I didn't know the NBA Finals started already.....

[WayOutWest]

If the Finals have not started then somebody should tell the fans in Portland, they are off the chain!

[WayOutWest]

Wow!  I did not expect that!

[ziggy]

Boy that was ugly.  Our main weaknesses were exposed for the world to see.

We shot poorly, and we did not respond with going hard to the basket and draw fouls.  Roy played fine, but he didn't get to the line very much.  We have yet to develop Fernandez beyond the 3 point shot.  If they take that away from us, then he becomes much less effective

Blake couldn't stop Brooks in the pick and roll, and Joel went to offer help, and that left Yao open at the rim.  We could not defend the pick & roll worth a crap.  We switched all the time, the guard went under the pick, and that put Brooks one on one with Joel, or LaMarcus, and he ate their lunch.  I do not get why we do that on defense all the fricking time.

The officials allowed Houston to be very physical, and we did not handle it well at all.  Scola played Aldridge like a fiddle.  Scola banged him, and would not allow him to get down low position, and Aldridge just gave up.  You have to take it at him, and force Scola to make a stop, and try and draw some fouls on him.  Przybilla constantly let Yao get low position.  Outlaw let Artest push him around.  At least Oden took at them.

Houston played an exceptional game, they were better prepared, they executed better, they worked harder, and they out coached us.

This was also one of the worst examples of how NBA defense is going.  Both teams flopped and flopped all night long.  Defense should be more than trying to get in front of the offensive player and then flop.

[ziggy]

This was from Dwight Jaynes, the old beat writer for the Blazers.

Picking through the Trail Blazer wreckage from Game 1
April 19th, 2009 by Dwight Jaynes | 8 Comments | Filed in NBA, Trail Blazers

A few thoughts after a rather embarrassing opening to the playoffs in the Rose Garden:

? One thing that happened right off the bat completely puzzles me. Portland had held Yao Ming to 42 percent shooting this season in three games. He really hadn?t hurt the Blazers much. Portland played in front of him and got weakside help.

But here we are in Game 1 of a playoff series and the Blazers are playing behind him. Folks, Bill Russell himself couldn?t survive playing behind this behemoth. He?s just too damn big. And he?s got the feathery shooting touch of an all-star off-guard. You?ve got to keep him from getting the ball. Or at least make him work harder than that to get it.

In fact, lately that?s the way everyone has been playing him. Dallas did it in the last game of the regular season. Yao doesn?t move well side to side. He doesn?t have quick feet. It?s tough for him to get the ball when he?s fronted.

But Portland opened the game playing behind him ? letting him have it where he wanted to have it. This was sheer craziness and I?m positive not what Houston expected, either. But what a gift.

I absolutely agree.  Easy down low position, and he scored at will.  He then got on a roll, and from there on out he was money.  There is a reason he didn't miss a shot, he got lots and lots of easy shots.  We also did a very poor job of giving Joel help.  If Yao gets the ball down low you need to send a defender at him and double team him, try and force some turnovers, and make someone else shoot, rather than Yao from 3 feet.  Also our pick & roll d was so poor it forced Joel to provide weak side help on the guard penetrating, that Yao was at the rim for easy offensive rebounds, or easy dunks.



? Please, I don?t want to hear about officiating. The Blazers did nothing to deserve to get to the foul line Saturday night. You don?t get fouled on 22-foot jump shots. That?s about all they took in the final three quarters of the game.

I absolutely agree.  It was a physical game, but we did nothing at all to deserve to get to the line.  Maybe teh officals cost us 6-8 points, maybe, but we effectively lost by 30.


? Please, I don?t want to hear about inexperience in the playoffs. Go tell it to the Bulls, who took a rookie point guard and a bunch of guys who?d never played a playoff game into Boston and whipped the Celtics. There are no excuses in the playoffs.

? I can go all the way back to the first NBA coach I covered, Dr. Jack Ramsay, and remember him preaching to his players, ?Against a shot blocker, you?ve got to take the ball right at him. Don?t take it away from him, take it AT him.? When Portland had success against Yao, Roy was taking the ball right into him. Don?t worry if he blocks a shot or two. He?s going to foul or let you go most of the time.

