So, who's better, Portland or Houston?

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I gotta give it to Houston but for really shitty reasons like knowing how to work the refs.
 
On a fair playing field, Portland all day.

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Agreed - I think we are the better team, but after seeing the way Houston was able to work the refs in our last meeting to steal that game from us, I am concerned.
 
One positive...our defensive strategy of not stepping up on pick and rolls works well against Beverley (assuming he's back by then), who isn't a good shooter off the dribble.

Negative is that Beverley does a great job of neutralizing Dame...we'll need strong performances by Dame and LA in order to win the series.

LMA poses problems for Houston because if they cover him with Howard, it pulls Howard away from the basket and he can't protect the rim. If they cover him with Terrance Jones/Montejunas, he should dominate either one strength-wise. I noticed a similar issue with OKC, where Ibaka was far more effective than Perk covering LMA, but that takes away from his ability to cut off the lane and block/alter shots.

I think it will be a great series. Hopefully, the ability of all five of our starters to hit FT's will carry some of the close games.
 
Buffalo Blazer said:
One positive...our defensive strategy of not stepping up on pick and rolls works well against Beverley (assuming he's back by then), who isn't a good shooter off the dribble.

Negative is that Beverley does a great job of neutralizing Dame...we'll need strong performances by Dame and LA in order to win the series.

LMA poses problems for Houston because if they cover him with Howard, it pulls Howard away from the basket and he can't protect the rim. If they cover him with Terrance Jones/Montejunas, he should dominate either one strength-wise. I noticed a similar issue with OKC, where Ibaka was far more effective than Perk covering LMA, but that takes away from his ability to cut off the lane and block/alter shots.

I think it will be a great series. Hopefully, the ability of all five of our starters to hit FT's will carry some of the close games.
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The LMA thing is important. If LMA truly goes beast mode, and doesn't settle for any jumpers until after he's dominated the paint, we have a good chance. But the Beverley thing is a serious issue.
 
Houston just seems to match up so well with us. Also, supposedly, the players have orders to flop on each and every offensive and defenseive stand whenever possible. The team laughs and fines are paid- and they shoot more FT's than any other team (I have been told, but not verified). That gets opponents in foul trouble, stops the flow of the game...
 
The refs believe Houston is better. On paper, we are the much better team.
 
The league considers D12 and The Beard to be superstars which gives them an advantage. I think we are better though.
 
Team is the X factor in the question and I give the edge to Portland on that level. Houston trumps us in two areas. Harden's scoring and Howard in the paint. To beat them, Wes has to take Harden out of the equation and Rolo has to get Howard in early foul trouble as well as Nico containing Parsons. It's no easy matchup even with Beverly out or hobbled. In the playoffs the Blazers have to bring their A game every night. Nobody gets a night off.
 
Parsons also trumps Batum in terms of intensity/aggressiveness, and I really think that matchup is going to be the key to the series.
 
if they get away w/the flopping and the dirty work type stuff, houston is a better team all day.
 
Houston and they've proven it

And no, the last game wasn't stolen from Portland

It was just another game the Blazers couldn't finish
 
I think on paper they're stronger than us if Beverly is healthy but we actually may be deeper. It will come down to who wants it more who tries harder and plays as a team.
 
I think it comes down to turnovers and foul trouble
 
I think it comes down to free throw shooting.
 
If Rolo stays on the court out of foul trouble, gets Howard in foul trouble, we protect the ball so Lin and Harden don't kill us on fast breaks..then we can beat these guys in a 7 game series.
 
If Robinson and Freeland (Big if at this point because I have no idea where he is at in his injury rehab) play up to what they're capable of then I believe we are the better team. As long as we can keep Howard in check with lots of different looks then we can allow Harden to go for 30 every game and still win because our team is more than capable of scoring on the Rockets. We are deeper and have a more complete team.
 
I think both teams are pretty even talent wise. They have their two superstars that will get the superstar calls, but we have two all stars and over all, our starters are better than theirs.

I think this series will be close and I think coaching will play a big role - and I think the coaching match up favors Portland. Both coaches have only made the playoffs one time, as a head coach, and neither has advanced past the first round. So, at first look, like the rosters, the two coaches look pretty equally matched. I think Kevin McHale is a great big man coach, but he hasn't really done much to impress me as a head coach. Stotts hasn't made it past the first round as a head coach, but he was the lead assistant and in charge of the offense when Dallas won their championship. I think he's a much better Xs and Os coach than McHale and is especially skilled at calling plays out of time outs and the end of quarters, etc. I think the games, and the series will be very close and every possession will be important. I think that due to Stotts' play calling and the fact that we have more scoring options favors the Blazers.

The other keys for coaching in a 7 game series are mid-game and mid-series adjustments. We don't have enough playoff data to show one coach is better than the other in this regard, but again, my instincts tell me Stotts has an edge over McHale. I thinks Stotts has done a great job working with the young guys on our bench. He's given them all multiple chances to EARN playing time based on their performance. He seems to do a good job coaxing improvement out of his young bench players (and even veterans like Dorell Wright). None of the players seem to have gotten down when moved out of the rotation and every time they get re-inserted into the rotation, I see noticeable improvement. I've seen it multiple times with Thomas Robinson. I've seen it from Will Baton and Victor Claver, and while he's far from a finished product, I've even seen improvement in defensive positioning and rebounding from Meyers Leonard. To me this shows a coach that is flexible and adaptable. I also think the fact that he hasn't "lost" any of his bench players bodes well for the playoffs. It will give him the flexibility to make adjustments both mid-game and mid-series. He can throw a bunch of different looks at the Rockets to keep them off balance and prevent them from getting comfortable against a specific lineup or style of play.

