Subscribe Feed (RSS)Funny how that happens. Allen Iverson misses a shot he’ll make a lot of the time, the Trail Blazers dance off the court with an 84-83 win and everyone is smiling. Great game, they say. But one little basket, one missed shot — or the one made shot by Travis Outlaw — and a whole town changes from happy as clams to totally bummed out. Imagine — if Iverson had made that shot or Outlaw had missed his, we’d have to go through a couple more days of “What’s wrong with the Blazers?”
OK, I know you’re going to say, “There goes Dwight, yelling at the kids to get off his lawn again. The grumpy old fool.” And sure, the Blazers won without Brandon Roy. That’s great. But the Pistons were without Rasheed and Rip — and there were several bad signs in this game that should not be swept under the carpet just because it was a one-point win.
Let me mention a few things, some good and some bad:
- Man, the Blazers were playing some especially horrid defense through most of the game. Whether it be man-to-man or zone, it was pretty bad. Even in the second half, when Detroit quit making shots, the defense was not great. This will get you beat so fast in the playoffs you won’t know what hit you.
- Honestly, I do not understand why they’re switching on all those pick-and-rolls. But the sight of Joel Przybilla out there at the top of the key trying to defend Tayshaun Prince or Greg Oden squaring off against Allen Iverson at the same spot is downright ridiculous. You can’t expect to get away with such things. And yet we keep seeing them over and over and over. The pick-and-roll is like Rubik’s Cube to these guys.
- The Pistons opened the game with Kwame Brown checking Greg Oden. And Oden barely sniffed the ball for several minutes. Before his obligatory two first-quarter fouls, he got the ball twice — and dunked both times. You really do have to look for more inside points.
- Outlaw made the big shot. But man, in more than twice as many minutes he ought to get more rebounds than Sergio Rodriguez.
- Jerryd Bayless finally got a little something going. Calling it a “coming-out party” might be a little strong, but it was a start.
- LaMarcus Aldridge played 44 minutes and I say Hooray! for that. He was big on offense with his 26 points but you really would like more than six rebounds in 44 minutes.
- Portland got outrebounded 40-28. How does that happen against Detroit without Wallace? The zone defense makes it hard to get defensive rebounds.
- I would have been a lot more frightened for the Blazers if Prince had taken that last shot rather than Iverson.
- Eight fast break points for Portland, seven for Detroit. Typical.
Hey, a win is a win is a win. The schedule gets easier now and it’s about time. Brandon Roy appears to be ready to play Saturday and so perhaps all will be right with the world. I’d worry, though, that Roy is talented enough that the team will win a lot of games, but the real underlying problems just won’t get solved because his presence makes the Blazers just successful enough to hide them. And that would mean continued losses to the league’s best teams. Honestly, with or without Roy, the defense really does need to improve A LOT as this season heads into the second half.
Tags: Allen Iverson, Brandon Roy, Detroit Pistons, Dwight Jaynes, Jerryd Bayless, Joel Przybilla, Portland Trail Blazers, Sergio Rodriguez, Tayshaun Prince, Travis Outlaw
Don’t let Roy come back yet! The Blazers can’t afford to have that hamstring blow out. A couple more games in street clothes won’t kill anybody.
I can’t stand NBA teams that switch on the pick and roll — that’s high school stuff. Show or jump the ball, don’t switch.
When you yell at the kids to get off your lawn (deck), do you shake your fist at them?
Don’t let Roy come back yet! The Blazers can’t afford to have that hamstring blow out. A couple more games in street clothes won’t kill anybody.
I’m with Jack on this one. Make sure Roy is completely healthy before he returns. And a few more games without Roy might actually help the team develop a little.
The Blszers switch on those pick and rolls because the guards are not good enough defenders to get through them. To me that’s the biggest problem with their defense. Other teams realize this and the Blazers get pick and rolled to death. One of the reasons Oden gets into foul trouble is because the guards switch and/or allow the guards to get into the paint leavin him to guard a PG or SF. Don’t get me wrong, Oden still picks up bad fouls because he’s learning but the guards are not helping. Against Boston, this happened to Joel and he chewed the guards asses for allowing penetration. He ended up on the bench in foul trouble. I thought the guards (in particular, Bayless) did great in the second half. I hope they keep it up.
