Blazers @ Minnesota Game Thread 1/7/11

[Nikolokolus]

I'm not talking about throwing guys on at the end in a blowout, but resting starters earlier in the game when we do have a big lead.

Look I know where you're going with this. Mills got plenty of opportunities to chuck shots in 16 minutes.

 

[DUB]

Probably didn't help that Rudy had the stomach issues.

Good point.

 

[DUB]

Andre was already sick of getting beat on without hearing a whistle long before that incident. Did you see Brewer whacking Wesley in the head with his elbows? Andre had enough and probably felt he got stomped on when he was on the floor. This is the third time I've seen Andre assert himself like that in a game when the refs wouldn't clean it up. Good for him.

Fair enough, I missed the first half of the game, and didn't realise how dirty it was.

 

[illmatic99]

Andre was already sick of getting beat on without hearing a whistle long before that incident. Did you see Brewer whacking Wesley in the head with his elbows? Andre had enough and probably felt he got stomped on when he was on the floor. This is the third time I've seen Andre assert himself like that in a game when the refs wouldn't clean it up. Good for him.

I don't know if you guys caught it, but Marty laid an elbow right in Dre's back (pushing him to the ground) in the next play when Webster scored.

 

[DUB]

Look I know where you're going with this. Mills got plenty of opportunities to chuck shots in 16 minutes.

 

[illmatic99]

Love had better numbers than LA, but our guy looked like the better player. LA was pretty evidently our go to guy and drew double teams, which opened it up for his teammates, but we saw none of that from Love.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Miller once again doing what the bigs should be doing

I do find it ironically humorous that our, old, slow, unathletic PG, who is also the quietest, most introverted guy on the team (perhaps the entire NBA) has become our enforcer. Whatever. I'm just glad to see we have someone with enough balls to push back when the other team's bigs are throwing our guys around. I still LOL every time I think of Miller hip checking Blake Griffin into the stanchion under the basket. Welcome to the NBA rookie!

BNM

 

[Nikolokolus]

Love had better numbers than LA, but our guy looked like the better player. LA was pretty evidently our go to guy and drew double teams, which opened it up for his teammates, but we saw none of that from Love.

Well ... I don't disagree, but then again we have two bigs who can single cover opposing front-court players so the need to double isn't as pressing. That said, I thought Love looked pretty fucking good; he's got a a real shortage of talent surrounding him and defensively, that team is a mess.

 

[julius]

Part of me hopes the team doesn't trade Miller and Camby, because without them they become a group of softies who back down at the first sign of intimidation.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Love had better numbers than LA, but our guy looked like the better player. LA was pretty evidently our go to guy and drew double teams, which opened it up for his teammates, but we saw none of that from Love.

Yeah, but Nate would like Love better. He plays scrappy (19 rebs) and makes his shots (10 - 15)!

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

That said, I thought Love looked pretty fucking good; he's got a a real shortage of talent surrounding him and defensively, that team is a mess.

After watching that shit, I can't believe people get on Love for his poor defense. It's not like he's a good defender, but after Brewer, and perhaps Darko, Love may be the 3rd best defender on that team.

Beasley doesn't even pretend to try to play defense. Ridnour and Johnson get beat off the dribble AND constantly leave their man wide open. Shit, if you can't do both, either back off and cut off the penetration, OR get a hand up on your man when he's shooting. Outside of Brewer, Minnesota has NO perimeter defense. I don't ever recall the Blazers getting so many wide open shots all season. It was hard to tell when the pregame shoot around ended and the game started.

Love's poor lateral quickness and lack of length limit what he can do on defense, but at least he establishes position and boxes out. He just doesn't have the length to guard someone like Aldridge - who has been destroying everyone lately.

BNM

 

[MickZagger]

After watching that shit, I can't believe people get on Love for his poor defense. It's not like he's a good defender, but after Brewer, and perhaps Darko, Love may be the 3rd best defender on that team.

