Rockets/Blazers: Game observations and bullet-points
by grungedave on Oct 28, 2009 10:07 AM CDT
in Random Commentary
29 comments
Recapping games and doing "journalist" type stuff... so not my thing. I'd much rather just rant and rave and post my observations and things I see that the Richard Justice types never will because he is they are too busy using Google Images to search for incriminating photos of Brad Mills. I mean, how else do they keep their jobs in this economy? Anyway...
- Holy hell the Rockets look tiny next to the Blazers! Granted, most teams are going to look small going up against a front-line of Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and LaMarcus Aldridge. Those dudes are TALL.
- After this season is over, the whole world will finally appreciate how much of a badass Yao Ming is. For all the criticism he's taken for being "soft" or "overrated" or "slow defensively," only in his absence will people truly understand how great he is.
- Okay, so maybe Luis Scola won't go 20/10 this year. You have to look for your shot more to get 20 points and the Rockets appear to have adopted a more democratic sense of offense. This may or may not be a good thing.
- Did Carl Landry shrink 3 inches in the off-season?
- Kyle Lowry showed why the Rockets won the Rafer Alston trade .0001 seconds after it was made.
- For all the pre-season hype and talk, Pops and Joey continue to be non-factors in the rotation. Against a big team like Portland, you would think they would get more court-time.
- David Andersen had about a 5 minute burst in the 4th Q where he actually looked really, really good. Is this what I can expect for the next 81 games? If so... I'm completely on board.
- Chase Budinger can dunk? Must have learned that playing volleyball...
- Greg Oden did get 12 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. But, uhhh, we basically handed that s--t to him. The dude is a monumental bust for a #1 overall pick. He can't run or shoot. And after 2 years in the league, you'd thnk he'd have at least some modicum of an offensive "go-to" move. And yet....... all he has is that stiff-legged, line-drive hook shot. Not exactly inspiring stuff. Somewhere Durant is laughing.
- Everyone is praising Chuck Hayes for playing amazing last night. And yes, for Chuck Hayes, that was one hell of a good game. The problem is that Chuck Hayes at his absolute best is only about 65% of a competent NBA center. We may be "solid" on team defense with Chuck, but the Blazers still out-rebounded the good guys 51-33. Yes, the Rockets only got 23 defensive rebounds the whole game. That is bad. It's not Chuck's fault, but his personal disadvantages are representative of the entire team's defensive problems. "Doing your best" works just fine in little league (at least that's what my parents told me), but this ain't little league.
- As for our biggest acquisition - Trevor Ariza - he had a quick offensive burst in the first quarter. Then he kinda disappeared. His defense was "okay"... Outlaw was just on fire and no one was gonna stop that without earning a suspension for illegal cut blocking. But, Ariza has one major flaw in his offensive game: he has no handles. Ron Artest may have looked sloppy dribbling the basketball, but he was so strong that you couldn't take it away. Ariza looks very fluid, and yet - he can't dribble with his left hand and Portland just attacked him every time he put it on the floor. I am not sure how we hide this in the future.
- Nice to see Rick Adelman in post-season form asleep on the bench at crucial times.
- Luis Scola, Aaron Brooks and Trevor Ariza just found out how tough life is in the NBA when you don't have a Yao, Kobe, McGrady, Artest or Gasol around to take attention away from you.
- On that note - someone needs to tell Aaron Brooks that we don't care if he is 0-6 from deep - you HAVE to take that open 3 pointer at the end when it's available. Do you think Reggie Miller passes up an open three even on a cold-shooting night? Hell naw!
- In the end, we should all applaud the Rockets for fighting back in the end. They were down 20 early in the 4th Q and could have easily gone Tennessee Titan (and by that I mean "giving up completely"). Instead, they fought back with important contributions by the new guys. That was inspiring. If only there was an NBA genie that could grant my wish to make everyone on our team 10% taller. Or at least make every other team 10% shorter.
- Big game tonight. We get to see how the "run and gun" new look Rockets match up against a team that's been running and gunning to moderate success for decades: the Warriors.
GO ROCKETS!!!
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Greg Oden
The dude is a monumental bust for a #1 overall pick.
Hahahahahahaha!!!!! The dude just tore the soul out of your team’s offense and now he is a monumental bust?
