12/26/11 Blazers vs Sixers Game Thread.......

[tlongII]

We won. They lost.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I thought Felton did a good job overall running the offense; Crawford not so good; hopefully that'll get better as the team jells. Would be nice if Felton could add lob pass to his repertoire.

They still don't know how to run a fast break; there were two 3on2's that they got nothing from. Not a surprise because you don't teach the fast break by shortening the shot clock in practice. Would have been nice if they had hired Terry Porter as an assistant when he was available.

Still aren't using Wallace on offense; only saw once when he got the ball on the move coming around a pick. He didn't score; surprisingly Hawes anticipated and got over there; but if we practiced this i think Wallace would known to pass off to the guy who Hawes left.

Batum played lousy defense first half; he watches the ball too much and loses his man.

Everybody worked hard; we deserved to win. Obviously we could be a lot better.

 

[McNicholicious]

We scored 107 points against a good Philadelphia defense. Sure we faltered a little down the stretch, but we got the W. This was the first game, we still need to get the kinks out. Everybody relax. We gotta focus on the Kings tomorrow. They just beat LA, so we may have our work cut out for us. Go Blazers!!

 

[Sinobas]

Some of you seem to want to pretend that we didn't fall apart at the end of the game.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Over all it was a fun game to watch. Not to use a Sheed Cliche' but both teams played really hard. It was not pretty, but both teams for flying all over the place for loose balls. The offensive fouls got out of hand, but I thought the intensity was excellent for a regular season game.

 

[Brock]

yes we made bonehead plays but williams went nuts from 3 and so did iggy.

thats more the story

 

[BBert]

yes we made bonehead plays but williams went nuts from 3 and so did iggy.

thats more the story

I agree you have to give their shooters credit for making all those clutch threes. We should also fault our guys for not doing a better job of taking away the three. I wouldn't fault anyone too much for the first game of the season though, after a long vacation and a shortened training camp/preseason.

I also agree with UKRAINFAN re the failure to coach how to run a fast break. It would be interesting to see some old tape and find out if Nate even knows how to do it.

 

[illmatic99]

BTW, with 97 FGAs, POR had the most out of any other team in the league so far. A lot of it attributed to O-rebs, but still, that's a lot of possessions to work with.

During Nate's tenure, the team has scored at least 107 pts, while shooting below 41.2% only 5 times in regulation.

http://bkref.com/tiny/TzAdL

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

The crowd was great last night.
I wish Brandon Roy would have been there on the bench with the team.

 

[Sinobas]

I agree you have to give their shooters credit for making all those clutch threes. We should also fault our guys for not doing a better job of taking away the three. I wouldn't fault anyone too much for the first game of the season though, after a long vacation and a shortened training camp/preseason.

I also agree with UKRAINFAN re the failure to coach how to run a fast break. It would be interesting to see some old tape and find out if Nate even knows how to do it.

When the Blazers are "nursing a lead" late in a game, they also have a habit of getting out of the way and watching the opposing guards sprint to the hoop for jam. I don't understand how this strategy is beneficial? If you've been holding a team to under 50% shooting, isn't it better to play defense and attempt to stop them from scoring? Or step in front of them and take the charge? At least they only allowed the Sixers to do this 1-2 times.

Not much you can do about guys jacking up long 3s though. Still, Felton had some very silly plays at the end, and the Blazers petered out offensively. They just did not close the game well.

 

[magnifier661]

When the Blazers are "nursing a lead" late in a game, they also have a habit of getting out of the way and watching the opposing guards sprint to the hoop for jam. I don't understand how this strategy is beneficial? If you've been holding a team to under 50% shooting, isn't it better to play defense and attempt to stop them from scoring? Or step in front of them and take the charge? At least they only allowed the Sixers to do this 1-2 times.

Not much you can do about guys jacking up long 3s though. Still, Felton had some very silly plays at the end, and the Blazers petered out offensively. They just did not close the game well.

Well it's the first game he played being a Blazer in the regular season. Even when we traded for Wallace, we saw some of the first game jitters. Didn't it take Wallace like 6 games before he started becoming more comfortable? Let's make this assumption when we got at least 10 games under our belt.

 

[Draco]

NBA teams are all very competitive, so I have no issue with the Blazers “letting” the Sixers make it close at the end. This isn’t the Ducks playing a horrible lower tier Sac State football team or something; you just aren’t going to blow teams out for every single win in the NBA. The Blazers did a great job earlier in the game of building a lead, if you continuously do that throughout the season you’ll put yourself in a position where you’re a huge favorite to get the win. You put yourself in a position where even with a few errors, cold shooting, or defensive hiccups you’ll still get the victory. Yes from time to time a game or two might slip away at the end. But if we are always up 15 in the fourth we’re going to win vastly more games then we lose.

 

[illmatic99]

Check out Katy Brown being a dumbass about the same issue with Gerald.

[video=youtube;bMOVMdkJ1qI]

(From PRS).

 

[Sedatedfork]

I don't have time to go through this thread, just wanted to post my thoughts. I had to watch the Sixers feed on NBALP and Malik Rose is pretty horrible imo, but maybe he gets better.

