The Blazers are more talented than the Rockets

Sorry to nitpick since I agree with most of your posts in this thread but good rebounding actually has a lot to do with experience. You need experience to be able to anticipate where the ball is going to end up as it comes off the basket, also how to block off your opponent or beat them to the better position.

 

Sorry but that was just a horrible post.

 

Um I think that would actually be called High BBall IQ. Swift has plenty of experience and we all know how he's turned out..........

 

I think this is what it comes down to is how you define talent. Roy is very fast and agile so people say he is talented. Yao is very tall with a soft shooting touch and that is talent too.

A lot of this is like saying which quarterback is more talented, Vince Young or Tom Brady? They both have talent just not the same kind.

 

Some, not all, players develop that IQ with experience by recognizing situations and then how to react to it. Consider how Deke even as he got older and slower could still pull down a lot of rebounds.

 

Look, I know I'm simply a Blade Runner from 2019, but it feels like I'm in a time warp. That's another area of science fiction and out of my paid grade. Why my confusion? I thought we were ahead in the series 3 games to one. 3-1. Ahead. That means we beat them 3 out of 4 times. Which means we are the better team through 4 games.




I keep looking. Am I missing something?

 

That's true, though I think it would also be fair to say that by this point in their careers, none of their main guys are going to get better at rebounding just by playing more games. They have the experience of rebounding their whole lives. And even then, at that or any competitive level, its more about physical talent than anything else.

Point being, the Rockets have been out-rebounding the Blazers not because of experience or trying harder, but because they aren't quite as athletically inept as some tend to think.

 

Guys let me wake you up . We are playing this series without 20 milion dollar guy. Just think about it, unload tmac and you dont have to get a superstar, just 3 good role players for MLE. 20 million is important.

 

Shane and Ron are doing a great job on Roy. If we had a more mobile center for the P&R, I do not think he would get open at all...Only so much Shane and Ron can do in that situation as it has to become "team defense".


Aaron Brooks/Kyle Lowry > Steve Blake
Shane Battier < Brandon Roy
Ron Artest > Frenchy
Luis Scola = Lamarcus Aldridge
Yao Ming > Joel/Oden

Wafer>Fernandez
Landry/Chuck>Travis/Frye

Talent wise...

Rockets>Blazers

 

I've said it before the start of the series that Brandon Roy would explode and make a name for himself and rise his status to superstardom in these playoffs. He's done exactly that. He's been the best player in the series BY FAR and it's not even close.

Furthermore, they bring Oden, Fernandez, Outlaw off the bench. The latter 2 who could easily start for us and over half the other teams in the league and Oden who could start for 3/4th of the teams in the league. With Tracy Mcgrady out we've overachieved and continue to do so with some $20+ million void and with Deke out we've pulled out 2 gutsy wins. Our role players are truly special and so is our coach Rick Adelman. Basketball is a game of chess and making the right moves and RA has plugged in Wafer, Hayes, Landry and Lowry in the most opportune times and he's gotten everything he can out of them. He's kicked McMillans butt thus far which has been the ultimate difference.

Von Wafer was a journeyman who was CUT by the Blazers after getting beat out day and night by Outlaw. You think the Blazers are kicking themselves right about now? Chuck Hayes was a nobody who came in and made the biggest play of his entire career, Lowry was a relatively talented, unkown player burried behind 2 other pgs playing like a seasoned veteran leading this team in his first playoff series EVER. He was making the right passes and grabbing offensive boards as if he were Deron Williams. Basically we have a bunch of "unknowns" who have stepped up and filled a huge void.

If at the start of the season you told me that the Rockets lineup would include players like Lowry, Wafer and Chuck Hayes IN CRUNCH TIME of a PLAYOFF game and not only that but PRODUCE... I would've told you that you were on crack.

Are the Blazers better than the Rockets? NO. Are they more talented? Yes.

 

what the heck is this thread??

old man rock, you totally forgot that our team also has many young talented players like AB, Wafer and Landry, they are ALSO inexperienced and in turn made some mistakes, especially AB in starting PG position almost cost us games sometimes. please watch game 2 again, if we had a experienced PG instead of AB, we would have won game 2 and right now 4:0 ALREADY.

