Game 4 is ours

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bluefrog

bluefrog

Go Blazers, GO!
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We ended the 4th quarter with some momentum. Our guys aren't just going to lay down and give up. GO ZERS!
 
No. Its not ours, we need to earn that shit. Blazers played like shit tonight with a nice run at the end. No excuse for that first half AT ALL.
 
We have to come out stronger at the start of quarters. We went scoreless in the first 4 minutes of both the third and fourth quarters - blowing big opportunities to make a run.
 
Blazers need to stop going one-on-one so much and play better team basketball. Point guard play is crucial as is post play.
 
Yao 24 in game 1
Yao 11 in game 2
Yao 7 in game 3

We figured this team out tonight, but just missed our oppurtunities. Houston can't feel real comfortable about how things ended, and I think Nate and co. will devise a game plan to build on what happened the last 18 minutes of this game.
 
Agreed. Portland will win game 4. All the signs point to it. The margin of victory was much smaller than the margin at halftime, which means that the Blazers outplayed Houston in the second half.

We've figured out how to play Yao. We've overcome the jitters of playing in Houston. And Roy will not have another game like this on Sunday, you can bet your life on it.

Our lapse at the beginning of the second period killed us tonight. It won't happen again in Game 4.
 
All signs is bullshit. Portland needs to kick themselves in the balls hard. They played and went out like bitches tonight. Plain and simple. Zero excuse for that sorry display of hoops. If Rudy wasn't hitting miraculous 3s that were outside the offense, this shit wouldn't have been even close.

there are systemic flaws in the blazers that aren't getting fixed.
 
I feel confident in game four if the following things happen:

1. Rudy plays more than Travis.
2. Greg plays as many minutes as possible depending on his fouls.
3. Blake inserts a brain for the final five minutes of a crucial game.
4. The rest of the team steps up their rebounding game while Greg bangs down low with Yao.
5. Yao can get a foul in the entire second half of a game.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
All signs is bullshit. Portland needs to kick themselves in the balls hard. They played and went out like bitches tonight. Plain and simple. Zero excuse for that sorry display of hoops. If Rudy wasn't hitting miraculous 3s that were outside the offense, this shit wouldn't have been even close.

there are systemic flaws in the blazers that aren't getting fixed.
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Please - our defense alone was a good sign - the adjustments we've made on Yao have been tremendous. The execution on offense was brutal at times - but part of that was both our stars being off and throwing everything out of whack.
 
The Sebastian Express said:
I feel confident in game four if the following things happen:

1. Rudy plays more than Travis.
2. Greg plays as many minutes as possible depending on his fouls.
3. Blake inserts a brain for the final five minutes of a crucial game.
4. The rest of the team steps up their rebounding game while Greg bangs down low with Yao.
5. Yao can get a foul in the entire second half of a game.
Click to expand...

The offense needs to run through the post and the blazers need to pass the ball more.
 
BlazerBeav said:
Please - our defense alone was a good sign - the adjustments we've made on Yao have been tremendous. The execution on offense was brutal at times - but part of that was both our stars being off and throwing everything out of whack.
Click to expand...

Our defense was wack. Yao wasn't even get the ball fed all that much, but the thing was we didn't close out...Scola hit a lot of those top of the ft jumpers. He shouldn't have been given as much space as he did in the first...really bad.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
The offense needs to run through the post and the blazers need to pass the ball more.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's really necessary. What hurt us tonight was BRoy's tendency to go into ZBo's old 'hold the ball until the defense gets set' mode.

He needs to quit being so tentative, and take Mark Jackson's advice of "not giving their D too much credit" and go hard.
 
BlazerBeav said:
Please - our defense alone was a good sign - the adjustments we've made on Yao have been tremendous. The execution on offense was brutal at times - but part of that was both our stars being off and throwing everything out of whack.
Click to expand...
The unsung heroes of the game for Portland were Oden and Pryzbilla. They played tremendous defense on Yao, and shut him down after the first quarter. This also bodes very well for Game 4.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
Our defense was wack. Yao wasn't even get the ball fed all that much, but the thing was we didn't close out...Scola hit a lot of those top of the ft jumpers. He shouldn't have been given as much space as he did in the first...really bad.
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The defense could've been a little better, but holding the Rockets to 86 points isn't bad at all. Scoring only 83 is a big problem.

I see the glass half full and half empty after this loss.

On the bright side, the Blazers played like crap for an entire half, and had a fleeting chance of stealing the game anyway. B-Roy can't play this badly again, and a few other players - most notably Rudy Fernandez - obviously found their groove.

On the not so bright side, Yao had a lousy game, and Artest was held in check, yet the Rockets still won. The Blazers still can't seem to stop Aaron Brooks, even if he did miss more shots tonight than in Game One.

In the end, I think the Blazers have come up with a defense on Yao that works, and while I think Yao will be a little more effective later in this series, he's not the problem. Scola and Brooks are. But the bigger problem is that the Blazers seem scared to death of going inside against Yao. They need to run those inside plays that force Yao out of position and send guys to the rim, the way they did three times in a row in the 3rd quarter.

Game Four is within the Blazers' grasp, no doubt about it. But they need to repeat everything they did right tonight, and get a little more scoring out of at least a couple of guys.
 
