Well the truth has come back to bite us...

[Nikolokolus]

is brooks better than bayless? if so what the fuck are we doing? if brooks is a legit starter, we need to do a better job of drafting pgs.

I think Bayless' problem is experience, not overall talent; a player with 600 NBA minutes under his belt at this level and a single season of college is just too little floor time to trust an offense to -- especially a point like Jerryd who was/is more of a scorer than table-setter.

Give him two more years and I think Bayless has the potential to be a real player ... in the meantime though, we need somebody like Andre Miller or Kirk Hinrich (or somebody like that) that can run the point 35 minutes a night and has the offensive and defensive chops to be a full time starter.

 

[Sinobas]

How many times has Nate McMoron been like, "Oh, I have a brilliant idea, I'll put Frye into the game to stretch the defense, he can hit the outside shot." Only to have Frye come in, get destroyed on defense, not rebound, and hit his outside shots at the rate of 40%.

This is one thing I hate about McMillen, HE DOESN'T FUCKING LEARN! We lose ground whenever Frye is put in, and he played in A FUCKING PLAYOFF GAME!!!

But ya, our PG position could certainly be upgraded. KP should be scouting the Bulls heavily to see if Kirk is still an all-nba defender. Perhaps we can trade Blake and Outlaw for Kirk, then sign Andre Miller. Totally re-vamped PG position.

 

[Nikolokolus]

How many times has Nate McMoron been like, "Oh, I have a brilliant idea, I'll put Frye into the game to stretch the defense, he can hit the outside shot." Only to have Frye come in, get destroyed on defense, not rebound, and hit his outside shots at the rate of 40%.

This is one thing I hate about McMillen, HE DOESN'T FUCKING LEARN! We lose ground whenever Frye is put in, and he played in A FUCKING PLAYOFF GAME!!!

Meh. Frye in the game is the teaspoon in the bucket of reasons this game was lost.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

A few things:

1) If you recall, KP traded up in last year's draft to get Augustine as he wanted a true PG. However, when he was picked ahead of us we reverted to option #2- picking the best player available. That was a SG, Bayless. Now, we are trying to teach him to play PG and it's been a rocky experience. All in all, it's unlikly to work. We still need an upgrade at that position. I think we can make a small trade up and get Lawson from UNC in this years draft.

2) Why was Fry playing? Easy. Yao gets bothered by pesky and manueverable players guarding him. He eats centers alive who can't front him (like Joel & Oden). It's been that way for years. Nate wanted to see if Channing could do better denying Yao the ball. We're one of the only teams left that allow Yao to get the ball where he pleases without challenging him. If we continue to do that, series over.

3) Houston played the refs perfectly last night. They held, grabbed and hit us- but never overtly and the refs let it all go. It was true playoff officiating. They flopped smartly and we didn't. There was a huge lesson for us to learn. In addition to that, we clearly paniced and let Houston fully take us out of our game.

4) So what would I do? I'd play LA & Channing on Yao and also collapse on him. AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, FOUL THAT BIG CHINK HARD! Yao should be knocked to the floor 7-10 times at a minimum. I promise you it will take the steam out of his laundry. If we're not willing to fight for a win, we don't deserve to be here.

 

[Nikolokolus]

A few things:

1) If you recall, KP traded up in last year's draft to get Augustine as he wanted a true PG. However, when he was picked ahead of us we reverted to option #2- picking the best player available. That was a SG, Bayless. Now, we are trying to teach him to play PG and it's been a rocky experience. All in all, it's unlikly to work. We still need an upgrade at that position. I think we can make a small trade up and get Lawson from UNC in this years draft.

2) Why was Fry playing? Easy. Yao gets bothered by pesky and manueverable players guarding him. He eats centers alive who can't front him (like Joel & Oden). It's been that way for years. Nate wanted to see if Channing could do better denying Yao the ball. We're one of the only teams left that allow Yao to get the ball where he pleases without challenging him. If we continue to do that, series over.

3) Houston played the refs perfectly last night. They held, grabbed and hit us- but never overtly and the refs let it all go. It was true playoff officiating. They flopped smartly and we didn't. There was a huge lesson for us to learn. In addition to that, we clearly paniced and let Houston fully take us out of our game.

4) So what would I do? I'd play LA & Channing on Yao and also collapse on him. AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, FOUL THAT BIG CHINK HARD! Yao should be knocked to the floor 7-10 times at a minimum. I promise you it will take the steam out of his laundry. If we're not willing to fight for a win, we don't deserve to be here.

Whoa! Easy with the racism buddy.

 

[Sinobas]

The beauty of a long series against one team is you get to look at game film and make adjustments.

I might consider starting this lineup next game:
Roy, Oden, Joel, LMA, Outlaw (or Batum)

The extra big defender (Oden) could help give Ming a difficult time scoring out of the blocks.

