Turning Charlotte inside out
It’s very difficult to assess how well Portland is playing lately because the games are almost setups, given the opposition and circumstances. I mean, how well did you expect Charlotte to play Wednesday night after going two overtimes and losing its best player Tuesday night in Los Angeles?
But this one looked pretty good. The Trail Blazers finally played through their big people, at least for a while, and didn’t rely on the usual assortment of long jumpers. LaMarcus Aldridge ran the court like I haven’t seen him run it all season — if he did it every night it would add at least three baskets to his total each game. Greg Oden is beginning to look like he is going to mature into a player who could go 18 points and 15 rebounds very frequently. I mean, the guy was 14 and 14 in 30 minutes Wednesday and really didn’t get many touches.
The Blazers’ 45-26 advantage on the boards, 48-32 edge in points in the paint and 13-6 margin in fast-break points were all very telling. Still, 13 points on the break isn’t all that many. If Portland could ever get that up to 20 on a regular basis it would be tough to deal with.
But consecutive wins over Washington, the Clippers and Bobcats won’t tell us near as much as Saturday’s game against Utah. The Jazz are playing Oklahoma City at home Friday night and then coming in here. And they’ll be hungry, since they’re in serious danger of falling out of the playoff race.
The Blazers are going to need defensive intensity that they show only sporadically if they want to beat Utah.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | January 29, 2009
Charlotte Bobcats, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland Trail Blazers
Another double double and three blocks along with steady improvement for our “draft bust.” He is so terrible that he is leading all rookies in double doubles. Maybe we need some more “draft busts”
oh and two steals, not bad from someone who is injured all the time ala Sam Bowie
I feel like I just heard that the Hornets have a terrible record when playing the second of a back-to-back game on the road. Can anyone clarify that?
“How well did you expect Charlotte to play Wednesday night…?”
According to your post yesterday about how well coached the Bobcats are, Dwight, I expected them to play fairly well. Credit them with this: the Blazers were held to 88 points, ten below their season average, and they scored fewer and fewer points with each quarter of the game.
That said, a win is a win is a win, I contend, but it’d be nice to see Portland play a little more up-tempo when they’re clearly overmatching their opponent.
Greg “the bust” Oden gets 14 and 14. Colin Cowherd slowly starting to look like an idiot
Yes, while I had never seriously worried about Greg’s ultimate contributions, it is still heartening to see our big fella thawing out, just in time for our push for the playoffs.
Greg Oden is becoming the beast Portland fans expected. He’s and absolute stud on the offensive glass. I find it funny how these dumbasses like Cowherd who have no clue about basketball think they know more than all 30 NBA general managers combined. That idiot made a final judgement on Oden’s career after he played 13 minutes in the first game of his career, ignoring the consensus opinion of 30 NBA GM’s who have watched the kid play every game of his life since the 8th grade. Greg Oden is playing well but I don’t think we’ll see his best until he’s played two full seasons after micro fracture surgery. That is a scary thought. I love watching G.O. prove the idiots wrong.
I am really starting to like this Sergio-Bayless combo!
I like it more than the Blake-Sergio combo or the Blake-Bayless combo.
Why? I feel we play a little faster, move the ball better, pressure better, and definitely we RUN more. In general, we are more scrappy.
I miss Blake’s 3 point shooting but he defers to Brandon too much, this is obvious because we see less 1 on 5 and our big men are getting more and more touches now.
The Mike and Mike and Mac love affair with Steve Blake will never allow us to trade Blake or reduce his minutes but it’s obvious now we have to 2 budding talents playing limited minutes behind him.
I mean will Blake still get 40 muinutes a game when he comes back?
Kinda like watching the Harlem Globetrotters play the Washington Generals. It is fun to watch the Odenites with their chests all puffed up though.
When Greg Oden does push-ups he doesn’t lift himself up he pushes the earth down.
Colin Cowherd looked like an idiot the first time he ever opened his mouth.
Dwight–Aldridge runs the court all the time, it’s just that no one ever throws him the damn ball in when he does. I’ve always said that if this team had a starting point guard who pushes the ball like Kidd or Nash, Aldridge would get at least 3-4 dunks every game.
Not knocking Blake because he does some things well, but with him at the point the Blazer bigs rarely get opportunities in transition.
Bob, please let us know when Oden’s opponents are good enough to judge how he’s playing