# Blazers @ Kings Game Thread!



## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

I think this is a VERY winnable game for us. Bonzi and Peja are out. Even if they were in we should beat these chumps. Sactown has no heart and play no defense . Only team who plays worse defense then the Kings is the knicks. The best part is...SAR will miss the playoffs again if thats possible.

We got this.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

> Only team who plays worse defense then the queens is the knicks.


ever heard of the Sonics?


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

mixum said:


> I think this is a VERY winnable game for us. Bonzi and Peja are out.


Well, apparently Peja is not out. Remains to be see if he's effective...

barfo


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

Looks like Peja suited up and will play tonight. Then again, he's only shooting 41% this year, his worst percentage since his rookie year.


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## meru (Jul 2, 2003)

mixum said:


> I think this is a VERY winnable game for us. Bonzi and Peja are out. Even if they were in we should beat these chumps. Sactown has no heart and play no defense . Only team who plays worse defense then the queens is the knicks. The best part is...SAR will miss the playoffs again if thats possible. We got this.


Can you go back to being negative? I think you're less objectionable then.


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## bballchik (Oct 22, 2005)

this is probably a stupid question but the info on the game on tv says "portland at sacremento 7-9:30pm sebastian telfair faces off against mike bibby in the backcourt" is telfair back starting or they just don't pay attention?


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## kaydow (Apr 6, 2004)

bballchik said:


> this is probably a stupid question but the info on the game on tv says "portland at sacremento 7-9:30pm sebastian telfair faces off against mike bibby in the backcourt" is telfair back starting or they just don't pay attention?


Sounds like Blake is starting.


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## kaydow (Apr 6, 2004)

wastro said:


> Looks like Peja suited up and will play tonight. Then again, he's only shooting 41% this year, his worst percentage since his rookie year.


Somebody forgot to tell him he's only supposed to shoot 41%. He's hit everything so far.


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## ABM (Dec 30, 2002)

Zach needs to sit.


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## kaydow (Apr 6, 2004)

Turnovers right out of a time out . . . ouch


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## kaydow (Apr 6, 2004)

Well, were on pace to finally hit 100 points tonight . . . although I don't know if we'll get there with Joel P. as our leading scorer.


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## ABM (Dec 30, 2002)

If Zach and Peja were out, we'd probably be up by 10 or more!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Blazers sure put out the effort! Got to love that. Playing pretty smart too.


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Jack is playing wicked!


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Very good game so far...

Actually, for the first time I told myself that Juan Dixon isn't all that bad.


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

What a pass from Zach to Ratliff!

We really need this win to build some positive momentum. It could happen.


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## stupendous (Feb 17, 2003)

Good lord! I thought i would never hear the words "Portland is on an 18-0 run" this year!

This team is exciting to watch right now!!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Yea, he's playing well. Heck the whole team is playing well. Hustling and playing smart. Really picking the Kings apart on O and D!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Wow 27 to 4 in a quarter and the Blazers not on the 4 end??


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

SheedSoNasty said:


> What a pass from Zach to Ratliff!
> 
> We really need this win to build some positive momentum. It could happen.


It's still early, but yea if they can win this it'll really help their confidence considering they have been playing pretty well the last few games.


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

mgb said:


> they have been playing pretty well the last few games.


No kidding. At least compared to our low expectations of them this year.

It'll be interesting to see how the dynamics behind this squad changes once Sebastian and Darius get back.


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## Backboard Cam (Apr 29, 2003)

0-8 run to start the 3rd.


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

SheedSoNasty said:


> No kidding. At least compared to our low expectations of them this year.
> 
> It'll be interesting to see how the dynamics behind this squad changes once Sebastian and Darius get back.


I was thinking the same thing earlier. They just mention it on tv too.


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## SolidGuy3 (Apr 23, 2005)

Like I have been saying folks, we are going to shoot better than our opponents 90% of the time. We are blazing at 53.8% while they are at 44.7%! Go Blazers!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Backboard Cam said:


> 0-8 run to start the 3rd.


We responded and how!


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Victor "The Wolverine" Khryapa with the reverse slam!

This is a great game to watch so far if you're a blazer fan.

Hell, we might actually get a chalupa for the first time this year. Symbolic chalupa anyway.


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## SolidGuy3 (Apr 23, 2005)

We are shooting great from the field again, 55.6% to their 45.6%. The difference in tonights game? We rebounded well and not committed turnovers.


