Blazers @ Oklahoma City Thunder - GAME THREAD

[Nikolokolus]

Because every roster should be coached the same?

Oh for Crissakes. Nate has completely changed his philosophy this year and it's not because he swapped out Andre for Felton and shipped out a sulking backup 2 guard.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Nate should have been doing this for several years. He is doing it so far this season, and so far we have looked pretty damn good. The one game we didn't push it was the one game we got our asses kicked. Please don't point out the score, they kicked our ass

Alright MM, I guess once again you can say you told us so. (Not sure what you are saying, but apparently you have been saying it for 4-5 years)

 

[magnifier661]

Come on everyone. We just beat a damn good team on the road. No arguing about shit

 

[Nikolokolus]

Alright MM, I guess once again you can say you told us so. (Not sure what you are saying, but apparently you have been saying it for 4-5 years)

He has been saying it for 4-5 years ... where have you been?

 

[ehizzy3]

lol fucking perkins. he would eat la up but somebody has to stand up to him. loved seeing that

nic is really playing well in my opinion. felton and la need to run the pick and roll/pop more

 

[Blazinaway]

very good win, lots of good contributions, LA is back!

 

[santeesioux]

Check out who's number 1 in the Western Conference!

http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/group/2

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Oh for Crissakes. Nate has completely changed his philosophy this year and it's not because he swapped out Andre for Felton and shipped out a sulking backup 2 guard.

Oh for chrssake. Nate has changed his philosophy because this is a roster that can run.

Funny how many numerous posts in the past saying Nate is incapable of running. I guess that is wrong and he is capable of running. Why start this year? Not a mystery to me.

 

[HailBlazers]

Perk is a Bitch, grabbing LMA all game

Loved what LA had to say about that after the game

 

[magnifier661]

lol fucking perkins. he would eat la up but somebody has to stand up to him. loved seeing that

nic is really playing well in my opinion. felton and la need to run the pick and roll/pop more

In time. They had only three practices together. Mid season, they will be on like donkey kong!

 

[magnifier661]

Perk is a Bitch, grabbing LMA all game

Loved what LA said after the game about it

Please tell. I have shitty cowboys talking about how this loss wasn't our fault.

 

[cdub503]

Perk is a Bitch, grabbing LMA all game

Loved what LA had to say about that after the game

what'd he say? i missed the end of the game...

 

[magnifier661]

Check out who's number 1 in the Western Conference!

http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/group/2

+8 on differential. That's awesome!

 

[ehizzy3]

In time. They had only three practices together. Mid season, they will be on like donkey kong!

very true. it has signs of being a very good combination, especially when felton gets his shooting touch back

 

[B-Roy]

Stop being positive!!! It's bad karma!!!

 

[The_Lillard_King]

He has been saying it for 4-5 years ... where have you been?

Whatever Nik . . . Blazers win, it's all good.

Didn't mean to get you all worked up but MM has been saying for years taht Nate is a bad coach for many reasons including not being capable of running even if he had the right roster. he still can hang his hat on Nate not being able to get out of the first round, so not all is lost.

I found it funny that when Nate does allow them to run MM says I told you so when all this time he said Nate will never do it because he is uncapable of it.

 

[magnifier661]

very true. it has signs of being a very good combination, especially when felton gets his shooting touch back

And makes his damn layups. The only knock I have on this team are their blown layup attempts. Not just Felton. It's the entire team.

 

[jlprk]

The Thunder were missing their starting SF. They're not used to injuries so they don't know what to do.

We have so many veterans. This looks like the Lakers of old. So experienced, they're making Nate look good.

Batum has quietly put together a lot of excellent games this season. He's not tough inside like Wallace, but he's at least as good at everything else and better at outside shooting. Batum tried to dribble and lost it fast tonight, giving a glimpse of what would happen if he started at SG.

 

[KingSpeed]

Fuckin Thunder announcers making excuses. LOL ya, Thabo Sefalosha makes such a big difference!

We didn't have Thabo Sefalosha either. So it's even.

 

[tlongII]

This team has arrived. Just gotta stay healthy!

 

[HailBlazers]

Please tell. I have shitty cowboys talking about how this loss wasn't our fault.

what'd he say? i missed the end of the game...

LA cliff notes:

Tonight I had to force the issue going to the basket

I've been tired, this is my second game feeling decent, actually had my legs

Wanted to work on being a leader, loud, and step up the team's defense

When asked about Perk:

Guys are going to learn, I've gone at it with every guy in the league, I'm not going to back down from anyone, and my teammates need that from me.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

 

[B-Roy]

The Thunder were missing their starting SF. They're not used to injuries so they don't know what to do.

We have so many veterans. This looks like the Lakers of old. So experienced, they're making Nate look good.