HCA would be huge, but it's going to be tough to get. I'd feel better, having HCA with a young team that lacks playoff experience, but even without HCA, thanks to our coaching advantage and better balanced starting five, I think we can still beat Houston even without HCA. And, this is a HUGE difference between this team and the Nate coached teams that made the payoffs. Nate was so horribly inflexible, and predictable, he was always easily out coached in the playoffs while he was in Portland. I just dreaded watching him stand there with his arms crossed while other coaches were coaching circles around him. I NEVER felt confident we even had a chance to win a series with Nate as our head coach. Stotts may not be Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson, but at least I don't have that impending sense of doom I always had when Nate was coaching in the post season. I'm REALLY looking forward to the playoffs this year. Anything can happen in a 7 game series, but at least I feel like we have a chance to prevail, not matter who we play.

BNM
 
Boob-No-More said:
I think both teams are pretty even talent wise. They have their two superstars that will get the superstar calls, but we have two all stars and over all, our starters are better than theirs.

I think this series will be close and I think coaching will play a big role - and I think the coaching match up favors Portland. Both coaches have only made the playoffs one time, as a head coach, and neither has advanced past the first round. So, at first look, like the rosters, the two coaches look pretty equally matched. I think Kevin McHale is a great big man coach, but he hasn't really done much to impress me as a head coach. Stotts hasn't made it past the first round as a head coach, but he was the lead assistant and in charge of the offense when Dallas won their championship. I think he's a much better Xs and Os coach than McHale and is especially skilled at calling plays out of time outs and the end of quarters, etc. I think the games, and the series will be very close and every possession will be important. I think that due to Stotts' play calling and the fact that we have more scoring options favors the Blazers.

The other keys for coaching in a 7 game series are mid-game and mid-series adjustments. We don't have enough playoff data to show one coach is better than the other in this regard, but again, my instincts tell me Stotts has an edge over McHale. I thinks Stotts has done a great job working with the young guys on our bench. He's given them all multiple chances to EARN playing time based on their performance. He seems to do a good job coaxing improvement out of his young bench players (and even veterans like Dorell Wright). None of the players seem to have gotten down when moved out of the rotation and every time they get re-inserted into the rotation, I see noticeable improvement. I've seen it multiple times with Thomas Robinson. I've seen it from Will Baton and Victor Claver, and while he's far from a finished product, I've even seen improvement in defensive positioning and rebounding from Meyers Leonard. To me this shows a coach that is flexible and adaptable. I also think the fact that he hasn't "lost" any of his bench players bodes well for the playoffs. It will give him the flexibility to make adjustments both mid-game and mid-series. He can throw a bunch of different looks at the Rockets to keep them off balance and prevent them from getting comfortable against a specific lineup or style of play.

HCA would be huge, but it's going to be tough to get. I'd feel better, having HCA with a young team that lacks playoff experience, but even without HCA, thanks to our coaching advantage and better balanced starting five, I think we can still beat Houston even without HCA. And, this is a HUGE difference between this team and the Nate coached teams that made the payoffs. Nate was so horribly inflexible, and predictable, he was always easily out coached in the playoffs while he was in Portland. I just dreaded watching him stand there with his arms crossed while other coaches were coaching circles around him. I NEVER felt confident we even had a chance to win a series with Nate as our head coach. Stotts may not be Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson, but at least I don't have that impending sense of doom I always had when Nate was coaching in the post season. I'm REALLY looking forward to the playoffs this year. Anything can happen in a 7 game series, but at least I feel like we have a chance to prevail, not matter who we play.

BNM
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The problem is that our stars do not get even remotely the same ref treatment, and that's the reason why most of us did NOT want Houston.

In the eyes of the refs:

DHo > LA

Harden > Dame

It's not even close. Plus, they allow Beverley to just straight mug Lillard throughout the game, which has been a big problem for Portland.
 
"playoff basketball is more physical" is a great excuse to just stop reffing and start drinking heavily.
 
BlazerCaravan said:
"playoff basketball is more physical" is a great excuse to just stop reffing and start drinking heavily.
Click to expand...

This is why I favor Portland in the first Round, it's always the best referee'd part of the playoffs. It's not until the later rounds that they revert back to their old ways.
 
HailBlazers said:
This is why I favor Portland in the first Round, it's always the best referee'd part of the playoffs. It's not until the later rounds that they revert back to their old ways.
Click to expand...

They already let Beverley get away with murder on Lillard. You think it's going to benefit us if he's allowed to basically do whatever he wants?
 
Natebishop3 said:
They already let Beverley get away with murder on Lillard. You think it's going to benefit us if he's allowed to basically do whatever he wants?
Click to expand...

No. But if they let Wes/Nic D up Harden properly, and let the bigs play inside without ticky tack garbage then I think we hold the edge.
 
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