Kobe says win over Blazers was biggest win of the year.

[craigehlo]

This game (just like the PHX series last year) showed what a big part of the Blazers success Roy is - and how much people underrate his supreme ability to close games and force the other team to adjust.

And Roy's lost his ability to get to the rim. Where does that leave us?

 

[handiman]

Did Lamarcus even score in the 4th quarter or overtime? If he did, I didn't notice.

I see a big elephant in the room that no one seems to want to comment on... Roy and Aldridge cannot play together effectively, IMO. The mostly invisible Roy of the first half was ok, but when he began controlling the ball in the 4th quarter, Aldridge immediately reverted back to the pick-and-pop LMA of old and never recovered.

It's only the first game back for Roy, so maybe they'll figure it out. I doubt it, though. Their styles aren't complementary. If this team is going to build around Aldridge, it looks like Roy's only use to the team is in the last couple minutes when they need a perimeter closer. The question is, can he quickly establish a rhythm in that role?

 

[e_blazer]

And Roy's lost his ability to get to the rim. Where does that leave us?

You determined that from watching him play a grand total of 15 minutes last night?

 

[andalusian]

And Roy's lost his ability to get to the rim. Where does that leave us?

With hope that he can regain it for 20-25 minutes a game. He looked better to me last night than I expected, so there is hope there. But, there is definitely a need for this team to upgrade on the perimeter. Love Batum, love Wes - but we need a better slasher than Miller (as great as he has been these last couple of years).

 

[craigehlo]

You determined that from watching him play a grand total of 15 minutes last night?

You already forgot how he looked at the start of the year. He was trying his old moves but with no lift he was getting blocked or simply missing pointblank shots because of his lack of lift. If you think cleaning out more tissue from his knees is going to give him his 2008-2009 lift back, I find that REALLY hard to believe. Like it or not, he's a jumpshooter now.

 

[mook]

It was a fun game to watch. It sucked seeing us lose, but overall I found it more encouraging than discouraging.

Aldridge got his 29 ultra-efficient points against a team that may be the most qualified in the league to contain him. All that size and he still scored.

Roy's first 5 minutes were awful, but overall he looked pretty good out there. He was trying harder on defense than I've seen him in probably two years. His patented step-back jumper was nice, and he hit a three. Book is still out on whether he can really fit in, but it's obviously a massive upgrade over the minutes we used to give to Patty Mills. He's taken the first step to put him on track for a Ginobili role off the bench.

Przybilla had his best game since returning.

Batum and Matthews both got decent scoring productivity, and they made Kobe a volume shooter for most of the game. They just ran out of gas, while Kobe didn't because Kobe is simply a superior athlete with a different kind of motor.

I hate losing to the Lakers, especially at home. But if we do, I like doing it in overtime with our understaffed guys just finally running out of steam.

 

[e_blazer]

You already forgot how he looked at the start of the year. He was trying his old moves but with no lift he was getting blocked or simply missing pointblank shots because of his lack of lift. If you think cleaning out more tissue from his knees is going to give him his 2008-2009 lift back, I find that REALLY hard to believe. Like it or not, he's a jumpshooter now.

I have no idea how Brandon's knees are going to be the rest of the season and how much lift he's going to have, but I'd expect that it's going to be better than when they were totally inflamed. I prefer to get more than a 15 minute sample before coming to any conclusions, but that's just me.

 

[hasoos]

Extremely disappointing loss. Batum was terrible down the stretch of regulation. The good thing is that I'm convinced we can play with those assholes.

Well maybe if Batum didn't play so soft on the offensive end of the court, we wouldn't have results like this. Batum has a lot of tools, but the facts are on offense he plays soft. His passes are soft and slow, and easy to pick off. He rarely finishes around the rim with a dunk when he could do much more often, instead throwing up some soft shot that often does not go in. He was physically abused by the Lakers on many occasions last night, literally thrown out of the way for rebounds. One reason that Miller is so easily shut down is because Batum is not a threat to score for the most part. You can hide bad defenders by putting them on him. Since Batum literally has no post game and finishes soft around the rim, it is much better to take a chance with a bad defender on him and shut Miller down, which effectively hammers the rest of the team.

 

[mook]

I see a big elephant in the room that no one seems to want to comment on... Roy and Aldridge cannot play together effectively, IMO. The mostly invisible Roy of the first half was ok, but when he began controlling the ball in the 4th quarter, Aldridge immediately reverted back to the pick-and-pop LMA of old and never recovered.

Well, Aldridge was battling all night two seven footers plus Odom. Against that much size there's only so much you can expect a guy to battle for position in the post, especially when he's got such a sweet jumper. I'm hoping that LA sensed he was getting tired and just transitioned to a style which is less wearing so he'd have energy at the end.

The Roy-and-Aldridge habits have been well-established over four years, though. It'll be critical to see if they can break out of that rut and find a new style that recognizes both Aldridge's increasing low post dominance and Roy's waning athleticism.