BB games is not only about athleticism, it about every thing including experience. and i don't think they will beat us with the development of their young players. don't forget in future years, we still have advantage to beat them because we will have TMAC or equivalent players to enhance our offense.

 

I wanted to make sure of somethings before I posted back to your reply...

Basically, out of the starting 5 for the Blazers the only one with a significant amout of experience is Blake... Prybilla has some time but you can tell it was garbage time. The Rockets have 4 out of 5 of their starters have a decent amount of playoff time... With 3 of them have a great amount of playoff time.. This makes a huge difference when it comes to the 4th period.

As someone as already pointed out this is from experience and it plays a big role.

I think the Blazer have a GREAT amount of YOUNG Talent and I am not the one to get into arguement about who has the most talent...

All i'm saying is that this team is going to be a BEAST in the next couple of years, if they can keep the players they have and learn from their mistakes.

 

How's so?

Any stat or numbers to backup your ignorance?

 

I'm going to have to politely disagree. Yao has had a much bigger impact on this series than Roy. He also hasn't exactly made his teammates better either. I thought he was a much better passer than what he's shown. He's definitely a star, but he has some work to do to become a superstar.

And for Fernandez and Outlaw starting for us.......no thanks. They would be in exactly the same spot they are in now, coming off the bench.

 

I wouldn't said Portland has more talent or is better, but except for game 1, we have been pretty evenly matched with them.

Game 2 was pretty close and evenly matched until the last half of 4Q where Portland took the lead and extend it until three last min 3pter by AB at the end to close the gap, but it wasn't enough.

Game 3, Hou extended the lead during 2Q and was leading as much as 17 a few min into the 3Q. Afterward, downhill... 3Q and 4Q belongs to Portland, but we did enough to hold off and win.

Game 4, Hou started off slow, but finally took the lead midway 1Q and extend it to 11... Hou had a GOOD chance to extend it further but some bone head turnovers and mistakes close the gap by halftime. 3Q was all Portland, turning a 6pts deficit to a 6pts gain. 4Q was a zig zap and took two big 3pts by Battier and offensive rebounds to hold off the Blazer.

The Blazer overall did out play us in both 2nd half the last 3 games. We did enough to hold off at home.

This is why I agree we MUST treat game 5 as a must win when the pressure is on them to win. If we lose that game, unless there are some adjustments, I wouldn't be so sure we will win game 6 given the trends and the pressure back on us to win game 6.

I have faith though that the rockets will get it done either game 5 or game 6.

 

Aldridge is overrated. Flopzilla and Oden have no offensive game. Blake cant stop anyone.

 

Don't get me wrong. I think the Blazers are great, and could be better.

But this series has shown that it isn't just a bad matchup for an inexperienced team...the Blazers have some real talent deficiencies...

They need to improve at PG. On the plus side, they have Bayless biding his time. Of course, he barely got any playing time this year, so that means he can't be that close to being that experienced talent upgrade.

They need to improve in their front court. For all of Oden's potential, and Aldridge's length and skill, the Yao/Scola/Landry combo is clearly and obviously destroying the Pryzbilla/Oden/Aldridge threesome.

And they need a little more production at the 3. I've conceded that Outlaw is definitely underperforming. So, unless he pulls a Luther Head and sucks every year in the playoffs, he should get better. And, they will have Martell Webster coming back, Batum with another year of experience and Fernandez (as a 2/3) should be now and will in the future get more playing time.

And for all the inexperience talk, the playoffs also provide that opportunity for players, experienced or not, to show what they're worth. Derrick Rose's numbers are up across the board. Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young are both playing at their regular season levels more or less, with Williams shooting better and Young 5-7 from three and having hit a game winner. Last year was Chris Paul's first in the playoffs and he played better.

...just saying...

 

Pryzbilla sucks, and Oden is way too inexperienced (as shown in the playoffs), I agree.

 

It's not that Aldridge is overrated. He has the skills, he's just young and inexperienced still. I guarantee you in a couple of years he'll be a top player in the NBA and one to watch out for.

But for Rockets purposes...he sucks.