Nate Said It Best

[ABM]

"We just gotta hit shots."

Yeah, it seemed as if the Blazer were looking in their collective rear-view mirrors all last game. Shot after shot clanged off the rim. Shots that normally swish through the nets. Most, if not all of them, uncontested.

Aldridge was confused a bit with the Yao doubling, but I'm sure he'll get that figured out. I'm hopeful that, on at least a few occasions, he takes it right at Yao in attempts to draw fouls. Yao's not a classic shot blocker and Aldridge is much more athletic. Gotta see how that transpires, at least.

To be honest, if the Blazers were gonna lose, I'm glad it was a blowout, as opposed to a close(r) loss. I want them to be good and mad for Game. They need to be mad. It's gonna be a war and their state of mind will have a great deal of impact as to how they fight that war. You wanted the playoffs, boys? well, you got that playoffs. What a ya gonna do with them? Nice guys finish last.

 

[Mediocre Man]

"We just gotta hit shots."

Yeah, it seemed as if the Blazer were looking in their collective rear-view mirrors all last game. Shot after shot clanged off the rim. Shots that normally swish through the nets. Most, if not all of them, uncontested.

Aldridge was confused a bit with the Yao doubling, but I'm sure he'll get that figured out. I'm hopeful that, on at least a few occasions, he takes it right at Yao in attempts to draw fouls. Yao's not a classic shot blocker and Aldridge is much more athletic. Gotta see how that transpires, at least.

To be honest, if the Blazers were gonna lose, I'm glad it was a blowout, as opposed to a close(r) loss. I want them to be good and mad for Game. They need to be mad. It's gonna be a war and their state of mind will have a great deal of impact as to how they fight that war. You wanted the playoffs, boys? well, you got that playoffs. What a ya gonna do with them? Nice guys finish last.

Bullshit.

We have to stop shooting so many fucking jump shots. We need to play like we have played after the all star break and attack the basket more.

 

[ABM]

Bullshit.

We have to stop shooting so many fucking jump shots. We need to play like we have played after the all star break and attack the basket more.

They packed the middle on us....and will continue to do so.

 

[craigehlo]

Play good defense, get the rebounds and run it back on them. The Blazers ruined the few fastbreak opportunities we had in the game 1 by pulling back into out half court sets.

 

[ABM]

Play good defense, get the rebounds and run it back on them. The Blazers ruined the few fastbreak opportunities we had in the game 1 by pulling back into out half court sets.

That's a great point. I'm fairly certain Houston's shooting percentage will go down, so there should be more rebounds to be had, as well.

 

[crandc]

I beg to differ. They need to get good defense. Playoff basketball is always more defensive and time after time the Rockets waltzed in for easy baskets. The Rockets were the more aggressive team so they got the foul calls and free throws.

Let's face it, the Blazers were outplayed in ever facet of the game, offense, defense, rebounding, ball handling, fast breaks. There is not a lot I can take from it except Brandon Roy.

Now the test is how to they bounce back.

 

[Ghost Pepper]

If you are a jump shooting team against the Rockets and your shots don't fall it's over! We have to man up and attack the glass in the first quarter and get Yao in foul trouble. Doesn't matter if our buckets in the paint go in as long as we are getting to the line early and often. Rack up the fouls early, make them play on their heels and we win by ten!

Oh and Nate.... if Brooks hits two shots in a row go directly to Bayless and say body this kid out of the flipping building!!!!! Brooks and Wafer must be made non factors. I can tell ya this cause I've heard it from the mouths of Rockets players, Wafer and Brooks feel they can smoke Blake and Sergio with ease!

 

[Kaydow]

"We just gotta hit shots"???

How many do we need to hit when the Rockets shoot 58.5% and out rebound us 44-30??

 

[Ghost Pepper]

This is exactly why I say Nate wont be coaching this team when they are in championship form! Gotta hit shots? How about not get pushed all over the court? How about stop their fourth and fifth offensive options from looking like allstars? How about shadowing Yao with Batum the same way we used to use Pip with Sabonis for dealing with Shaq? How about telling Rudy, LA and Outlaw to take the ball in the first quarter every single time right into Yao and get him three fouls by the 2 so we can allow Greg to go to work? How about using Bayless on Brooks to jam him and get him out of rythem?

 

[STOMP]

"We just gotta hit shots."

yup. Portland is a good outside shooting team & so are the Rockets. Both teams had good looks but on Friday the Rockets made theirs and Portland didn't. The Rockets are one of the few teams in the league that are at least as big as Portland and the boards seemed to bounce their way. Yao was outstanding while Aldridge was subpar and Houston won in a blowout. But since Portland got plenty of good looks that they usually bury, I see little reason to panic.

I'd guess they front Ming from the get go tonight instead of having Joel play him straight up. This will leave their shooters open where they'll probably make some shots. But outside jumpers also lead to long rebounds and transition opportunities where drivers might be able to draw some early fouls on Ming.

here's looking forward to a different game.

STOMP

 

[BlazerBeav]

"We just gotta hit shots"???

How many do we need to hit when the Rockets shoot 58.5% and out rebound us 44-30??

If we hit our shots there are a lot fewer rebounds for the Rockets to grab. Similarly, if they don't hit as many of their shots there are more defensive rebounds available to us.

 

[ABM]

Same ol'........

VIDEO: http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonlive/2009/04/blazers_ready_to_even_up_serie.html

http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2009/04/video_from_practice_blazers_re.html

Effort was the theme of Monday's practice.

As (insert adjective here) as Saturday's 27-point Game 1 loss was, Brandon Roy put it best today when he said, "We're trying to put it behind us. Even though it was a 30-point win (for Houston) it was still one game and we felt like we didn't play the way we're capable of playing. We're going to come out and give a much better effort next game."........

...........Nate McMillan popped out of his office after the player interviews wrapped saying, "You guys didn't get your answers from them?" in a joking matter.

The Blazers coach already seemed tired of talking about Game 1, stating talking isn't getting anything done. Rather the players have to take care of business on the floor.

"It has to be played," McMillan said in reference to Tuesday's Game 2. "They're up one and it's a new ball game tomorrow. I think they will certainly come out with the attitude of approaching this game like it's a game to clinch. It's a big game for both teams."

..........McMillan probably repeated the phrase "knocking down shots" at least 15-20 times during a 10 minute interview session.

McMillan, Roy and Aldridge all answered different questions at one point with the same answer (or variation of): we beat ourselves. Suffice to say, the entire team was upset with the effort as a whole from the Blazers in Game 1.

 

[mgb]

We need this game so bad. I mean it's obvious, but just for our confidence. You know if we start missing shots and get behind again early everyone one is going to be questioning themselves and not taking shots they should take.

 

[MARIS61]

They packed the middle on us....and will continue to do so.

They were in the key up to 7 secs, over and over and over, Yao especially, with no 3 sec calls.

I stopped counting after 7-8 violations in the first quarter alone.

If the refs won't call it, not much you can do.

 

[MARIS61]

"We just gotta hit shots"???

How many do we need to hit when the Rockets shoot 58.5% and out rebound us 44-30??

Not as many as you might think since 30 of those rebounds were defensive.

Made shot = no rebound available

 

[Kaydow]

Not as many as you might think since 30 of those rebounds were defensive.

Made shot = no rebound available

Okay . . . what about the 58.5% they shot?

Didn't that have more to do with why we got rolled than the fact they we didn't make enough shots?