I would've double teamed him too, but we made Roy catch it 30 ft away and make him take a turnaround 3 with less than a second left!! Most NBA players don't hit that shot. With Yao guarding the inbounds man, it almost eliminates the lob or the easy pass to the left baseline for a much closer and easier shot. Either he would've had to pass it to the opposite side, where we could read it and get a steal or like yesterday, make Roy take a hard shot. Don't pay attention to what Kenny and Chuck say...if Roy misses that shot, all they would be talking about is how young the Blazers are. They wouldn't bring that up. Roy just hit an amazing and somewhat lucky shot.
Everyone talks about the 0.8s shot ...... We were 5-16 on off rebs. That is the one decided the game.
We played terrible defense the first 3 quarters. We let them out hustle and out rebound us. Yao and Artest continued to shoot terribly. Yuck. This team isn't good enough to float through the first 3 quarters and then try to turn it on in the 4th quarter, and that's what it looked like they tried to do. They didn't show up to play basketball until there was abotu 7 minutes left in the game. They got out hustled. There is no excuse for that. I guess I have greatly under estimated the impact that Battier makes on this team. When Battier plays, we have a great defense, we outroubound, and out hustle other teams. I guess its a state of mind that he brings on to the court. I think Battier will make a big impact once he comes back.
Bad loss. And who's fault is it?? Yao of course. What was he thinking, scoring so quickly. He left WAY too much time on the clock. Of course the Blazers are going to get a miracle last (less than a) second shot off. @#$%^#$% Yao!!! (and yes, that was sarcasm) Let's see, where to begin... * We played like crap * we had no business even being in that game as bad as we played and got out-rebounded * Glad to see that T-Mac is getting his O back. Nice to see him driving to the lane again. Hope he keeps it up. * Yao needs a good game again to get the confidence back. We need to start putting him on the bench and run small until he can pull it together - if he's not going to be able to deliver on offense or rebounding, at least let him get some rest and don't put him in harm's way. * What happened to Artest's offense? Need to get that going again. * I'm most disappointed in our lack of offensive movement. I knew it was going to take a while to really get it going, but this is nowhere close to what a motion offense should look like. In closing, I'm not panicking. I'm not declaring ourselves paper tigers or suggesting that we are going to suck all year. However, I believe it'll take longer than I originally thought for the Rockets to put it together. In the meantime, we're going to lose some games - including ones we have no business losing. And if we play the rest of the week the way we played last night...well, let's just say it'll be a long week... ...but i still believe....really i do...just give it time...
The biggest problem is this is the kind of game you wished you had won at the end of the year when you are battling out the other Western teams for playoff positioning. With the West so tight, we may have another year where the top few teams are seperated by 2 or 3 games.
one other thing I forgot, I really like that our team didn't decide it just wasn't their night and they had another game the next day, and pack it in. Instead they (finally) fought hard and got back into the game. It was still ugly and kept me up past my bedtime just to watch them lose, but it still shows the team, our team, has heart and guts. just not pretty heart and guts.
Either way, Destiny had it to let the Blazers win 1. Without Tmac and Brooks on offense and Artest and Hayes on defense we were goners. The Blazers opened up the lead to 10 during the start of the 4th when Adelman brought Yao and Mcgrady back. 2. Rebounding- The Blazers got offensive rebounds after offensive rebounds. They had so many second shots that it made my eyes bleed. We were outrebounded 48-36 3. Fernandez off the bench- This was key because he made some tough three pointers and picked up fouls to get the rockets in the penalty with 7 minutes left in the 4th quarter. 4. After Yao made that shot, I noticed the .8 doesn't if feel kind of odd the clock should have ran out. Nevertheless, I had a gut feeling they were going to hit the last shot. Then, what do you know Brandon Roy. I couldn't sleep the whole night, we had this game won, just rebounding mistakes and miscommunications. It was painful after the game.
Good point man.....When they start gelin like magelan....We should be really good. Then hopefully great!
After watching last nights game it is obvious to me that the Rockets are not a top team and will not be with Yao and Rafer on the team... Artest will not take them over the top and he will be gone after this year... They are as painful to watch in action as they were last year...
Are you the type of fan who only watch about 10 games a year? It seems you made your conclusion based on very small sample of games.
I would have never known that Ron Artest was once defensive player of the year just from watching that game... Shane Battier would have been the difference maker...