Sure he looked akward with his 1-3 shooting and turnovers…but the entire Portland team did not look good taking care of the ball. It’s the first game of the season, so all teams are still a work in progress. Houston included. But Oden destroyed anything going to the basket and gobbled up rebounds like Pac Man. As for the offense, it looked like there were many other Blazers willing to take up the slack. Sounds like you have a case of sour grapes. It’s not Oden’s fault Yao is out, in fact we all hope he comes back soon, so no need to take out your frustration on Oden.
It’s only the first game of the season, so it’s tough to make too many judgements yet. No Portland is not going 82-0 this season, and Houston is not going 0-82. Aaron Brooks is not going to shoot 0% from 3 point land this year. And while Oden did not look like an offensive threat in his first game of his 2nd second season, he will likely average a double double by the end of his 2nd season in the NBA. That’s not LeBron James, but it’s also not Michael Olowokandi or Kwame Brown.
Best of luck with the rest of the year.
by JasonT on Oct 28, 2009 11:12 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Sounds like you have a case of sour grapes. It’s not Oden’s fault Yao is out, in fact we all hope he comes back soon, so no need to take out your frustration on Oden.
Wow. Non-sequitur much?
And while Oden did not look like an offensive threat in his first game of his 2nd second season, he will likely average a double double by the end of his 2nd season in the NBA.
Dude took three shots against a team without a center.
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
by Only_A_Lad on Oct 28, 2009 11:35 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dude took three shots against a team without a center.
What’s your point? That the Blazers were scoring enough points with their other players shooting, so Oden should’ve had more shots?
by JasonT on Oct 28, 2009 11:58 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
It is grungedave...
He is like the Howard Stern of “The Dream Shake.” Don’t take it so personally.
*Unless KP has a secret plan that makes this statement incorrect.
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by staylost on Oct 28, 2009 12:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
come on
You seriously wouldn’t take Greg Oden again #1 overall if you had the chance. Don’t lie to yourself like that. A top-overall pick shouldn’t just be one-dimensional like Oden obviously is. I never said he sucked… I just said he’s a monumental bust for a #1 overall pick. He’s no franchise player. And that’s what you expected. So… “bust” is the correct term.
by grungedave on Oct 28, 2009 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh sure
’Cause Durant is so much more than just an offensive threat….
Anyway, as most Portland fans have been saying all along, give it time. Can you objectively look at his game last night and NOT say that he looked much better than he did in April? Can you then objectively say that he won’t continue to improve? Yes he was supposed to be a cornerstone of the franchise, but NO ONE said it’d happen overnight. The kid is 21 years old. Give him two or three more years — at least! — before writing him off.
by fart on Oct 28, 2009 2:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah...I guess you're right
Oden is a bust. Gosh it’s too bad his “busty” self didn’t score like 32 points last night….otherwise the Blazers would’ve had enough offense to beat the Rockets.
I guess, good teams know how to take what the defense is giving them and exploit it. Too bad the Blazers didn’t do that last night either.
I’m real bummed we have a bust on our team. I’m sure we couldn’t give him away to the Rockets, because of course they couldn’t use him and wouldn’t want him on their team anyway. Oh well.
by JasonT on Oct 28, 2009 2:56 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
not....
when we have the best center in the league returning to us next year, yeah your right, no room for oden. b/c if he was here, class would have been in session for greggy boy.
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
by kg_2005 on Oct 28, 2009 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
He is just still mad at Greg for the Mutombo thing
"Goals are good. Plans are better." -Ben.
by Sabonis4Ever on Oct 28, 2009 4:25 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Counterrandomcommentary
What game did you watch? The fact that Greg only took 3 shots is irrelevant. He didn’t need to score last night with Outlaw on fire, Brandon being Brandon, etc. Did you happen to notice that, other than parts of the first quarter, whenever he was in the game, it changed to Portland’s favor? Did you notice what happened in the final 2 minutes when the rockets were making a last charge, and they re-inserted Oden? He shut them down – again. I guess that was all coincidence.
He completely dominated your entire “team”. A bust? He was the anchor that didn’t allow your bottle rockets to get anything inside. He blocked 5 shots (actually I counted 6) altered many more and and a number of occasions Brooks or someone else would drive only to do do an about face when they saw the big fella. His 12 rebounds were “given” to him? Obviously you’ve never moved past the Nerf stage of basketball. I’d take Oden over nearly any center in the league.
