If Pryzbilla and Oden are two of the top centers in the league than the center position is a joke. Blazers are a horrendous defensive jump shooting team. Outside of Roy and Aldridge, they don't have much. Rudy Fernandez can shoot the 3 but that's about all he can do. Play defense Euros!
Hey this is my Rocket team. I bleed red. I am proud of them. They are throwing it all on the floor. More than I magined they have. And let me be clear we have intangibles over them that make us better on the court. And one of those is just an outright desire to win. But talent wise I give the Blazers the edge. We were lucky to catch a newbie playoff team on opening night. We will never blow them out again. That being said I believe we will win this series. But I don't want to see them in Houston again. So perhaps I should have changed my title to The Blazers are more talented than us. Eiher way we will win this thing if we have to leave dead bodies on the court.
I think the rox will take one more on Portland. The team has its confidence now and will be looking to take care of business before this mess gets back to Houston.
Based off their performance against the Rockets, you really believe that Oden and Pryzbilla are both top ten centers? Most of Oden's points have come when Yao's out or off dribble penetration from Blake (when Yao had to rotate to stop Blake after Blake's man got beat). He's demonstrated that he can't create anything on offense... at all. When he gets the ball and tries to back Yao down, he gets stuffed, commits a turnover, or has to pass the ball out. On defense, he fouls constantly. Pryzbilla flops. He is definitely more polished offensively than Oden, but neither makes signifcant contributions - certainly nowhere close to what they might do against other teams. A good part of his rebounding comes from pushing off on Yao (and not getting called for it). (edits: because I know you'll be asking for evidence) If you're just talking about centers currently in the playoffs or guys who only ever play center and never log minutes as a forward, perhaps you could make that case. But to me, guys who log decent minutes at the centers better than they are in no particular order: Yao Dwight Shaq Gasol (F/C) Okur Horford (F/C) Duncan (F/C) Perkins Ilgauskus Jefferson (F/C - injured right now, but he'll be shredding either of them as soon as he's healthy again) Bargnani (F/C) Chandler Even Dampier (purely on his defensive contribution) is better than Oden. Oden's huge 15-point game in this series was in a blowout loss.
In this day and age, you only have to be 7 feet tall to be considered a "top 10 center" in the league. Seriously, Pryzbilla and Oden are just foul machines. But I get the OP's point. I didn't think we would have this much trouble with these guys, especially after Game 1. Frankly, we were lucky to win last night. And this series isn't over........
Completely agreed. I've been saying that if I were a Blazers fan, I'd be pissed at the shot selection. Someone has to attack the basket for them if they want to stick around. They'll learn....but I think the Rox close this out in 5.
I'll give the OP credit for going against the grain but I don't agree with this. At least for right now. Portland is simply too soft. Aside from Roy getting whatever he wants all they do is chuck jump shots. For a team that has the athletic advantage the way they do, they're playing right into our hands by doing that. What they need is a legitimate 20-10 post player (cough, Oden, cough). Aldridge is a good player but he doesn't play like a traditional PF. His game involves too many set mid-range shots, turnarounds and fadeways. He eventually might reach that 20-10 mark but I have a hard time considering him a legit post player. He plays too much like a tweener. Image how lethal they could be if Oden ever pans out. They would have one of the best wing players in the league (Roy), a legit 20-10 post player (Oden) to work it inside, a tweener scoring machine with size/athleticism (Aldridge) all surrounded by great shooters. That's a championship level team. They also could use a better PG, which is scary to think they may already have that guy waiting in the wings (Bayless). It goes without saying that Portland's future is bright and eventually they probably will be better than our Rockets. But not right now they're not.
You really need to get educated. Aldridge is a good player but far from the best jump shooting PF in the game. Garnett immediately jumps to mind among many others. There are PF's that are only good for jump shooting. Guys like Joe Smith for instance.
Yao Ming Dwight Howard Al Jefferson Andrew Bynum (not to mention Paul Gasol plays C during his absence) Shaq Brad Miller Deke Marcus Camby Nene Kendrick Perkins David Lee Spencer Hawkes Marc Gasol Emeka Okafor ....
The thing is after about the top few centers in the league there is a huge gap, and then the gap is so small between the remaining centers, it doesn't even really matter that much.
Ten centers better then Oden or Pryz? uh Jefferson Duncan Dwight Yao Shaq Chandler Dalembert Kaman Camby Bogut Okafor Bynum Biedrins Nene Jermaine O'Neal Brook Lopez Pau Gasol Marc Gasol Okur Perkins Big Z Brad Miller Horford Bargnani ...Even if you eliminate the PF/C hybrids like Pau, Big Al and Duncan, that still leaves like 20 names.
Good point. I keep reading/hearing that the blazers have more talent than we have. But that is just not true, what they have is more athleticism, but that alone does not make you a good basketbal player, or a very talented one (Stromile Swift anyone). People often mistake athleticism for talent. Having a BBQ IQ is also talent, having a good jumper is also talent, being able to stay in front of your man on defense is also talent (quick footwork). Ofcourse you have to train to maxamize your talent. But in general Athleticism alone does not equal talent. Portland does have a more atheltic team than we do, but not a more talented.
Have you watched the last 3 games. They beat us pretty handily in Portland and then made the last 2 in Houston barnburners. They were leading by 6 at the 4th. The only reason we pulled it out was for Lowry incredible rebounding and a miracle defensive stop by chuck. I thought we were just better than them before the season started but I don't believe that anymore. We are a very evenly matched team but Brandon roy gives them a slight edge on talent. We are winning more by desire and heart than by talent. We are leaving more on the court. I don't care about the last 7 games. the last 3 games have been won by heart. If we slack just a bit on effort we lose. That is my point we are out hustling them, that and the fact that we must continue and even escalate it if we want to win in Portland. And we want to win in Portland because this Blazers team with a little hope might actually come alive. And I don't care how we beat them let's just beat them on tuesday.
disagree completely. the blazers are showing strong desire and besides game one have shown no first time jitters. they are playing hard, we have just made a few more plays than them in the two close wins. also, i predict that if brooks steps up in game five, we win big.
1)Dwight Howard 2)Yao Ming 3)Pau Gasol 4)Andrew Bynum 5)Shaq 6)Tim Duncan 7)Chris Caveman 8)Big Z 9)Marcus Camby 10)Al Hardford Even add a bonus one 11)Eric Dampier
Lemme see... Yao Howard Shaq Kaman Bynum Dalembert Perkins Nene Okur Ilgauskas Jefferson Biedrins Bogut That's 13. Oden has a shot to be above all of them except maybe Yao and Howard.
I am not saying they are more athletic although they are. I am so Brandon Roy and Adridge are better than Battier/Artest and Yao. Their 2 top players are better than ours. Roy is a top 5 player. But Scola is smarter than Aldridge and plays for his life out there. And so does Lowry. I know this is my opinion but the fact is as hard as we are playing and given are xperience if we were more talented we would be killing this team at home. We are not that talented but what we have fortitude and desire. And that makes me very proud of this team.
