It seems to me that you guys do not like the Preview write up from Blazers side that much. Still, I like to share this game 4 preview with you because I think it is not bad read as well as rockets-related. Anyway, the most interesting part for me is as follows, The rest of writeup LINK
No mention of Travis Outlaw, the guy has been a complete non-factor without any special defense to stop him, just straight up man to man defense. To me he is the key to the Blazers having a chance. You would expect he'll snap out of it eventually and give the Blazers another option on the floor.
I don't mind reading the Blazersedge analysis. It seems pretty good and surprisingly not filled with unrealistic homerism or down and out gloom and doom when the Blazers lose. I agree with a lot of the points raised in it and it sounds like the overall theme is to get more motion on offense to exploit collapsing D on Roy while looking to create another mismatch on defense besides just closing down Yao. The Rockets are going to have to respond to that by rotating faster on D and continuing to make the Blazers pay with other players when they try to shut down one or two of our guys.
I think Outlaws lack of production is more about the Blazers as a team than Outlaw himself. Not to take away from the Rockets solid defense, but it really is a two man show for Portland, and it's clear that they haven't seen enough consistently solid half court defense to know how to play better offensively as a team. Outlaw does need to get more aggressive for them - ala Fernandez - but even then, as with Rudy, it's about hitting semi contested long jumpers. Not a way to win a series. Well see what happens the rest of the way. I think the best Portla d can hope for is close games they might be able to win in the fourth, whereas the Rockets likely have another blowout capability in them. The writer correctly noted we played pretty bad and still won. The matchup is showing how important PG is in todays NBA and how important experience is.
Their analysis sounds reasonable to me. This series was going to be a blowout but then Yao decided not to match Portland's increased aggressiveness with any measure on his own part, so now we've got to win with "team ball", which frankly makes me wonder why we even have Yao at all. Oh, what we could have done with this supporting cast on T-Mac and Yao's team two years ago. We should beat Portland, we deserve to beat them over the next couple of games, but then what? We have a chance against the Lakers with the Game 1 Yao, but not like this.
I doubt you see Scola, Landry, AB or Wafer go off like they have without Yao. Yao isn't getting a ton of touches but that doesn't mean he isn't valuable to this team as the defense being played on him is what is opening things up for the other players. At the same time Yao's presence on D alters a lot of shots. Don't be fooled by the stats, Yao is very valuable even if he isn't scoring.
I understand what you and others are saying about the difference he is making in the game. I understand that everyone on the team is feeding off the decreased coverage they are receiving as a result of him drawing so much of Portland's attention. What I am saying is that however much Yao is helping in that regard pales in comparison to what he can give us as the primary go-to option. We won Game 1 by 27. We lost Game 2 and won Game 3 by 3. We will need the Game 1 team to even have a chance of competing with the Lakers. That's all I have to say.
Reasonable, well thought out analysis. Yao and Artest didn't take many shots, and yet we were in control the entire game until Portland had that final run near the end. As long as our defense is there it's our series to lose.
In Game 1 Portland didn't front Yao at all. That's the biggest difference between the blowout game and the other games. We won Game 3 because our forwards and other role players were prepared to step up and contribute once Portland takes Yao out of the offense by doubling and fronting him. The overall theme of the article seems accurate to me. The Blazers are inexperience and young, and they're confidence is shaken. They'll make it a good game, but they do not have the maturity it takes to beat a team like the Rockets.