Jon Barry: Portland/Houston the two worst Western Conference playoff teams

[noknobs]

[video=youtube;7i-bzcSSGsE]

 

[mook]

Personally, it seems to me like the Blazers are playing much tougher defense in the playoffs. They've been very strategic about fouling, they've contained Harden, and they seem committed to covering Dwight in single coverage and just living with the consequences of that.

I guess part of the reason Portland's defense looks ok is that our weakest defender (Lillard) is covering their weakest offensive player (Beverley). We basically get to hide Lillard for a lot of possessions. In the next round he'll be forced to guard either Parker or Ginobili, or Harris/Ellis/Calderon. Most of those guys will have a tough time staying in front of Damian, so it will balance out a little. But I think in the next round we're going to hear a lot more criticism of our team defense, and especially Lillard's.

Anyway, is Dallas (49 wins in the regular season) really likely to be that much better than Portland at defense? Ellis, Dirk, Calderon, Carter....there are quite a few guys there who play big minutes who aren't exactly renowned for being defensive stalwarts. The Spurs are just getting killed with shitty bench play.

 

[magnifier661]

[video=youtube;7i-bzcSSGsE]

I don't get it... Jon Barry wasn't even talking

 

[Nikolokolus]

They do look better on defense in this series than I recall them playing for most of the regular season ... at least they seem to get dialed in during the end.

 

[magnifier661]

They do look better on defense in this series than I recall them playing for most of the regular season ... at least they seem to get dialed in during the end.

I think our team plays defense during crunch time. They save their energy for the last push, which I think matters most. Houston wasn't getting stops, we were. They were making prayers after prayers. If they didn't this season would have already been over.

 

[B-Roy]

WES is selling out on defense. He has a PER of 7 and his offensive efficiency has gone to shit but he's holding Harden to a 15 PER and frustrating the hell out of him.

 

[magnifier661]

WES is selling out on defense. He has a PER of 7 and his offensive efficiency has gone to shit but he's holding Harden to a 15 PER and frustrating the hell out of him.

I think if we make it past this round, Wes will have a huge offensive turn around. I think either SAS or Dallas doesn't have that "Harden-type" player, so he can focus more on offense.

 

[illmatic99]

Getting tired of reading quotes like this:

"They played well, you can't take anything away from them," Rockets forward Chandler Parsons said after the game. "But it's just hard to play a team and play against ourselves at the same time. It's impossible to win that way."

Hey Chachahandler.... it's called getting "beat". You've been outplayed and taken out of your game. Learn the game, then play.

Parsons has been a real revelation this series. Dude is either a dumbass or has a very serious overestimation of how good he and is team are. Nic is destroying him in second halves of games. And his D is nearly on par with Harden in how bad it is.

 

[B-Roy]

I think if we make it past this round, Wes will have a huge offensive turn around. I think either SAS or Dallas doesn't have that "Harden-type" player, so he can focus more on offense.

No question. But even this series I'm fine with Wes struggling on offense. Whenever you can hold one of the best offensive players in the league to 8 PER below their season average you deserve a pass on the other end.

 

[illmatic99]

I think if we make it past this round, Wes will have a huge offensive turn around. I think either SAS or Dallas doesn't have that "Harden-type" player, so he can focus more on offense.

Man, I seriously hope we can end this thing on Wed and get like 4-5 days of rest before the next series. Give time for the bodies to recuperate and Stotts to prep.

 

[magnifier661]

No question. But even this series I'm fine with Wes struggling on offense. Whenever you can hold one of the best offensive players in the league to 8 PER below their season average you deserve a pass on the other end.

Absolutely!!!! Wes is the ultimate warrior! He's putting his team first, which helps our chances each and every game. He has honestly been the MVP defensive player of this series, IMO.

 

[magnifier661]

Man, I seriously hope we can end this thing on Wed and get like 4-5 days of rest before the next series. Give time for the bodies to recuperate and Stotts to prep.

Fuck yeah, me too!

 

[noknobs]

I don't get it... Jon Barry wasn't even talking

The guy holding the sign in the back ground.

 

[magnifier661]

The guy holding the sign in the back ground.

Hahahahaha I didn't even see that!

 

[KingSpeed]

We are the only team that has a series lead over a team with 54 or more regular season wins. We are also the hottest team in the NBA.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I think it's been well established, long before this thread, that Jon Barry is an idiot. His younger brother is infinitely more intelligent and insightful.

He must have forgotten Dallas made the playoffs in the Western Conference. They had a worse defensive rating (and a lower scoring offense) than both the Blazers and the Rockets during the regular season. So, his conclusion is based on a fallacy to begin with.

But, that's not the only error in his conclusion. There is more to defense than ppg. Both of these teams are offensive juggernauts that play at a very fast pace. I'm sure John just looked at how many points these teams give up and dismissed them as poor defensive teams. One great indicator of playing good defense, especially when playing at a very fast pace, is opponent's FG% - and this is why the Blazers are winning this series. They are holding the Rockets well below their season average in both FG% and 3FG%. If you look at the series stats on nba.com, you will see Houston is shooting .438 FG% and .309 3FG% for the series, compared to .472 FG% and .358 3FG% during the regular season. That means, during the playoffs, the Blazers have the 3rd ranked defense, in terms of both FG% and 3FG%, of the eight Western Conference playoff teams.