Public Defender said:
But the bigger problem is that the Blazers seem scared to death of going inside against Yao.
Click to expand...
They're scared to go inside even when Yao is on the bench! They shot jump shots most of the night, no matter who was guarding the paint for Houston.
 
There is nothing to suggest that Game 4 is ours. We had momentum at the end of game 2......with the momentum and played like we did in Game 1...as if they didn't learn ANYTHING. What it comes down to is execution and the blazers are not executing...they haven't in this series whatsoever. Game 2 was all on Brandon Roy just taking the game over. Tonight, it was a barrage of Rudy 3-pointers...the execution is still lacking. The team is not playing team ball, they're letting the rockets have relatively unconstested jumpers while they go 1-on-1 into rocket defenders.

Its not so much the blazers are scared to death of going inside against yao...its that their offensive positioning is such that they take heavily contested bad shots and don't even run their offense. I absoultely put the blame on Nate and the point guard (since we only are playing one)
 
I don't think Rockets are too happy with the win. And thats exactly what they need!
They know what they need to do because Blazers aren't the team from Game 1. Rockets played well throughout but that run towards the end IMO favors Rockets. Thats because they walked off the court with their heart beating fast and eyes open, unlike Game 1 victory. But same could go the other way, Blazers come out with intensity because they felt the pain of losing such a close one. Only time will tell...

Penitentiary Face said:
No one will remember what happened in Game 3 when the Blazers win Game 7.
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If that happens, you're right. But if things go Rockets way - that might be the game many people will look to?
 
Penitentiary Face said:
No one will remember what happened in Game 3 when the Blazers win Game 7.
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So you're just discounting this loss? The blazers have been playing horrible all series, as a team. There is nothing to suggest that there is a Game 7 unless you are willing to bank on the hope "eventually the Rockets will stop missing their uncontested jump shots".
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
What it comes down to is execution and the blazers are not executing...they haven't in this series whatsoever.
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And yet we were within 2 points in the last minute of the game . . .

I agree, however. The Blazers haven't looked polished this entire series. For such a well-coached team (and that's what all the NBA analysts say), the Blazers have looked very roughshod this series.
 
Shooter said:
And yet we were within 2 points in the last minute of the game . . .

I agree, however. The Blazers haven't looked polished this entire series. For such a well-coached team (and that's what all the NBA analysts say), the Blazers have looked very roughshod this series.
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Big deal if we were within 2 points. We lost. That's the only thing that matters because this team doesn't seem to retain and correct their mistakes in this playoff series.
 
All the jitterbugs should be gone now. I thought the atmosphere got to the Blazers to start the game, this being their first road playoff game. In the 2nd half the Blazes really settled down and did some good things that put them in a position to win.

I'm looking forward to game 4. No more surprises for the Blazers. They have a little taste of everything now.
 
Jitterbugs should have been gone after that disgraceful Game 1, not in Game 4 being down 1-2 after they had the HCA.
 
It was their first road game and it was clearly a tad too much for them to start the game. They adjusted to it in the 2nd half. They're fine. If they win game 4 they'll gain HCA back.
 
RoyToy said:
It was their first road game and it was clearly a tad too much for them to start the game. They adjusted to it in the 2nd half. They're fine. If they win game 4 they'll gain HCA back.
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jitters are for losers. this is the playoffs.

Houston is in a comfortable spot. Blazers..this is a must win. They can't take these losses so non-chalantly. They should be embarassed.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
So you're just discounting this loss? The blazers have been playing horrible all series, as a team. There is nothing to suggest that there is a Game 7 unless you are willing to bank on the hope "eventually the Rockets will stop missing their uncontested jump shots".
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I’m not discounting this loss one bit. This game was absolutely atrocious for the Portland Trailblazers. From start to finish, our execution was dogshit. Thank god we started playing decent defense in the second half. Our offense, however, from start to finish was pretty embarrassing. Rudy bailed us out throughout the game with some well timed threes. Other than that, nothing from this game really reminded me of Blazer basketball from the regular season.

However… with all that said, this team has the ability to mature rapidly. It hasn’t happened yet in this series, but as fans we have to hold on to the faith that it'll happen at some point. Let’s be honest here, we’re learning as we go. This is all uncharted territory for most of these players. Roy is a fucking champ. He will rebound from tonight’s poor performance. Book it. The only question is, who else is coming with him? Sunday’s game will be very telling.
 
AgentDrazenPetrovic said:
jitters are for losers. this is the playoffs.

Houston is in a comfortable spot. Blazers..this is a must win.
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Jitters happen, especially to the 2nd youngest team in the NBA in their first playoff experience. To act like the Blazers would handle it like the Lakers is foolish thinking.

Check your unreal expectations.
 
Penitentiary Face said:
However… with all that said, this team has the ability to mature rapidly. It hasn’t happened yet in this series, but as fans we have to hold on to the faith that it'll happen at some point. Let’s be honest here, we’re learning as we go. This is all uncharted territory for most of these players. Roy is a fucking champ. He will rebound from tonight’s poor performance. Book it. The only question is, who else is coming with him? Sunday’s game will be very telling.
Click to expand...

We are not learning. If we did learn, we wouldn't have repeated Game 1 in the first half. We wouldn't go 5 minutes before scoring in the 2nd half. This team is doing as bad as I could possibly imagine so far. Deer in the headlights is an appropriate descrip for the Blazers in the Playoffs.
 
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