Playoff winners and losers

[Mediocre Man]

I started this thread because there are other things in the article than just the playoff inexperience part which is already in the KP interview thread. I found a lot of what he said pretty interesting.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playo...lumnist=stein_marc&page=PlayoffWinners-090616

And some mention of the Blazers under.......surprise. Inexperience.

Playoff inexperience

Orlando's Van Gundy said repeatedly during the Finals that the notion of the Lakers' experience edge was a media myth that kept coming up because writers like to come up with stories beforehand and then foist their theories on coaches to make their angles work.

That immediately prompted my man Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times to conclude that Van Gundy knows more about sportswriting than any of us press hacks know about coaching -- which is a line I wish I had come up with myself -- but I have to go back at Stan on this one.

If you believe that experience affects execution under pressure, as I do, I don't see how you can conclude that L.A.'s championship know-how didn't help the Lakers win the two crucial OT games in a five-game series.

Or that experience wasn't a huge difference in the Houston-Portland series, when Nate McMillan's Blazers got swamped at home by 27 points in Game 1 and never quite recovered from the rough playoff baptism. Portland was a trendy pick to get to the second round and see if its regular-season success against L.A. could carry over, but the Rockets halted a string of playoff disappointments of their own to win in six games,

My favorite line though helped along by McMillan's refusal to speed the game up to try to take advantage of the Blazers' athleticism.
"It's just too cliché to say it's all about Finals experience and that we're all of a sudden playing with 11-foot baskets and a smaller court," Van Gundy argues. "I just don't buy it."

Fair enough. But Orlando sabotaged itself with 20 turnovers in Game 2 and by missing 15 free throws at home in Game 4. Derek Fisher, meanwhile, drained two killer 3s in the same Game 4 after starting out 0-for-5. It might all be coincidental, but that's hard for me to buy.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

The primary reasons Portland didn't advance were that Roy refused to push the ball (despite Nate's pleadiung with him to do so when we had the advantage and Roy turning the ball over late in the 4th quarters going 1 on 3 or 1 on 4, getting the ball stripped or blocked with wide open shooters he ignored. Nate is going to have to take control of the team next year if we're going to improve in some areas. The #2 reason was poor shooting by Outlaw.

That said, Houston made a huge number of big shots when it counted. It was their series.

 

[THE HCP]

The primary reasons Portland didn't advance were that Roy refused to push the ball (despite Nate's pleadiung with him to do so when we had the advantage and Roy turning the ball over late in the 4th quarters going 1 on 3 or 1 on 4, getting the ball stripped or blocked with wide open shooters he ignored. Nate is going to have to take control of the team next year if we're going to improve in some areas. The #2 reason was poor shooting by Outlaw.

That said, Houston made a huge number of big shots when it counted. It was their series.

Brandon Roy was the #1 reason why we didn't make it past the first round?!?!? WOW!

 

[Mediocre Man]

Brandon Roy was the #1 reason why we didn't make it past the first round?!?!? WOW!

I see where he is coming from, but I think he is off a bit. Roy did force things too much, but it was more to do with nobody else that Nate would play being able to get to the rim. Ready or not, Bayless would have been great to see because like in other games he played, he takes the pressure off of Roy to dominate the ball so much.

It's our offense people, don't blame the players.

As for Nate pleading with Roy and anyone else to push the ball.....Bullshit. He can say it all he wants, but 9 years of slow paced basketball tells me he is 100% commited to not running.

 

[RickyRubio]

The primary reasons Portland didn't advance were that Roy refused to push the ball (despite Nate's pleadiung with him to do so when we had the advantage and Roy turning the ball over late in the 4th quarters going 1 on 3 or 1 on 4, getting the ball stripped or blocked with wide open shooters he ignored. Nate is going to have to take control of the team next year if we're going to improve in some areas. The #2 reason was poor shooting by Outlaw.

That said, Houston made a huge number of big shots when it counted. It was their series.

LOL yeah it's all Brandons fault. And not because Houston was making every single shot they took.

 

[tlongII]

Inexperience is why we lost game 1. Game 1 is why we lost the series. Simple as that.

 

[julius]

Brandon Roy was the #1 reason why we didn't make it past the first round?!?!? WOW!

Imagine if we didn't have Roy, we'd be world champs!

 

[Boise Blazer]

Inexperience is why we lost game 1. Game 1 is why we lost the series. Simple as that.