I absolutely agree.  Same with Scola.  You have to take the game at the defender, and force them to make plays.  If you do you will get calls, they will get in foul trouble, they will get our of their rhythm.


? Just about every little thing that?s troubled the Blazers this season showed up Saturday ? and you have to give the Rockets? coaching staff credit for that. Defending the pick and roll? A nightmare again for the Blazers. Not getting inside? Yup, here we go again. Talk about a great scouting job . . . Luis Scola had a devil of a time containing LaMarcus Aldridge in the regular season but in this game he beat Aldridge to his spot time after time. He seemed to know exactly what the Portland forward was going to do all night long.

The Rockets were PREPARED. The Blazers were not, and they admitted as much afterward.

I absolutely agree.  LaMarcus is far more athletic, and has a great shooting touch, but he did a horrible job of utilizing his entire repertoire.  Scola beat him to the block, and then LaMarcus tried to muscle him, and Scola didn't back down.  Aldridge needed to take 17-20 footer that Scola was giving him, which would have pulled Scola away from the block, and then LaMarcus could have used is athleticism to get to the rim.



? It seemed the Blazers didn?t get an easy shot through the first 44 minutes of the game. Not a one. Nothing inside and but two fast-break points. Meanwhile, in the first half the Rockets feasted on the Blazer defense. I mean, Houston had SEVEN layups or dunks in the first quarter. The Rockets were 15 for 20 in the first quarter and four of the five misses were three-pointers. So Houston missed just one two-point shot in the first 12 minutes.

That was not because they were hitting difficult shots. It was because they were getting great shots ? either at the basket or wide open from distance.

Houston played very good D, and we gave them easy positions to score.  That is why we are the 16th rated defense in the league.

? Along those lines, if you think Houston?s due to cool off, I would say this: Not if they keep getting easy shots. They?ll keep shooting nearly 60 percent if they continue to get wide-open jumpers, dunks and layups.

? Likewise, unless the Blazers come up with some sort of inside game, they?re going to have a tough time scoring.

? Don?t forget what I said previously ? whoever wins the last game is always the immediate favorite. But the points don?t carry over into the next game. Part of having the homecourt advantage is this: If you lose a game at home, you have to win only one on the road to get it back. As we saw in Saturday?s games ? when three of the four road teams won ? getting a win on the road is not as tough in the playoffs as you might think.

[jn]

zig I couldn't believe what I was seeing out their.  I was especially surprised by how poorly the Blazers played to start the 2nd half.   They looked really lifeless.

[ziggy]

zig I couldn't believe what I was seeing out their.  I was especially surprised by how poorly the Blazers played to start the 2nd half.   They looked really lifeless.

I think they got hit by a buzz saw, and did not know what to do.

I saw some interesting quotes.  Aldridge said he struggled because Houston kept sending a double team at him (often Yao because Przybilla is such a poor offensive option), and he struggled establishing position in the low block.  Contrast that with our D.  Yao got low position, and then we never sent a DT to get the ball out of his hands.  I will say also that I think Aldridge over reacted to this extra pressure, it took him out of his game, when it didn't need to.

This is a coaching issue.  With Aldridge you need to recognize what they are doing to him, and then design some plays where you exploit the fact that they are double teaming over and over.  Send roy, or Fernandez, or Batum diving to the hoop, and use Joel to set a pick to free them up.  Do that a couple of times and then you can't DT him so often.

[ziggy]

First of all Brandon played like a star should play.  Big shot after big shot.

LaMarcus Aldridge also really played well.  Shot the ball well, rebounded well, defended well.

Steve Blake played inspired defense against Aaron Brooks.  Brooks ended up with 23, but he got a good chunk of that late when they were behind at the end and was foisting up some tough 3's, and he also got quite a few when Blake was out and Brandon was trying guard him.  Through the 3rd qtr though Brooks had 4 points, and Blake was just outstanding in the pick and roll, flat out awesome.  He fought over the top of the picks, and took away Brooks lanes.

Joel on Yao was also a huge difference maker.  He was a stud.  Yao just never got anything going, and that was because of Blake cutting off Brooks in the pick and roll, and Joel fronting him and not giving him low post position.

