ucatchtrout
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Game preview, Portland at Phoenix 11/1
Have to confess I am having a little difficulty this week doing things the NBA way. You know, where they say once a game is over you should turn your attention to the next one. The stink of the loss we experienced at the Staples Center hung over me like a dark cloud and I was in a funk for a couple of days. Now this morning I find myself still pleased with last nights win over a San Antonio team that had beaten us 12 times in a row. I begin my thoughts about tonights game in the Valley of the Sun with a look at their starting lineup.
PG:Steve Nash
SG:Raja Bell
SF:Matt Barnes
PF:Amare Stoudemire
C:SHAQ
On paper they look better than the Blazers. At the point Steve Blake is certainly no Steve Nash. And at this point in the season he isn’t even the Steve Blake of LAST season. I don’t know if his hamstring is still bothering him or not, but he has not been as effective. There was lots of talk during the preseason, or at least until he was injured about his summers workouts and martial arts training and how improved his game was. Haven’t seen it. Neither one of the two Steves is a good defender. But Blakey, as Mike Rice likes to call him is no match for Steve Nash. Nor is Sergio off the bench. Hopefully when he comes in to spell Blake he won’t get faked out of his jockstrap like Tony Parker did to him last night. At the point guard position-Advantage Suns.
I’ve always liked Raja Bell, and he’s a decent defender. But Brandon Roy should be able to have his way with him, as will Rudy off the bench. This is probably our biggest advantage, and since the Suns don’t exactly have a reputation for defense our best shot at winning is to outscore them. This will be the first time this year Brandon has played back to back games on that surgically repaired knee. We’ll get to see if he is a step slower tonight on the road or if he is up for a challenge. Shooting guard-Advantage Blazers.
Last summer when the Phoenix Suns were looking into signing small forward Matt Barnes they wanted to convince him they had plans for him to play significant minutes. They were so serious about it they in fact had their current starter Grant Hill call him and make a pitch. Matt has played for a number of teams and is an NBA journeyman in every sense of the word having been drafted by the Grizz and played in Cleveland, Sacramento, Los Angeles Clippers, New York and Philly before finally finding a home in Golden State and serving there as team captain last year along with Baron Davis. Our resident starter Mr. Travis Outlaw looked last night as if he finally has gotten his game together. For some reason Travis has never started the season well, and this year has been no different. The Travis of last night who was blocking shots, stealing the ball and making some nifty moves to the hoop was worlds apart from the Trout who played at the Staples Center Tuesday night jacking up jumpers from hither and thither. If the right Travis shows up in Phoenix-Advantage Blazers.
LaMarcus brought his A game to the Rose Garden last night. He’ll have to bring it again if we have any chance at all of escaping John McCains home state with a win over the Suns. Amare Stoudamire is bigger and stronger and better than L.A. And if he picks up a couple of fouls early and we send in poor Channing Frye we will be in deep doo doo. Advantage-Suns.
Shaq is getting older but he is still Shaq. Joel has actually had some decent games against Shaq. But its early in the year and the big Aristotle is in much better shape than he was last year and injury free for the first time in a while. The Suns have a clear advantage at this position against anyone we try to put at the center position….. unless Nate goes small and quick. It would have been fun to see what Greg would look like against Shaq. But we’ll all have to wait for that. Advantage-Suns.
In the end the Suns are really a much better team on paper, and they have both the edge in experience and in playing on their home court. They were easily beaten by New Orleans a couple of nights ago and I am sure Coach Terry Porter will have them ready to go for tonights game against the Blazers who will of course be playing in the second game of a back to back. I don’t think we will fall apart like we did in LA, but I don’t think we will have enough in the tank to beat Phoenix tonight. I’m picking the Suns to win by 8 or nine points.