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

We look like an NBA team tonight... thanks Kings!

Whoops, just then we make about four stupid plays in a row...

barfo


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

SolidGuy3 said:


> We are shooting great from the field again, 55.6% to their 45.6%. The difference in tonights game? We rebounded well and not committed turnovers.


I picked the Blazers to score 99 but I'd love them to score more as long as we win.


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## Xericx (Oct 29, 2004)

100?

If We Win, Will Adleman get canned?


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Can't let them keep getting those O rebounds. We would have them buried if not for those.


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

I'm glad we kept Zach.


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## BlazerFan (May 26, 2005)

Xericx said:


> 100?
> 
> If We Win, Will Adleman get canned?



I wouldn't be surprised if he did.


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Ok, now Blazers can't score any more and the Kings score 13.

Oopps, we scored another bucket.


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## ptownblazer1 (Oct 12, 2005)

Blazers now 1-0 when scoring more than 100 points... 

It was a great team win...everyone touched the ball. A great TEAM Win!!!!


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Great win! Have we seen any improvement? Got to love Nate! But we might have been better sooner if he had let Viktor played more early on.


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## Xericx (Oct 29, 2004)

Peanut Butter Jelly Time


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

You know, I don't care what anyone says, we aint the worst team in the league!


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## dkap (May 13, 2003)

> I don't care what anyone says, we aint the worst team in the league!


That's because we don't have Shareef!

Dan


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## Backboard Cam (Apr 29, 2003)

BlazerFan said:


> Xericx said:
> 
> 
> > If We Win, Will Adleman get canned?
> ...


Petrie left with 1:00 to go in the game.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

Wow.

They scored 100, bettered the Kings in assists, shot 54% from the field, limited themselves to 10 turnovers ... overall, a really balanced game. Well-played at both ends of the floor.

During a timeout, I was trying to think of players who weren't doing much for the Blazers tonight, but everyone showed up and played together. What a GREAT GREAT GREAT win!

If the Minnesota win was the biggest of the season, where does this one rank?


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## Gunner (Sep 16, 2005)

I had to laugh when they kept mentioning Bassy looking a little nervous and taking notes. :biggrin: I think he's gonna have a time working back into the start if Blake and Jack keep it up. If one of them was going to be traded,it'd be a tough choice right now. There wasn't anybody on the team that I wasn't ecstatic about tonite.


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## Fiddy (Dec 14, 2005)

i only saw the second half, but i liked what i saw from Zach :banana:


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

Fiddy said:


> i only saw the second half, but i liked what i saw from Zach :banana:


He started slow but came on strong afterward. Pretty good all-around game.


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

Hate to say i told ya so.....the kings are a joke with no heart or toughness. 

With that said...EXCELLENT JOB BY THE BLAZERS!!! Blazers have played great 2 games in a row. Zach is coming back to form and im so glad we beat SAR since you could tell how bad SAR wanted this game. Its so funny, same old SAR (nice numbers with a loss). ROTHLMAO.

Zachs a winner and SAR is not. thats the diference my friends.

I knew we would whip up on the Kings........ like i said in the opening post....WE GOT THIS.


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## Backboard Cam (Apr 29, 2003)

mixum said:


> Its so funny, same old SAR (nice numbers with a loss). ROT*H*LMAO.


Hardwood?


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## Hype #9 (Feb 14, 2004)

mixum said:


> Hate to say i told ya so.....the kings are a joke with no heart or toughness.
> 
> I knew we would whip up on the queens........ like i said in the opening post....WE GOT THIS.


Be more respectful of our opponents tonight. I know you will comprehend this is in some way. Thanks.


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

sorry but i do not respect that team.


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## furball (Jul 25, 2004)

The way that Jack and Blake are playing is the best thing for Bassy. He needs the competition. I still think that Bassy is the point guard of the future. I really think he has some Isiah Thomas in him. I still think he can be a star. The worst thing for a player is to be handed a starting job. As much as I like Jack ( who reminds me more and more of Terry Porter ), I think he is going to end up bringing us a nice draft pick in return. And Nash scored another Moneyball pick with Blake. I think he is a perfect backup point.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

> This team isn't that bad.
> 
> How long until it makes that realization itself?


Canzano posted that in his blog a couple days back; maybe the team is starting to build some confidence. Hearing them actually talk about "shoulda won" or "coulda won" is encouraging after losses. Now, maybe they are heading in the right direction.