Also Travis worked real hard, and did pretty good on Artest in the 2nd, which disrupted their offense as well.  In the 1st qtr Houston's offense was Artest, but Travis forced him into some bad shots, and he lost his rhythm.

They really addressed their game one flaws, and really did a great job of evening up the series.  Now all they need is a win in Houston, and we are back to where we started.

[WayOutWest]

They really addressed their game one flaws, and really did a great job of evening up the series.  Now all they need is a win in Houston, and we are back to where we started.

So how do you feel about your teams chances?  I really wanted to watch that game but it was on NBA TV which is a pay channel for Cable TV.  I wanted to see how the Blazers would react after having the "comfort blanket" of home court taken away.  For teams as young and/or inexperienced as the Blazers; HC is a much bigger deal than for veteran teams and could make or break a series for them.  Did it take a near flawless game for the Blazers to win?  Can they play that well on the road?

[ziggy]

They really addressed their game one flaws, and really did a great job of evening up the series.  Now all they need is a win in Houston, and we are back to where we started.

So how do you feel about your teams chances?  I really wanted to watch that game but it was on NBA TV which is a pay channel for Cable TV.  I wanted to see how the Blazers would react after having the "comfort blanket" of home court taken away.  For teams as young and/or inexperienced as the Blazers; HC is a much bigger deal than for veteran teams and could make or break a series for them.  Did it take a near flawless game for the Blazers to win?  Can they play that well on the road?

They didn't play a flawless game.  Houston shot 50% from the floor.  PDX only got 11 assists, and only out rebounded Houston by 1 (36-35).  If they win one of two in Houston then it is a best of 3 with two at home, so it is a start over.  This is what a 4-5 matchup should be.  We can certainly win this series.  Will we?  We are 20-21 on the road, and have beat Orlando, Miami, SAS, NOH, Chicago, and Detroit, on the road, all of whom are playoff teams.   We shall see, Houston is a good team. 

For us to win we need
Play the pick and roll like we did in game two.  Yes Brandon Roy was awesome, but Steve Blake made an enormous difference in my opinion.  Brooks was a stud in game one, yet had nothing going for 3 qtrs, and then only went off once Blake left the game.

Joel and Oden need to rebound better.  The loss of Mutombo will hurt Houston more than people think.  In game one he had 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, and a steal in 18 minutes.  One our biggest strengths is our rebounding, and we were severely out rebounded in game one (44-30).  Take Mutombo out and we get some offensive rebounds during that stretch and it changes the game.  Houston was +10 when Mutombo was on the floor.

Following up on Oden.  I have heard a lot about how Oden is a major bust.  No doubt he has struggled at times, foul trouble is his biggest flaw, and it isn't because the officials have been overly tough on him the overwhelming majority of his fouls are legit.  At the same time I hear guys like Barkley and Colin Cowherd going off on how he is a total bust, and will never be anything.  I then look at his PER (player efficiency rating) numbers through 2 playoff games, and he has a PER of 29.3.  Brandon Roy as good as he is is at 30.1.  I really don't think people see just how effective Oden is when he is on the court.  If he can adjust to the NBA game, and learn how to avoid stupid fouls, he is going to be really really good.

Travis Outlaw has not played all that well yet.  He is 7-19 in two games with 3 rebounds.  He has to shoot better.  Travis did a nice job on Artest.  Artest was 6-7 in the first 1/4, and ended up 8-20.  Outlaw really made him work offensively to get good shots, and eventually Artest started foisting up some really bad stuff.  If Outlaw gets on a roll, then especially in the 4th qtr, we are really tough.  When we win Travis' fg% is .037% higher, and he gets to the FT line 1.6 times more.  That is potentially 4-6 points difference.  Fernandez had a nice game 2, 11 points on 4 shots.  Game one though he had 3 points on 3 shots.  He needs to get 6-9 shots a game.  This will really stress the defense of Artest and Battier.  We need to keep our motion going.  Last night Artest and Battier ran out of gas.  This was because Rudy, Outlaw, and Roy were running all over the floor.  They just couldn't keep up in the 4th.