Honestly, I’m amazed when people continue to think there is only one way you can contribute in this game. Oden did everything but score last night.
by BlazerNation on Oct 28, 2009 11:32 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Honestly, I’m amazed when people continue to think there is only one way you can contribute in this game. Oden did everything but score last night.
Yeah, that’s what’s going on here. Dave can’t understand the varied and multi-faceted game that is basketball. Rockets fans just hate on anyone who doesn’t drop 20 a night. That’s exactly what Dave is saying.
Did you happen to notice that, other than parts of the first quarter, whenever he was in the game, it changed to Portland’s favor?
Meh. He was +6 on the night. Nothing special, particularly given the winning margin.
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
by Only_A_Lad on Oct 28, 2009 11:38 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
question
No matter who his teammates were…….
would Hakeem Olajuwon EVER go a whole game taking only 3 shots and subsequently be praised for it? I think not. Blazer fans are trying too hard to convince themselves that taking Oden over Durant wasn’t a mistake.
by grungedave on Oct 28, 2009 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Q: How many shots does Durant get on a team with Roy and Aldridge?
A: 3 million less than he does now.
"Goals are good. Plans are better." -Ben.
by Sabonis4Ever on Oct 28, 2009 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Considered he'd be the best scorer of the three?
I’d say you’d actually see the other two lose shots first.
And don’t give me any crap, I LOVE both Roy and Aldridge (fellow Texas alum), but neither of them are KD with the ball on offense.
www.TheDreamShake.com Co-Founder and Writer
by UofTOrange on Oct 28, 2009 8:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Greg is not Hakeem
He never will be. That doesn’t mean he can’t be really good. Nobody is praising his offense last night. We just want to wait more than 1 game before we conclude that his offense hasn’t improved over last year.
I’ll say it again, but Houston fans of all people (because you read the Battier NY Times article) should be aware of what the plus/minus stats say about Durant, namely that he was perhaps the most damaging defensive player in the league last year. Unlike most Blazer fans, I’d take Durant over Oden if starting a franchise now because he’s such a supremely gifted scorer and he has the tools to become a good enough defender to improve those plus/minus stats.
For this Blazer team, defense has been the problem much more so than offense. That’s why so many Blazer fans are still comfortable with the Oden pick, including a fair number of those Blazer fans who agree with the majority of NBA fans that Durant (despite those nasty plus minus stats) is on the fast track to stardom. There is absolutely a segment of the Blazer fan base that does try to hard to convince themselves that the pick wasn’t a mistake though. I will grant you that.
by jksnake99 on Oct 28, 2009 4:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
You're neglecting to remember
that he sealed the game in the final two minutes. Yes, it was for just a minute, but he was incredibly clutch when even Roy, Aldridge, and Miller were floundering. Of course Blazer fans aren’t going to complain! He saved the day. If his entire role were to come in for the last two minutes and win games, he would still be a worthwhile #1 pick.
by fart on Oct 28, 2009 2:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
not asking him....
to score b/c others are scoring is not to smart on the blazers part, if others are doing there part, shouldnt he be scoring too so ya can run us out of portland. no, it didnt happen, and if it wasnt for that one bad qtr it would have been much closer than a 9 pt loss. and with the team ya have and are equipped with, that should have been a possibility, but it didnt happen. be grateful for outlaws outburst last night, w/o it ya dont win. looks like chucks defense was too much for oden. now that’s funny.
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
by kg_2005 on Oct 28, 2009 3:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Shane and Ariza
His defense was “okay”
The perimeter defense was disturbing, and that’s all on Battier and Ariza.
Basically, the whole game just struck me as sloppy. The defense was sloppy (though very active in going for the steal), offense was frequently rushed, and rebounding just seemed bad. Those aren’t things that (excepting the offense) Yao was the greatest contributor to, so that seems like something that can be fixed.
Your friendly neighborhood Dream Shake mod.
by Only_A_Lad on Oct 28, 2009 11:42 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs
On the money! I felt Shane and Ariza were not their best defensively.
The only card that the Rockets can play is hard nosed defense on every possession, and they have defensive minded players who are capable of doing this. Shane, Hayes, and Luis Scola need to be on top of their game defensively most nights for this team to have any chance of winning. I am hoping that Ariza will fall into that category of defensive excellence.
