The Utah game — what happened?
This was a night when the front-runners started jumping off the bandwagon. Remember, a lot of Blazer fans are newbies and not accustomed to the ups and downs of the 82-game schedule. Check out this from the comment section of the blog from last night:
“It’s the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Blazers-Jazz game, and I’m beginning to believe that the Blazers are a fraud. It’s 80-66 and they don’t look good at all. In fact, they look totally lost and untalented. I’m not sure what’s wrong with them, but I’m beginning to think that it would be best if Paul Allen shipped the whole darned bunch of them up to permanently play in Seattle, where they belong. I’m tired of being the victim of false hope.”
Come on, folks, that’s downright funny, you have to admit. Remember, as I always say, perspective is your best friend over the long season.
But back to the game. I give Nate McMillan a lot of credit for not allowing the Jazz to force him into slicing away at Greg Oden’s minutes. Here was the deal — most of Oden’s 32 minutes on the floor, he was guarded by 6-foot-8 Paul Millsap, who really is too small and quick for Oden to defend. Massive 7-foot centers aren’t supposed to have to chase 6-8 guys around the floor. Usually in this situation, the team with the 7-footer panics and removes him for a smaller defender.
Smart teams don’t, however. They make the 6-8 guy guard the 7-footer — over and over and over. Come on, you dream about getting the big, dominant center and this is the time to punish somebody who doesn’t have one. But that’s where the Trail Blazers need to get better. Way better.
In 32 minutes, Oden got six shots, four of which he made. Against a 6-8 guy. Now I have no doubt that some of the problem was Oden, who still isn’t always sure how to go about getting the ball. But a lot of it was the impatience of his teammates, who were busy hoisting 3-point shots from just a few feet outside the Alpine slide in Park City.
That would have been the perfect night to just keep feeding Oden. I’d have a simple rule about this. Whenever anyone under 6-10 is trying to guard our 7-foot center, the 7-foot center is going to get 20 shots. That’s right, 20. He’s not always going to get 20, because they’re going to start fouling the daylights out of him, but it ought to be the goal. That’s OK if they foul, too, even though Oden was awful at the line last night. In general, he’s pretty good.
Yes, I’m well aware that Oden is going to get stripped a few times. He’s going to lose the ball out of bounds a few times. He’s going to get his shot blocked, too. So what? He’s got to learn and this is a good way. And I’d make the case that Oden mucking around, fighting himself as much as his defender, in the low post is still better than all those rushed three-pointers.
Ugly game for the Blazers and for much of it, I couldn’t believe how close they stayed to the Jazz, given how they were playing. I would take that as a good sign for Portland. And I’d also say it was a heck of an early season start, given the schedule.
There certainly shouldn’t have been a lot of “false hope” for anything better.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | December 12, 2008
Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Nate McMillan, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz
I think until we get an elite type point guard or develop one we won’t know the true potential of this team. I appreciate Blake, don’t want to trade him, but we struggle against teams with quick penetrating guards. Blake to me is perfect to serve as a combo guard off the bench.
I got frustrated with the easy baskets we allowed last night. People standing and watching instead of getting back on defense. What happened to Ball-YOU-Man defense? How many easy lay-ups did they get because heads were turned?
Our problems are fixable and take time. We as fans need to appreciate what we have and be patient, something that I wonder if our instant gratification society can grasp. This is a lot better product than what I saw a couple of years ago when we had Juan Dixon starting at guard.
Yes it was a tough game to watch. Yes we all get frustrated because no one wants to associate with losers (except for cubs fans). Yes we all question the basketball IQ of certain members of our teams when they make decisions that junior high kids do on the court. However, this team added multiple players this year that are still gelling. A lot of these guys are learning in the pro’s instead of college and I know everyone is sick of it but it takes time.
Although I got pulled away and never got back after the first quarter I do have a couple of observations. The first is that this looked like on of those early season wall games. You know the type. Team has been out on the road for what seems like a month and a half, comes back home overnight and then heads out again to play a pretty good team. Can we say that Mr. Sloan can coach a little bit? If this were later in the season I might agree with the ball to Oden thing, but at this point I am not sure. When the second unit scores 19 points and Travis is scoreless in only 14 minutes there is something wrong. The wrong is nothing that the rest of December spent at the Rose Garden and the practice facility will not fix. Let’s not lose sight that Big Luke is back to work GO out on the box in a little one on one. I fell in love with this team in season one and that will not change.
Nobody wins in Utah. Savior last years win, because Utah will do everything in their power to make sure we dont get another in Utah for quite some time.
Oden is coming along. He definately needs more touches and shots, especially if they are going to guard him with a 6’8″ guy. We need to get much better at feeding the post. I can’t tell you how many times Greg flashed to an open spot and never got a pass.
AMEN… History tells us perimeter teams have not fared well in the playoffs and that is what Portland is right now. They shoot too many jump shots, win or lose. I spent the night yelling at my tv because they didn’t get the ball to the guys on the block. Oden had good position at least three times only to have the gaurds reverse the ball to the other side of the floor where someone would hoist a three. 26 threes is way too many. Especially when they only made 6. They played “outside in” instead of “inside out”. Oden is not polished yet on offense but he will make something happen because he’s so big. He’ll miss some shots and turn the ball over from time to time but he will also draw double teams and fouls. We saw it during the pre-season. Defenses colapsed when he posted up. He got more touches in the pre-season and he averaged 11pts and shot a decent FG percentage. It’s not just Greg that needs touches on the block. They should post Roy A LOT more than they do in my opinion. Adelman did it with Drexler every game. Roy has a post up game. I’ve seen it. I thought they did a nice job getting Aldridge the ball on the block. I wish it would have happend earlier in the game though. Last night’s game would have been tough for them to win even if they went inside more. Utah is tough at home and they really needed to beat Portland last night. I think Nate is doing great but I hope they give Oden more touches in the future. I believe he can be effective if he gets the ball more. It will only help the team.