The matchups?

Roy guards Brooks.
LMA guards Battier
Oden guards Scola
Joel guards Ming
Outlaw or Batum guards Artest

I think the Blazers should try and play small ball. Bayless/Roy/Rudy/Batum/Aldridge. Then we can try to out-rebound the hell out of the bench by playing twin towers Oden and Joel.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Whoa! Easy with the racism buddy.

Heh, it was ment as a compliment.

 

[MARIS61]

We need a point guard and you can not just give up a starting spot like we do at SF.

Not at all, that's a silly notion.

Sergio/Blake > Brooks/Lowry

Bake it!

 

[OddEnormous]

Heh, it was ment as a compliment.

WTF???

Fucking weird, not cool dude.

You ruined what was a very good post.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Not at all, that's a silly notion.

Sergio/Blake > Brooks/Lowry

Bake it!

Welcome to 'reverso' land.

 

[OddEnormous]

HE DOESN'T FUCKING LEARN!

Terrible post as usual.

 

[MARIS61]

The beauty of a long series against one team is you get to look at game film and make adjustments.

I might consider starting this lineup next game:
Roy, Oden, Joel, LMA, Outlaw (or Batum)

The extra big defender (Oden) could help give Ming a difficult time scoring out of the blocks.

The matchups?

Roy guards Brooks.
LMA guards Battier
Oden guards Scola
Joel guards Ming
Outlaw or Batum guards Artest

I expect adjustments in play, but not in lineup.

We just didn't do what we've been doing between the 2 losses to Hopuston. I expect Roy to share the ball more next game rather than have a personal battle with Artest, and I expect Nate will tell Blake to push the tempo.

 

[Sinobas]

Terrible post as usual.

Are you some kind of post critic now?

 

[Ghost Pepper]

Brooks is to fast for Blake and Sergio. However... when Bayless went in Brooks got bodied and pushed out to the three point line. I hope Nate was watching that! Bayless needs to be on Brooks and Wafer during the game. If Nate sticks to his rotations against this Rockets team, it's over.


Bayless, Roy, Batum, LA and Pryz. Two guards that can get to the hoop, one who plays great defense and than LA needs to exploit his size on Scola. Pryz for rebounds and easy put back points. Houston is playing amped and we are playing a nice slow half court game. We need Bayless and his energy to match that of Dixon and Wafer.

The Rockets played like they were having home court last night, energy was the difference!

 

[OddEnormous]

Are you some kind of post critic now?

No, it's just that you haven't got a clue. If you don't want people to respond to your posts, I suggest you invest in a typewriter.

 

[MARIS61]

Brooks is to fast for Blake and Sergio. However... when Bayless went in Brooks got bodied and pushed out to the three point line. I hope Nate was watching that! Bayless needs to be on Brooks and Wafer during the game. If Nate sticks to his rotations against this Rockets team, it's over.

Brooks stopped driving long before Bayless came in simply because they were ahead by 25 in garbage time so why work hard and risk injury, especially when you are hitting the 3 (5-8)? Bayless was unable to stay with him at all on defense.

He was 1-2 at the 3 against Bayless, had 2 of his 7 assists, and a rebound in his 4 minutes against Bayless, during which Bayless made a layup and drew a foul on Brooks, had the ball stolen by Lowry causing Frye to have to foul to stop the break, and missed a jump shot.

After Brooks left Bayless blocked Von Wafer, got fouled by Landry and made 1-2 ft, missed a 3pt shot, and missed another jumper.

Not much of an arguement there for a lineup change or even PT in the next game.

Everybody needs to step up their game, step up the defensive pressure and push the tempo.

 

[Shooter]

Look on the bright side (such as it is) the playoffs are going to reveal this team's warts in full living colour, and give KP a pretty clear idea of what needs to be addressed in the off-season -- this is where we find out who they are.

Good point. If we hadn't made the playoffs, our weaknesses wouldn't have been exposed. HOWEVER, I'm holding out the slim hope that last night's performance by Houston was an abberation, and that the Blazers are going to show "who they really are" in the next game.

 

[TripTango]

Why are you guys so down on your team? Its just 1 game guys, there are still many games left to be played. I am sure the Blazers will come out with much more intensity in the next game. You guys are acting as if you got eliminate. Damn, just down 0-1. Rockets were up 2-0 beating the Mavs at Dallas in the first 2 games but went on to lose the series in 7. Anything can happen still.

The Rocket fan speaks the truth.

It's just been so long since Portland's been in an actual playoff series, I think a lot of fans have lost perspective. It's shocking how quickly the trend goes from "We're unstoppable!" to "We are teh suck!". This is the same team that stomped strong opposition at home all year long, but they're in a new situation with elevated intensity and facing a very tough matchup. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that there was a major speedbump in game 1.