Granted it was pre season.... BUT their starters killed ours. 30-15 when it mattered and our freaking 2nd unit with aldridge couldn't beat their 3rd unit. Thats a little concerning considering it was a close 4th qtr. What am i getting at? Well they would have kicked our ass if D williams and company played the whole game. I know sloan is a great coach but the blazers roster seems more talented yet an old ak47, a non playing defense jefferson, and bell who is almost 40 should never beat our starting 5. Its just feels already like this is the same old blazers we have seen the last 2 years. Quick first round exit....if that. Thats if they stay healthy. And if you want a sobering opinion on the blazers.... pick up the sporting news preview. Has us as the 8th seed, 3rd in division and take a look at where the players are ranked. Roy is babrely listed as top 5 SG, LA is listed as the 19th best PF and oden dpesnt even crack the top 25 centers. You need a microscope to find batums name in sf's. And again before you blast the sporting news....Sean Deveney is a respected NBA writer. Take a look next time you are at a magazine rack.
I think they play a more team style offense that breaks down teams defenses with the extra pass or two. They also have a dynamic PG that is adept at either running or playmaking in a set offense. As to their defense, it's your typical force teams to beat you with the outside jumper. That's our weakness.
We lost to Utah in the preseason - that means we're destined for a first round exit. The good news? LA's going to lose in the Euro League!
It is a relevant question. Last year Portland went 0-4 against Utah. The year before (when we were a 54 win team) just 2-2, with the home team always winning. I think they just hit us at our weakest points: • A superstar point guard going up against our perennially mediocre-to-bad defense PG's • A bruising, tough-rebounding PF against Aldridge. • A center in Okur who's three point range is a nice twist against our traditional C's who love to protect the rim. • Utah plays the same grinding style Portland does, so imposing our own pace on the game has less of an impact. • They always seem to have a good defender at SG to contain Roy. Jerry Sloan teams don't tend to beat themselves. You have to beat them. So last year when we had so many injuries we were just never able to overcome the above obstacles. This season there should be a few differences: • We stole their best wing defender. • Oden should hopefully be back and making an impact. • We didn't have Camby in any of those losses last year. • The odds of us sustaining those kinds of injuries two years in a row are pretty remote. I wouldn't read too much into last night's game in terms of our ability to beat Utah in the regular season. But I do think any Utah game once the season starts will be a nice barometer of how much progress the team has made.
im just saying.... perhaps the guys we have are not as good as many had thought. it also can be said roy has peaked.... as he has falling in many SG rankings entering this season
Utah is a good team. No doubt about it. However I'm not going to flip out about losing a preseason game by 4 points at their place.
And if I recall we were 3-1 against them the year before that. Last year we were up 25 pts (or something like that)in one game and lost. No excuse for that one. We just let up. The Jazz are always tough there. We just need to go back to dominating them on our home floor.
Whenever we lose to Utah at their place it doesn't surprise me at all, just look at their home record over the last few years. The one's that concern me are the losses at home to them.
good young players... but do you put them ahead of Roy? I gues sI shoudl have asked who you thought was better... not who one outlet of the media did.
Tyreke is good but I think he has to learn clutch before he is better than Roy. Evan Turner who many people thought was a more modern version of Roy is coming off the bench in Philly, and I think a lot of people assumed he would be good. So that being said, I only see a few elite guys above him right now.
While Evans may be more of a Shooting Guard he plays PG and Curry is a PG. Neither are really a SG for their team.
I'd rather have Roy right now, due to an established track record of superior play. If Roy continues to suffer injuries and either Evans or Curry has several seasons comparable to Roy, then I'd probably rather have them. While both had very encouraging rookie seasons, Curry wasn't anywhere close to Roy's production and Evans was signficantly lower. So right now, there's no question to me that I'd rather have Roy.