What is even more impressive is the job the Blazers are doing on James Harden. They are holding the Rockets leading scorer and "superstar" to .350 FG% and .268 3FG% - compared to .456 FG% and .366 3FG% during the regular season. And, they are also doing it while keeping Harden off the free throw line (relatively speaking). During the regular season, Harden was 3rd in the league in free throw attempts, trailing only Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin. Harden averaged 8.6 FTA/36 during the regular season, but the Blazers are holding him to 6.2 FTA/36 during the post season, while playing the kind of tough defense that has resulted in much lower FG% and 3FG%.

Dwight Howard is scoring more in the post season, but that's by design. Robin Lopez is playing him straight up on defense, which means fewer open looks for Harden.

The Blazers, on the other hand, have a higher FG% during this series than they did during the regular season (.464 versus .450) and are shooting almost as well from 3-point against the Rockets as they did during the regular season (.362 versus .372). And, that's really the difference in this series. Forget the refs and all the other nonsense. The Blazers are winning this series for the very simple reason they have shot the ball better than the Rockets - better FG%, better 3FG% and better FT%. And most the credit for that goes to the Blazers' effort on the defensive end - especially on James Harden. Harden is scoring a lot, but doing so very inefficiently. Jon Barry needs to step back and look at something more than ppg before he opens his mouth again, but I'm sure he won't. That's not part of his act. He intentionally says stupid shit to get a reaction. Which is why the guy is a joke. For intelligent, insightful basketball analysis, give me Brent any day of the week.

BNM

 

[PapaG]

WES is selling out on defense. He has a PER of 7 and his offensive efficiency has gone to shit but he's holding Harden to a 15 PER and frustrating the hell out of him.

Very good point, especially since Nic/LMA/Lillard/Wright are all playing above their season efficiency on offense.

 

[PapaG]

The league average DRtg this season for teams was 106.7. Ours was 107.4, tied for 16th in the league. Not good by any means. Playoff defense intensifies, and we have
SA at 114.6, regular season of 102.4
Clippers at 108.4, 104.8 regular season
Warriors 112.7, 102.6 regular season.
Dallas is about where they were in the regular season. Memphis and OKC are each about a 1-2 point difference.

Defense overall in our series has not been good. But I fail to see where the other teams are ratcheting up their defense as is supposed to be the playoff norm.

Great info.

 

[ripcityboy]

And why should we be listening to this guy in the first place?

 

[PapaG]

And why should we be listening to this guy in the first place?

If anybody knows bad defense, it would be Jon Barry. Yet he's wrong on it, this time.

 

[Natebishop3]

I think it's funny that Brent is not only the better basketball player, but also the far superior analyst.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

I think it's funny that Brent is not only the better basketball player, but also the far superior analyst.

Seems pretty logical to me. It's not like either had oodles of talent that made knowing the game optional (ala Clyde); in that case, the better skilled player would probably be more skilled because he knew more about the game.

 

[Rhal]

Jon said that as kind of a funny offhand comment. I really doubt he put any thought into it and just tossed it out in a "heat of the moment" type comment

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[PapaG]

Seems pretty logical to me. It's not like either had oodles of talent that made knowing the game optional (ala Clyde); in that case, the better skilled player would probably be more skilled because he knew more about the game.

Magic Johnson was terrible as a TV analyst. Same with Kareem.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Magic Johnson was terrible as a TV analyst. Same with Kareem.

You fell asleep halfway through my post again?

"oodles of talent that made knowing the game optional (ala Clyde)"

Or... are you agreeing with me?

 

[Natebishop3]

Magic Johnson was terrible as a TV analyst. Same with Kareem.

I think what BC was saying was that neither of the Barry boys were that talented overall, so they needed a lot of knowledge to make up the difference.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I think it's going to be quite a rude awakening for either when they run into a team that really plays D in a seven game series; the high scores and open looks are going to dry up a lot. Pluse, neither Houston nor Portland plays enough D to make a long playoff run IMO, but anything can happen though, I suppose.

1) yes, but you didn't think we'd even be .500 this year, so your constant predictions of doom have been consistently wrong. Yes, eventually you'll be right because only one team wins the championship and it probably won't be us.

2) John Barry criticizing a team for defense is almost as funny as Charles Barkley criticizing teams for defense.

3) We've matched up well with SA for at least last year and this year. Duncan even had a quote at the end of our first matchup this year (in which we won): "I don't know why I've never really been able to win in Portland." Call me crazy, but I think we have a good chance.

 

[maxiep]

Magic Johnson was terrible as a TV analyst.

That's because he was born to be a talk show host.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

On the Dan Patrick show this morning, while responding to Dan's comments about how good the Portland/Houston series has been, Jon Barry first gave a lovely backhanded compliment (great games to watch, since neither team plays championship caliber defense), and followed that up with, "I think it was a perfect matchup for both of those teams, because I don't think I would have picked them to beat any other team in the Western Conference."

Up 3-1 on a supposed championship contender--means nothing, apparently. Call me a soccer mom fan if you will, but the continued lack of national respect (for the team, not for the players, obviously) bugs me.

I dont know what games Jon has been watching, but I believe that this Portland vs Huston matchup has been the very best ball of all the playoff games that I have watched.

good god, watch chicago vs washington... or the vaunted Pacers vs the Hawks..a one seen vs an 8 that is tied two two...holy bat crap...almost every game in the east is a snore..the west are better, but not nail biting like ours..

 

[PapaG]

1) yes, but you didn't think we'd even be .500 this year, so your constant predictions of doom have been consistently wrong. Yes, eventually you'll be right because only one team wins the championship and it probably won't be us.

He did have an "anything can happen" caveat, so he's covered. I love it when the long-time negative posters show up when things are good. They'll be the first to celebrate should Portland blow this 3-1 lead, and will overrun the board with "I told you so!" posts.