Hawks

Blazers Update: On the Road, Punking the Chumps But Not 2Nite by: torridjoe Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PST Fans, we're nearing the end of the first extended road trip of the season--which has seemed awfully long already, even though only seven of the first dozen have been away games. I think it's just the newness of the season, getting only a couple of home-cooking games at a time before being subjected to those crazy pre-7pm starts when they go on the road. In any case, tonight's early rematch with Atlanta's Hawks proves to be the sternest test yet for this still-young and changing group of ballers we call our own.  Everything and nothing rides on the game, if you can parse that odd concept: the Blazers are 4-0 so far on the trip, and any time you go out for more than a couple games and come back undefeated, so picking up a W in Scarlett O'Hara's hometown would be a huge accomplishment. On the other hand, I'm sure if you'd asked the team whether they'd be satisfied with 4-1 they'd bob their heads like bobbleheads. Atlanta as the last opponent on the trip is also dichotomously interesting; having already lost to them at home, I'm sure the Blazers would greatly love to return the pain on the Hawks' home floor. It seems like a tall order, given that Atlanta's record matches or exceeds Portland's 8-3 by a half game at 8-2, which includes a convincing beatdown of the Celtics in the Gahden. The Hawks are 4-0 at home and have won by an average of over 17 points, but on the other hand the Blazers are 5-1 in away games and are holding teams to just 82 points over their last six, with their own impressive average victory margin of 12.  So if Portland can muster the win it will send all kinds of positive signals--undefeated road trip, quality road win over a top team, extend the overall winning streak to seven, stay alone at the top of the Northwest Division, triumph of the three-guard lineup against their toughest matchup to face it...but even with a loss, Blazers and their fans will have nothing to complain about on the plane ride home.  The effectiveness of the 3-guard is what intrigues me most about tonight. It was after the Hawks loss that Coach Nate decided to shake things up, and the Miller-Blake-Roy-LaMarcus-Oden lineup was born against San Antonio to highly positive effect. They haven't lost a game since the switch, and the lineup shuffle has definitely had the desired salutory effect.  Simply put, the team just looks like it flows better when that pesky small forward is taken out of the equation. I think it probably has something to do with the streaky nature of both Webster and Outlaw, and their inability to score off the dribble or create something for a teammate with any consistency. While both Webby and Trout can pour in the offense, if they start slowly it seems like it drags the whole team down. Now that Outlaw is out for two months, of course, either Webster will pick up his minutes directly, or he'll keep what he's getting and the balance will go to folks like Rudy (in a 3-guard setting) or Juwan Howard (in a 2-guard). But who knows how Nate will work things from game to game, and it's really not decided yet anyway that they will continue to use the 3-guard set in games.  On the other hand, why mess with success? Not only did the change apparently allow for the floodgates to open when shooters started out hot, over the last three games against inferior but more physical opponents it also seems to have propped the team up until they could find a rhythm. Against the Bobcast on Saturday night, Brandon Roy faced a larger and talented Gerald Wallace at the 3-slot, but Charlotte ended up throwing whoever they could up against him in a vain attempt to slow him down. Ironically, when the matchups looked more favorable Roy seemed less involved in the grand scheme--but in the supposedly tough matchup, he shined.  And even though it's a bit counterintuitive, given that when it comes to defense it's the guards who are easily the weakest, the defense also appears to have improved from the change. Maybe it's the fact that Outlaw and Martell aren't particularly good defenders either, and Miller/Blake/Roy are at least able to get out and throw a hand up into someone's face. Also, while Miller is nobody's Raja Bell, he has a real defensive peskiness that has turned up a lot of steals that didn't used to be there. Neutralizing the opponents' PG better, and getting a face in their SF, appears to be making a difference. And I'm still speculating, but the dominance of the interior may owe something to the clearer definition of roles under the 3-guard. By taking out that theoretical middle line of defense between guard and big man, Oden, Joel and LMA can perhaps make a clearer distinction on when to help and when to stay home, that the presence of a true forward on the court may have confused (particularly when our 3s can't usually be counted on to stay with their man on a consistent basis). With the relative few games yet played and the most recent opponents being strugglers on offense, maybe it's a confluence of good work and a smaller challenge.  Or maybe it's just Greg Oden, who is starting to come alive on a more consistent basis, and on defense is already one of the top stoppers in the NBA--1st overall in blocks (and way ahead of the pack at 5 BLK per 48 minutes) and 3rd in overall rebounds per 48.  Beyond the stats though, you can just see it during the games--even the beefiest, nastiest guys on the court are starting to shy away from taking it to the hole on Oden, changing their shots around the rim, and discovering that he is having a much better time positioning himself quickly and keeping his arms in the air with a straight-up jump to avoid the foul. And on offense? Ooh-la-la! I start to salivate when I see those 8 foot baseliners, baby hooks and sweet post moves on guys who are no schlubs, like Tim Duncan and Tyson Chandler. He hasn't put the whole package together offensively (he's watching Joel too closely when it comes to receiving passes in transition, for instance), but you can see the sparks of brilliance, and they're shorter and shorter between sparks. Enjoy the game--remember it's a 4pm PST start--and watch to see how well Roy does against Josh Smith and potentially Joe Johnson, whether the guards can keep up against Atlanta's strong backcourt, and whether Oden can stay in long enough early to kick the Blazers offense into gear. And if it doesn't work out? What--us worry?   Discuss :: (0 Comments)

