The EXTREMELY UGLY game. GAME THREAD - 1/6/12 Blazers @ Suns

[Spud147]

I'm out. <Schonz>G'night evvvvvvvvvv-rybody/<Schonz>

 

[SlyPokerDog]

TrailBlazersPR Trail Blazers PR

Armon Johnson had 12 pts and 10 ast while Luke Babbitt tallied 13 pts and 9 boards in their Idaho Stampede debuts tonight.

 

[VenomXL]

Well, it's just one game. It sucks that we had to blow so hard in front of a national audience. If the guys were unhappy about the Clippers game I can't imagine how they must feel about this one. Terrible defense and even worse offense.

 

[cdub503]

This definatly a letdown game. No one really wanted to shoot us back into this game. Im hoping its just a fluke game but it does point out we have no real answer to a zone d when we cant hit from outside.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

isn't that every team though?

 

[oldmangrouch]

Baboon ass ugly. Hope it will at least be a learning experience.

 

[brooklynballer]

Well, it's just one game. It sucks that we had to blow so hard in front of a national audience. If the guys were unhappy about the Clippers game I can't imagine how they must feel about this one. Terrible defense and even worse offense.

Same old shit with this team. Play to the level of the competition.

I mean, c'mon, you know this is a nationally televised game and that the Suns are gonna come out strong so they don't get embarrassed on national TV. Unfortunately, the Blazers played with no energy and much like last year, thought they could flip a switch in the last quarter or two and erase the deficit. Not gonna happen on most nights and certainly not tonight.

 

[magnifier661]

I'm glad this was a blow out. I'm glad it's in front of everyone in the world. If these guys want to be contenders, they need to know what it's like to be embarrassed. Better not let this bet happen again!

 

[Kaydow]

It sucks to play as well as we have this year (except for tonight), and be staring at THIRD PLACE in the Pacific Division after tonight's loss. I expect we will see more stinkers like this than usual this season, especially early on. Gerald Wallace has had two of the worst games of his career this week, and sandwiched between was a 31 point monster last night in a game he dominated. These guys just don't have their legs yet, at least not every night.

 

[RoyToy]

I almost expected this to happen. Can't say I'm that surprised, although almost a 30pt loss is a bit much.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I almost expected this to happen. Can't say I'm that surprised, although almost a 30pt loss is a bit much.

According to the new CBA a 30pt loss counts the same as a 1pt.

 

[brooklynballer]

I almost expected this to happen. Can't say I'm that surprised, although almost a 30pt loss is a bit much.

I'm generally a Nate supporter but I put this loss squarely on him. The starters weren't doing shit in the first quarter. He should've yanked them at the 4-5 minute mark to send a message that if you're not gonna give effort tonight, then you're not gonna play. That would've lit a fire under their asses.

I mean how can you let a guy like Jared Dudley go off like that? And how does a 39 year old Grant Hill completely shut down Wallace?

Fuck, they face a little bit of adversity in the first quarter and just mail it in for the rest of the game. Did the same thing in the game against the Clips, but in that game the Clips were playing as bad as they were for most of the game.

 

[Nate Dogg]

Its very similar to other games last year. Team lacks hustle, shooting and loses.

Coach Nate McMillan and the team lingered behind closed doors after the game. The Blazers were coming off an equally troubling loss on Sunday, when they fell 90-83 to Atlanta at the Rose Garden.

"I'm trying to figure out what or why, but I know the last two games have felt the same," McMillan said. "We've been a team that scrapped and had movement and energy and hustle. Our last two games, we haven't been close to that."

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap?id=310301022

The team was just merely tired and out of sync.

 

[KingSpeed]

I'm generally a Nate supporter but I put this loss squarely on him. The starters weren't doing shit in the first quarter. He should've yanked them at the 4-5 minute mark to send a message that if you're not gonna give effort tonight, then you're not gonna play.

He did. Crawford, Batum, and Thomas all came in earlier than usual because we fell behind so fast and he wanted another look out there. Around the 5 minute mark like you said. And in the second half, Nolan Smith came in when there was still time to win.

 

[KingSpeed]

I'm generally a Nate supporter but I put this loss squarely on him. The starters weren't doing shit in the first quarter. He should've yanked them at the 4-5 minute mark to send a message that if you're not gonna give effort tonight, then you're not gonna play.

He did. Crawford, Batum, and Thomas all came in earlier than usual because we fell behind so fast and he wanted another look out there. Around the 5 minute mark like you said. And in the second half, Nolan Smith came in when there was still time to win.

