| Just yesterday, in comments to a story about Brandon Roy finally taking it upon himself to get on his teammates about slack effort and poor execution, I tried to counter the caterwaul of the Cassandra commentariat with this: The whole team doesn't have to be great defenders, but everybody has to play TEAM defense. I think of d like the offensive line in football. Four of five guys can play perfectly, but one guy lets his man through and it's disaster...when Outlaw defends, he can do well. His problem is not deciding to defend, and that's where IMO he needs the oncourt leadership from Roy. Rudy, too...This team is not even 75% of where they can peak offensively, and if they do they're only going to need passable team D. Believe it or not, THIS GROUP can play enough D to win, if they help and show effort every trip. Well send me to the salon and paint my nails Prescient Pink! The Blazers played more than passable defense; they forced the Spurs to confront whatever it was--lack of respect and preparation, focus on this game instead of the back end of the back to back--that put them behind early and never let them get back into it. The Spurs are still a great defensive team; they adjusted well in the 2nd half and began doubling guards and crashing the boards a little better. But on offense, nothing worked that the Spurs tried adjusting to, in order to solve Portland's team defense. The hole was just too deep, and starters for both teams missed much of the 4th quarter under blowout conditions. And so, Exhibit A: yes, THIS GROUP can play defense well enough to win--all they have to do is play it TOGETHER, and use hustle and a willingness to do the hard work of defending to see them through. They can do so, in point of fact, even without Greg Oden's game-changing floor dynamic. Which, while I'm patting myself on the back for having a timely game to back up my argument on team D, is probably the best time to recant a statement I made a few games ago, and re-evaluate based in part on some of the same tenets of baseketball faith I was preaching to the unbelievers just over 24 hours ago. I am risen!...to the den to complete my Blazers recap! {the recantation, below} |
It's actually something I'm delighted to be wrong about, even if I'm not technically wrong but only having my assumptions changed out from under me. I'll explain: a little while ago I began saying I has realized how much the team had actually come to depend on Greg Oden in order to win games, to the extent that I called him crucial. Well, I predicated his importance on the status quo of players around him remaining roughly the same for the rest of the regular season, which would otherwise be highly problematic for any playoff chances: LaMarcus would stay 7 feet out and further; Travis defending and rebounding on the "If it Makes You Happy" motivational philosophy, the guards thinking their read unis meant they were decoys for rim-charging bulls (not Bulls, though). But something happened in the last week or so, beginning with the Hawks game a week ago Friday through the Clippers game and then again in both the Minnesota and San Antonio games this weekend. Most spectacularly, LaMarcus Aldridge has begun asserting his right to occupy the lane and even, dare I say, dominate it at times. Other than Joel being the star because of his defense, LaMarcus played such a complete game his reel should be hung like art. The 26 points are obviously quite nice, but where they were inefficient shots in the Alamodome, in the Garden they came on 10-14 shooting, allowing Portland to maximize their lower number of possessions early on. And did I mention the 4 assists and 3 steals to go with his zero turnovers and 7 rebounds, plus 8 trips to the line, 7 made? The dude asserted against the Spurs. He still didn't go inside a serious amount, but he had Matt Bonner and Kurt Thomas wondering which way he was headed, distracted by jumpers falling in deadly early fashion. So when I projected Oden's absence to be highly damaging, I wasn't counting on LaMarcus stepping up and becoming more of a paint presence, utilizing his frame and his gifts to take some of the pressure off Joel. the last week or so, it's as if a light has gone off and he's said to himself,"Geez, I'm no Amare I guess, but I know I'm better than a white target shooter whose last name is one thin zip code from being Boner, and a former US gymnast who's now black and much bigger, strangely. I believe given that advantage, I shall move in haste down this lane, and thus execute an stuff, perhaps to enjoy the sweet nectar of the And One." I also didn't expect Travis to get religion, find shame, whatever. The funny country boy schtick is going to begin wearing very quickly if he remains the same lackadaisical, non-fundamental player he is today. Helped perhaps by a little tough love from Brandon, Travis had his best ever 5-point game. Here's a little game effectiveness test for TO, on the assumption that most nights he's going to shot at or above 50%, not like the Spurs game. If his rebounds, assists and blocks/steals total at least as much as his number of FG attempts, he had a great game. To me that says Travis was passing up open shots to, well...pass! He also had two very nice blocks, and those six big rebounds include the magic words "weakside help," especially in the third quarter when the Spurs starters were still probing about thinking they could get a run started. And this isn't really a fly-by development for Travis either; he has strung together several increasingly more involved hustle games for Trav, and can always rescue a moribund offense with a few awkward shots that nonetheless drain. So I have to amend my earlier statement that Greg Oden's health is crucial to this team's fortunes, and say it's only crucial if the rest of the team doesn't plan on helping out on court--if there's defensive help like there was tonight, and on offense someone else was there to bully the league's kittenish frontcourts? (Duncan played and got 15 points, but he didn't have any rhythm at all so far). So if those guys--and the guards, who all did varying versions of their best defensive help--are going to continue stepping up like they have the last two games at least, then Greg Oden goes from the difference maker in getting to the playoffs, to the icing on a cake that still is only about half-baked this season. As Hollinger says in the daily dime for Sunday's games, not only is this team not fading, they're getting better. Watch your backs, West Conference! (If you need a replay of the events of the game, try the Loaded O liveblog of it! Clickhere, to get the real-time game detail text for the final 3 qtrs+ of the game vs the Spurs, among other items. |
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