I hate to make such a big deal out of one game, but the Blazers just played a really complete game tonight. They answered all the runs that the Kings made and held them off after the ugly 3rd quarter start.


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

Our biggets problem will be scoring with teams like GS, Dallas, Denver etc. We just cant compete with that fire power night ina nd night ut. We need another scorer/shooter before we can talk about winning a bunch of games IMO.

Thats why in this draft ist so importnat to get Rudy Gay or Adam Morrison. with a frontline of Pryz Miles, Zach, and a good Sg...we could win alot of games no matter how bad telfair sucks. Anyway I think Blake and Jack have stolen his job. Telfair IMo is the 3rd PG on this team now. i bet Bassy milks his injury longer cause he knows his job has been taken.


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## crowTrobot (Jun 24, 2005)

furball said:


> The worst thing for a player is to be handed a starting job. As much as I like Jack ( who reminds me more and more of Terry Porter ), I think he is going to end up bringing us a nice draft pick in return. And Nash scored another Moneyball pick with Blake.



with a little more PT jack may develop a better all-around game than telfair. he plays much better D right now. i wouldn't assume anything with our PG's at this point.


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## SolidGuy3 (Apr 23, 2005)

Great win for the Blazers tonight. The key to tonights game was the turnover and rebounding. We didn't commit as many turnovers as the Kings and we forced them into turnovers. Great rebounding also but I'm still concerned about our rebounding because the Kings are known as a soft team.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

mixum said:


> i bet Bassy milks his injury longer cause he knows his job has been taken.


They said on the 5th Quarter that he practiced and "told anyone who would listen" that he will be back for the Philly game, or at worst, the Memphis game.


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## crowTrobot (Jun 24, 2005)

it's funny to see mixum over in the kings forum ripping them now. he's lost with nothing to rip on here :banana:


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

great...im sure the sixers are pumped....more turnovers from bassy. Should lead to at leats 10 fast break points.


Nate better not screw over Jack and Blake....Telfair isnt anyhere near as effective. That would be a crime.

Let Telfai earn it for once...maybe then he will show improvement instead of another horrible layup attempt or bad pass for the cameras.


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## mixum (Mar 19, 2003)

ripping? Im being honest and giving my opinion.

I gave the blazers lots of credit tonnight, infact look at the opening post of this thread dude. You are baiting tonight.


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Well Mixum if you think Telfair is the 3rd option then you must love Nash, because Nash was the guy who brought in both Blake and Jack this offseason.....I knew deep down you loved Nash....

BTW, Dixon is looking like a really good signing....

and Ed. O. you're never around when were winning, how come?


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

zagsfan20 said:


> and Ed. O. you're never around when were winning, how come?


I was wondering that myself, he was here for the first time that I seen during a game thread when we were getting killed in that one game. Might be he is away for the holidays.


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## RPCity (Aug 29, 2005)

Honestly I was very frustrated by Jack's play tonight. I know we were killing the clock a lot in the 2nd half, but I didn't like how he was dribbling the ball around at the top of the three point line....he almost turned it over a few times doing that.

My dad even said....."He's worse than Damon!"


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## zagsfan20 (Dec 24, 2004)

Jack did just fine for a rookie.....

I noticed though that whenever Blake is in the ball game it seems like our ball movement is way better than when the other guards are in the game....

I love the way they swing it to Dixon in the corner.....

I always liked the Dixon signing, in fact before we even signed him I thought we should've signed him...IMO it was a great signing by Nash, a solid contributor and solid guy at that....


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

RPCity said:


> Honestly I was very frustrated by Jack's play tonight. I know we were killing the clock a lot in the 2nd half, but I didn't like how he was dribbling the ball around at the top of the three point line....he almost turned it over a few times doing that.
> 
> My dad even said....."He's worse than Damon!"


That concern me too at times. Wonder why he wasn't getting the offense going. Maybe no one was moving.


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## RPCity (Aug 29, 2005)

Coulda been.....but there were passes available to be made (and I was yelling at the TV for him to make....)

He did it a few plays in a row....so I guess it was relatively isolated....until finally Martell came up to get a handoff and start the offense.


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Awesome game tonight.

We definitely have some big decisions coming up that need to be made once Telfair and Miles are back.

Who starts? Who loses PT? Who's traded?

Ugh. I just want to see some more balance before we really start to settle into a set rotation.


