Make. Shots. Seriously it's that fucking simple. We came out so completely cold, it basically fucked us from the word go. We were so completely tight and tense that we were missing wide open, point blank layups. I highly doubt that's going to continue. We also need to work on the pick and roll. We have never been a good team at defending the PNR, but god dammit we need to start.
I bet pops comes at lamarcus with someone else just to throw him off since he started to figure out splitter.
They need better spacing. When they were cutting, the paint was crowded. The Spurs seem intent to impose their pace. Blazers need to try to push the pace more. If the paint is crowded, backtap those rebounds. On defense, they have to do a better job of fighting through screens. Do not double Duncan. Push him out of the post. He was getting too deep of position. Honestly, it seemed like the team was sleepwalking. Some one needs to tell them that they are still in the playoffs.
Honestly, I'm sick of watching LA and Rolo tap rebounds at all. If you can get a finger on a ball, you can grab a ball. It almost never works. We either end up trying to swat it up into the hoop (which misses) or we try to swat it out to the guards (which doesn't work). Just try to grab the fucking rebound.
I hear what you are saying, but if the Spurs are going to crash the Defensive boards, it would seem to be the best strategy. Also just looked at the stats, we had 9 assists? 9 assists?
To put it into some perspective, Portland has had 1 game this post season where they held their opponent under 100 points, and that was game 6 vs Houston where they held Houston to 98
Nobody, literally nobody, is saying we're a good defensive team. We get by because we outscore opponents. It's that simple. So when we have a game like last night where we are missing easy shots, we're going to have a bad time. I really didn't see anything special from San Antonio. It took them way too long to put us away. We were playing like complete shit in the first quarter and yet we were right there within 6-8 points for most of the quarter.
Well i'm glad we got that out of our system....we went in there and basically paid the Spurs too much Respect. Infact, its enough respect for the entire series so now we can be nasty, get up in their grills and make em earn it. None of this giving away freebies and standing and watching them execute. Mo doesn't get to be on Parker anymore. We had to have known this was going to happen, Lin taught us this clear as day in the Houston series. Wes did ok on him, but there were some TACKY fouls calls. I dont believe for one second that the calls cost us the game, we never had it to begin with, but even during the rout the whistle blew everytime we were trying to get a little aggressive. Too late i'm sure. Also...I think T-rob PROVED he can come in and impact. I think Dame needs to go watch Andre Miller youtube vids and not Tony Parker ones (Fuck you TNT commentators for bringing this up every time Parker made a move!). If Dame can get better at the lob then that play with Will would have been EPIC!
We lost because of defense and rebounding. The shots come and go and for the most part, are out of the players' control, but the defense and rebound, they most definitely can. We played the same D on Parker that he saw for 7 straight games. Give him the wide open midrange J every damn time he comes off a pick. That has to change. LA/Rolo have to step up after the pick and either force Parker to drive around them to get to the rim (where rotation from the other big needs to be there), or Dame needs to go UNDER the pick and give Parker the three. I know he's improved vastly on that shot but I'd rather him take a three point shot with a late closeout instead of a WIDE OPEN 15 foot J. And everyone needs to crash the defensive board. That is more important than trying to get out and run. I saw a few times when LA and Rolo ran all the way into the front court when the team had yet to secure the ball. Can't happen!
I have always preached that to my teams. The only thing you can control on a basketball court is effort (defense and rebounding)
Why are you guys putting our adjustment out there on the interwebs for everyone to see? The Spurs fans spying our site are going to take all these ideas back to Pops and use them against us. Smart, real smart, guys. UNLESS, the ideas posted above are the fake adjustments purposely thrown out there to throw them off and the real ones are being posted in our VIP section. In that case, this is pure genius!
This team can be really frustrating because I love defense. My favorite football teams are defensive minded teams. I love smashmouth football, so it's hard to watch a Blazers team that plays virtually zero defense.
Yes, defense is the problem-- it has been all year. And I've yet to see Terry address it. We gave up 116 points. I don't know how many possessions the Spurs had, but even adjusted for pace, that number can only get higher when looking at advanced D stats. Spurs execute well, but not well enough to get wide open shots on every damn play. It's frustrating as hell. And this has a lot more to do with our defensive philosophy than effort. Houston was too dumb to exploit our pathetic P&R coverage--- Pop jumped on it from the first possession.
I would have liked to have seen the Blazers throw a little bit of zone at the Spurs last night. It wouldn't work for long stretches against a team that experienced, but it might have disrupted thema bit.
SA is a pure system offense type team. Unless you disrupt their offense they can score at will all game long. We did nothing to disrupt their defense. Something we have to do.
Do we make strategic changes defensively? For example, does Lillard stay on Parker or try something else?