[WayOutWest]

Following up on Oden.  I have heard a lot about how Oden is a major bust.  No doubt he has struggled at times, foul trouble is his biggest flaw, and it isn't because the officials have been overly tough on him the overwhelming majority of his fouls are legit.  At the same time I hear guys like Barkley and Colin Cowherd going off on how he is a total bust, and will never be anything.  I then look at his PER (player efficiency rating) numbers through 2 playoff games, and he has a PER of 29.3.  Brandon Roy as good as he is is at 30.1.  I really don't think people see just how effective Oden is when he is on the court.  If he can adjust to the NBA game, and learn how to avoid stupid fouls, he is going to be really really good.

IMO Oden's success will be 50% Oden and 50% coaching/management.  If Oden were on a typical "lottery" team he might be headed down the wrong road, but with all the talent on the Blazers, Oden can be brought along at a nice liesurly pace ala Bynum.  If they can bring Oden along slowly, not put too much burden on the guy he should be ok if the Blazers are willing to wait 3-5 more years for him to develope.  Big men take a long time to develop, as much if not longer than PG's.  Big men are typically not challenged until they reach the pro's so it's the biggest adjustment of any position.  Just being "big" is enough to have a stellar career all through college, when they hit the pro's they hit a wall.  Not everyone can be Shaq/Duncan and come right out of the box with HOF play.  Most big men are going to be along the lines of Dwight/Hakeem, impressive but not franchise material until a few years in the league.

Can't wait to see how this series unfolds, IMO the most interesting series will be Hou/PDX and Spurs/Mavs.

[msc]

Following up on Oden.  I have heard a lot about how Oden is a major bust.  No doubt he has struggled at times, foul trouble is his biggest flaw, and it isn't because the officials have been overly tough on him the overwhelming majority of his fouls are legit.  At the same time I hear guys like Barkley and Colin Cowherd going off on how he is a total bust, and will never be anything.  I then look at his PER (player efficiency rating) numbers through 2 playoff games, and he has a PER of 29.3.  Brandon Roy as good as he is is at 30.1.  I really don't think people see just how effective Oden is when he is on the court.  If he can adjust to the NBA game, and learn how to avoid stupid fouls, he is going to be really really good.

This is good insight and good to know.  I've been curious about Oden and frankly haven't gotten the opportunity to watch him enough to form an educated opinion.  It's impossible to get a read on a players true contribution from the box scores. 

[WayOutWest]

This is good insight and good to know.  I've been curious about Oden and frankly haven't gotten the opportunity to watch him enough to form an educated opinion.  It's impossible to get a read on a players true contribution from the box scores. 

In a nutshell, Oden's skills and ability are more Dwight than Shaq.  Very little skill, akward movement but very strong and athletic.  Shaq from day one moved naturally like a small while being the biggest of the bigs.

[Wolverine]

This is good insight and good to know.  I've been curious about Oden and frankly haven't gotten the opportunity to watch him enough to form an educated opinion.  It's impossible to get a read on a players true contribution from the box scores. 

In a nutshell, Oden's skills and ability are more Dwight than Shaq.  Very little skill, akward movement but very strong and athletic.  Shaq from day one moved naturally like a small while being the biggest of the bigs.

Agreed, WOW.

Shaq's footwork has always been exceptional.  His drop-step was a thing of beauty.  Dwight isn't close to that level right now (as an offensive player).

[Laker Fan]

This is good insight and good to know.  I've been curious about Oden and frankly haven't gotten the opportunity to watch him enough to form an educated opinion.  It's impossible to get a read on a players true contribution from the box scores. 

Dwight isn't close to that level right now (as an offensive player).

Ahh but his defense is worth the price of admission all by itself!!!!

[WayOutWest]

This is good insight and good to know.  I've been curious about Oden and frankly haven't gotten the opportunity to watch him enough to form an educated opinion.  It's impossible to get a read on a players true contribution from the box scores. 

Dwight isn't close to that level right now (as an offensive player).

Ahh but his defense is worth the price of admission all by itself!!!!

That is where Oden should focus, there is enought talent on the Blazers for Oden to ease his offense in slowly, much like Bynum.