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## Target (Mar 17, 2004)

2nd quarter is best quarter played this year or last year IMO.

Theo Ratliff 9 points? they ran plays for him even. Maybe he should play more PF. He doesn't have Zach's range but his defense is way better.


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## RipCity9 (Jan 30, 2004)

Theo hitting shots keeps his defender honest and opens up the paint for Zach. He's not a bad shooter so hopefully they don't forget about him. Great win!


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## bballchik (Oct 22, 2005)

wastro said:


> They said on the 5th Quarter that he practiced and "told anyone who would listen" that he will be back for the Philly game, or at worst, the Memphis game.


Funny how he said that last week too. He was quoted as saying he could be back "at any time, maybe even the Washington game".........yet still no Bassy...........

I think Mixum may be right, he sees he's not going to start with Blake and Jack playing so well so he's milking the injury. According to him he was ready to come back about 5 games ago so where is he? Probably sitting on the bench scared to try to come in here and start again and then have the crap embarassed out of him when he's told he'll be coming off the bench, he's probably waiting for Blake to screw up so he can have his spot back or something...........?

Personally I think we all see a lot of improvement in this team. Don't misunderstand we're not great or anything but soooooooo much better with the current line up. I think it will be horribly stupid if any changes are made to the current starting lineup since they are getting such great chemistry right now and actually look like a basketball team playing a real game....not a bunch of strangers playing pick up like they were with Bassy in there (not that i'm saying bassy sucks or anything-i'm sure he'll be great some day but he's just not clicking with this team (aka "nate's style of play") but if it ain't broke don't fix it and this new team is clicking some how so it ain't broke!)


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## Kmurph (May 7, 2003)

Telfair "milking" an injury b\c of concerns over playing time?

What a bunch of garbage...COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE....

I am glad to see the "team" playing better as a whole, and I have no doubt that when Telfair returns, the "team" will be better for it...

I didn't see anything from either Jack or Blake that Telfair is not already capable of doing....

Maybe POR should ditch Miles too, since the team is obviously better off w\o him....

What a bunch of nonsense...


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## hasoos (Jan 3, 2003)

Great game by the Blazers last night. I just wanted to bring one thing up that I had not seen up here, although there are a lot of good post.

1. To me the thing that steps out is the consistency from game to game. In order to the Blazers to start winning on a normal basis, they have to get consistent performances from their players. Tonight they got a performance consistent with the game before. Every player who played well the game before, played well tonight. What does this say to me? Nate is figuring out his rotation, who is playing well together, and he is getting them to play hard.

2. Rebounding rebounding rebounding. The Blazers are still losing the rebounding war, but they have sucked it up and are at least making it close. In the past we were seeing teams get 25 offensive rebounds per game and absolutely breaking Portlands will. Over the last couple of games that has dropped by about 10 offensive rebounds per game. Still room for improvement, but it is coming along. I have noticed guys like Travis Outlaw tipping balls and keeping them alive, and putting a body on players where he did not used to. The Blazers are the team being quicker to the ball. As long as Portland keeps it close, they are a good enough shooting team to win games. 

3. Comfortable. Fortunately at the cost of having Darius out of the lineup, now players are getting enough playing time to feel comfortable out on the floor. Will it continue when he comes back? 

4. Nice to see Martell bust a few plays, on both ends of the court.


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## gatorpops (Dec 17, 2004)

Kmurph said:


> Telfair "milking" an injury b\c of concerns over playing time?
> 
> What a bunch of garbage...COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE....
> 
> ...


Amen! 

What I hope will show when Telfair and Miles return is that they both can/will swing the ball from side to side and move cutters around. 

An example of player movement in the last game was how Outlaw would enter the ball to Randolph and then cut around him toward the basket and draw his man away from Zack and allow him to go one on one. 
It worked many times with various players in the last couple of games. 

I do hope Miles and Telfair see this happening since they have been out. They are both better players than any of our other players at the moment. 

Something else that has helped us, is the pace of the game is picking up some and the ball is being gotten into play sooner. This will help Telfair if the other guys run up with him. In the past I often wondered why they would not pust it up and then if necessary set up. Nate probably wanted them to get the TO down before he would let them do that. I look for them both back soon. This is very exciting to watch develop this year.

