They took all my leftover Snickers
Halloween arrived a week late at the Rose Garden arena, as the Trail Blazers spent the weekend in the costume of a bright, young, energetic basketball team. Fast breaks, lots of running and gunning, and they even acted as if Greg Oden was supposed to be part of the offense. As a result, the Blazers beat the old fogies of San Antonio and the newborn puppies of Minneapolis, in the process greatly entertaining the Portland faithful, some of whom had begun to lose faith.
As long as the new formula produces wins, the cheers will be loud and strong. And against many teams, starting the Blazers' three main guards and breaking like there's no tomorrow will get the job done.
But there are going to be nights when the Blazers won't be able to do mostly anything that worked for them over this weekend. Not everybody's going to let you beat them on the boards and race upcourt for easy baskets. And when they don't, will we see the other Blazers -- the Steve-Blake-walk-it-up-the-floor-dribble-around-give-it-to-Brandon-and-get-out-of-the-way Blazers? That group didn't seem to know who they were in the first five games of the season. One wonders whether the confusion will get any better when they're only doing this gig on a part-time basis. They did finish the win over the Spurs in that style, but the Spurs were clearly able to get back into the game when the Blazers turned down their red hot popcorn machine.
And then there's the serious question of what's going to happen inside Brandon Roy's head. Tonight, he scored 2 points. Not a typo. A week ago, he was carrying the team on his back, and had been for a couple of years. Now, in the run-and-gun Blazer offense, he may be less of a factor than Martell Webster. It's hard to picture Roy being relegated to grabbing rebounds and handing out assists. That can't go on for too long, can it? Will he be telling the reporters at practice, "It doesn't matter how much I score, as long as we win the games"? Seems unlikely.
But hey, tonight the glass is half full -- actually, a bit more than half full -- and so we're going to ignore that little grimace we saw when Webster came down hard on his bad foot, and call it a great night for the Blazers.
And on that note, it's time to wrap up our first edition of the Rate-a-Nate reader poll, which we started as the month began. In our first round of balloting, with 185 votes cast, Nate rated an average of only 5.4 on a scale of 10, with 10 being the best and 1 the worst. As previously announced, we'll run the poll again in a week or two, giving everyone a chance to vote again, and see how he's doing then. If the team keeps putting up quality wins, no doubt Coach's rating will rise.
Posted at 12:15 AM
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Comments (7)
"It doesn't matter how much I score, as long as we win the games"....sounds like the Brandon Roy that's liked by the people who actually buy tickets.
Posted by David E Gilmore | November 9, 2009 6:52 AM
As the Blazers move towards a quicker lineup, why isn't Rudy starting? He is a better shooter and quicker off the dribble than Blake.
Posted by Brian | November 9, 2009 9:42 AM
I think the important point is that Nate is willing to change it up, something sorely lacking in the Blazers last year (culminating in the Rockets series and Nate's inability/unwillingness to adapt).
It seems like we were easy to figure out late last year, so I'm liking the idea of adding new wrinkles like this three guard lineup, even if it's not any sort of ultimate answer.
Posted by Flynn | November 9, 2009 9:50 AM
The three-guard line up has a lot of upsides. For one thing, Roy is really built for small forward and yet can take most small forwards in the league, and he's a good rebounder. Having two other guards available to push the ball really makes the offense move. It also allows Bayless to get some minutes, which is a big plus for him and the team. Yeah, I'd like to see Rudy starting or at least getting more of Trout's minutes.
With Oden, Przybilla and Aldridge, they should be able to get enough boards to start fast breaks. Also, I've notice both Blake and Miller get to a lot of long rebounds that go over the arms of the big guys inside.
Posted by Gil Johnson | November 9, 2009 3:08 PM
I was at Friday's game, and a few comments:
Greg Oden held his own against Tim Duncan - more than held his own at times.
With Andre Miller in the game, the Blazers definately move up court more quickly - those 2-3 seconds mean the defense isn't always waiting, so should help the scoring.
BUT - the Blazers still don't pass and move the ball anywhere near as well as the Spurs - seems to end up in Roy's hands, and then he dribbles around. More cutting, more passing, please!
Posted by umpire | November 9, 2009 5:56 PM
Rudy is not starting because he is not a pure point guard in the mold of John Stockton, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd.
If you start both Rudy and Andre Miller, than there is 20 to 30 shots per game between the both of them leaving Brandon Roy and others with less looks.
Besides, I would rather Portland focus on a post game where the guards do their best to feed Oden, Aldridge and others down low instead of Rudy jacking up 5+ treys where he is only making 40% of them at best.
Championship caliber teams have a post first mentality, tough nosed defense where everyone is doing the dirty work, and one or 2 shooters off the bench (Eddie House and Trevor Ariza are the first to mind) knocking the shiznit out of the 3 point.
The Blazers will not get past the first round of the playoffs with Outlaw, Fernandez, and Miller just jacking up 15+ footers.
If you have a post game where Oden and Roy can get 50 to 75% of their shots in, then you need guards like Blake who can run the floor and pass well.
Posted by RyanLeo | November 9, 2009 7:18 PM
Yeah the Blazers are looking real good against lottery teams.
Posted by Brendan | November 9, 2009 9:33 PM