Comments on: Some things to take from an untimely Blazer loss

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:58:50 +0000

Dwight, you are woefully ignorant if you think officiating did not affect the outcome of the game. Sure, the Blazers could easily have put the game away without all the mistakes in the first half, but the officiating was very one-sided that night. Just one more call Portland’s way would likely have changed the outcome of the game. Had a foul been called on Oden’s dunk to put Portland up by 2 (which he was obviously hacked on) with 30 seconds left in the 4th, Portland likely would have been up by 3, and taken the win. How can you say officiating did not affect the outcome of the game? Officiating profoundly affects games, but generally it is balanced out. In this case, there was no balance, and it made it much more difficult for the blazers to overcome their mistakes.

By: Hoops Fan

Hoops Fan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:33:39 +0000

Dwight,
You’ve been around for a long time and I respect your opinion. So I’m going to ask how does Steve Javie keep his job? This guy is notorious around the league for being a horrible official and a jerk. He reminds me of the old school WWF where the idiot referee keeps his back turned to the ring while the one guy hits the other guy with a chair. Then as soon as the ref turns back around the guy has him pinned for a 3 count. Is there anything we can do as fans to get this guy out of the league?

By: BlazerMVP

BlazerMVP — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:29:12 +0000

Good Call Panama-

We see eye to eye on this.

I still think that this is McMillian’s game. Sergio, Bayless AND Blake all make the same defensive errors? I will buy it for 50/50, but I think it’s the game plan.

There is no effort on the defense, it’s just push them down one side of the court into the bigs.

I think we just notice it more with small, quick point guards that actually distribute the ball. We let them penetrate, kick it, etc.

touche…

By: Panama

Panama — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:21:21 +0000

BlazeRmvp I agree with you about the lack of assists. We rely way too much on Roy and Aldridge doing one on one isolation plays. A big reason why we rely on this is Blake’s inability to create. Heck he can’t even get a pass inside to any of our bigs let alone create…

The reason why I concentrate more on his lack of defense is because pg is the front line of the team’s defense. When he continaully breaks down that not only leaves our bigs vulnerable to fouls, but it also allows our opponents many open looks. Philly came in here and lit it up, and a big reason is they had open looks all night from Andre Miller breaking down our defense. Heck if he wasn’t passing off the ball for a wide open shot, he took Blake down low and just schooled him time and time again.

Roy shouldn’t be asked to guard point guards because he really is not a point guard. He has to play that because in my opinion we don’t have a true floor general yet. Our opponents know that, and teams like Philly are smart enough to focus on Roy.

Seriously we can’t expect Roy to play all nba defense, carry the offense, and log 45+ minutes a game. He needs help and Blake is proving to be not the answer

By: Oscar

Oscar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:02:02 +0000

I agree that the officials did not cause the loss. Sometimes you get beat and that’s how I view last night’s game. Philly did everything they needed to do to win that game. Hats off.

That said, the officials do not get a pass from me. I don’t think they were biased or out to get anyone but if the NBA is the premier basketball league in the whole world why is their officiating so bad. They are no more consistent than your average high school ref. Players were crunching each other all night long and suddenly you get a couple of calls like the “3″ foul on Rudy and Joel’s “moving” pick which was nothing of the kind. I did think, however, that the blocking call on LA was a good call. He was dancing.

The standards for NFL officials is so high that if an official makes just one really bad call in a game, Ed Hochuli, it’s all we hear about for months. NBA refs make so many we can’t even remember them all. The league can do better. I don’t even want to talk about ego jobs like Javie. He shouldn’t be a ref at all.

By: peacequiet

peacequiet — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:06:11 +0000

I am ill after that game last night..
good god, they took the lead then to lose it ?

oh boy,that one could come back to haunt us.

By: BBIQ

BBIQ — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:58:16 +0000

Does any one else see the disturbing trend with LA? He spends way too much time on the perimeter. A big man with outside touch is nice but I think he has fallen in love with his jumper. Does the coaching staff teach pick and ROLL. LA seems to POP most of the time. Half the time Brandon gets double teamed and LA has a clear roll to the hoop but chooses to drift to the side. Someone on the team (other than just Oden) please RoLL. Travis does the same thing!

I am a fan of this team and I am proud of what they have accomplished. However – they will not go far in the playoffs shooting jumpers.

By: Arvydas

Arvydas — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:48:36 +0000

Great points Jon. I would add that our overtime strategy needs to be revisited as well. 1-4 is a trend.

The Blazer media, Barrett and Rice are always making excuses and playing the “woe is me” card, these are young men getting paid handsomely to produce, they’re not in college or high school.

Last night, I almost spit my dinner out when Barrett said, “what are the Blazers going to do when Steve Blake has to come out and get a rest.” Moments later Blake handed the ball off to the wrong team with no pressure.

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:23:18 +0000

A tip of the cap to the Sixers. I would love to see us play a swarming, turnover causing defense like that. And they ran it back at us big time after a stop, FULL STEAM. They were going to MAKE something happen.

Is it just me or does this Portland team and the media (Mike Barrett, Jason Quick) seem to talk about how tired this team is a bit too much. For being such a young group we sure talk about being tired and beat down a lot. We did the same thing toward the end of last year.

Look at Philly. They played the night before, did the same 5 games in 7 nights AND they were on the road and they come out gangbusters. They came AT US. They seemed to have more energy in the OT too. Their focus seemed to be on how much they wanted this win.

Portland’s 1 and 4 record in OT might play into this as well. I don’t know if it physical (conditioning) or mental, or both, but the Blazers tend to talk about being tired a lot. Something to consider.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:08:12 +0000

Dwight, You made me laugh on your reply. You shouldn’t have a problem at the comedy club. It really is not about wins and losses, really I could just as easily blame Brandon Roy or any other coach, player and/or referee for that loss.
The fact of the matter is that if the Blazers try to play physical at all, they are constantly whistled. Two recent examples would be the Lakers game and the Utah game. Look at that Laker game, the Blazers were constantly being called for fouls that on the other end were not being called. Same with the Utah Jazz, they get away with playing physical and if the Blazers try to match their style they get whistled.