Not a smart game by the Trail Blazers
One of the things I’ve liked about the Trail Blazers this season is that, for the most part, they’ve played smart. For a young team, they’ve done some pretty savvy things on the floor.
But Tuesday’s frustrating loss at Golden State was a big step back in that department. Very out of character. I mean, just a few minutes prior to the game, Coach Nate McMillan said on camera, “We want to take advantage of our size.” That’s a good call, it’s what everyone tries to do against the Warriors.
But the Blazers opened the game setting a horrible tone, taking outside jumper after outside jumper. The Warriors are small and you have to make them pay for it. Instead, other than getting the ball inside to Greg Oden, the Blazers didn’t take advantage of their size most of the game. At one point in the second quarter, there the Blazers were, trying to match up with Golden State by using three small guards at once. I swear, Don Nelson has the ability to make other coaches play his game to the point if he put a guy in a wheelchair on the court, the other coach would dash up to handicapped seating looking for someone on wheels to guard that guy.
Speaking of Oden, Portland players are still trying to get used to playing with him and seem to have trouble finding a balance of getting him the ball and playing off him — using his skills to free the other players for open shots.
That will come in time but it’s going to be very hard to resist putting him in the starting lineup. He’s got to get minutes with the starters and frankly, there’s no point in delaying much longer — he’s going to be a key part of this team and he needs to be a starter. And starting him will lead to extending his minutes, which he probably needs at this point.
By the way, no matter how bad the call was, Rudy Fernandez’s technical foul with five seconds to go in the game was a real bad play. You just can’t get a “T” when your team still has even a remote chance to win. And really, even though the referees had a rather bumpy night, it’s silly to blame them for this loss. When you’re out of timeouts as the Blazers were late in a game and don’t shoot a 3-pointer to attempt to tie it, you’re putting the game at risk. Then, when you have a flagrant lane violation (and yes, fans, just about every time they’re going to call the shooter for going over the line that early) on a MADE free throw late in a game, you’ve probably burned your chance to win.
Think about it — you can go ahead and gamble on crossing into the lane early on a missed free throw, because you’re probably not going to get the ball, anyway. You have nothing to lose. And the shooter is the one person on the floor who ought to be able to tell whether or not the ball is going to go in. But when you violate the line on a made foul shot, you take a point off the board. A very big point.
That’s just not smart.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | November 19, 2008
Don Nelson, Dwight Jaynes, Golden State Warriors, Greg Oden, Nate McMillan, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez
That final call was utterly pathetic. Rudy got his first taste of NBA injustice. However, in the NBA, you often have to win by ‘more’ then 1 point. You also need a cushion for bad calls. The Warriors outworked us last night and we made silly mistakes, that is what cost us the game. Again, if you want to win in another teams gym, you have to be ahead by enough to withstand any injustice… and we didn’t put ourselves in that position.
Shaq goes over the foul line early on just about every free throw. I don’t recall Diesel getting called for that, especially on a make.
I agree, GO needs to start. There is no point in continuing to baby him and delaying the inevitable.
Also, there is absolutely no reason to call Travis for a line violation because it had no effect on whether the ball went in or not. That call should only be whistled if the ball doesnt go in as this gives the shooting team an advantage for the rebound.
Yeah, they should have been smart enough to pay the refs more money than what they’re getting from the Columbo family.
It’s nice to see the mob can still swing points when it counts.
Travis? Not smart?
Blazers went to sleep in 3rd quarter, but finally in 4th began to see what Odem might be. once the rest of Blazers figure out how to play with him.