-The Blazers are 15-7. They are 7-0 at home. They are 8-1 against Eastern conference teams. They are 8-6 against opponents with winning records.
Let’s be honest: This team’s starting schedule is tough. Like, really tough. Like, “let’s take all the playoff teams from last year with quality starting centers and put them against Greg Oden on national television. Oh, and let’s do it on the road for good measure” tough. Considering the circumstances, I doubt anyone predicted that, 22 games into the season, the Blazers would have the second-best record in the West behind the LA Kobe (who betta?).
The amazing thing is that the Blazers' record is even better than it looks at a glance. The Blazers started the season against five of the last year's top six teams from the West. After a 1-3 start, Portland has gone 14-4 since the first week of November. Aside from a disappointing loss to Golden State (and yes, it was on the road), the Blazers’ six losses have come against LA (Kobe!), Phoenix, Utah, New Orleans, Phoenix again, and Boston, all on the road. Considering we were missing Oden for six games and Martell for all of them, it’s safe to say that Portland exceeded expectations.
It doesn’t get much easier in 2008 either. Before the end of the year, Portland plays Orlando, Utah, Phoenix, Denver (twice), Dallas, Toronto, and Boston. Oh, and they start 2009 with New Orleans, LA (Kobe!), and Detroit. I think Kevin Pritchard must’ve called David Stern a toad with the commissioner within earshot.
Mr. Stern's Wild Ride!!
In any case, I’m looking forward to 2009. I can only assume that, considering the first half of our schedule, we play 25 straight home games against the OKC Thunder.
-Martell made his glorious return yesterday. I was curious to see how the Blazers would handle his return to the lineup considering the logjam developing at the small forward position. The answer: very carefully. 5 minutes, 0-1 from the field, 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists carefully.
I’m OK with this, though. The guy is a tireless worker and should quickly get back into game shape. When he does, look for him to take Travis’ minutes, and Travis to take Frye’s minutes at the PF.
Sidenote: This resulted in a big, fat DNP-CD for Channing Frye. Out of the Fryeing pan, into the Fryer, you might say.
-Greg Oden gets the ball slapped out of his hands (foul or no foul) more than seems normal. So many times we’ve seen him with the ball in excellent position under the basket, only to have it poked away from him by opposing defenders before he can go up strong with it.
First of all, let me say that I think many of these plays are fouls. Greg’s hands and limbs are just too big for me to believe that smaller defenders are cleanly getting their hands on the ball. However, not only is he a rookie, he is gigantic man with great athleticism. He doesn’t get the luxury of ticky-tack hand-check foul calls like the Mamba does, nor should he.
The fact is, when Oden gets an offensive rebound, he has the unfortunate habit of coming down all the way, often until he is bent double over the ball. I see why he does this: it allows him to get full control of the ball before going up strong. The problem is that this gives defenders (even small defenders who have come over on the double team) a chance to get their hands on the ball on his way up. If Greg learns to rebound the ball up high and immediately go back to basket with it, he will be nigh unstoppable.
A great example of this is Zydrunas Ilgauskas. I don’t think the man could bend over double if his life depended on it, yet he is one of the best at scoring on tip-ins in the entire league. He uses his long arms to keep the ball high above other players so that, if defenders want to have any impact on his tip, the only option is to foul. THAT will get Greg calls.
-The point guard situation is really getting interesting up in Portland. Steve Blake is having a great season by his standards. Sure, his numbers won’t blow you away, but anyone who has watched a few Blazers games can attest that he has been an extremely important part of the starting offensive unit. How many times have we seen Blakey hit big shots when our offensive has been stagnant?? The Toronto game-winner aside, there have been countless games in the last month in which Blake came out firing and helped our early offense get rolling. Big round of applause for Blake.
Sergio is also filling an important role. I think it’s fair to say that a lot of Blazer fans thought the only impact Sergio was going to have this year was to invite Rudy to his house for Thanksgiving. Well that happened too, but Serge can do more than just pass food around the table. Rodriguez has also dropped 4.1 dimes in only 15 minutes a game, putting him second in the league in assists per 48 minutes. He doesn’t spill the cranberry sauce either: he’s currently 12th in assist-to-turnover ratio.
Bayless still has to prove himself, but it was clear from the Boston game that this guy is determined to impress in whatever limited minutes he might get. In fact, by the fourth quarter, Bayless was about the only thing that kept me from turning the TV off in disgust. I’m not expecting anything this season besides what he’s currently doing, but that little taste of B-Rex left me wanting more.
I guess the point is, all you Blazer fans who are clamoring to use RLEC on a veteran point guard: WAKE UP! To make a geological analogy: Blake is our rock, Sergio is our free-flowing hot lava, and Bayless is our tumbling mass of rock and ice, gaining speed, size, and momentum. Watch out.
That’s it for Joe Knows. Until then, get pumped for a much-needed home stand of…one game? Damn you Mr. Toad!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment