Well, Coach McMuffin really crapped the bed tonight

[SodaPopinski]

Oden injury or not, this was one of the worst coaching jobs I have ever seen in my entire life. Substitutions, strange lineups, horrible in-game adjustments.

Back to the drawing board for coach.

-Pop

 

[blue32]

Hah, that avatar brings back fond memories..

 

[MARIS61]

If he prepared the team at all then someone erased their memories.

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

I disagree. There wasn't much Nate could do. No-one other than Outlaw, Rudy and Joel have played worth beans. Roy has picked it up lately but he also no longer has Kobe shadowing him.

Nate has tried a variety of different players and combinations trying to find some kind of group that could perform with any kind of efficiency or consistency.

This is on the players, not Nate.

Gramps...

 

[Nate4Prez]

The Team Looked Clueless All Night. Oden Being Out Doesnt Help At All.

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

The Team Looked Clueless All Night. Oden Being Out Doesnt Help At All.

The team looked shell-shocked from the start. Oden in or out, things didn't look good.

The cluelessness could be partially due to Nate not properly preparing them but it seemed to me that were just flat out intimidated and mentally beat from the start.

Gramps...

 

[maxiep]

Jackson took our team out of the game. He's done it before. This is what happens when you have a young team.

 

[mook]

I disagree. There wasn't much Nate could do. No-one other than Outlaw, Rudy and Joel have played worth beans. Roy has picked it up lately but he also no longer has Kobe shadowing him.

What do those guys have in common? They are some of our most veteran players.

Face it. The kids just were a little awestruck tonight, and a championship contender playing at home came out early and stomped on them. And, of course, Oden was out early.

I'm much less concerned with this particular loss than I am with yet another Oden injury.

 

[SodaPopinski]

What happened to the Rudy/Sergio connection? I think they played together for about 4 minutes, and Sergio didn't even play in the second half.

How many times did McMuffin have Channing Frye guarding Lamar Odom, only to watch him get beaten off the dribble at least half a dozen times? Not to mention Frye provided NOTHING tonight and got significant minutes.

Ran absolutely no plays for Aldridge to get the ball in the post against one of the worst post defenders in the league in Pau Gasol.

How do you go from starting Nicolas Batum to not even getting him into the game in the span of one day? As a result, our first team offense suffered because Travis "Black Hole" Outlaw was in there.

CRAPPED ... THE ... BED.

Players didn't help him, but McMuffin really didn't do much to put them into positions to succeed.

-Pop

 

[rocketeer]

they just started slow and couldn't knock down any shots. not sure you can blame that all on the coach(and definitely not the 2nd part).

the lakers played a decent game, the blazers didn't and this is the result.

rudy really was the only guy who didn't look nervous and actually looked ready to play in the first half. pretty much everyone else was missing shots that they should knock down the majority of the time.

the sergio/rudy connection probably disappeared because sergio was terrible while he was in the game. bad defense and they only gave him credit for 1 turnover but i could have sworn there were more.

the biggest problem i thought for the blazers tonight though(other than shots just not falling at times) was everyone drifting to the perimeter. probably even half the times oden touched the ball were him on the perimeter passing it around. aldridge and frye were quick to abandon the post game and settle for just shooting jumpers(granted that's nothing new for them) but the whole team really kinda gave up on getting inside for a long stretch other than roy who just couldn't anything to go in.

rudy certainly looked solid though.

 

[B-Roy]

Rudy for 6MOTY

 

[Wizard Mentor]

How many times did McMuffin have Channing Frye guarding Lamar Odom, only to watch him get beaten off the dribble at least half a dozen times? Not to mention Frye provided NOTHING tonight and got significant minutes.

How do you go from starting Nicolas Batum to not even getting him into the game in the span of one day? As a result, our first team offense suffered because Travis "Black Hole" Outlaw was in there.

-Pop

I wish I could disagree with you, but he should have started Batum.

On the other point, what player in the league is Frye capable of guarding? None that I can think of.
He's not a good post defender, and anyone can beat him off the dribble.

 

[Furball]

Our offensive sets were pathetic all night. I'm not sure if that was the point guards fault or just poor coaching. Blake and Sergio were completely lost all night.

 

[SodaPopinski]

We have consistently been in the bottom 5-10 in the league in major offensive categories since McMuffin got here. Tonight really didn't give me any reason to think that's going to change.

-Pop

 

[DynastYWarrioR6]

Too much one on one tonight, once you guys got to passing, you had open shots that you guys were hitting.

Just opening night nerves.

 

[Nikolokolus]

What else is there to say? between Oden, Roy and Aldridge they were 9-31 and Brandon was 0-10 until garbage time kicked in late in the game. Nate can't hit the fucking shots for these guys. Let's face it, we got our ass whupped by a better team on their own court, and our guys looked really jumpy.

Look at the bright side, it's over with.

 

[Bob Dobalina]

Our offensive sets were pathetic all night. I'm not sure if that was the point guards fault or just poor coaching. Blake and Sergio were completely lost all night.

Sergio was lost all night alright! At the end of the bench. Dude played 5 minutes.

 

[SodaPopinski]

Nate can't hit the fucking shots for these guys.

I really hate this argument. If the guys were taking good shots, then yes you just chalk it up to missed shots. But the team consistently lacked ball movement, didn't push the ball, etc. If that happens over the course of four quarters, either the coach didn't see it and therefore didn't suggest adjustments, or he can't communicate well enough with the players to get the message across to adjust the game plan.

Either way, it's not a glowing endorsement of Nate.

-Pop

 

[Wizard Mentor]

What else is there to say? between Oden, Roy and Aldridge they were 9-31 and Brandon was 0-10 until garbage time kicked in late in the game. Nate can't hit the fucking shots for these guys. Let's face it, we got our ass whupped by a better team on their own court, and our guys looked really jumpy.