 

[KingSpeed]

And they all gave effort. That wasn't it. It was the Suns. They came out playing incredible defense and it took us out of our comfort zone. Clips did the same thing to us.

 

[KingSpeed]

I could create those shots too.

No you couldn't. You'd be blocked.

But here's the deal, MM. Crawford is who he is. He was brought here to be that. Nothing is going to change. He's not going to become a different player. If you don't see the positive, fine, but I think it's time you turn off the broken record player. It will get old.

 

[KingSpeed]

I can't believe there's no mention of Elliott Williams's monster dunk and then monster block of Shannon Bown's three. The only two highlights of the game!

 

[KingSpeed]

By the way, every team loses. Every year. Even the Bulls team that won 72 games got blown out by the Knicks by 30 points. We lost. It happens. Wasn't because no one cared or tried or stuff like that. We'll bounce back. When we are in the Finals in June, you'll forget this loss even happened (I won't. I paid $1700 to watch it).

 

[crowTrobot]

And they all gave effort.

what game were you watching? they absolutely mailed it in as soon as they fell behind

 

[Rhal]

what game were you watching? they absolutely mailed it in as soon as they fell behind

I wouldn't say they mailed it in. They came out and were trying to run, they were trying to play defense but seemed really out of sync so every switch seemed to throw our defense into shambles. If a team plays a really physical zone type defense on us and we can't hit an outside shot we just seem lost on offense. LA doesn't have a good enough post game to score when a team plays that good interior D. We were outplayed in every aspect of the game last night and in a loss like that you gotta hope Nate starts putting the rookies in earlier if people are afraid to out shoot a zone (how many turnovers did we have because Batum/Mathews/Wallace ect didn't want to shoot the damn ball?)

 

[e_blazer]

I think a lot of what KingSpeed is saying is correct; all teams have ugly losses. I don't think it was a lack of effort on the Blazers' part that resulted in this crummy game. You can chalk some of it up to fatigue, some of it up to an emotional let down after the Laker win, and some of it up to the Suns having a full day off to prepare for the Blazers while the Blazers had virtually no time to plan for the Suns. Even with all of that, I'm concerned about this team. Two of their three road games have been absolute disasters and their one preseason road game against the Jazz was ugly as well. Only with the hype of beating the Thunder were they able to perform. I suspect that they'll work things out and that this won't be a season-long problem, but I do have to wonder if anyone on this team has the emotional makeup to be that steadying influence that great teams need in order to consistently win on the road. I guess we're going to find out in the next few weeks.

 

[illmatic99]

Kingsped, I saw you on KGW sitting next to Cam Newton. Did you say anything to him?

 

[KingSpeed]

Kingsped, I saw you on KGW sitting next to Cam Newton. Did you say anything to him?

No. I didn't even know it was him until my Dad called and said "I think I see you sitting 4 seats away from Cam Newton.". I knew he had to be somebody. Everyone wanted to talk to him. He turned down an interview with the Suns sideline reporter which I thought was douchey. He wore Suns colors. It's like he beat Oregon all over again.

 

[KingSpeed]

Kingsped, I saw you on KGW sitting next to Cam Newton. Did you say anything to him?

No. I didn't even know it was him until my Dad called and said "I think I see you sitting 4 seats away from Cam Newton.". I knew he had to be somebody. Everyone wanted to talk to him. He turned down an interview with the Suns sideline reporter which I thought was douchey. He wore Suns colors. It's like he beat Oregon all over again.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

No. I didn't even know it was him until my Dad called and said "I think I see you sitting 4 seats away from Cam Newton.". I knew he had to be somebody. Everyone wanted to talk to him. He turned down an interview with the Suns sideline reporter which I thought was douchey. He wore Suns colors. It's like he beat Oregon all over again.

So how was the retired detective/poker player? Not much chance of turning him into a Blazer fan after that game, lol.

 

[magnifier661]

So how was the retired detective/poker player? Not much chance of turning him into a Blazer fan after that game, lol.

Lmao!!!!!

 

[KingSpeed]

He had an amazing story. He had a brain tumor that put him out of work. He survived it and then won $3 million in the lottery. Then he had a another brain tumor and survived that one too. He tried to go back after that but they pressed him to retire. Now he plays poker professionally. I think he and I will do another game together sometime. He has the money.

 

[KingSpeed]

Oh and he's a Celtics fan and gave me a Celtics T shirt