Go Blazers

gatorpops


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## crandc (Sep 15, 2004)

My impressions from the game, reconstructed from scribbles on a note pad, most of which are illegible:
I had hoped to get there as soon as the gates opened. I had not anticipated heavy traffic on I-80 on 12/26, but it was gridlock and took me 3 hours to get to Sacramento, so I only caught the tail end of shoot around. Bassy signed the pic I took last year. I scanned it but can't figure out the trick to attaching photos to my posts. I asked him about his hand, he said it was better and he hoped to play that night, but he didn't.
Prior to the game, I heard on Kings radio that it was a must win for Sacramento; they'd been clobbered by Dallas and needed to re-establish their formidable home court advantage in a "winnable" game.
I used some deception to get my camera inside.
In past years I've always seen loads of Blazers fans in Sacramento. Sometimes a whole section would be dominated by Portland fans. This year I did not see anyone else in Portland gear. I did see a young man in a Gonzaga sweatshirt, which should make zagsfan happy.
Blazers started Khryapa, Randolph, Przybilla, Blake, Dixon. They scored the first 4 points, but then the Kings scored the next 12. At that point, 8:27 1st qtr, the Blazers were shooting 28% with 3 TO's when McMillan called a time out. They'd had to take out Dixon due to fouls, and when he went out the team lost its focus. No defense, the Kings were walking unimpeded to the basket, and ill-advised shots. Zach looked like his knee hurt, no elevation. Khryapa was the only bright spot; he has very quick hands and what I can only call a "feel" for the game.
There are a lot of things I don't like about Ruben Patterson, but I can't deny he brought a spark. As soon as he came in, he drove to the basket, drew a foul, and made both FT's. The team started looking more alive. They were lucky to be down only 30-25 at the end of the 1st; they had shot a respectable 47% but Sacramento had shot 63%.
In the second quarter, the Blazers looked like someone had lit a fire under their collective, er... feet. With Theo, Patterson, Outlaw, Zach and Dixon on the floor, they started playing defense, contesting every shot, rebounding, diving for loose balls (basketballs, I mean). They ended the game with 10 steals, but even when they did not get the steal, they succeeded in tipping quite a few passes out of bounds or to the wrong guy, disrupting the Kings offense. I had not realized it was a 20-0 run until half time when I heard the Kings half time show in the Ladies' Room, but when it was 45-37 Portland the Kings fans started booing. They booed louder when, after a Sacramento timeout, the Kings turned the ball over and Khryapa got a layup. The boos became thunderous when on the next possession Portland rebounded the missed shot and Theo jammed it with authority. I just sat back and smiled. At the half, Portland was now shooting 55% to the Kings 45%; they had 11 assists to Kings 8, 6 turnovers to Kings 11, 8 steals to Kings 3. Kings had edge in rebounds and big edge in FT shooting (Jarrett Jack, a guard is not supposed to miss 3 consecutive free throws!); free throw shooting was the only thing keeping them from being completely blown away.
The Kings started the 3rd quarter with 8 consecutive points, but after a time out Blake's shot started another Blazers run. When Dixon's 3 made it 73-60 Portland the Kings fans were booing again. I have never heard them boo their own team. Even in the early to mid 90s when they were awful fans would groan and shake their heads but never boo their own. 
Apparently no love lost between Reef and ZBo, who had double technicals. Through 3 quarters, Dixon had 16 points and Reef 14.
I noticed how good the chemistry is between Dixon and Blake, not surprisingly since they played together so much in the past. When they were on the floor together, offense ran much more smoothly. 
In the 4th the teams more or less traded baskets, but Portland already had a big lead. Adelman put his starters back in at 4:30 in the 4th, but at that time it was 95-79 Portland and too little, too late. Sacramento used to be known for its celebrated "Bench Mob"; now the bench is putrid, they get almost nothing from their reserves. Compare that to Portland where Patterson, Ratliff, Outlaw, Jack and Webster all contributed, Patterson and Ratliff in a major fashion. Stojakovic's 3-pointer woke up the crowd momentarily, but the Blazers answered with their own 3. The Kings' next two 3-point attempts were airballs and the fans booed again.
Blazers did a good job in the last 2 1/2 minutes of slowing the game down. When you have a big lead late, the clock is your friend and it makes sense to run as much time off as possible each possession. Their great defense gave them confidence on offense; repeatedly, they were able to hit shots with just a few seconds left on the shot clock. The crowd groaned, I cheered.
Juan Dixon would have been chalupa man had they been playing at home.
I have no idea why the Kings would deliberately foul with one minute left down by double digits. Did they think they could make up 12 points in 44 seconds? 
The final score was closer than it could have been since in the last 2 minutes the Blazers pretty much let the Kings score. Or tried to; Mike Bibby missed a totally uncontested layup. 
I was impressed by how well McMillan uses his time outs. Much much better than Cheeks ever did.
Also, impressive was how it was a team game. You can look at ZBo, Patterson, Blake and Dixon as the main guys, but Przybilla, Rattler, Jack, Webster, Khryapa & Outlaw all made contributions. 
After the game, Mike Rice was slapping everyone's hands and babbling about playoffs. I had not brought him any of my lethal and very potent eggnog. Honest.
Played the Eroica Symphony on the way home. It seemed to fit. Lit Hanukah candles many hours after sunset and went to bed later than my bedtime. My hands hurt from clapping and my face muscles ache from smiling so much.
That's all I can remember right now. If someone shows me how to attach photos I'll see what I can do when I get my film developed.