Beasley doesn't even pretend to try to play defense. Ridnour and Johnson get beat off the dribble AND constantly leave their man wide open. Shit, if you can't do both, either back off and cut off the penetration, OR get a hand up on your man when he's shooting. Outside of Brewer, Minnesota has NO perimeter defense. I don't ever recall the Blazers getting so many wide open shots all season. It was hard to tell when the pregame shoot around ended and the game started.

Love's poor lateral quickness and lack of length limit what he can do on defense, but at least he establishes position and boxes out. He just doesn't have the length to guard someone like Aldridge - who has been destroying everyone lately.

BNM

Very true.

Many around here thought that Webster was just as good defensively as Matthews. Not even close to being true. Webster tried real hard last year on D, but simply just wasn't effective. That Minny team is just not that good defensively from top to bottom. Rambis is a rotten coach as well.

 

[STOMP]

Andre was already sick of getting beat on without hearing a whistle long before that incident. Did you see Brewer whacking Wesley in the head with his elbows? Andre had enough and probably felt he got stomped on when he was on the floor. This is the third time I've seen Andre assert himself like that in a game when the refs wouldn't clean it up. Good for him.

agree with the assessment of what happened there. The refs swallowed their whistles the 2nd half trying to give the home team a shot of getting back into the game. Minni was aloud to be very aggressive/physical on D and Toliver was a out of control in that instance crashing over Miller and Batum. Dre snapped as a cumulative reaction to the play that went on. Nic left the game at that point sort of favoring a knee... he's okay right?

STOMP

 

[BBert]

Fair enough, I missed the first half of the game, and didn't realise how dirty it was.

I didn't notice any real defense being played in the first half actually. I'm not taking anything away from Wesley for shooting the lights out, but I am taking something away from the Pups. Wesley was WIIIDE open and completely relaxed on every one of those threes in the first half. In the second half, the Pups were holding, hitting and grabbing. I guess when you have no talent, you do what you can.

 

[Boob-No-More]

agree with the assessment of what happened there. The refs swallowed their whistles the 2nd half trying to give the home team a shot of getting back into the game. Minni was aloud to be very aggressive/physical on D and Toliver was a out of control in that instance crashing over Miller and Batum. Dre snapped as a cumulative reaction to the play that went on. Nic left the game at that point sort of favoring a knee... he's okay right?

STOMP

It looked like Nic might have hurt his ankle on the play.

It was a stupid play by Tolliver. I understand playing all out and going after rebounds, but there was less than 30 seconds left in the game and the Blazers were up by 10. Putting other players at risk of injury by playing out of control is just stupid in that situation. But, Tolliver is a guy who likes to pad his own stats. So, he aggressively went after a rebound he had no chance of getting. Plus, I couldn't hear it at the time but I believe the whistle had blown (on Camby for fouling Love on the shot) long before Tolliver took down Batum and Miller. Yet another reason why the refs need to call ALL the fouls ALL the time. When they swallow their whistles, it just encourages this kind of shit it causes tempers to flare and puts players at risk for injury.

BNM

 

[Boob-No-More]

I didn't notice any real defense being played in the first half actually. I'm not taking anything away from Wesley for shooting the lights out, but I am taking something away from the Pups. Wesley was WIIIDE open and completely relaxed on every one of those threes in the first half. In the second half, the Pups were holding, hitting and grabbing. I guess when you have no talent, you do what you can.

Yep, agreed. Like I said in my earlier post, Minnesota's perimeter defense was so bad in the first half, you couldn't tell when the shoot around ended and the game started. In the second half, they put their best defender (Brewer) on Matthews, and were a lot more aggressive on defense. Because the refs swallowed their whistles, it worked pretty well for them. I wouldn't call what I saw "good" defense, but because they were getting away with a lot of fouls, it was reasonably effective (at least compared to the total lack of defense they played in the first half).

