i think you were listening a little too much to the announcers and not watching enough of the game. the lakers didn't play great defense. they weren't making mistakes all over the place or anything. they(they being the lakers) played solid defense but nothing more. the simple fact was the blazers weren't knocking down shots, even open ones. phil jackson even said it himself that the blazers were missing a lot of shots and that a big portion of those had nothing to do with the defense the lakers were playing. my favorite was on one possession where the blazers took(and missed) two wide open 3s after moving the ball around and all the announcers could talk about was how the lakers were swarming to the ball and not giving up any good shots(even though they gave up two great shots on the possession they were discussing). not to take anything away from the lakers though. they played a decent game(and are capable of playing much better).
I don't think much of Jackson, but if these 2 teams switched coaches 2 months ago, the Blazers would have won this game.
There was a reason we couldn't get a pass into the lane....I would suspect the Lakers had something to do with that. Of course, Nate has something to do with that as well.
knocking down the wide open jump shots that the lakers were giving up would have opened up the lane a lot more.
You have GOT to kidding me. Everyone on the team was getting shots, but Outlaw was the only one who could MAKE them. Outlaw wasn't the problem. He was our saving grace.
We played badly, not because of Nate, but because the Lakers played GREAT GREAT defense. And Outlaw is one of only two players on our team who can still score when the pressure is that tight. That is why Outlaw hit so many big shots in the fourth quarter last season.
I think Outlaw played ok after a real tentative start but really Rudy is the only Blazer that played well tonight. He was active and trying to get the team back into the game. He was all over the place trying to make steals. He ws by far the best Blazer on the floor tonight. I wouldn't pick on Outlaw as being our problem tonight that was everyone else except Rudy and maybe Joel.
Amen. Making shots builds confidence too. We look like the same streak shooting team we've been for most of this decade.
To me it seemed Nate lacked no emotion. Nate's looks on the bench is how this team played very "Blah". He needs to show more energy to keep his team fired up. Heck even Phil Jackson showed some emotion and they were kicking are ass all night. Not only do the players need to step it up but also the coach.
To be honest, I've never really cared for Nate's rotations; I dont think he plays his star players nearly enough, compared to other teams that go to the playoffs regularly.
First off, what game were you watching. Sergio was the only player all night that I saw pushing the ball, directing players, actually talking out there. He was the only player who didn't step aside to let Farmar drive past him. He made him pay for it with hard contact. He stopped the bleeding and we played nearly even with the Rapers for 5 minutes. Both Blake and Roy looked uncharacteristically horrible out there, like Jarrett Jack clones. Walking the ball up, dribbling in place until the clock ran out dozens of times. Neither directed their teammates at all nor did they create anything on their own. And the idea of playing all 3 SG's is stupid, stupid, stupid. All it does is let loose the opposing PG and SF to score at will.