Batum has quietly put together a lot of excellent games this season. He's not tough inside like Wallace, but he's at least as good at everything else and better at outside shooting. Batum tried to dribble and lost it fast tonight, giving a glimpse of what would happen if he started at SG.

You mean their starting SG? Who sucks?

It's no coincidence his absence led to a great game by Harden....who should be starting anyways.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Whatever Nik . . . Blazers win, it's all good.

Didn't mean to get you all worked up but MM has been saying for years taht Nate is a bad coach for many reasons including not being capable of running even if he had the right roster. he still can hang his hat on Nate not being able to get out of the first round, so not all is lost.

I found it funny that when Nate does allow them to run MM says I told you so when all this time he said Nate will never do it because he is uncapable of it.

What you (and others?) don't get is that MM has never said Nate is incapable of running, just that for 10 of his 11 years as a coach he was unwilling ... even when he had Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen in their prime. All I've ever read is him stating this fact and then drawing the fairly reasonable conclusion that Nate was very unlikely to change. If you can't tell that MM is both shocked and happy with the turn of events then you're blinded by your own personal distaste for him.

 

[magnifier661]

LA cliff notes:

Tonight I had to force the issue going to the basket

I've been tired, this is my second game feeling decent, actually had my legs

Wanted to work on being a leader, loud, and step up the team's defense

When asked about Perk:

Guys are going to learn, I've gone at it with every guy in the league, I'm not going to back down from anyone, and my teammates need that from me.

That's smart!!! Aldridge is looking like a hell of a leader. Looks like he's ready to carry the torch.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

What you (and others?) don't get is that MM never has never said Nate is incapable of running, just that for 10 of his 11 years as a coach he was unwilling ... even when he had Rashard Lewis and Ray Allen in their prime. All I've ever read is him stating this fact and then drawing the fairly reasonable conclusion that Nate was very unlikely to change. If you can't tell that MM is both shocked and happy with the turn of events then you're blinded by your own personal distaste for him.

Here we go again. Nik telling me again the way it is and if I don't agree my opinion is based on emotion. Getting old, don't know what to say except you are wrong.

If MM wants to somehow explain that he has told us about Nate all along and this game proves it . . . and you want to believe that, go ahead. I won't be so presumptive to try and explain that the only reason you agree is because you have some love thing for MM.

Go Blazer!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Here we go again. Nik telling me again the way it is and if I don't agree my opinion is based on emotion. Getting old, don't know what to say except you are wrong.

If MM wants to somehow explain that he has told us about Nate all along and this game proves it . . . and you want to believe that, go ahead. I won't be so presumptive to try and explain that the only reason you agree is because you have some love thing for MM.

Go Blazer!

So MM wasn't right about the team needing to push tempo and actually practice fast breaks and attempt to get easy buckets?

And it's not just a single game it's 4 attacking games and 1 slow, jumper heavy game with a perfect correlation to wins and losses ... and that is the way it is.

 

[SantaDora]

Nate continues to show that he runs the right offense for his roster.

Last year this team had a team built around Roy - then Roy went down, Aldridge found out that he can actually play like a superstar and we only got Wallace - so Nate had to change the offense mid-season - and the team went to more inside-out game with LMA, but the other ingredient needed for running - Wallace, with his defense and running game did not arrive until late in the year. So - the reason this team plays different is because Nate was able to design offense and work on it with the roster he had in mind. Before that he had roster built around Roy (not a great high-tempo player) or ZBo before (pound it in the post, slow down).

The Seattle teams also never had a PG that could push the tempo (Luke Ridnour, anyone?) - or the defense that could really help with causing turnovers.

 

[magnifier661]

Nate continues to show that he runs the right offense for his roster.

Last year this team had a team built around Roy - then Roy went down, Aldridge found out that he can actually play like a superstar and we only got Wallace - so Nate had to change the offense mid-season - and the team went to more inside-out game with LMA, but the other ingredient needed for running - Wallace, with his defense and running game did not arrive until late in the year. So - the reason this team plays different is because Nate was able to design offense and work on it with the roster he had in mind. Before that he had roster built around Roy (not a great high-tempo player) or ZBo before (pound it in the post, slow down).

The Seattle teams also never had a PG that could push the tempo (Luke Ridnour, anyone?) - or the defense that could really help with causing turnovers.

He had Payton for two years

 

[SantaDora]

So MM wasn't right about the team needing to push tempo and actually practice fast breaks and attempt to get easy buckets?

If the roster is not right for it - saying it means nothing. It's like saying that a team built around Andre Miller should be based on outside shooting.

And it's not just a single game it's 4 attacking games and 1 slow, jumper heavy game with a perfect correlation to wins and losses ... and that is the way it is.

Well, duh. This team needs to run because it does not have a dominant ball-handling half-court player. That was very different in previous years.