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

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Mediocre Man said:
Blazers CHOked. It's as simple as that.
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I don't think so. LA chose last night to have a near franchise record night shooting 3's. A late phantom call for Gasol and there went the game. It happens. We have our hot nights shooting 3's every so often and I'm sure other team's fans just sigh & shrug. Ain't much one can do.
 
Portland led by 9? with under 4 to play and didn't score the rest of the 4th.
 
It was a combination of things. The L*kers' strategy was to make someone other than Aldridge beat us. On the flip side, they couldn't have been hotter from three.

I guess I'm just not as frustrated by these losses as I used to be because our prospects have dimmed so much. We're holding this mofo together with bubblegum and rubber bands. I just hope for a decent showing in the playoffs and then figuring out a new direction during the lockout.
 
I feel so much better about losing to the Lakers in the Rose Garden
 
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Jackson knew the officials didn't want to settle this game. They were holding Aldridge every time down the court and daring the officials to make a call. It was a Dalyesque strategy. The sad thing about the NBA is that we don't have the stature within the League to hold their players without getting a whistle.

Bottom line, we make our free throws and we win. They shoot three pointers at even an above average clip and we win. We make one shot in the last 4:22 and we win. None of those things happened.

For all of our fight and all of our pluck, we just don't have it this year.
 
maxiep said:
Jackson knew the officials didn't want to settle this game. They were holding Aldridge every time down the court and daring the officials to make a call. It was a Dalyesque strategy. The sad thing about the NBA is that we don't have the stature within the League to hold their players without getting a whistle.

Bottom line, we make our free throws and we win. They shoot three pointers at even an above average clip and we win. We make one shot in the last 4:22 and we win. None of those things happened.

For all of our fight and all of our pluck, we just don't have it this year.
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Well, at least not last night.
 
We've got the best shots from LA, MIA, OKC, and BOS, and have been supremely in all three games. Just can't seem to pull these games out in fourth quarters. Not having our closer has a lot to do with it.
 
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.
 
The team, particularly Aldridge, ran out of gas. We have to get Aldridge some help down low. He can't keep carrying us for 48 minutes. When is Camby getting back? Camby sitting cost us this game.
 
tlongII said:
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.
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Dave from BEdge said something poignant yesterday.

Some will say the Lakers got lucky with their barrage of threes but keep in mind that the Blazers as currently constituted were forced to cede those shots to prevent a flood of points inside. L.A. didn't get lucky, they were just too big and talented to ignore in the paint.

That said, it struck me tonight that whoever built this team, at least in theory, built a Laker-killing machine. Imagine the results if the Blazers were healthy with Greg Oden, Marcus Camby, and Joel Przybilla to throw in the middle on defense. Imagine no more open threes, instead Batum and Matthews and Fernandez darting everywhere to disrupt shots and dribbles. Imagine Aldridge pounding Gasol and Roy keeping up with Bryant in the scoring department. I'm not saying the Blazers would be the best team in the league, I'm saying they'd cream this particular team 3 times out of 4 because they were built to do just that. It doesn't matter, of course. Nobody's healthy. That's the difference between imagination and championships.
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tlongII said:
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.
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The difference between this year's team and ones from the past three years is we're missing that certain je ne sais quois, mojo, swagger, what have you. We have it against mediocre teams, but we used to have it game in and game out. We need an offseason or two to rebuild; we've lost too many parts and there are no quick fixes.
 
maxiep said:
The difference between this year's team and ones from the past three years is we're missing that certain je ne sais quois, mojo, swagger, what have you. We have it against mediocre teams, but we used to have it game in and game out. We need an offseason or two to rebuild; we've lost too many parts and there are no quick fixes.
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I don't think it's all that ill-defined. This team lacks an elite wing scorer with Brandon out, they have no depth and are pretty undersized with all of their big uglies on the shelf -- In short they are an above average NBA team, nothing less, nothing more.
 
Great game, loved the ball movement. The Lakers definetly didn't win the game, we lost it. All in all it was a good showing of what this team is capable of. And it was a hard but good lesson for the Blazers to learn, you don't make FT's or execute late your not gonna beat any elite teams.
 
HailBlazers said:
Great game, loved the ball movement. The Lakers definetly didn't win the game, we lost it. All in all it was a good showing of what this team is capable of. And it was a hard but good lesson for the Blazers to learn, you don't make FT's or execute late your not gonna beat any elite teams.
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The book on stopping the Blazer has been out for a while. Trap the guards to get the ball out of their hands and then double team LMA. I think all the teams above us in the standings are more than capable of executing that plan right now.
 
Exactly why its a good lesson for the team, couldn't ask for a more glaring example.
 
It's the morning after and I still can't believe we lost to the Lakers. When you lose to the Lakers you know you suck. We've beaten them what, 27 of the last 28 at home?
 
IMO, it's time to raise expectations for this team for this season and the playoffs. The Lakers stole what should have been a comfortable Blazers win last night. Yeah, Jackson played it smart in the 4th and denied LaMarcus the ball with a lot of holding and double-teaming, and dared the Blazers to win from the perimeter. With a healthy Camby and with Roy able to play more than 15 minutes a game, neither of those strategies is going to work. If Cho is able to shore up the backup PG spot by getting Ford, and especially if he's able to turn Joel into Wallace, this team can compete with anybody in the West. Even if neither of those two things happen, I still believe that this team will at least push any of the top 4 teams in the West to a game 7.
 
maxiep said:
I guess I'm just not as frustrated by these losses as I used to be because our prospects have dimmed so much. We're holding this mofo together with bubblegum and rubber bands.
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Agreed. To play this well against the Lakers with so many injuries this year is pretty good. It was disappointing to see us go cold down the stretch, but we played very well, on the whole.
 
Shooter said:
You can't believe we lost to the NBA champions?
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Maybe in the playoffs, but they haven't been that in games here. We should be the King of our own Castle, and they the jesters when on our territory.
 
craigehlo said:
The book on stopping the Blazer has been out for a while. Trap the guards to get the ball out of their hands and then double team LMA. I think all the teams above us in the standings are more than capable of executing that plan right now.
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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. ISO/Shmiso - to be successful in this league you need an elite guy that can not be stopped. The Blazers had that guy in Roy. Let's hope he can be playing more as time goes on - because if he can, this is a very, very good team. You can see that the Lakers still have a problem with Roy, even a slightly sluggish, rusty Roy.
 
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