Thanks to the enormous generosity of the Paul Allen Memorial Money-Pit ... er... the Trail Blazers, I once again was able to go invest my time, energy, and emotional strength in rooting through yet another losing cause at the Rose Garden.
Which is not to say I didn't enjoy myself. For starters, I firmly committed to ingesting more beer at this outing, and so, thankfully, I stopped noticing the bad stuff as time went on. Secondly, there were sparks of hope as the game wore on; just not enough to equate to a victory.
So, without further ado, my notes from tonight's Blazers defeat...
First Quarter
- Starting line-up: Joel Pryzbilla, Darius at the PF, Ruben at the SF, Charles Smith at the SG, and Telfair at the PG. Interesting. Heard later on the radio that Zach was late for the game or something, which explains him being held out for most of the first quarter.
- Unlike the last game I went to, the Blazers Dancers were back. Man, I love the Blazers dancers. This was a nice start to the evening.
- My God...there are a ton of points available on the inside. Why do the Blazers keep neglecting the inside in favor of lower percentage outside shots?
- Along those lines, the Blazers shot selection is hideous. Too much settling for outside shots, when our only legit shooters (Monia and Webster) are bench-warming all night.
- Just for kicks, I kept track of points scored in the first quarter. Of 20 points scored by the Blazers, the first 7 were either points in the paint or free throws. The next 2 were from out of the paint, followed by a combination of 8 from the inside to 2 more from outside. For the math-impaird, thats 15-4. There's a missing point there; I think it might go to the outside (15-5). Alot of wasted shots as the Blazers tried to pretend they were shooters.
- Passing was the name of the game. When the Blazers made the extra pass into the middle, there were a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, there was plenty of selfishness displayed. For instance, don't let Darius' stats fool you. He threw away a lot of opportunities trying to get points from the outside, and most of his points were on junk plays where he was in the right place at the right time.
- Speaking of Darius, two observations: it appeared to me, until the clarity of drunkenness took over, that he was running around with one sock up and one down. I was duly unimmpressed. Second, Darius has what it takes to be the next Scottie Pippen. Length, speed, moves. Just not the focus. If he can't get the focus consistently this year, he's officially my next pick for the JR Rider memorial wasted youth cup.
- Good point: our D is tenacious (on the interior; our perimeter D is still nigh-non-existent). We're great guarding on the inside and are able to break up alot of plays.
- Joel Pryz is awesome. Dude's a monster in the middle.
- Explain the 20 second time-out rule to me. Blazers call a 20 second TO, and the game stops for 2 minutes? Is it just me, or is the whole "20 second" bit a slight misnomer?
- Hmm. Juan Dixon at the 2. Truly an exercise in futility.
Q1 score: Blazers 20; Toronto 18 (all down-hill from here)
Second Quarter
- Starts out w/ Theo; Z-Bo; Darius; Dixon, and Jack.
- What is it with Z-Bo? I watch him take very ill-advised shots, and yet (sometimes) they still go in. You tell me -- is this skill, or luck?
- In case I haven't said it before, I love the Blazer Dancers. Welcome back, girls.
- When Theo's in these days, he only highlights the fact that Joel is not in the game. And that's in the bad way. What happened to "The Rattler" of old?
- Free throw shooting is improved. In the first two quarters, we made 10 of 13 (official stats are 10 of 12, I counted a lane violation as a miss...)
- What's with Mark Mason (the announcer's) "one-plus-one" when someone gets a shooting foul? This isn't college. There's no such thing. I like Mason on the radio and all, but listening to him at the game can get pretty annoying.
- Zach's passing? An experiment: I counted the times he definitely should've passed and didn't and compared that to the times he passed when he definitely should've. To my surprise, he actually passed when needed (4 times) more than he didn't (twice). I'm pretty convinced that was a fluke. It'll take a long time to convince me that Zach isn't still The Black Hole.
- Inside/outside scoring evened out, sorta. Still not where it ought to be ... 17 (10 in the paint, seven boards) to 7.