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## BBert (Dec 30, 2004)

Jack is better than Telfair at muscling his shot up at the basket. That's it. No way does he run the offense better than Telfair. Several times last night I too screamed at Jack for missing open guys or simply not moving the ball around (the way Blake does). I think it's pretty clear Blake will continue to start for at least a while when Telfair comes back. Maybe all season. Only time will tell.

As has been pointed out in this and other threads, improved rebounding has been helping us lately. One play stood out to me that illustrated a big part of it. The shot went up from the corner, Peja was standing near the basket, on the other side, with no one around him, looking up at a sure rebound. He didn't get a body on Viktor, who was behind him on the corner. Viktor anticipated the play (nothing new there), ran around him, snagged the board, and finished with that sweet behind the head jam. A lot of games where we were being outrebounded, our guys were the ones standing flat-footed looking up at a sure rebound, only to have the other guy hustle and get the loose ball. Rebounding isn't just being in the right spot. You've got to get a body on the nearest guy and seal him out, period. Even if you are 15 feet from the basket. And you have to want it. That aspect was illustrated last night by Ruben and Travis. At least three times each in the second half they rose above the crowd and willed the rebound into their or a teammate's hands. Great stuff. I don't care if Sacto isn't a good rebounding team, the Blazers have improved this aspect of their game for about the last 5 games or so (it seems -- without looking up data).

At the end of the game Rice mentioned that when Zach got off to a rough 1-5 start shooting, missing some tough shots, Nate pulled him for Ruben and Zach 'responded' when he went back in and finished strong. Am I the only one who noticed that Dixon started off the game missing two horrible bombs right off the bat, followed by another bad shot (that went in) soon after? Nate sat him down too. In his first stint on the floor he'd taken almost a shot a minute. Dixon also seemed to 'settle down' after that, his shot selection improved, and he had a good game. Late in the game he even passed up a shot he'd normally take, passed it out, got it right back and canned it within the rythm of the game. I'd say in this regard he's been very Zach-esque in his development.

Two straight road wins and a string of good games. :clap: Sure enough, it's the end of December, Nate is almost through evaluating the players and tinkering with combinations, he's starting to establish a set rotation, all the early boot camp remolding of the players is starting to pay off, and the team is starting to take shape and execute. Nate is even letting the guys run a little more. All of this was predicted, but I guess it's hard for most people to avoid getting carried away by every little fluctuation when fandom is by nature so emotional. 

Does this mean we're not getting the first pick in the next two drafts?  :biggrin:


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## BBert (Dec 30, 2004)

Cool recap crandc. Glad you made it to the game and took notes, and shared them. :clap:

It's interesting how fans of unsuccessful teams are much harsher on their team once they've had a taste of success. Although I'm sure Portland fans would never act like that. :angel:


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## RPCity (Aug 29, 2005)

Kmurph said:


> Telfair "milking" an injury b\c of concerns over playing time?
> 
> What a bunch of garbage...COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE....
> 
> ...


Thank you Murph! If I had to make the first post on this, it would probably have been much less friendly.

The sentiment that he's milking the injury is honestly one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. He keeps saying he wants to play, yet he's not playing. Oh of course.....he's obviously milking it.

What?!

A sign of a true competitor is when the coach has to hold him off the court. I think that's probably what's going on here. He wants to play, but Nate, the staff, and the trainers are being more careful with him. He tried to play through it originally. 