Look at the bright side, it's over with.

There is one more thing to say - our defense sucked. They probably had 40 pts of open shots or easy
baskets. Even with the horrible shooting, if we play better defense we would have had a shot.

 

[illmatic99]

I especially loved how firm Nate was with his decisions.


Not.

Batum start--- no.
Sergio back up PG--- how about 5 mins?
Prepared roster-- no.
Any sign of leadership-- no.

Any inclination of competence in coaching -- no.

 

[malarky]

This game exposed Nate's biggest weakness. The offense he has put in place has no movement and no way to create easy shots. If we are not hitting our jumpers we are going to lose.

 

[MARIS61]

Sergio was lost all night alright! At the end of the bench. Dude played 5 minutes.

5 of the least ugly minutes of the game.

2nd best guard tonight, next to Rudy.

Blake and Roy played as bad as I've ever seen them.

Bayless was 1-5 with 2 fouls and 2 TO's in 14 undeserved minutes.

As predicted Nate renigged on his word that Sergio was his 2nd team PG.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

I think nate gave the big 3 food poisoning at his house....

 

[Nikolokolus]

5 of the least ugly minutes of the game.

2nd best guard tonight, next to Rudy.

Blake and Roy played as bad as I've ever seen them.

Bayless was 1-5 with 2 fouls and 2 TO's in 14 undeserved minutes.

As predicted Nate renigged on his word that Sergio was his 2nd team PG.

Can you please stop sucking Sergio's cock?

 

[B-Roy]

5 of the least ugly minutes of the game.

2nd best guard tonight, next to Rudy.

Blake and Roy played as bad as I've ever seen them.

Bayless was 1-5 with 2 fouls and 2 TO's in 14 undeserved minutes.

As predicted Nate renigged on his word that Sergio was his 2nd team PG.

Sergio did absolutely nothing. Oh wait, scratch that, he threw an alley-oop to Lamar Odom, my bad.

Blake was terrible, but at least he hit 3 threes, and Roy started going off late. Roy was too passive for most of the game and it didn't help that he had Kobe on him.

Bayless was fouled on at least two occasions that weren't called. Yeah, he forced a few turnovers, but I think McMillan wanted to see if he could get some instant offense from Bayless. (That missed 3 was killer though)

I think your man crush on Sergio and Rudy should have its limits, but I guess not.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I really hate this argument. If the guys were taking good shots, then yes you just chalk it up to missed shots. But the team consistently lacked ball movement, didn't push the ball, etc. If that happens over the course of four quarters, either the coach didn't see it and therefore didn't suggest adjustments, or he can't communicate well enough with the players to get the message across to adjust the game plan.

Either way, it's not a glowing endorsement of Nate.

-Pop

I can't remember how many point blank layups that Brandon missed, let alone wide open looks from Blake, Aldridge, and a few hooks Oden threw up from within 5 feet of the hoop.

Either way, I think it's fucking hilarious how were only one game in and people are already drawing all of these broad conclusions about Nate's fitness to coach this team, players ability to play, and the complete overreaction to what amounted to a bad loss against last season's Western Conference champs, who were playing pretty damn good defense, denying players their open looks.

I thought we might at least get through 5 or 6 losses in this rough patch before the calls for Nate's head would start, I guess I was wrong.

 

[RayDavies]

Sergio did absolutely nothing. Oh wait, scratch that, he threw an alley-oop to Lamar Odom, my bad.

Blake was terrible, but at least he hit 3 threes, and Roy started going off late. Roy was too passive for most of the game and it didn't help that he had Kobe on him.

Bayless was fouled on at least two occasions that weren't called. Yeah, he forced a few turnovers, but I think McMillan wanted to see if he could get some instant offense from Bayless. (That missed 3 was killer though)

I think your man crush on Sergio and Rudy should have its limits, but I guess not.

Yeah, Sergio was terrible out there! That pass to Odom was second only to Odom's pass to Vujacic on the bench!

When will the needless Sergio love end? Anything he ever produces seems to be counteracted by his playing the worst defense ever.

 

[alex42083]

I especially loved how firm Nate was with his decisions.


Not.

Batum start--- no.
Sergio back up PG--- how about 5 mins?
Prepared roster-- no.
Any sign of leadership-- no.

Any inclination of competence in coaching -- no.

SOOO frustrating... Travis is NOT a starter, and I'll be surprised if he starts on Friday.
We played the end of the preseason with Batum starting, Roy has his endorsement, and so we change it RIGHT ON GAME DAY. WTF!

And I was surprised to see Sergio with the hook already. This wreaked desperation in the second half, and went away completely what we tried to establish in the preseason.
Nate needs to stop panicking, and just go with the guys that he saw throughout the whole training camp.

It's like we went completely away from what we learned from the past month.

And Frye stinks. Give his minutes to Diogu.

 

[B-Roy]

SOOO frustrating... Travis is NOT a starter, and I'll be surprised if he starts on Friday.
We played the end of the preseason with Batum starting, Roy has his endorsement, and so we change it RIGHT ON GAME DAY. WTF!

And I was surprised to see Sergio with the hook already. This wreaked desperation in the second half, and went away completely what we tried to establish in the preseason.
Nate needs to stop panicking, and just go with the guys that he saw throughout the whole training camp.

It's like we went completely away from what we learned from the past month.

And Frye stinks. Give his minutes to Diogu.

Frye is 100 times more useful than Diogu..............

 

[craigehlo]

And Frye stinks. Give his minutes to Diogu.

Frye is soft and makes very poor decisions with the ball in his hands. All the talk of off season conditioning, is just that. All talk.

None of the starters seem to know how to get to the FT line when their shots aren't falling. LMA is the biggest culprit. Create contact!