BNM

 

[Pinwheel1]

14 in a row? That means Love has never beaten the Blazers.

 

[oldmangrouch]

I can't stand Love - but give the b*stard his due. The kid is turning into a real force.

Thankfully, the big games from LMA and Matthews tipped the scales.

 

[Boob-No-More]

That means Love has never beaten the Blazers.

Neither has Blake Griffin.

BNM

 

[hasoos]

I thought it was a great game, but I have one problem. Will Nic Batum finally grow some gnards, and learn how to throw it down when he gets close to the rim? These weak finishes near the rim are really hard to watch. Please for once in his life, when this season ends, stay in Portland and work with Bill Bayno for a summer instead of a the french team. Please. Every team we face uses their weakest defender on Batum so they can defend one of our other players with their best. It is time to remedy that, because it is really getting old to see the same problem pop up every damn game. It didn't matter too much in this one. But in close games it does.

 

[yenniedn]

I thought it was a great game, but I have one problem. Will Nic Batum finally grow some gnards, and learn how to throw it down when he gets close to the rim? These weak finishes near the rim are really hard to watch. Please for once in his life, when this season ends, stay in Portland and work with Bill Bayno for a summer instead of a the french team. Please. Every team we face uses their weakest defender on Batum so they can defend one of our other players with their best. It is time to remedy that, because it is really getting old to see the same problem pop up every damn game. It didn't matter too much in this one. But in close games it does.

As much as I love the guy, you're asking a Frenchie to grow some gnads? Good luck with that.

 

[hasoos]

As much as I love the guy, you're asking a Frenchie to grow some gnads? Good luck with that.

So your saying the only reason I have gnads is because I am only mostly french?

 

[hasoos]

One thing about Mathews shooting last night I like to point out. The reason he was so wide open was because Minnesota was doubling Aldridge and cheating a 3rd player baseline for help. They kept doing it over and over. Then you notice in the 2nd half where Wesley slowed down in shot pace. Why? Because they finally started guarding him and quit cheating. Result? Aldridge goes to work and gets his 25, and Wesley is less active in the 2nd half. Portland's offense was doing exactly what it needed to do. It was taking what Minnesota gave them.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

One thing about Mathews shooting last night I like to point out. The reason he was so wide open was because Minnesota was doubling Aldridge and cheating a 3rd player baseline for help. They kept doing it over and over. Then you notice in the 2nd half where Wesley slowed down in shot pace. Why? Because they finally started guarding him and quit cheating. Result? Aldridge goes to work and gets his 25, and Wesley is less active in the 2nd half. Portland's offense was doing exactly what it needed to do. It was taking what Minnesota gave them.

Great observation.

 

[yenniedn]

So your saying the only reason I have gnads is because I am only mostly french?

Yup, obviously your gnads come from the other part(s) of your ancestry. You must have some Hispanic in you - if not, HCP would love to volunteer

 

[e_blazer]

I thought it was a great game, but I have one problem. Will Nic Batum finally grow some gnards, and learn how to throw it down when he gets close to the rim? These weak finishes near the rim are really hard to watch. Please for once in his life, when this season ends, stay in Portland and work with Bill Bayno for a summer instead of a the french team. Please. Every team we face uses their weakest defender on Batum so they can defend one of our other players with their best. It is time to remedy that, because it is really getting old to see the same problem pop up every damn game. It didn't matter too much in this one. But in close games it does.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that Nic's been instructed not to do too much slamming and rim-swinging because of his shoulder.

 

[BBert]

As much as I love the guy, you're asking a Frenchie to grow some gnads? Good luck with that.

I'll tell you what: Say that to a Legionnaire, to his face, in a bar. If you survive, I'll give you a dollar.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I'll tell you what: Say that to a Legionnaire, to his face, in a bar. If you survive, I'll give you a dollar.

The trouble with that logic is that the French foreign legion is composed entirely of foreigners (minus French officers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion