Debunking the Myth (Aldridge dropped 40 on Jones!)

Obviously, LMA didn't score 40 on just Jones. We all know that.

What we (at least I) rip Jones for was being absolutely worthless when guarding LMA. What can be argued is that LMA got into a zone because he was abusing Jones. I don't think there will be another day when Howard blocks LMA, and he then chucks up a fade-away three when the shot clock was running down and drills it.

So, not only did Jones get brutalized by LMA when he was on him, he couldn't keep Lopez off the glass when switched on to him. No matter how you cut-slice-dice it, Jones was out of place that series. And I am a Jones fan.

NOW, if there is a playoff myth that needs to be broken, is that we lost the series because of a lack of offensive output. Yea, our guys sucked on O, except for Howard, but it was the defense that slipped from regular season averages, surprisingly, because Howard had a heck of a series defensively as well. Thanks Parsons/Harden/Bev/Lin/Jones/Daniels

 

Jones gets way too much blame for our first round failures last season.

Yes, he played worse than he did in the regular season on average. So did pretty much everyone else on the team besides Howard.

We had extremely poor team defense as a unit, LMA abused not only Jones but Howard and Asik as well. We should have made adjustments after the first half of him torching us, should have sent a double.

 

Forgot to mention, we choked big time in game 1, if we win that game like we should have no one talks about LMA going off on Jones.

LMA honestly didn't play well at all outside of the first two games. He was just in the zone. His TS% was less than Harden's in the series, and everyone always talks about Harden ****ting the bed.

 

One reason for LMA going off is that he was fouling every play and the refs wouldn't call it.

To create space, he'd simply push his defender away from him and go up for a jump shot.

Nearly every time. He was just pushing off constantly. It was infuriating.

Next time you watch LMA play, notice that it is one of his go-to moves. Just a straight-up push off. The refs never call him for it.

 

Dream roasted David Robinson in the playoffs. Doesn't mean DR was a "scrub".

 

I alot of things went wrong in that series. So people stop trying to only put blame on one freaking player. The entire team defense was horrible that series. Y'all act as if LMA was the only player killing us. Lillard had some explosive games , dude was killing our guards. Matthews went to work Harden, backing him down and abusing him in the 1st two games. Don't believe, go check those two game tapes. Dude took Harden completely out his game. Forcing him to play out of character in game two. Harden went what 5-30 , or something like that. Do any of you remember all those point blank layups that Parsons blew in a lot of those games. Plus after his little comment about who was the best SF , Batum started out playing him in every way.

OP you are spot on but you are fighting a losing battle here. Some of these fans mind are already made up about T. Jones. One of them in particular have been lobbying for the man to be traded since day one. Started off saying Jones will never Crack the rotation. He was wrong, so instead of admitting he was wrong, every year he comes on here and talk this man's game down. Talking about his IQ is low, too small and doesn't have the skill set. Maybe one of these days his wish will come true. Lol
My thing is why can't people just support their team and it's players.

 

Jones got destroyed in the Portland series. That's just the way it is. Accept it.

Now, he's a year older, he's stronger, and more experienced. Maybe he's gotten better. We won't really know that until he gets another chance in this year's playoffs.

 

Ok, let's check the game tapes.

In game 1 Matthews shot 6 for 16 and he had two post up baskets. His other four baskets were two 3 point shots, a fastbreak basket and one backdoor cut for a layup.

http://on.nba.com/1BriNIu

Game 2 Matthews shot 4 for 11 and he didn't have any post up baskets. His 4 baskets were 2 fastbreak layups, a 3 pointer and a jumper from the top of the key.


http://on.nba.com/1BrjO3d

Unless you call two postups in two games "abusing" then you're incorrectly remembering what actually happened.

 

LMA didn't directly score 40+ on Jones, obviously.

What Jones did do was let LMA get comfortable early which made LMA practically unstoppable from then on. He let LMA get good position or didn't box him out well so LMA got offensive rebounds and easy tip ins. In both Game 1 and 2, LMA probably averaged 10+ points in the 1st quarter and another 10 in the 2nd. If I remember correctly, LMA would do most of his damage in the 1st half.

LMA wasn't as elite as he was when McHale started Asik on him from Game 3 on. He was still good but he wasn't elite.

 

I actually don't see a lot of "hate" for Jones here. When he was out, people thought that we could not count on him for this season because the nerve thing was so unpredictable. When he came back, he did not play well, which kind of reinforced the worry that he might not be able to play at a high level. I don't think it was hate.

Back to the last playoffs, he did get abused by LMA. He was the primary defender on Aldridge. He could not stop the guy. So they switched Howard at times and didn't work well overall because pulling Howard out to the midrange left the paint exposed. Because of Jones's inability to stop Aldridge, his PT was sharply reduced after the first game.

Saying Aldridge dropping 40 on him is obviously a hyperbole. But he was responsible for the defensive assignment as the starting PF.

 

BB,

I have your back on this one....

We can't change the past and hopefully TJ learned a lot from it... But LMA abused the hell out of him...

TJ, has looked very good this year and I hope he keeps it up.

T_Man

 

I didn't read any of the posts but all I know is that T _ones will be traded if healthy.

 

Never blamed Jones at all. The team had a weakness at PF from day 1 that Daryl never tried to address because he wasn't in win now mode last season. Not sure why that was the case but it is what it is.

 

Say what you want about last year, but the cold hard truth is that right now TJones is the second best player on the team (until Howard returns) so please show the man some respect. He can put up 20+ pts and 10+ rebounds much easier and more efficiently than Ariza or DMo. Appreciate that in a 23 year old!!!

 

I can handle the truth that you sound like a spoiled kid asking for sweets when Terrence is playing well.

Every player and even superstars have their flaws. Keep pointing out his flaws, man!

 

how many fouls are in the first video in the first quarter? the first one was a botched dwight lobbed cuz of a push from lopez that got no call.

 

He has a high upside but and he's young. But in 7 years he will still only be 6'9"

 

So will Dwight, lol

 

While I do agree with the OP to some extent, you also have to remember Howard and Asik are both CENTERS, it wasn't their job to be covering LMA in the first place they were only forced to do so because LMA was making Jones his b**** (something that the OP concedes).

Right now the challenge is on Jones to be a good defensive player, offensively he is already pretty nice if he can be a good defensive player like DMO then he will also be a keeper, a frontline of DMO and Jones 3 years from now could be the best front court in the league.

 

This one's on McHale. He got thoroughly out-coached throughout the series, and the consistency with which Aldridge got the exact same looks over and over and over again is indicative of a systemic problem rather than a particular individual being a poor defender.

It's not unusual for a LaMarcus Aldridge - who relies heavily on mid and long range jumpers - to get hot and burn a 23 year old, second year, playoff virgin.

The sad thing is, we can beat the Blazers even if Aldridge scores 40. This is the Western playoffs, there's an unstoppable player on every team and that player can dominate 2 games in a series.

Howard dominated the his matchup all series. How come we didn't win?

Coaching and particularly defensive coaching was our downfall IMO, and we've improved upon that. Not to mention Jones is more experienced and we have Smith and D-Mo now who have upped our defense at the 4 BIG TIME.