^^^^ this ^^^^^

I have very, very little doubt in my mind that the series would have been very different if we had won game one.

Would we have had to grind it out in 7 games??? Maybe. Probably. But I honestly believe we would have won.

And we sure didnt lose game one strickly or even mainly because of tempo.

What we did is go the through lumps and bruises that all young, untested playoffs teams deal with. There is almost no way to prepare for that experience. We also got to experience what a close out game is like when they won the series. These are valuable lessons that should not be overlooked.

 

[LittleAlex]

It seems to me that Nate wants things both ways. One, he wants near total controll of what the team does on the offensive end. Two, he wants the team to speed up the pace. I don't think these are compatable desires. The team has to slow down in order to receive their instructions.

Mike Brown too. Nate needs to let the players play a bit to make the game faster. Until he does that, the team will almost always be near the bottom of the league in overall pace.

 

[Nate4Prez]

We lost game one because we weren't fronting Yao. That's not playoff experience, it's not realizing what works against him. Yao played great the rest of the series, but only in game one was he unstoppable. If Nate would have fronted Yao in game one we could have won that game and possibly the series.

 

[Rodolfo]

The primary reasons Portland didn't advance were that Roy refused to push the ball (despite Nate's pleadiung with him to do so when we had the advantage and Roy turning the ball over late in the 4th quarters going 1 on 3 or 1 on 4, getting the ball stripped or blocked with wide open shooters he ignored. Nate is going to have to take control of the team next year if we're going to improve in some areas. The #2 reason was poor shooting by Outlaw.

That said, Houston made a huge number of big shots when it counted. It was their series.

You sound like Maris! That's not a good thing!

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

As for Nate pleading with Roy and anyone else to push the ball.....Bullshit. He can say it all he wants, but 9 years of slow paced basketball tells me he is 100% commited to not running.

In the time outs, Nate pleaded with Roy to push the ball late, but he never did. That was reported by Harlow, Rice & Wheels during the game. We had great fast break opportunities that passed us by. The idea was to beat Yao down the court.

Another thing- I do not down play the fact Roy is our best player and is greatly responsible for us making the playoffs. He simply made numerous poor decisions late in some of the games that probably lost the games for us. It's clearly evident on the tapes of the games.

 

[alex42083]

Inexperience is why we lost game 1. Game 1 is why we lost the series. Simple as that.

Agreed. This team was just too pumped up, the crowd was ready for that Game 1, and I think they admitted later that they didn't do anything that was in their game plan. They could've said that to save face, but that Game 1 was atrocious.
They looked scared as hell out there, while we went to the Brandon ISO play already midway through the first quarter.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Brandon Roy was the #1 reason why we didn't make it past the first round?!?!? WOW!

I'm with you. Some people are fucking killing me around here lately.

 

[Ed O]

In the time outs, Nate pleaded with Roy to push the ball late, but he never did. That was reported by Harlow, Rice & Wheels during the game. We had great fast break opportunities that passed us by. The idea was to beat Yao down the court.

It's amazing that Nate's teams NEVER have a pace that indicates that they are a running team... Roy or not, Nate's teams have almost invariably been plodding and slow-paced.

He (or anyone else) can say that it was Roy's fault that he wasn't able to change a decade of Nate's coaching and culture within the span of six playoff games, but I don't think I buy it for a second, personally.

Ed O.

 

[oldmangrouch]

Inexperience is why we lost game 1. Game 1 is why we lost the series. Simple as that.

Inexperience also contributed to losing games 3&4. Those were winnable games....but the Rockets simply executed better with the game on the line.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

It's amazing that Nate's teams NEVER have a pace that indicates that they are a running team... Roy or not, Nate's teams have almost invariably been plodding and slow-paced.

As noted, Nate was taking some opportunity to run when we could as Houston's defense would not be set and it did create good scoring opportunities. It was well spoken of during the series. That said, I agree that Nate is not a "run first" coach.

He (or anyone else) can say that it was Roy's fault that he wasn't able to change a decade of Nate's coaching and culture within the span of six playoff games, but I don't think I buy it for a second, personally.

Ed O.

Nonetheless, Rebecca reported it from the time out huddles and Wheels & Rice during the games.