For my take, Lowry was fantastic yesterday!
by Kari on Oct 28, 2009 11:55 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Did you just compare Aaron Brooks to Reggie Miller?
Maybe I’m missing something, but that seems like a stretch.
by Zach Smith on Oct 28, 2009 12:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
well
In this context it is appropriate. Both are/were the #1 offensive options for their teams in the respective time periods. Brooks has to take that shot.
by grungedave on Oct 28, 2009 12:46 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oden SHOULD have dominated inside…
… if he doesn’t when it’s clear Houston has little inside post presence then there’s a real problem. He did his job on defense a lot better than he did on offense, that’s for sure.
Houston no longer has a big time shot blocker inside anymore so Portland should have taken full advantage of that first and foremost by feeding it all the time inside to their “franchise” center.
Had those other Portland players not been as hot shooting, the way they played that game could have lost them that game. If the Blazers had lost, everyone would have been asking why they didn’t pound the ball inside more when there was such an advantage for themselves there. Those inside the post baskets should be easy points for any tall center with good offensive skills VS Houston.
Whether it is Oden’s fault or the coach’s fault that he didn’t have a monster offensive game, who knows. All I know is that if I was coaching the Blazers and had Oden going up against Hayes and Anderson all night, I’d expect Oden to have over 30 points scoring.
That said, do I wish we had Oden on Houston right now as the starting center in Yao’s absence? Yes. But given a choice would I take him instead of Kevin Durant if I could chose one or the other? No effin’ way. Durant is gonna be a superstar in the NBA very soon. Oden looks like he may be a very good center someday but hardly what I would call a superstar. That is, if he can even stay healthy. And that is a BIG “if”…
I had to stop arguing with drunks, Steeler fans, and all other fools.
It was making my brick wall jealous...
by steeler-hater on Oct 28, 2009 2:48 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I agree somewhat.
Portland should have fed the ball to Oden more often. Three shot attempts is not even trying. McMillan has gone out of his way to say that Oden is not really an option on offense, which doesn’t make sense to a lot of fans.
But Oden vs Durant is an extreme example of an offense-only player vs a defense-only player. Sure, Durant can score like crazy. Sure he’ll make the All-Star game because of that, but the guy plays every-day defense as if all 82 games were All-Star games. If I were to take someone in the great mythical 2007 draft do-over, it might be Al Horford, who can play both ways at a reasonable rate. But Portland has the option of being patient enough to wait for Oden to grow. Most teams with #1 picks don’t have that luxury.
μὴ φοβοῦ, μόνον πίστευε.
by T Darkstar on Oct 28, 2009 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
There is not a single GM in the league, regardless of team need
That would take Horford or Oden over KD knowing what we know now.
I don’t agree that Oden is a “bust” but he clearly was the wrong pick. Pryz has done just fine. KD at SF would make your team legendary
www.TheDreamShake.com Co-Founder and Writer
by UofTOrange on Oct 28, 2009 8:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
There also was barely one who would have taken KD over Oden back then
The Magic with Howard probably. Boston offered Pierce and their #5, so they might have taken either one to rebuild (that was before they were able to acquire Allen and KG). About every other owner and GM would have taken Oden to build around, no ifs, buts and whens.
But slowly things happen that they cannot help and the Blazers Fellowship of the Ring begins to break apart
by Norsktroll on Oct 29, 2009 5:31 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
not pointed....
directly at you. but who thinks oden is better than durant??? given theyre two different positions, but im taking durant 99/100 times. and that one time i didnt take him, i must have been on something big time. lol. how i hate not seeing number 11 on the floor!!!!!
"Waiting for the return of the Mac"
"Let VY loose, give him the chance to play his heart out. for himself, for the titans...and for mcnair"
"Titans & Texans fan, dont bug me w/your petty b.s., life's confusing enough."
by kg_2005 on Oct 28, 2009 3:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Enjoy the loss Rockets.
Another loss is coming your way on Saturday. Which will make you guys 0 and 3 after you get trounced in Golden State tonight.
by GiftofGame on Oct 28, 2009 5:51 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Still bitter from last year?
www.TheDreamShake.com Co-Founder and Writer
by UofTOrange on Oct 28, 2009 8:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
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