The Clipper game
Let me say at the outset, Mike Dunleavy is a good coach. Anyone who watched him deploy his depleted troops Monday night who also watched the Washington Wizards’ pathetic effort Saturday understands that. The Clippers played hard and even played smart Monday. But wow, that isn’t much of a roster with all the injuries they’ve suffered.
For most of the first half, the Blazers stood around and watched Brandon Roy and Greg Oden make shots. And it was a nightmare at the defensive end for three quarters, as the worst field-goal shooting team in the league flirted with 50 percent shooting. Fortunately for the Blazers, the Clippers couldn’t maintain it.
Yes, Roy had a great dunk. Yes, it turned into a rout in the fourth quarter. But the defensive intensity that this team is going to need later in the season was still lacking. I suppose it may be hard to summon that on a night when you know you’re playing against that roster, but still . . .
And I’ll not belabor this, but Oden was 7 for 7 from the field. He should have had double that many shots against the Clippers. He’s beginning to develop in spite of being squeezed on shot attempts on almost a nightly basis. Guards can get shots any time they want, but big people need someone to get them the ball. And when you work hard to gain post-up position, or when you roll off a pick wide open and don’t receive a pass, it discourages you from continuing to work hard. At the same time, his teammates need to improve on getting him the ball. There’s still a skill level on the lobs and the entry passes that’s not been attained yet.
Man, there are some old-school coaches who must be cringing when they see how seldom Portland uses what should be a powerful resource. The game is supposed to start inside and he needs to develop his enormous potential in games like this. Oden could have scored in the 30s last night with a reasonable number of attempts. The Clips had nobody to guard him. Oh well . . .
Just don’t go crying about it late in the season or in the playoffs when Portland needs him in a big game because it can’t buy a jump shot and the Blazer guards still aren’t skilled at post-entry passes or Oden can’t make tough shots because he hasn’t had the opportunity to get into an offensive groove.
Charlotte Wednesday and then a real showdown Saturday against Utah, which is going to badly need that game.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | January 27, 2009
Brandon Roy, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Los Angeles Clippers, Mike Dunleavy, Portland Trail Blazers
Dwight just give up on the oden not getting the ball topc. I gave up on it and I feel much bettet. Lets face it, this is never going to happen as long as nate is coach and yes it will come back to bite us in the end. Oh well life goes on. Good night now.
Couldn’t agree with you more, Blazers downfall will be horrible perimeter defense and not being able to get easy buckets. That improvement on defense starts and ends with the PG position. None of the guys we got have it in them. Opposing PG’s either drive and pass off for dunks or kick it out to wide open 3′s. Blazers also need a lockdown defender at SF. I’d love to see Batum develop into that but at first he was just an apprentice…later he developed into a tradesman…but lately he’s a Master Bricklayer. Batum, please work on your shooting. Yikes!
Oden’s offensive game seems to be improving more than his defense. Definitely not how I saw it coming into the season. However, last night I noticed when he fouled someone he always followed it up with blocking the guys “and one” attempt. Meaning he is getting closer to being able to avoid the foul and just blocking the shot. Oden is going to be a dominant force, I have no doubts anymore.
Last night was the first night I thought Oden looked like his “The” OSU self. He’s starting to get to the part of his recovery/rehab where the curve of the line starts to accelerate.
We could have all saved ourselves the time and just watched the fourth quarter the last two games. Dunleavy did outcoach Nate again.
Oden is moving his feat quicker and getting more comfortable. He and Joel make a tough combo. It is perplexing that as willing as Greg is to pass, he can’t seem to convince others to give him the ball. It’s not like he is Travis.
Thank God Trav can get hot offensively because my remote almost went through the TV watching him leave Novak open time after time.
When anyone finds out where to get the new Roy poster dunking on Samb let me know.
We tried giving the ball to Oden earlier this season and he couldn’t handle it. Yes, he’s better now, but that’s due to the coach changing the plan to NOT dump the ball to him all the time.
Oden is doing fine and he’ll be the main option next year. For now, let’s just focus on improving defense.
The Blazers defense won’t get any better with the current roster. Does anyone smell a trade brewing? KP has always said he won’t make a trade for “the right now”, but the Blazers could make it in to the 2nd round this year and possibly the Western Conference Finals next year with the right trade. It will take one or two key role players to make this happen. KP is just the guy to make it happen, but who gets packaged with Raef’s contract? Sergio? Outlaw? Frye?
I find that reading your blog you seem to be very critical and negative of the Blazers.