Bench
6.Leandro Barbosa
7.Grant Hill
8.Boris Diaw
9.Robin Lopez
10.Goran Dragic
11.Alando Tucker
12.Sean Singletary
13.Luis Amdunson
http://www.clubblazers.com/
Have to confess I am having a little difficulty this week doing things the NBA way. You know, where they say once a game is over you should turn your attention to the next one. The stink of the loss we experienced at the Staples Center hung over me like a dark cloud and I was in a funk for a couple of days. Now this morning I find myself still pleased with last nights win over a San Antonio team that had beaten us 12 times in a row. I begin my thoughts about tonights game in the Valley of the Sun with a look at their starting lineup.
PG:Steve Nash
SG:Raja Bell
SF:Matt Barnes
PF:Amare Stoudemire
C:SHAQ
On paper they look better than the Blazers. At the point Steve Blake is certainly no Steve Nash. And at this point in the season he isn’t even the Steve Blake of LAST season. I don’t know if his hamstring is still bothering him or not, but he has not been as effective. There was lots of talk during the preseason, or at least until he was injured about his summers workouts and martial arts training and how improved his game was. Haven’t seen it. Neither one of the two Steves is a good defender. But Blakey, as Mike Rice likes to call him is no match for Steve Nash. Nor is Sergio off the bench. Hopefully when he comes in to spell Blake he won’t get faked out of his jockstrap like Tony Parker did to him last night. At the point guard position-Advantage Suns.
I’ve always liked Raja Bell, and he’s a decent defender. But Brandon Roy should be able to have his way with him, as will Rudy off the bench. This is probably our biggest advantage, and since the Suns don’t exactly have a reputation for defense our best shot at winning is to outscore them. This will be the first time this year Brandon has played back to back games on that surgically repaired knee. We’ll get to see if he is a step slower tonight on the road or if he is up for a challenge. Shooting guard-Advantage Blazers.
Last summer when the Phoenix Suns were looking into signing small forward Matt Barnes they wanted to convince him they had plans for him to play significant minutes. They were so serious about it they in fact had their current starter Grant Hill call him and make a pitch. Matt has played for a number of teams and is an NBA journeyman in every sense of the word having been drafted by the Grizz and played in Cleveland, Sacramento, Los Angeles Clippers, New York and Philly before finally finding a home in Golden State and serving there as team captain last year along with Baron Davis. Our resident starter Mr. Travis Outlaw looked last night as if he finally has gotten his game together. For some reason Travis has never started the season well, and this year has been no different. The Travis of last night who was blocking shots, stealing the ball and making some nifty moves to the hoop was worlds apart from the Trout who played at the Staples Center Tuesday night jacking up jumpers from hither and thither. If the right Travis shows up in Phoenix-Advantage Blazers.
LaMarcus brought his A game to the Rose Garden last night. He’ll have to bring it again if we have any chance at all of escaping John McCains home state with a win over the Suns. Amare Stoudamire is bigger and stronger and better than L.A. And if he picks up a couple of fouls early and we send in poor Channing Frye we will be in deep doo doo. Advantage-Suns.
Shaq is getting older but he is still Shaq. Joel has actually had some decent games against Shaq. But its early in the year and the big Aristotle is in much better shape than he was last year and injury free for the first time in a while. The Suns have a clear advantage at this position against anyone we try to put at the center position….. unless Nate goes small and quick. It would have been fun to see what Greg would look like against Shaq. But we’ll all have to wait for that. Advantage-Suns.
In the end the Suns are really a much better team on paper, and they have both the edge in experience and in playing on their home court. They were easily beaten by New Orleans a couple of nights ago and I am sure Coach Terry Porter will have them ready to go for tonights game against the Blazers who will of course be playing in the second game of a back to back. I don’t think we will fall apart like we did in LA, but I don’t think we will have enough in the tank to beat Phoenix tonight. I’m picking the Suns to win by 8 or nine points.
Bench
6.Leandro Barbosa
7.Grant Hill
8.Boris Diaw
9.Robin Lopez
10.Goran Dragic
11.Alando Tucker
12.Sean Singletary
13.Luis Amdunson
http://www.clubblazers.com/
