Subscribe Feed (RSS)First off, it isn’t going to be easy. It’s not supposed to be. It’s going to be a real hard game. The Rockets think they’ve got a chance to knock the Blazers out and are going to come out throwing some big punches tonight. You want to get ahead of Houston, it doesn’t play nearly as well from behind as it does when it has a lead.
But the Blazers need to smarten up. All that stuff about playing hard is fine — it goes without saying you have to play dirt-tough in the playoffs. But you’ve got to play smart, too. The one thing that can’t be tolerated is not being prepared (again).
Portland’s going to have to defend Yao Ming much better. Get into him, play with force, keep him from getting the ball and make him work a whole lot harder than he did Saturday night. Front him, sandwich him, make him work his tail off to get the ball.
But the Blazer defense needs, too, to cut off penetration from the point and not allow open jump shots. The pick-and-roll defense needs to be a lot sharper — please, let’s not have to watch LaMarcus Aldridge trying to defend Aaron Brooks one-on-one again, OK?
On offense, the Blazers need to move the ball and move bodies. Make Yao run around and keep him from laying in the paint all night. Occupy him. Portland relies on isolation offense about as much as anyone in the league, but it simply can’t always be initiated by that high pick and roll with Brandon Roy. Roy uses that play merely to open the court for his one-on-one forays. He seldom — hardly ever, in fact — looks to dump the ball off to the guy who set the pick. He’s going to need to do that some.
Basically, Portland’s pretty predictable because of all its one-on-one stuff. I think if the Blazers would at least move the ball and move people around a little more before setting up their isolations, they’d force Houston into finding new angles for its help defense. Right now, the Rockets are just locking in with their help.
Portland needs to take the ball at Yao and force contact. If he wants to take a charge, make him pay for it. Make Luis Scola defend Aldridge, too. Back Scola down into the paint, be physical with him.
And also, take and make open shots. The Rockets don’t double team so they do a great job of staying out on three-point shooters. OK, fine — fake the three, put the ball on the floor and take the ball hard to the basket. Portland has players who can do that. My goodness, you aren’t going to win this series from 18 feet. And force every fast-break opportunity you can find — easy baskets are going to be rare but you’ve got to go get them when you can.
Something else — if things start to go south again, try SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Go small, go big. Anything to switch the tempo of the game. Most people want to see Portland use Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden together, the twin towers deal. That would be OK. But I think it would be foolish to overlook the fact that playing small might be a better option.
Yao has trouble with smaller centers who pull him out away from the basket. Guys who can make a 20-foot jump shot. That’s Aldridge. If Portland went small with Aldridge at center, it would change the look of the Houston defense. I’m not advocating doing this at the start of the game, but it’s a viable option at some point.
I expect Portland to win this game. I expect a bloody nose or two. The Blazers better be ready to give those and receive them, too. This is the night when we find out how much character and determination this team really has.
Tags: Brandon Roy, Dwight Jaynes, Houston Rockets, NBA playoffs, Portland Trail Blazers, Yao Ming
I have only been able to watch the first few minutes of the game on my DVR. Saw the last quarter live (was out of town at a convention). However, I can see the analysis I have been reading is pretty much dead on. The spacing on the court was horrible and were executing our “need a bucket at the end” offense on the second possesion. It did suck that the Refs took that first basket by Roy away by calling a foul on Yao…
I don’t have the answers – but obviously there needs to be more movement on offense – and we need to get some open shots instead of behing pushed away from the basket.
This is all the process of learning how to play the game at this level. Typically defeats give you bigger lessons. Tonight – we will likely see a much improved Portland effort.
If we lose tonight – we will liklely get swept after one or two close games in Houston. Hopefully we will have learned enough to not let this happen next year.
If Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks get off again, the blazers don’t deserve to win. Yao is going to be a factor, but he will not play like Wilt Chamberlain again tonight. If Yao has an average night (19pts, 9rebs) Portland can withstand that. Brooks is a hot and cold shooter. If the defense can make him work, he’ll come back down to earth. I think we have seen the best the Houston Rockets can give and now Portland has to retaliate. I believe that the first 5 minutes of the game will tell us a lot about the blazers. They cannot start slow and expect to make a comeback. In fact, a slow start could be very detrimental to the blazers’ confidence. I’m not sure they could dig themselves out of a hole after being crushed so badly in game one. I think we will see the best blazer performance of the year tonight.
If Brooks is penetrating easily again, how about putting Bayless in to harass him with full-court pressure. In fact we could go with Bayless, Roy, Batum, Outlaw and Aldridge to try a lock down full-court press for a few possessions. Just do it long enough to get a couple of steals and maybe ignite a 10-2 run (or do it until you’re satisfied, whichever comes first).
Kenny… certainly putting Bayless in would test everyone’s assumption that the referees don’t call as many fouls in the playoffs as they do in the regular season. If Bayless can’t get called for a foul, nobody will.