And what would the goal be of milking it anyway???? So he can let Blake and Jack play and impress people more and hurt his chances of getting the starting job back even more?! 

Give me a break.


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## dkap (May 13, 2003)

> According to him he was ready to come back about 5 games ago so where is he?


Uh, he's played 21 of the 27 games so far. By your math, he was ready to come back one game after going on the reserve list with torn ligaments in his thumb. Surely, you can do better than that to make a point.

Dan


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## bballchik (Oct 22, 2005)

dkap said:


> Uh, he's played 21 of the 27 games so far. By your math, he was ready to come back one game after going on the reserve list with torn ligaments in his thumb. Surely, you can do better than that to make a point.
> 
> Dan


Sorry if I'm wrong still, I may be confused, but from what I'm looking at on the schedule it has been 5 games. 

After the Seatle game on Friday Nov 16th he commented he may be back for the Washington game........(don't have time to search now but it was in the notes at the bottom of the oregonian column after the seattle game)

Game 1 vs Washington - no bassy

Game 2 @ Detroit - no bassy

Game 3 @ Memphis - no bassy

Game 4 @ Minnesota - no bassy

Game 5 @ Sacremento - no bassy


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

crandc said:


> That's all I can remember right now. If someone shows me how to attach photos I'll see what I can do when I get my film developed.


Nice post. Look forward to seeing the pics.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

I like what blake and jack did, but I also liked what telfair was doing. A big problem that we had even when Telfair was playing was the fact that the team still wasn't getting much out of the SG (no matter who was playing, Smith, Webster or Monia) and the team wasn't playing the system that great yet.

I dont think that Telfair has "lost" his job, per-say, but that he'll probaly come off the bench for a while to get him back up to speed. They won't trade him now because Blake or Jack are doing their "roles" good, because that'd be asinine. 

I think a lot of fans are associating things with Telfair (and jack and blake) that aren't actually real, but more imagined. He's playing good this year, and has improved his game. It's just that the team wasn't exactly playing good _as a team_. Zach is playing a lot better now (he's making shots, passing better, and playing the system) and I think that had a lot to do with how "poor" telfair looked in some peoples eyes.


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## Kmurph (May 7, 2003)

Nicely put Hap and correct analysis IMO..


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## mgb (Jun 26, 2004)

Yea, I agree, well said Hap.


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## Goldmember (May 24, 2003)

I think Telfair was pushed into the limelight too soon. It could do him well to spend more time learning the game from the bench, which I'm sure is going to happen now. 

I like Blake a lot. I think this dude could be Stockton-esque. He shoots the ball well and he knows how to run an offense. Dixon and Blake have great chemistry. In the future I can see these guys being the leaders off the bench with Telfair or Jack and Martell starting. 

This was a good game by the Blazers and a nice building block. But I'm not overly excited about it. The Kings flat suck right now. I feel bad for Rick because he's going to take the fall. It's not his fault they signed Shareef. Speaking of Shareef, I don't miss seeing his looks of dejection.


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## Public Defender (May 5, 2003)

I have the same feeling following the win over the Kings - which I watched on television - that I had after being at the Rose Garden for the win over the Knicks early in the season. "The Blazers are better than I thought they'd be, but the Kings/Knicks are way worse than I expected." 

I can't see Adelman holding onto his job for very long. 

That said, the Blazers have something that's really working - and McMillan deserves a lot of credit for the following: 

1.) Evaluating all the possible shooting guards and settling on the best player for the job: Juan Dixon. 

2.) Getting the team to re-commit to defense and rebounding. The Blazers have a long way to go to be mentioned in the same breath as Detroit, but they've improved enormously. 

3.) Getting Zach Randolph to stay near the basket. Z-Bo still wanders to the perimeter a little more than he should, but the way he was muscling with Abdur-Rahim, Skinner, and Brad Miller, was very encouraging. 

4.) Consistent approach from game-to-game. I think it's most obvious with guys like Travis Outlaw, who used to look lost out there. Now, he's playing hard on every possession he's in there, and contributing. 

5.) Getting a great 20 minutes out of Ruben Patterson. Ruben is arguably the Blazers' best small forward, but if he's in for long stretches, the offense will stagnate and his effort on defense will wane - though only a little. The limited minutes have been a very wise move. 

Will the Blazers defend the home floor against Philly? I think they could.


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