It's hard to make any changes after a win, but we don't want to wait until our backs are against the wall to make the right choice.
This could be our best defensive lineup as well. Barring Bayless at PG and Roy at SG, which is another combo worth trying in game. Personally, I saw Bayless as the difference in game four which I got to go to with my brothers!
If Roy feels like he can play heavy minutes including just about all of them in the fourth then let him start. If we want to limit him a little more so he can be a little more effective and less tired in the 4th start Bayless. Bayless is a guy who brings the energy and effort every night and has a very good shot at burning Nash, something Rudy could not do. Plus Bayless' D is better than Rudy's.
The keys to this series so far have been-- 1) controlling the pace, and 2) controlling the first quarter. No one (on either team) can force the teams to to play at his pace better than Roy. We need him from the start. I go with Brandon.
All I want is to see Miller, Bayless, and Roy take all 96 guard minutes. Doesn't really matter to me who starts. Bayless starting probably gives us a more balanced rotation though, so I'd probably go with that Monday. Roy on Thursday, though.
I agree with this. If Roy can go big minutes, can't mess around with him coming off the bench. I know the Blazers won one game doing it . . . but they also won a game without Roy and no one think Roy shouldnt play because they won a game without him.
This is kind of tough. I really liked how Brandon on the floor opened up the middle for Miller, and stopped a lot of the double teams on Aldridge. It would be nice to get off to a big start in Phoenix like in Game 1, and I think Brandon starting would help that. But on the other hand, Bayless has been playing well and I still have that small fear that Roy will overdo his knee and it will start bothering him again.
IMO, starting Bayless is win-win. If Bayless and the Blazers have a good start, then that's bonus. If not, you still have Roy to bring in.
I voted Bayless but if Nate and Roy think he should start I don't have any problems with Roy starting. I'm pretty sure Roy will start game 6 anyway.
I don't get how that is a win win. What if Bayless starts and plays bad and by the time Roy comes in Phx has a big lead . . . that isn'[t a win. When it came to Andre this board was all about starting your best five players. And now the talk is not to start the team's best player? Is starting Webster over Batun a win win because if he plays bad you can bring in Batum? Not trying to pick on yhou ABM, but if Roy is ready to go big minutes, why not start him?
I get that. Part of me wonders about Roy's conditioning, though. He may "want" to play big minutes, but that could be heart > head thinking.
Anyway, I'd go with Bayless to start. It's not really an ego thing for Roy to start, since he knows he's the franchise player. I just don't think Roy is a 35 mpg player right now, and if we only get him for 25 minutes I don't want his minutes to overlap Miller's too much early on, since we need at least one of them on the court at all times, and both at the end of the game. Besides, he seems to bring an emotional lift to the team off the bench, and he can get himself into a rhythm by playing against the other team's second unit.
I had kind of a funny thought. With Brandon coming in off the bench to kind of be a closer, he's filling the same role that the Spurs have had for Manu Ginobli for much of his career in San Antonio -- During game fourt, in some ways it felt like the Blazers were able to establish a certain tempo and rhythm and then bringing in Brandon caused Phoenix to have to completely adjust their defensive approach and account for a fresh (though somewhat hampered) Roy. Granted, it's a no brainer that he should be the starter at some point, but for now I like the dimension that Roy off the bench provides.
Last night on Fox Sports Radio, Sean Farnham was making the point that the Spurs were able to change game 4 in the second half by significantly improving their offensive execution and offensive rebounding, thereby slowing down the Mavs' fastbreak. Then 10 minutes later, Geoffrey C Arnold came on and basically said the exact same thing about the Blazers and Suns. I think the comparison is very apt.
You find out a lot about players and their true nature in the playoffs. If nothing else, I think this playoff series has done a ton for helping us figure out our future at guard. Bayless has shown he is mentally tough. Rudy has shown the opposite. I think you start Bayles due to Roy being limited in minutes. Until Roy says he is ready to take that starting job back, I think you use him to stabilize that second unit.
Right now I'd rather have Bayless start and Roy coming off the bench until Roy gets his sea legs. It's a nice shot in the arm for the team too and if Portland is able to keep pace with PHX then it's all good. I'm thinking that Roy starts game 6, but then again there is a chance he starts tonight. I doubt the PHX crowd cheers to much for Roy coming into the game.
Start Bayless in Game 5 and plan on starting Roy in Game 6. With Bayless I really like the matchup problems for Phoenix at the beginning of the game. Then Brandon comes in and KILLS their subs. Brandon isn't in good enough shape for starter minutes but would still get enough minutes to help get him ready for game 6. Save Brandon a little so he has enough in the tank to produce late in the game. He likes to take early parts of the game off for that reason anyway, this way he can do it from the bench for five or six minutes and we can play five guys hard the whole game. I also like that Phoenix has to game plan for Roy starting then we throw Bayless at them.
Also, Phoenix's most dangerous three point shooters are their reserves--at the very least, they're the ones who shoot threes most often (4 of Phoenix's top 5 in 3PA/48 are bench guys). The more deliberate pace Roy creates (mandates?) makes it more difficult for the reserves to find open spots from which to bomb away. On the flip side, I have a feeling that Jason Richardson (the key to this series so far, IMO) has to work much harder to defend Bayless and/or Miller than Roy, reducing his effectiveness on the offensive end. I'm really coming down solidly on the side of Bayless starting at this point.
