Opening night just didn't matter that much

[mook]

I'm amazed at how many conclusions people are trying to draw from one game. I guess I should expect it, given how long we've waited to see them all play. But before we all start calling for a starting lineup that includes Bayless and Batum, and before we dump Outlaw and Frye for a folding chair, and before we fire McMillan, let's take into consideration a few mitigating circumstances:

1. It was opening night
2. It was on TNT
3. It was against the NBA Championship favorites
4. It was Rudy's first NBA game
5. There was a ridiculous amount of hype for Oden, Oden vs Bynum, Oden vs Microfracture, and Oden for ROY
6. It was probably Roy's worst NBA game of all time. Certainly top 3.
7. It was against Kobe Bryant, arguably the best player on the planet. Certainly top 2.
8. This is the second youngest team in the league
9. We played 4 rookies meaningful minutes.
10. Oden only got to play for about 2 minutes healthy.
11. This team blew a lot of open looks, both at the basket and from distance.
12. McMillan didn't really play the "real" team for most of pre-season, so they haven't really played against NBA competition together much.

As a guy who is looking for 54 wins this year, I'm disappointed as hell. But you look at that list of negatives going against this team, and you have to think this is no time for panic buttons. All but #8 and #9 won't be problems for most of the year.

I don't think Nate should take anything from this game except they were extremely nervous and it all got to them. And that Fernandez has the cajones.

This was the worst game of the season. At least we got it out of the way on opening night.

 

[Tortimer]

I agree but the Oden injury really worries me and I think you jinxed us with your Kobe RipCityTwo.com banner. j/k

 

[MAS RipCity]

1-We got blown out
2-Oden got hurt.AGAIN
3-We still didn't get fast break points
4-We gave up too many points in the paint
5-We settled for too many jumpers like last year
6-We shot like 4 free throws
7-Channing looked like bad Channing
8-Sergio still isn't a threat and they packed the middle when he played
9-McMillian's offensive sets were atrocious again
10-LMA looked like he wanted to shy away from contact and not bang down low

This is why we are all worried..we were expecting changes and they reverted back to their old habits.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

This was HUGE IMO. Basically the whole last year and a half of hype ended in complete failure, on national TV. I don't really see how this could have gone any worse than it did.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

IMO, this was the worst loss since Game 7, 2000 WCFs. This puts a mental block on the shoulders of these blazers against the lakers.

 

[BenDavis503x]

Good post.

 

[MAS RipCity]

No, Game 7 vs Dallas was worse than this..the game in 2004 at Denver were Stoudamire was robbed of 2 free throws was worse that put Denver in the playoffs..the only thing that could have been worse were more injuries.

 

[mook]

1-We got blown out
2-Oden got hurt.AGAIN
3-We still didn't get fast break points
4-We gave up too many points in the paint
5-We settled for too many jumpers like last year
6-We shot like 4 free throws
7-Channing looked like bad Channing
8-Sergio still isn't a threat and they packed the middle when he played
9-McMillian's offensive sets were atrocious again
10-LMA looked like he wanted to shy away from contact and not bang down low

This is why we are all worried..we were expecting changes and they reverted back to their old habits.

Yeah, but how much of that was their real nature and how much of that was just them buckling under the weight of all the pressures I listed?

If this were our last playoff game in a 50 win season, I could see how you could draw some conclusions from this game. But this is more like buying a jacket, taking it out in -15° weather, noticing how it doesn't keep you warm, and then deciding it's unworthy of wearing around Portland.

This might wind up being a broken team. (I doubt it.) But if it is, we'll find out over the course of 10-20 games, not in one of the worst pressure cooker opening nights you can imagine.

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

No, Game 7 vs Dallas was worse than this..the game in 2004 at Denver were Stoudamire was robbed of 2 free throws was worse that put Denver in the playoffs..the only thing that could have been worse were more injuries.

This was supposed to be the start of something. Instead, we got embarrassed, our future center played 3 minutes before suffering ANOTHER injury and it was just bad. The ramifications of this game extend beyond this game IMO....much more than anything else of the past 8 years.

I've never been as upset as I am right now from a game since 2000. The anticipation was through the roof.

 

[Minstrel]

I hoped for better, but wasn't at all surprised by the Blazers' performance last night. This was their first meaningful game in which to use their overhauled offense. Incorporating Greg Oden changes everything, and they were clearly still awkward playing their new style of offense.

That's really what losing Oden cost them last year. They didn't get a full year under their belts running an offense with a major low post presence. So now they have to spend some number of games this year figuring it out, and last night they had to do it against a top-two team in the NBA, on the road.

It's really not a very big deal, and I doubt it carries any emotional consequences for the Blazers. They know that they're working on a new system and incorporating a bunch of new parts (Oden, Fernandez, Bayless, Batum). There's no reason why losing last night would lead to a "We can't ever beat the Lakers" complex.

 

[alex42083]

I wouldn't have minded losing since LA is the favorite to win the West, but it was just depressing and embarrassing watching that game. I wanted to see us put up a fight, not back down, and get up in LA's faces and show we're here to play.
We looked scared, and a team not ready for primetime yet. I was waiting an entire year for last night, and it just more disappointing than anything..
Maybe this will put us under the radar again, and the expectations will lower from everyone around the country and we can just go about and do our thing.