Brandon Roy Goes for 52 to get his first win over the Suns!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Fresh Legs
While the Blazers are the slowest team in the NBA, they still need fresh legs to execute their game plan. During the first 24 games of the season the Blazers played a game once every 1.8 days and 40% of their whole road schedule. They finished the stretch with an impressive 4-1 road trip with the only loss coming against the World Champ Celts. However, when they got back home they lost two home games to Orlando and the Clippers through mental mistakes with the lead at the end of the game. Some might chalk it up to how young this team is (Average Age: 24.1); but, the guys missing free throws were Brandon Roy and Steve Blake in the Orlando and Clippers games, respectively. I think it had more to do with tired legs and relaxing a little with the lead at home.
Tonight, the Blazers finally got to play a game with three days rest and against a team coming off of a back-to-back and four games in five nights. They won easily, sweeping the season series against the Kings. With a plethora of homes games and rest coming up, look for the Blazers to start getting some more wins by big margins and pushing their Hollinger Rating back up into the top five in the league.
One other note: Brandon Roy should be an all star again. Tonight he came up one point short from having four 30-point games in a row (because Nate took him out with the 30 point lead). It would have been the first time a Blazer had acomplished the feat since Clyde Drexler did it in 1992.
As Terry Porter said at the end of his jersey retirement ceremony tonight, Rip City!
Tonight, the Blazers finally got to play a game with three days rest and against a team coming off of a back-to-back and four games in five nights. They won easily, sweeping the season series against the Kings. With a plethora of homes games and rest coming up, look for the Blazers to start getting some more wins by big margins and pushing their Hollinger Rating back up into the top five in the league.
One other note: Brandon Roy should be an all star again. Tonight he came up one point short from having four 30-point games in a row (because Nate took him out with the 30 point lead). It would have been the first time a Blazer had acomplished the feat since Clyde Drexler did it in 1992.
As Terry Porter said at the end of his jersey retirement ceremony tonight, Rip City!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Red Hot Fall
After a slow start in their first four games of the season, the Blazers have been red hot. Not to jinx them, but they are still undefeated at home and against the Eastern Conference. While some of the young talent on this team might hit a bit of a wall come late January, right now they look ready to win the next seven NBA championships.
Okay; that might be putting it a little strongly. However, I think this team is the real deal. If you have been to ESPN.com's NBA page recently, you'll notice this team from the Northwest is finally getting some national press:
Blazers are #4 in Marc Stein's Power rankings & in the Hollinger Power Rankings
Hollinger's Playoff Odds have them at 100% to make the playoffs and 25% to make the Finals
Among all NBA rookies, Rudy Fernandez Ranks #4 and Greg Oden is #5. Nicolas Batum is playing great as a starter and unfairly ranked in the 20's.
Why have the Blazers played so well through their tough early schedule? My answer: Brandon Roy is an unselfish-much-improved-ridiculously-good closer, THE BENCH, ball handling, and the three-pointer. When you take a look at the numbers and compare this team to other teams around the league, what you will see is that when the Blazers aren't playing well, the three-pointer keeps them in games and then Brandon Roy (Western Conference Player of the Week) puts the team on his back and goes nuts in the second half. When the team is playing well, the bench dominates the other team and the Blazer starters play under 30 minutes, leaving them plenty rested (which is very important when your schedule is this tough).
Why are the Blazers playing better than last year? Didn't they have a deep bench and Brandon Roy all year? Yes. But there has been a huge upgrade at 3-point and ball handling. Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake have improved their three point shooting (and Blake is playing more aggressively). They also added more 3-point fire power with Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum. Another benefit of their improved 3-point play is that making 3s early also spreads the floor for Roy to take it to the bucket. Roy is becoming one of the best in traffic. Blake and Roy are taking care of the ball better than ever too. Not turning the ball over is decreasing the easy buckets for other teams and keeping the Blazers from getting in holes, allowing them to play from the lead more often.
If I told all of this to Nate McMillan, he would say: No. It's defense, stupid. Well he wouldn't say stupid because he is too classy. But he would insist that their D is the reason for their success. And he would be right :-) That's why he's the coach and I'm an idiot sitting on a couch yelling at my TV. Their full court press and their trap has really allowed them to control the pace of the game, create turnovers, and get other teams into bad shot clock situations. But, I like offense!
Okay; that might be putting it a little strongly. However, I think this team is the real deal. If you have been to ESPN.com's NBA page recently, you'll notice this team from the Northwest is finally getting some national press:
Blazers are #4 in Marc Stein's Power rankings & in the Hollinger Power Rankings
Hollinger's Playoff Odds have them at 100% to make the playoffs and 25% to make the Finals
Among all NBA rookies, Rudy Fernandez Ranks #4 and Greg Oden is #5. Nicolas Batum is playing great as a starter and unfairly ranked in the 20's.
Why have the Blazers played so well through their tough early schedule? My answer: Brandon Roy is an unselfish-much-improved-ridiculously-good closer, THE BENCH, ball handling, and the three-pointer. When you take a look at the numbers and compare this team to other teams around the league, what you will see is that when the Blazers aren't playing well, the three-pointer keeps them in games and then Brandon Roy (Western Conference Player of the Week) puts the team on his back and goes nuts in the second half. When the team is playing well, the bench dominates the other team and the Blazer starters play under 30 minutes, leaving them plenty rested (which is very important when your schedule is this tough).
Why are the Blazers playing better than last year? Didn't they have a deep bench and Brandon Roy all year? Yes. But there has been a huge upgrade at 3-point and ball handling. Travis Outlaw and Steve Blake have improved their three point shooting (and Blake is playing more aggressively). They also added more 3-point fire power with Rudy Fernandez and Nicolas Batum. Another benefit of their improved 3-point play is that making 3s early also spreads the floor for Roy to take it to the bucket. Roy is becoming one of the best in traffic. Blake and Roy are taking care of the ball better than ever too. Not turning the ball over is decreasing the easy buckets for other teams and keeping the Blazers from getting in holes, allowing them to play from the lead more often.
If I told all of this to Nate McMillan, he would say: No. It's defense, stupid. Well he wouldn't say stupid because he is too classy. But he would insist that their D is the reason for their success. And he would be right :-) That's why he's the coach and I'm an idiot sitting on a couch yelling at my TV. Their full court press and their trap has really allowed them to control the pace of the game, create turnovers, and get other teams into bad shot clock situations. But, I like offense!
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