– Dwight
I listened to your analysis on Blazers Courtside, and your comment about going small with LaMarcus on Yao – instead of putting Joel and Greg in together – clearly impressed the rest of the guys there. If the Rockets are beating us in the tall slow guy category, don’t try and fight it, make them adjust to a center who’s away from the rack. Nice.
But only if things go poorly and we have to go away from our normal game. That’s good advice.
By the way, you guys were hilarious. I kept wondering what was wrong with me that I found the show so entertaining, but it really was. And every now and then Wheels would fire off a radio delivery that was stunning. The other two were great as well, but Wheels has the pro pipes from God.
Best line: When a viewer wrote in and said Mike Rice was having problems with the new technology because he was trying to text on a rotary phone.
That’s funny.
Go Blazers.
Thanks Bill… best part of doing that show was just a chance to talk with Wheels, Mike and Mike for two hours. They’re all just what people think they are — great guys. And even with Rice’s goofiness, it’s usually a pretty high-level basketball discussion, which is always a good time.
– Dwight
Run Rudy and Travis off of curls all night long. We need a quick hitting offense. Houston wants us to run the shot clock down and settle for a shot under duress, thus limiting Roy and Blake.
Speed is a big advantage for us but you wouldn’t know it from Game 1.
Part of the problem is Steve Blake will have to adjust his game. Handing the rock to off to Roy every time down the floor won’t cut it. We need quick penetration and kick outs.
Houston’s matchups give Portland fits…this is nothing new, it’s been that way for years. Before Adelman was the Rockets coach, van Gundy had a similar W-L record against the Blazers
So I’m not sure if Red Auerbach, Jack Ramsay and Pete Newell were coaching Portland right now that they’d have all the strategic “answers” to these matchup/style/tempo issues–but it would be interesting to watch them try, I suppose
The Blazer’s roster needs to be upgraded. I’ve been harping on this all season, but KP chose to “stand pat” at the deadline (aside from Diogu-Ruffin deal, of course) Yes, the team won 54 games with great chemistry. But there are players on this team who are not (and I suspect never will be) playoff contributers on a championship-caliber team. Sure, it’s painful to watch the Roy struggle because he’s not getting enough support. But part of this playoff process/evaluation will be to determine who the real “keepers” are, and who needs to “go” in favor of experienced veterans who will help the 2010 Blazers beat teams like Houston and ultimately, L*A.
So take your medicine, Blazer fans. The “cure” can’t come until draft day. And I expect KP will be active, as usual (hopefully trading away draft choices for proven vets…)
Dwight, nice job last night on Courtside, I thought you blended in very nicely. I know that it’s not your show, but a few less calls from the fans and more of you guys swapping stories would make a more entertaining product. I also understand that they got stood up by a couple of guests, but between you and Rice, I would think there is enough material there for a 24 hour marathon show.
You know what scares me? What I read in the Oregonian about Aaron Brooks knowing Brandon Roy since grade school. If the pundits knew that they should have never wondered – as they did – about how Aaron would handle the pressure.
See, most guys I know including me, are permanently stuck in the glory days of playing sports as a kid. Oh, we mature and go on, but in sports, nothing will ever mean as much to us as those childhood memories. I don’t remember whole years but I can remember things I did in baseball when I was 9.
One reason I predicted that Eli Manning would have a great Super Bowl is that his brother had won it.
It wasn’t some big adult thing. He tapped into playing with his brother in the backyard and did great. Same sort of deal.
When Aaron Brooks sees Brandon Roy that’s going back to 3rd grade. There is no way Aaron is going to feel like this is new territory. This is tapping into the real stuff in all true sports fans – those childhood glory days.
That worries me. I suspect Aaron will play great again. I don’t know how great – but I don’t see him choking.
See, we think we’re looking at the NBA Playoffs in the Rose Garden. Nope. This is just a couple of kids names Brandon and Aaron in a neighborhood gym in Seattle.
They need to front Yao. Other teams have had great success with that. Also, do not allow them to drive into our paint. Force them into jump shots and we win…
We need to be aggressive offensively and that means driving to the hoop. We need to crash the boards and use our youth to wear them down a bit
Houston is beatable. In fact, mentally they are not that strong of team. However, we need to show them that we are a real threat. I believe we can do that tonight.
Dwight I hope you are right for your Blazers in 5 prediction!
Hey Dwight,
I generally don’t agree with most commentaters, but totally agreed with your analysis of the game and the comments you’ve made since then. When we went at Yoa, we were converting, when we startred fading away we didn’t get anything – points or fouls. I disagreed with Darnell Valentine after the game as I thought strong d would have generated offensne too. Guess I’m rambling – hope they do better tonight.
In case you thought tonight’s game was about the Rockets or Blazers, you were obviously wrong.
This game is about JOEY CRAWFORD. He’s why people pay to see the game.
Going small is bad only because we don’t have a solid backup PF who can play high level defense. On any rotations Frye or Outlaw will get destroyed by Yao.