I really think the coaching is the main Issue right now and mainly why we lost this game and I am really beginning to see why Alderman never won a championship even with all the talent he has had over the years. Last nights shot by roy draws a parallel when Horry Hit that winner for the lakers and ended Portlands opportunity to Win the championship that year. Alderman is just not a good defensive coach. Sadly enough, His player coach mentality is turning out to be more of an issue as well, because he is not calling out his Stars when he needs to. The great ones did it. Pop would sit Ginobli, Parker and Timmy back in the early years when they were fumbling around on the court or not concentrating on the defensive end, Jackson had a way of pulling out Kobe and MJ when he feel they were loosing focus on the court. He would sit them for a few minutes and get them to refocus and then they would take off. Alderman just watches until the final quarter, when it may to too late. This is just bad strategy. Lets face it, even with the bad game Yao had last night, He is still the best center in the league. Yao, up to 10 - 12 feet around the basket is money, and still shoots the highest percentage of center in a tough league, notice I said shoots not dunks. Yao will never be a dunking agressive type center like Wilt or Shaq, but he might go down in History as the best pure shooter to play that position. His stroke is smooth and you can see it when he shoots his free throws. He is still the best at making them on this team, even with Barry and Brooks who shoot it very well too. YAO can shoot for a big man. That is hard to find or teach. He can use his left and right hand, has an array of post moves, hook shots, Baseline spin moves, and can consistently hit from 10 - 12 feet. But here in lies the problem with his recent struggles. Why Yao Posts up, he is not patient enough. There was a time whenever Yao put the ball of the fall he turned it over because the help defenders where just waiting for that, he started catching, reading the defense and shooting. JVG made sure he addressed this issue, now Yao has reverted to that bad habit, hence he is turning into a turnover machine like his rookie years. He also needs to see where his players are on the floor, if he is doubled, SOMEONE should get a wide open layup or three. Dream mastered this as a player and made his team mates better. Yao seems to be unable to pass out of the double teams, and tries so hard to force the issue, leading to more turnovers. Also, when Yao is fronted, the PG always tries to force the ball and it just never works as the weak side defense always comes over to help, leading to yet another turnover. Thats why someone needs to drive to basket to create spacing, but the PG tends to force the issue, leading to more turnovers. I dont know why the coach has not addressed these issue yet. Yao loss of concentration on the defensive end is due to the stagnation of the Rockets play of late, both offensively and defensively.Defensively, JVG used to make Yao flash upfront when picks are being set by the player he was guarding to create disruption for the opposing offense, now every stands around and just watches. We are fast loosing our defensive Identity as team and Yao is suffering the most in this area. When he is not actively moving on defense, he seems to have his mind wander completely out of the game. JVG would call him out in his era, not Alderman. We cannot win a first round series let alone win a championship if we dont gain our defensive identity back, and it really starts with the Big Man. The Princeton offense that brought us the 22 straight wins seems to have vanished as well. We are not seeing the hard cuts, ball movement and motion offensive that we all came to appreciate so much last year. All we are seeing now is a lot of ISOs, players standing around and forcing bad shots. It was ok in the JVG era, because we played defense. No way Portland shoot 50+% like it did last night in the JVG era. This team is becoming lazy mentally and Alderman is not saying anything. Yao has problems right now, I agree, but the coach really needs to get in the face of his team, starting with his stars. Word to TMAC: Offensive is good TMAC, but take a look at the nuggets, had 2 of the top 5 scorers in the league last season, but again a superior defensive laker team, they got SWEPT, because they dont play defense. Ask the Suns as well. Defensive wins games, Offensive will come eventually. This team has to return to that mentality for every 48 mins they step on the court, not for 12 of 24 mins. The great teams play D for the whole game, that why they win championships. With the exception of Artest, every one has to play better D, but the coach has got the preach it this the record breaks!!!!!!
I like how letting someone hit a 27 footer is somehow bad defense. We were up by 1, so the defensive plan was to not allow anything easy, contest but don't foul. Allowing Roy to get a shot off 27 feet away from the basket is GOOD DEFENSE. If we had allowed Aldridge to get an open baseline jumper, thats when you blame the defense. But I'll let Roy take that fadeaway 3 every day. This is different from the situation where we are up 3 and you guard the 3 point line because thats the only way they can win.
Thats exactly my point though. People are focusing on the fact that the shot wasn't contested and completely forgetting where the shot was from. ****, Yao could get an open 3 point shot at basically any time he wants to. But is it bad defense for the other team to let him shoot open 3 pointers? It's not. And that same concept applies here. Roy could get an open 3 pointer from 5 feet beyond the 3 point line at virtually any point in the game if he wanted, but he's only going to make the shot 20-30% of the time. I'll give up that shot if it means preventing an open shot from the top of the key or something. Plus, in the heat of the moment when everyone is moving around and the priority is not allowing an easy shot close to the basket, you can't seriously expect for everyone to close out on a guy 5 feet away from the 3 point line. And I know people are going to say "but you know Roy was going to get the ball". Bull. We were up by 1 and leaving anyone open close to the basket would've been game over for us.
MJ never lost focus...he did get bored at times when it was too easy (in 93) but he never lost focus, thats what set him apart from most greats even. I think only Larry Bird could match his focus and competitiveness. There is the reason why he was the greatest of all time.