LMA looked great in the first 3 quarters, but his shot was off in the 4th. Hopefully that's just a rust issue. I was impressed with his overall game. JC looks like he will be fun to watch in the 4th. Typical Blazers game. It doesn't look like they know yet how to hold on to a big league. I loved the fast pace of the game. It's a little interesting to see how the minutes were divided out. I was hoping to see some Elliot Williams at some point and a little bit more of Chris Johnson, but overall I had no complaints about the substitution patttern. Thank god they held on, or that would have been a pretty tough loss. Oh, and Elton Brand was -20 (ouch!).

 

[HailBlazers]

BTW, with 97 FGAs, POR had the most out of any other team in the league so far. A lot of it attributed to O-rebs, but still, that's a lot of possessions to work with.

During Nate's tenure, the team has scored at least 107 pts, while shooting below 41.2% only 5 times in regulation.

http://bkref.com/tiny/TzAdL

Good Work, Thanks.

Things are definitely lookin up!

 

[Sinobas]

Well it's the first game he played being a Blazer in the regular season. Even when we traded for Wallace, we saw some of the first game jitters. Didn't it take Wallace like 6 games before he started becoming more comfortable? Let's make this assumption when we got at least 10 games under our belt.

I'm not making any assumptions, just saying he didn't close the game well. I thought he did pretty good the first 3 quarters though. He had alot of shots rattle out that could have easily gone down. It will take awhile for the team to gel and I still think they'll have a good season.

It was also nice to see him actually MAKE a floater.....Rudy Fernandez, I'm thinking about you.

 

[illmatic99]

Actually, scratch that. I didn't set it for POR only.

Nate's teams have NEVER done it in regulation: http://bkref.com/tiny/rEU2w

 

[magnifier661]

I'm not making any assumptions, just saying he didn't close the game well. I thought he did pretty good the first 3 quarters though. He had alot of shots rattle out that could have easily gone down. It will take awhile for the team to gel and I still think they'll have a good season.

It was also nice to see him actually MAKE a floater.....Rudy Fernandez, I'm thinking about you.

I'll be honest with you. Felton didn't make me feel like all "goo goo" inside, but he seems to work in this style of offense. There were a lot of wide open missed shots. Shot that would normally go down. This game could have easily been a 20 point blow-out, with us just shooting 3% better.

Felton doesn't excite me. In fact, the only player that did last night was Wallace. Not saying I don't like any of the players, just he was the only one that really stood out to me.

 

[Brock]

I agree mag, and aldridge is more of a robin then a batman.....

we have no stars

this team is eerily similar to the shareef/zach team a few years ago. barely good enough for 8th seed

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I'll be honest with you. Felton didn't make me feel like all "goo goo" inside, but he seems to work in this style of offense. There were a lot of wide open missed shots. Shot that would normally go down. This game could have easily been a 20 point blow-out, with us just shooting 3% better.

Felton doesn't excite me. In fact, the only player that did last night was Wallace. Not saying I don't like any of the players, just he was the only one that really stood out to me.

I thought Camby looked fucking great!

 

[Draco]

I agree mag, and aldridge is more of a robin then a batman.....

we have no stars

this team is eerily similar to the shareef/zach team a few years ago. barely good enough for 8th seed

Wasn't the Shareef/Zach team a lottery team in the ~27 win territory?

 

[Brock]

yep just missed cause of a heart breaking loss to denver

im thinking the 03/04 team

wallace is playing shareef in this story btw

 

[magnifier661]

I agree mag, and aldridge is more of a robin then a batman.....

we have no stars

this team is eerily similar to the shareef/zach team a few years ago. barely good enough for 8th seed

I see him like a Webber type player. Not similar games, because Webber was amazing at passing and handles; but the strength on the team.

I really don't think we need a star as badly as you think. I think we should try and fit into the mold of the 98-99 team. That was a damn good team!

 

[Brock]

98/99.... that was pre pippen right?

Was that the sheed, grant, damon, augmon, anthony, sabonis, oneal team?

 

[magnifier661]

98/99.... that was pre pippen right?

Was that the sheed, grant, damon, augmon, anthony, sabonis, oneal team?

Yep.... That team was the #1 rebounding and points allowed team. In fact, I think that team lead in the top 5 defensive categories too.

 

[Brock]

other then damon and sheed... how did they score???

 

[magnifier661]

other then damon and sheed... how did they score???

J.R. Rider

 

[Sinobas]

Ah, I think we're a lot better than the Randolph/Shareef team! That squad did not even make the playoffs, and I'm sure this one will.

It does sorta remind me of the 98 team, in terms of talent level. You don't need a "superstar" to be good. Enough of that BS. The 98 team was a little deeper, but this team certainly wins in the attitude department.

Felton > Damon
Matthews = Rider
Camby < Sabonis
Aldridge = Rasheed
Wallace = Grant

98 Bench: Anthony, Jackson, Williams, Wells
Current: Crawford, Batum, Thomas, Johnson

 

[illmatic99]

I'd put LA > Sheed right now.

The key to that team was big man depth. There were three guys that could consistently play at least 30mpg at a HIGH level.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I'd put LA > Sheed right now.

The key to that team was big man depth. There were three guys that could consistently play at least 30mpg at a HIGH level.

People forget how good Sheed could be on defense. LMA is a better team player but he's not yet as good of an all around player as Sheed was.