Again, I know stating anything negative about Roy is like shooting the Pope dead due to the amount of hero worship around here, but these are objective facts. Just how much it contributed to us losing is open for debate. But in two of the losses, Roy committed at least two turnovers in the final two minutes of the game, leaving wide open shooters. Very poor decision making on his part.

 

[Storyteller2]

Roy's a half-court player. Blake is a half-court player. As long as those two get 69 of the 96 available guard minutes, the Blazers will be a half-court team.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Roy's a half-court player. Blake is a half-court player. As long as those two get 69 of the 96 available guard minutes, the Blazers will be a half-court team.

Yep. With Bayless for example the Blazers become the perfect pushing team.

He, Batum and Aldridge can run the break with Roy and Oden trailing. If it's not there then go into an instant pick and roll with Roy and Oden.

 

[andalusian]

Yep. With Bayless for example the Blazers become the perfect pushing team.

He, Batum and Aldridge can run the break with Roy and Oden trailing. If it's not there then go into an instant pick and roll with Roy and Oden.

It will certainly be interesting to see if it happens. From the very little we have seen of Bayless this past year - he seemed just fine in fast-pace. Hope it comes to that in the future when he gets more minutes.

 

[Mediocre Man]

It will certainly be interesting to see if it happens. From the very little we have seen of Bayless this past year - he seemed just fine in fast-pace. Hope it comes to that in the future when he gets more minutes.

Yep, but he also seemed as pathetic in a slow-pace. It will be interesting.

 

[C_note]

The primary reasons Portland didn't advance were that Roy refused to push the ball (despite Nate's pleadiung with him to do so when we had the advantage and Roy turning the ball over late in the 4th quarters going 1 on 3 or 1 on 4, getting the ball stripped or blocked with wide open shooters he ignored. Nate is going to have to take control of the team next year if we're going to improve in some areas. The #2 reason was poor shooting by Outlaw.

That said, Houston made a huge number of big shots when it counted. It was their series.

This made me lol.

 

[Ed O]

Nonetheless, Rebecca reported it from the time out huddles and Wheels & Rice during the games.

Again, I know stating anything negative about Roy is like shooting the Pope dead due to the amount of hero worship around here, but these are objective facts. Just how much it contributed to us losing is open for debate. But in two of the losses, Roy committed at least two turnovers in the final two minutes of the game, leaving wide open shooters. Very poor decision making on his part.

Where has Nate's emphasis on "pushing it" been for the last decade?

Has every player in his NBA coaching career ignored him, too?

It's easy for Nate to suddenly talk about it during a timeout in the middle of a playoff series, but after a few years of not running with a team, and seemingly benching guys because they turn the ball over too much while trying to push the tempo, expecting them to suddenly be willing to run and potentially turn the ball over more frequently seems unfair.

Ed O.

 

[handiman]

We lost game one because we weren't fronting Yao. That's not playoff experience, it's not realizing what works against him. Yao played great the rest of the series, but only in game one was he unstoppable. If Nate would have fronted Yao in game one we could have won that game and possibly the series.

Yep, I knew we were in trouble before the series started.. Nate made comments that alluded more to giving the players rest after the last regular season game than getting serious about preparing for the first round opponent. Basically, it sounded as if they went into Game 1 thinking they could keep playing the way they did down the stretch, with no need to re-strategize.

 

[fumanchu]

Blake and Travis' no-shows were why we lost against Houston.

 

[rocketeer]

Inexperience also contributed to losing games 3&4. Those were winnable games....but the Rockets simply executed better with the game on the line.

and that couldn't have been due to them being a better team?

 

[barfo]

and that couldn't have been due to them being a better team?

They were only better in the ways that they were better. In all the other ways, they weren't better.

barfo

 

[oldmangrouch]

and that couldn't have been due to them being a better team?

"Better" in what sense? Do you consider the Rockets clearly more talented than the Blazers? I don't. Are Blazer players lazier? There is no evidence to support that.

Smarter? Yes - and experience was/is a big part of that.
Tougher? Yes - and experience also contributes to mental toughness.
Better coached? I'll give you that. The loss wasn't 100% on the players.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

and that couldn't have been due to them being a better team?

The better team does not always win.

However, I think in this case Houston was the better team.

 

[PapaG]

Blake and Travis' no-shows were why we lost against Houston.

Blake played well. He shot 49%, 42% from three, 3/1 A/TO ratio...