My favorite part about this game is how so many people will praise Travis for the game winning shot while forgetting he let Prince get many rebounds by failing to box him out and then left his man open on the perimeter multiple times.
You don’t have to get through the screens to defend them well. You either ’show’ — the man gaurding the ‘picker’ makes it looks like he is going to switch until his teammate can recover — or you ‘jump it’ with both men jumping to the ball carrier. Fighting through the pick should never be an option.
I liked the effort and energy last night, but wow, our defense is really, really bad. I also agree with jwks22, it is mostly due to the guards being so weak on the perimeter.
I like your take Dwight. I noticed Bayless repeatedly fought the screens and didn’t get caught on the switches. That’s great to see. He looks smaller than Blake and Sergio yet he can do what they can’t. Wimps. J/K
And it’s true, Travis could very much be the goat if he missed that shot. It’s his sixth season already and he still blows the fundamental stuff. It’s frustrating.
4 points, 4 fouls, 1 board, 13 minutes, priceless…….
Bob on behalf of the free world a message for you, yawn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Were you excited about your Lakers last night?
Seriously Bob, your predictable, worn out, tired commentary that lacks any insight, is old. No troll comments, no name calling, no you are a laker fan, etc.
Bob, don’t go away mad, Bob just go away.
One thing that this team has learned is that they don’t give up when they are behind by 10+ points. You certainly can see that as a plus. The fact that the team continued to fight despite being behind by 14 points in the 3rd quarter to a very good team was nice to see. Keep in mind, Detroit was on a 7-game winning streak, and I am sure they came in to PDX fully expecting a win. Never mind that Roy wasn’t playing, the Pistons believed that they were a better team. I wonder if they still think that way.
I love this team, just like almost every other person on this blog, but I am not blinded to their faults. They are young and still learning. But they definitely have a lot of heart, and that is why I remain a Blazer fan.
As I have said before, this team is poised for a breakthrough. It may not be this year, where I fully expect a first round exit from the playoffs, but it is coming. And if they are beating good teams now, just wait until they actually reach that breakthrough point. It’s an exciting time to be a Blazer fan!
Sorry Jimmy Beam….. as 41 would say: Nawt gonna happen…
Bobbi, go eat some brocoli
Terrific insights Dwight.
I might add a few more:
-The Blazers start Batum because he supposedly is the team’s best defensive player, so why not put him on Prince during that 4th quarter. 26 points for Prince is way too much.
-is there some rule in Nate’s book that disallows the Blazers from running a big, and I mean huge lineup. Lamarcus, Batum or Outlaw, Rudy Oden, and Pryz. Most teams barely have one 7footer and we have 4 and 5 if you count Batum’s arms.
-likewise, why can’t we run small at times, with 3 guards
-They need to trade Sergio, I’m tired of seeing this kid get tossed in and out of the lineup, he’s improved this year. It might be best for him. Just once I’d like to see him get a whole 40 minutes, I’d eve settle for an entire half.
-Along those lines, there is nothing more annoying than those wannabe GM’s, that sit behind me at the Rose Garden who analyze trades all game long, and rip on Sergio like they know so much about playing point guard. They talk trades during the entire game about everybody on the roster and then switch back to talking about shooting characters in their video games…these are grown men by the way. Not making this up.
Bayless showed why he deserves some more playing time. His defense on Iverson was quite good considering he is a rookie with little playing time…
Jim,
They used Oden and Pryz together a little bit last week. Probably a concern is foul trouble, we talk about GO’s foul porblems, but lets not forget Joel picks up a fair amoutn too, getting 48 minutes out of the pair of them with one of them on the court most fo the time is porbably the goal.
Eric,
Why did u address me?
Dwight -
I heard you mention this on Talkin’ Ball last night too – how Detroit was without Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you they were on a seven game winning streak, most of which were without one or both of those guys anyway.
So while I agree with you on the pick-and-roll defense, the rebounding, the lack of offensive play-calling for Oden, etc., don’t discount the Pistons because they were down a couple guys. Detroit managed to do just fine the last several games without those guys.
And any time you still have a guys named Iverson, Prince, McDyess, Maxiell, Stuckey, etc., in your lineup, you’re a team to be reckoned with.