Stop Me if This Pattern Sounds Familiar: The Yin-Yang Double Recap by: torridjoe Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 02:24:56 AM PDT ...and no, I won't stop you if you already smell a rat, or a weasel or vole or some other rodential varmint in my use of the term "double recap." Either I'm doing a recap of the same game twice, which doesn't seem too likely (or interesting anyway), or I'm doing a single column to cover two different games. I'll cop--not only did I miss the Atlanta Hawks loss yesterday, I also failed to write up or even acknowledge the loss to the Mavericks last Thursday. I'll give you three excuses of varying strength, and move on: 1) Losses are much less fun to write about, obviously. 2) They're apparently not as fun to read, either, as the traffic for a loss recap is not exactly cardiac. 3) I got a cold Thursday night and am still hacking myself out of it four days later. (Mrs. Joe is sadly about 36-48 hrs behind me on the viral treadmill). Excuses aside, there was a nice dualism about the last two games, that go a long way towards explaining the rising and falling fortunes of the Red and the Black. The simplest measures are home and road, good team and bad team--but they also go a little deeper than that, and below the fold (a print term that is rapidly becoming archaic-ier and archaic-ier) we'll try to suss 'em out. Why not keep reading--for the next two days times are fat in Rip City! There's More... :: (0 Comments, 1416 words in story)

Blazers Test Out New Chem Set--It Works! PDX 108, ATL 98 by: torridjoe Sat Feb 21, 2009 at 01:23:39 AM PST I was afraid to say it earlier, and I guess now it's too late to claim so without looking like a doofus. I've been burned a couple times these past three weeks or so, thinking that the Blazers would have a bounceback-type game, where everything clicked over a theoretically lesser team. Even if they did manage to eke out the win, it was nothing like I imagined them playing, with confidence and team fluidity, everyone understanding their roles and playing as a unit, executing crisply.  So I was afraid to confidently predict that the Blazers would come out energized and freshly focused on task against a dangerous Atlanta Hawks team playing some of its better basketball of the year. I had a hunch but truthfully had lost some of my own confidence. Seeing LaMarcus fail miserably covering for Joel in the middle when Oden would normally be in, seeing Travis languidly defend and carelessly shoot--I wasn't sure that they really were up to that task. But I did say this, earlier today: This is their time to step up, now that they've got the vote of confidence and they are fully bonded as a team, a group of guys all pulling for each other. I'm hoping this non-activity will flush the so-so play of the last month and renew everybody's spirit and energy for the playoff drive.     Fans got that in spades tonight. The Blazers really gelled and came together as a team to beat a talented Hawks squad that admitted later they just didn't have enough to keep up, as Roy and the outside sharpshooters slowly buried them in the second half. And bless Nate McMillan, I swear he's the only person who reads these recaps--because damned if it didn't seem like the team took my half-informed advice from the last game: give Bayless a shift of Sergio's when the team needs an offensive spark, and let the team run if it wants to run.  Obviously I don't know these men, but it's seemed clear that from the first folding chair on the bench to the last, this particular group of young professional athletes trusts and cares for each other, and feeds off their common experience in a way that leads them to exceed the normal boundaries of their years and talents. Did the uncertainty of how that circle might change at the upcoming trade deadline, cause subconcscious anxiety and hesitancy? We can't be sure, and the players themselves probably don't know or wouldn't admit it publicly. What we do know is that there seemed to be universal relief and a renewed sense of purpose after Kevin Pritchard said the roster (minus Ike) would stay the same. And I think it also renewed the challenge and crystallized their common purpose: win together. What I've seen others say as a way to criticize the lack of a roster shuffle--you win championships with 2-3 All-Stars, not 1--is probably true, but what it probably means is that the Blazers just aren't a championship team yet, but the same group of players very well could be a year from now, or two, or three. So why mess with that? Still, on the court for the rest of the year--where the reachable goal is definitely homecourt and a first round win, I'd say--the reality of the talent level and heightened play in the runup to the playoffs demands that every Blazer rededicate himself to providing their part of the chemistry. Without that star level talent, it will take the combined efforts, everyone chipping in a little bit here and there, for the goal to be realized.  {What I saw that fulfilled this promise, at least for a night, below}   There's More... :: (0 Comments, 1578 words in story)

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