average rate, that's 13 more possessions. If they score on 40% of those possessions, and they are all 2 point field goals, that's another 10 points, or 106 points for the game. Not bad at all. Given that the Rockets are an incredibly scrappy, turnover-inducing defensive squad, I think Portland will be just fine in the scoring department.
Greg was our best player defensively - and Travis was our best player offensively. With all due respect to Miller, while he looked great in the running portion of the program with the 2nd unit - he looked underwhelming in the half-court. Travis on the other hand was pretty good in both aspects - he can shoot from a distance in the half-court - and he can run the court and finish on the break. I actually think that having Miller as the "leader" of a 2nd team with runners and gunners like Rudy, Web, Travis/LMA and a good defensive rebounding center was proven to be the right call by Nate - and his insistence of starting Blake was not because Blake is better than Miller - but because that way he can optimize the output he gets from Miller.
You can't really argue with the results. Miller on the second unit did look pretty nice. The big problem I saw was that Miller actually played fewer minutes than Blake. (26 min vs 25). I'd like to see Miller inch up to 30-32 mpg, while Blake drops to 18 or so. I do like the changeup in pace Miller creates when he comes in. He's such a remarkable contrast to Blake's style. It's like playing a team that goes from "Spurs-style" to "Suns-style" and then back to "Spurs-style". Opponents should have a hard time getting used to the rhythm of the game, whereas Portland should only get more and more comfortable with the tempo changeup as the season progresses.
Whats the big whoop? It's happened before, it will happen again. That is why players who are not consistent are so maddening. They will perform well one game here and there, and maybe even stretches of games. Then they will make you wonder what happened to the guy you were watching a few games ago. Same shit. Different year.
and I am willing to bet that you will see it once Miller and Roy learn how to play off each other in half-court sets. At the end of the day it comes to the fact that the pecking order has Roy over Miller - so if Roy needs to play - and Miller and him are not great together - Blake will play more time. I suspect that with time - you will see Miller's time with Roy inching up - both he and Roy are too smart not to figure it out.
Yup. In fact, there was a Scola turnover in the second quarter (threw the ball away) that was caused entirely by Oden. Scola drove into the lane and turned, ready to go up with the ball...and found Oden looming over him, ready to challenge. Scola changed his mind at the last second and tried to pass it but had nowhere to go with it and ended up throwing it right into a Blazer's hands. Oden definitely changes the game defensively. He's also a top-notch rebounder. Once he starts to get the hang of playing offense in the NBA, he'll be a superstar. As it is, he's already a very valuable player.