It is like your focus is ALWAYS on the cup half empty instead of half full. It is all about perspective but you seem like you have an axe to grind. I do not think you want the Blazers to be successful.
I’ve been getting this sort of criticism for years and at this point it doesn’t bother me. Being critical isn’t necessarily being negative. And being critical doesn’t mean you don’t want them to succeed. I try to provide balance — which means critical thinking and comments that you aren’t finding other places. This is especially true right now — where everyone else is climbing aboard the bandwagon. But think whatever you wish because honestly, I just write what I see and it’s up to you to interpret it. And thanks for reading this blog!
– Dwight
I don’t think Dwight has been negative. We come to this blog for his opinions and insights. He has said that the Blazer “will” make the playoffs. He simply feels that we need to give the rock to GO more often and that they need to improve on defense.
I think the Blazers looked intense on defense last night. They forced a few (3 or 4?) 24-sec shot clock violations. It seems they are trying to be more conscious about packing the middle and not allowing layups. They did a good job of that last night because I didn’t see too many easy baskets inside. But it did leave the outside open and the Clippers where hitting shots in the 1st half. Our perimeter guys need to close out on the three point line faster and I’m confident in time this will happen. Overall I feel like our team defense is beginning to improve.
I seriously doubt KP will pull the trigger on a trade before the deadline. I can’t think of anyone that the Blazers could realistically get that would make a big difference. They will make the playoffs without a trade and that is the only thing that really matters. Anything beyond that is gravy.
Ha !!! It was the injury depleted Clippers…. Let’s see what happens when Oden goes up against the real NBA teams after this stretch of NBDL teams.
Agreed Dwight, Oden going 7 for 7 from the feild against that front line makes them look foolish when you read Rudy’s line.
There is no theory of Evolution, just creatures Greg Oden has allowed to live.
“And I’ll not belabor this …”
Promise?
Excellent observations once again, Dwight. You are one of the only guys out there who are getting it right when it comes to this team. If you are watching the games closely you can’t help but see that the biggest and most obvious problem with the Blazer offense right now is not recognizing Oden’s offensive potency. He should be getting many more touches per game. But most of the bandwagon jumping newbie Blazer fans don’t understand the sport well enough to see it.
Do not stop bringing this up Dwight, you are the only media person doing it, really. Beat that horse until it is dead…and it’s not dead yet.
I’m certainly not an Xs and Os guy but it looks like their interior defense was better at the expense of the perimeter defense. The bad defense everyone has been pointing out the last dozen games or so has been the interior defense and I think they are improving that (Always hard to tell against sub .500 teams) but they might have focused on it too much. While you don’t want to see the problem shift from one place to another, it at least shows that the Blazers are responding to weaknesses.
I think the man to man defense is improving too. I still hate the constant switching though. Nate says that they try not to switch as a general rule but I swear he got confused or something because they switch 9 out of 10 times. Maybe that is part of the problem. There is always a mismatch after the switch and other Blazers have to help out which leaves a man open.
Anyway, nice to see Roy getting is touch back. Oh, and Diogu gets garbage time but Fry doesn’t? Hmmm…
Oh, double checked the box score and saw that Fry did get a minute and change like Diogu. Move long people.
I hate to say this, but I wish we still had Dunleavy as coach.
I remember how beautiful the team rotated through Sabonias in the center. Nates offensive sets just don’t seem to have much flow, and are so predictable. I wonder if Oden will be developed, and utilized to his full potential.
Right on, Dwight. Andrew Bynum got 42 and 15 against that Clips squad and Oden could have done pretty close to the same thing if he’d gotten the rock. I’m sick of our guards feeding Aldridge (who settles for jumpers and can’t get to the line) more than Oden. Oden’s already a better option and has huge potential. I thought Portland did some good things on D last night (limited Gordon and we all know Fred Jones isn’t really that good a shooter) but the work on the defensive glass (particularly by Aldridge, who may be the worst rebounding PF in the NBA) was terrible and leaving Novak open for 3s (dude is automatic from out there and can’t hurt you any other way) was ridiculous.
I agree with you about Oden not getting the ball enough. I attended the Wizards game and was surprised how many times the other Blazers didn’t pass the ball to Oden when he was open right near the basket.
I also noted that Oden himself seemed afraid to take easy shots at times. Maybe the other Blazers know that Oden lacks self-confidence and they are reluctance to pass him the ball for that reason.
82 game season + Clipper game = wait till the 4th quarter before they really play