I’m not impatient – the Blazers just aren’t improving as fast as I expect them to! I believe they learned from the Celtics game that they are a long way from being a championship team and they subsequently resigned themselves to having a mediocre season. Where was the leadership last night? Where was the fire in the belly? I sure didn’t see any. The Blazers looked as flat as Wile E. Coyote after the roadrunner tricked him into getting run over by his own steamroller.
Skeptic- they played hard last night. They had fire. Roy and Aldridge fought until the end. These guys have played every other night since the season started. They’ve played an ultra tough schedule that includes 16 road games. That’s twice as many road games as home games. This has all been documented before. It’s well known to most that no team has ever played a schedule tougher than theirs to start a season in the history of the league. The have already played 40% of their road games for the season and they are only in the second month of the season! They are 15-9 after all of that! They are WAY ahead of the curve.
Same story different day.
The Blazers were not hitting their shots. We couldn’t figure out their interior trap, after 3 full quarters of struggling with it. (Do I seriously need to coach these guys to tell them how to exploit that?)
Also, neither of the PG’s had it going on, but why not drop Bayless in there?
To me it was a team loss last night, everyone shot poor…. but the COACH can change the tempo, style, etc of the game! He made no movement.
Hands down, the most overrated coach in NBA History who must be removed before the Blazers are truly successful….NATE MCMILLIAN.
Who was the starting PG on the Chicago Bulls 1995-1996 season where they won 72 games and a championship? Steve Kerr? Would any of you put him in the group of “elite” point guards?
I just left the Oregonlive blog because of all of the ridiculous talk about needing a better PG and how Bayless should get more minutes. Then I come here to find the same garbage being spewed, albeit in a more intelligible manner.
I call it ridiculous for a couple of reasons. First, going back to my original question (would Kerr be at the top of your list of elite PGs), the Blazers have a very good PG in Steve Blake. No, he is not an elite PG, and no, Brandon Roy is not Michael Jordan, but my point is that Steve Blake serves this team very well.
The second reason I find all of the talk about finding an elite PG so ridiculous is where, exactly, do you intend on finding said PG? I read a lot about what people think the team needs, but there are very little solutions to getting that elite PG. Nash? Too old. Lebron? Yeah, right. CP3? Keep dreaming. In order to get any of these guys, the Blazers would have to mortgage their entire future. Who would you be willing to give up in order to get this elite PG you treasure so much? Keep in mind, it must be equal value.
Post it once you have figured it out. I won’t be holding my breathe.
BlazerMVP- please read my post on the PG situation and substitute COACH in where it says PG.
What coach are the Blazers supposed to bring in to replace Nate. Keep in mind, you will need a coach that has +10 wins each season for the last 3 seasons. (and who also has a gold medal to boot).
Who is available? Please post your “solution” when you think of it, and please justify why you would fire a coach with a 15-9 record, who went 8-8 on the road and 7-1 at home, and who’s team, if they continue at their current pace, will make the playoffs.
blazermvp- how can you possibly know what McMillan is doing to coach the team. Do you think the players are able to execute what the coach dictates 100% of the time. McMillan did try and change the tempo of the game by going to our uptempo second unit who had a horrible game by their normal standards.
It’s just very difficult for a team to execute when they’ve played too many games in too few nights and have been out on the road over 60% of the season.
This team is way overachieving considering it has the second youngest roster in the NBA (it is the youngest active roster if you take Raef’s 34 years off)and the most brutal schedule of any NBA team thus far this year. How is a coach that has that team overachieving not a good coach. Plus all the talking heads (the basketball expert type) in the national media who say McMillan is one of the best young coaches in the game probably know what they’re talking about.
maybe blazermvp can take over for Nate and coach this team to the #1 seed in the west this year
kilntym….why be so personal? I merely stated an observation, I even said I don’t want Blake traded. You did answer your own question, we don’t have michael jordan, therefore I don’t find validity in your arguement. I didn’t mention Bayless at all. Please don’t associate me with things that go on in the O-Live forum. I actually do have some experience in what I am talking about but by no means an expert. I simply stated an opinion.
I think you can look at the Celtics last year and say Rondo was not elite, but Pierce had the ball and had Allen and Garnett too. Honestly, would our team be better with Paul, Williams etc? Sure. I also understand those guys don’t fall from trees. What I did say is I don’t think the full potential could be reached without an elite type PG. Opinion period. I am a big blazer honk, season ticket holder and was there on Broadway back in the day.
Nate is the right coach for this team. I don’t think people realize until they are in a postion to coach a team what the stress is like and how the personalities are difficult at times to manage. I can’t imagine what it is like on the pro-level.
Again, people need to be patient and let things develop. I would have been pumped by 12-12 after the first 24. I think fans got a little greedy/spoiled by the success.
Kilntym,
Also, since you are into correcting, don’t hold your breath, not breathe.
There are good point guards that are drafted every year, maybe we will get one down the road. Maybe we get a steal like Denver did with Billups, I think he would look great in a Blazer uni. Go back and read my post, I don’t think you read it in the right context.
Not sure who all of you who respond here, but I am sure enjoying it.
Dwight Jaynes is a premier sports columnist. Shades of LH Gregory and Geo Pasero, I do not think Big O has had a good one since he left. They have let the best writers get away Eggers, Frei, Kelly, Haight.
Brian Meehan was one who I enjoyed, but.. sorry he is gone.
I sort of like Goe and hope Big O gives him some room.