Comments on: OK, so after watching THAT game, would I still want the Rockets in the first round?

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:16:48 +0000

Are you serious. I am a die hard Texas Longhorn fan and I have watched and followed Lemarcus’ entire career and I will be the first to tell you at this point in time he cant even compare to Scola on a talent level. Name one defender that even comes close to Shane Battier or Ron Artest. Home court advantage was erased in the first game, so that whole “efficiency differential” seems to have gone out the window. Good try though. Yall will be lucky to see YOUR Trail Blazers in Portland again this season. I’m pretty sure your oh so TALENTED BOYS will be sent packing in game 5 by some TALENTED GROWN MEN!

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:30:52 +0000

I completely agree with mmm.

By: mmm

mmm — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:37:20 +0000

Based on efficiency differential, here’s the list of which teams I’d like play the Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. The numbers in parenthesis are efficiency differentials for games played till date (Porltand currently owns a 5.0 efficiency differential).

1. Dallas Mavericks (1.7). I know that Dallas has killed Portland and people speculate that the Mavericks are a bad match-up for the Blazers, I tend to agree with Dwight here that the more talented team will win a longer series and Portland is ahead by a mile in talent vs. this Dallas team.
2. New Orleans Hornets (2.2). We have more talent at every position other than point guard.
3. Utah Jazz (3.4). Recent wins prove the point that we are better.
4. San Antonio Spurs (3.8). Without Ginobili, the Spurs are a good team, not a great one.
5. Denver Nuggets (3.9). Yes, they have played us better than most teams, but during the playoffs, the intensity and focus changes and the Blazers will absolutely win against them if they own home court.
6. Houston Rockets (4.0). Same as the Nuggets, the Blazers will win a series against Houston if Portland owns home court.
7. Los Angeles Lakers (7.6). As opposed to what many people are claiming for as an exciting first round match-up, our odds of winning a first-round series against the Lakers are very low.

By: C

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:14:43 +0000

“But you could make a case that at just about every other spot, the Blazers are better.”

Hopefully the NBA goes to that experimental one-on-one format.

By: Bill McDonald

Bill McDonald — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:25:55 +0000

“In a seven-game series, I’ll take the most talented team every time.”
Dwight, that made me miss Katie and Margaret on the copy desk. Great women.
I’ve seen Houston manhandle the Blazers twice at home, and just barely lose here, but so what? If we go in with the idea that we can’t take these guys, it’s the wrong mindset. I give props to Yao for becoming so much more physical than when he entered the NBA. I don’t see Brooks in Blake’s league right now. Remember, Blake won the NCAA’s and he was crucial to that Maryland team. He’s a big-time player.
It would be a grind but if we prevailed, we’d be really primed to battle in Round 2.
I don’t want to get carried away but if this team finds a playoff gear, they could go to the Western Conference Finals. I think Brandon is ready to romp again like back during the 50-point game. Add the progress elsewhere and good things could happen. Great teams always happen sooner than everyone thinks so is this a great team? We’ll see.
BTW, I just heard Manute is gone from the Spurs for the year.

By: marco

marco — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:20:21 +0000

Not with you on this one Dwight. If talent wins out 9 out of 10 times, how has San Antonio won all those titles and how did the Portland teams in the late 1990s never win a single one?

Those Portland teams were vastly superior in talent to any Spurs team that won the championship. Heck even now no one outside of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili from the Spurs would sniff playing time for the Blazers, while Portland has about 6-7 guys that would start right now for San Antonio. Even with that, the Spurs would take Portland in a 7 game series.

I see your point that talent wins out most of the time, but I would go the other way when making that assumption in the playoffs. Talent is more important in the regular season but toughness, chemistry, and good coaching is what really stands out in the playoffs. It’s what has won the Spurs all their championships and it’s how Boston got it done last year. Again, the Lakers were the more talented team but Boston was tougher better prepared.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:16:33 +0000

3 games is way too small a sample size to judge anything. I’m constantly amazed that people don’t realize this.

You have an entire season which says we’re way better than Dallas, and you have 3 games (all close) which say they are better. Which are you going to believe?

By: Abeezy21

Abeezy21 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:23:18 +0000

We will lose in the playoffs against Houston. We may have more talent but they are tougher than us. It’s that simple. Also when Roy is being locked down and not allowed to penetrate…we are an average, jump shooting team. Roy has struggled in every game against Houston this year. Even the one where he hit the last second shot.

And Jacob…when a team beats us 3 times…twice on our home floor… That’s not a fluke buddy. We want nothing to do with Dallas.

Need to hope we get NO, Utah, Denver, and now that Ginobli is out…SA.

By: Tree

Tree — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:17:55 +0000

I think it would be good for Greg to play against Yao at least four more times this season. I think he would learn from it. I am not sure there is another team that we could play that he would win as much from?

We are likely to lose in the first round. I would love to get carried away and think we can make it to the 2nd round – but that probably isn’t going to happen.

What we need is a series that we will learn from and help us achieve our ultimate goal of an NBA championship. Having Greg get some quality experience with Yao is probably a good thing. Do we get that if we go up against NO, Utah or Denver?

By: Robert S/ NOWINE @ BE

Robert S/ NOWINE @ BE — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:31:02 +0000

Dwight,
Play-off refereeing is different so I think that the aggressiveness allowed will help Joel and Greg neutralize Yao and the stats show when he doesn’t score over 20 points Huston’s record is very poor. The pressure to finally win a play-off series is growing and starting in Houston might be a good thing, steal a game and then come home to the RG. Rockets down 3-1 pressure builds even more. Sorry Rick I saw many players not listening to you during the game and that just doesn’t turn out well in the play-offs.