This game exposed Nate's biggest weakness. The offense he has put in place has no movement and no way to create easy shots. If we are not hitting our jumpers we are going to lose.
5 of the least ugly minutes of the game. 2nd best guard tonight, next to Rudy. Blake and Roy played as bad as I've ever seen them. Bayless was 1-5 with 2 fouls and 2 TO's in 14 undeserved minutes. As predicted Nate renigged on his word that Sergio was his 2nd team PG.
Sergio did absolutely nothing. Oh wait, scratch that, he threw an alley-oop to Lamar Odom, my bad. Blake was terrible, but at least he hit 3 threes, and Roy started going off late. Roy was too passive for most of the game and it didn't help that he had Kobe on him. Bayless was fouled on at least two occasions that weren't called. Yeah, he forced a few turnovers, but I think McMillan wanted to see if he could get some instant offense from Bayless. (That missed 3 was killer though) I think your man crush on Sergio and Rudy should have its limits, but I guess not.
I can't remember how many point blank layups that Brandon missed, let alone wide open looks from Blake, Aldridge, and a few hooks Oden threw up from within 5 feet of the hoop. Either way, I think it's fucking hilarious how were only one game in and people are already drawing all of these broad conclusions about Nate's fitness to coach this team, players ability to play, and the complete overreaction to what amounted to a bad loss against last season's Western Conference champs, who were playing pretty damn good defense, denying players their open looks. I thought we might at least get through 5 or 6 losses in this rough patch before the calls for Nate's head would start, I guess I was wrong.
Yeah, Sergio was terrible out there! That pass to Odom was second only to Odom's pass to Vujacic on the bench! When will the needless Sergio love end? Anything he ever produces seems to be counteracted by his playing the worst defense ever.
SOOO frustrating... Travis is NOT a starter, and I'll be surprised if he starts on Friday. We played the end of the preseason with Batum starting, Roy has his endorsement, and so we change it RIGHT ON GAME DAY. WTF! And I was surprised to see Sergio with the hook already. This wreaked desperation in the second half, and went away completely what we tried to establish in the preseason. Nate needs to stop panicking, and just go with the guys that he saw throughout the whole training camp. It's like we went completely away from what we learned from the past month. And Frye stinks. Give his minutes to Diogu.
Frye is soft and makes very poor decisions with the ball in his hands. All the talk of off season conditioning, is just that. All talk. None of the starters seem to know how to get to the FT line when their shots aren't falling. LMA is the biggest culprit. Create contact!
Channing did not look good tonight.. he just jacked up 22 footers, just inside the three-point line. His first shot was a 3-pointer. He shot 3 3-pointers and was 0-7. When his shot isn't falling, it's tough to watch him in there. It's one game, though.. I don't want to panic or anything, but Channing needs to step his game up when he's in there.
You're right, it's one game. But from both their play in the preseason, Channing was much better and useful. We were just completely outplayed by the Lakers tonight.
i think everyone is overreacting to one game. sure there has been a ton of buildup to this but it was just one game. the only thing of real significance coming out of it is whether oden is going to be healthy or not. nothing else that happened in this game really changes anything. i think there were pretty much two possibilities going into this game. either the blazers were going to be hyped up and play a great game and have a very good chance at winning the game or they were going to come out nervous and as long as the lakers played solid, they weren't going to have much of a chance. it's pretty obvious which one happened. roy driving to the lane on a good play and then leaving it short at the rim isn't the coaches fault. good ball movement creating open 3s, but those 3s not going in isn't the coaches fault. and there were plenty of those especially in the first half of the game.
nate needs to stop panicking, no wait, give all of frye's minutes to diogu. you meant that as a joke right?
oh and for everyone complaining about sergio not getting enough minutes, doesn't it at least kinda make sense? first off, he was terrible out there. he was bad in his time on the court, granted there wasn't exactly a large sample size. and then with the game seemingly being out of hand(until the blazers almost closed the gap enough to make it competitive), doesn't it make sense to get bayless out there in some real game situations with roy and rudy?
Last I looked, Nate has been doing the same job the past few years, and has yet to show any understanding of offense. The really sad thing, is that he preaches defense, and people praise him for his defensive coaching. Not sure if anyone watched the game, but Portland's defensive intensity was a joke compared to Phil Jackson's Lakers. Of course, Lakers made a commitment in the off season to up their defense, but they actually succeeded. Believe me, the Sergio love pales in comparison to the Sergio hate....Which starts with Nate.
It's not 1 game, it's quite a few seasons now so it's pretty much what was expected. The last time this team had a consistently effective offense a guy named Dunleavy was coaching them. It wouldn't be so bad if we were the best defensive team around but we're one of the worst at that too. Someone tell me again, what is it that Nate gets paid for?
Yes, if Bayless showed any signs of being ready to play point guard....Unfortunately, he doesn't. I assure you, the way Nate handles Sergio, he will never develop. I hope to hell the guy get's let loose, and finds himself playing for a coach who understands offense....Offensive plays, player movement and ball movement. It's only then we will know just how good Sergio is.