 

[B-Roy]

I think we're fine as long as we make the playoffs. I'd look to avoid the Lakers as much as possible, but honestly, the seeding in the west really isn't as important. I feel as if our team has a shot against any of the top 4 teams.

 

[HailBlazers]

The mostly invisible Roy of the first half was ok, but when he began controlling the ball in the 4th quarter, Aldridge immediately reverted back to the pick-and-pop LMA of old and never recovered.

It's like LMA disappeared. Extremely Frustrating, considering LMA was on fire and unstoppable. You can't expect to get the fouls called in the last minute if your not attacking the last five. Should make some great game film.

 

[B-Roy]

It's like LMA disappeared. Extremely Frustrating, considering LMA was on fire and unstoppable. You can't expect to get the fouls called in the last minute if your not attacking the last five. Should make some great game film.

The Lakers were doing everything to keep the ball from Aldridge. They forced others to beat them. We got a ton of open shots, just missed them all. You can't expect to win with one player.

 

[andalusian]

The Lakers were doing everything to keep the ball from Aldridge. They forced others to beat them. We got a ton of open shots, just missed them all. You can't expect to win with one player.

Yup. We missed tons of open 3s, Batum missed a gimme alley-oop, we missed tons of free-throws. It goes like that sometimes, especially against a team as good as LAL.

 

[OddEnormous]

And the "toughest."

Kinda flattering when you think about it.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-blazers-20110224,0,3730969.story

for fucks sake

:rollseyes:

 

[OddEnormous]

The Lakers were doing everything to keep the ball from Aldridge. They forced others to beat them. We got a ton of open shots, just missed them all. You can't expect to win with one player.

Didn't Aldridge get the last 3 shots of regulation? I remember Miller throwing up a pile of shit as well when the whole team thought the game was over.

 

[handiman]

The Roy-and-Aldridge habits have been well-established over four years, though. It'll be critical to see if they can break out of that rut and find a new style that recognizes both Aldridge's increasing low post dominance and Roy's waning athleticism.

That's what worries me. Roy has been such an alpha dog with this group, I'm not sure Aldridge can remain a center piece of the team with Roy out there.

I almost think the best solution is to use Roy as a means of cutting LMA's minutes. Get LMA down to 35 minutes a game and there's 13 minutes Roy can be in there controlling the ball. Another 5-10 minutes of overlap and that's perhaps all the minutes Roy's knees are good for, anyway. That keeps one offensive weapon on the floor at all times and eliminates the troublesome divergence between their styles of play.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I almost think the best solution is to use Roy as a means of cutting LMA's minutes. Get LMA down to 35 minutes a game and there's 13 minutes Roy can be in there controlling the ball. Another 5-10 minutes of overlap and that's perhaps all the minutes Roy's knees are good for, anyway. That keeps one offensive weapon on the floor at all times and eliminates the troublesome divergence between their styles of play.

I approve this message.

 

[VivaRipCity]

Couldn't hurt to see guys like wes Mathews actually attempt a rebound. Not sure how many times I saw the ball actually hit the court off the rim and Mathews was just standing out near the perimeter...If your not planning on getting back when the shot goes up then atleast crash the boards. I'm not sure what his stat line was but I wouldn't be surprised if he had 0 rebounds last night. And I know he played atleast 44 minutes. Pretty sad.

 

[mook]

I almost think the best solution is to use Roy as a means of cutting LMA's minutes. Get LMA down to 35 minutes a game and there's 13 minutes Roy can be in there controlling the ball. Another 5-10 minutes of overlap and that's perhaps all the minutes Roy's knees are good for, anyway. That keeps one offensive weapon on the floor at all times and eliminates the troublesome divergence between their styles of play.

You've described perfectly what I'm hoping for when I describe the traditional "Ginobili" role for Roy.

If in the early "overlap" minutes it seems like Aldridge and Roy are clicking that night, you end the game with them both. If not, you bench Roy.

The toughest adjustment Roy may have to face is the prospect of not being in there at crunch time. If that happens because he just isn't clicking with Aldridge, it's going to be up to him to either complain to the media or adapt his game. Hopefully he adapts on his own without it coming down to that...

 

[PapaG]

Couldn't hurt to see guys like wes Mathews actually attempt a rebound. Not sure how many times I saw the ball actually hit the court off the rim and Mathews was just standing out near the perimeter...If your not planning on getting back when the shot goes up then atleast crash the boards. I'm not sure what his stat line was but I wouldn't be surprised if he had 0 rebounds last night. And I know he played atleast 44 minutes. Pretty sad.

He had zero rebounds last night and 2 assists, yet he took 18 shots.

When he shot up that horrendous airball halfway through the 4th quarter with both LMA and Roy, I about threw the remote at my TV. Then I remembered that he's a limited player, and you have to live with those limitations, so I excused him for it. I'll assume Nate and the coaching staff addressed that play at some point after the game, and I don't expect to see that type of shot again. This was an adjustment game, and it was really fun to watch.