Q2: Blazers 44; Toronto 52
Third Quarter
- Thank God. The beer's finally taking over.
- I'm watching this blimp flying around dropping free stuff, and I'm watching the free pizza squad giving out food, and I'm watching all these other freebies getting handed out, and it occurs to me that there's no free stuff if you're not in the 100 or 200 levels. Don't get me wrong; my seat's free. I realize that. I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth (okay, I am, but so what? I spent $48 on 6 beers between my friend and I). Why no love for the nose-bleeds?
- I'm watching Zach, with a whole lane to drive through, settling for a shot from the top of the key. WTF? You're a POWER FORWARD. Act like it!
- When McMillan sees crap like that, why doesn't he sit it down? Why only set examples in practice, where players are less likely to care? Like it would bother me to get kicked out early and miss a few suicides...
- Why do we keep giving Juan Dixon shots? The little man is floating around the outside all night, waiting for a pass to the perimeter. Then he throws up an uncontested brick from the 3. In case you don't catch the subtle context, Dixon SUCKS.
- Finally, through my Drop Top Ale-induced dementia, I've noticed that Darius is actually wearing a leg sheath over one of his pulled-up socks. Glad I settled that one...
- With 3:53 to go, we've gone from being up in the first to being down by 19 before the half. Ugh. This is going to be a loooooong season.
- I love the Blazers Dancers.
Q3: Blazers 60; Toronto 75
At this point, I made a deal with my friend (since I couldn't, in good conscience, pay for more beer) to leave once the Blazers went down by 17. They accomodated me 18 seconds into the period, thank God. I just don't have any patience for this crap. I mean, at least have those gymnasts do that free t-shirt launch and make me feel a bit appreciated. Blazers end up losing by 22-ish, and (as far as I know) never gave into my wayward screams from Section 333, Row J to put Martell in (ed note: per one reader, Martell got in w/ about 4 minutes left, but still didn't get any shots). Sad, so sad.
On Martell: I was listening to a combination of 1080 The Fan (Portland's best sports station, in case anyone's not clear on that point) and KXL (Portland's best or second best news station, but a complete waste of time when Lars is on) this week, and heard alot of discussion about the tightening of the line-up and how Martell's going to spend some time on the outside looking in. This irks me, because although there's a desire to develop Martell before getting him on the floor, would we really be losing anything by getting him out there? I like Charles Smith's attitude, but he doesn't have the shot that Webster does. Dixon's a joke. I like Jack at the PG, but not as a SG. I'd make my rotation at the SG Martell, Smith, and Monia, and let Martell learn by doing. At least entertain your fans as your disappointing them...
This team will be something great. But not this year. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here. Our team is worthy of rooting for (finally), but just don't take it too seriously...
9 comments:
Great posting...Martell did get in the game with about 4 minutes to go and the dude hardly ever touched the ball!
Was it just me or did it seem like those guys never had a clue about what they wanted to do on offense?
don't knock lars...just cause he exposes your incompetent liberal govt in oregon, which incidentally is about as effective as the Blazers. wasn't there a Democrat arrested for meth possession?
yeah, sounds about right..
miles is the next scottie pippen? even if he had an ounce of motivation he wouldn't get close, because he doesn't have a clue how to actually play basketball. he's best suited for the entertainment basketball league. or maybe Slamball...there ya go....
Woo-hoo! Finally, the kooks have discovered me! I've gone legit!
Anon-
1. As a card-carrying Republican of white Judeo-Christian heritage, who enjoys Bill O'Reilly more than I should, I want to make something clear: being conservative doesn't mean I need to subscribe to the rantings of an often-wrong, half-informed blow-hard. Sometimes Lars says something smart, but more often than not he's just a bag of hot air. And if you don't think any Republicans do meth, you're an idiot.
2. As a certified Darius-hater, it is only fair for me to point out his potential as I see it. Like him or hate him, Darius could be really good if he put his mind to it. Like I said, whether he puts his mind to it is entirely a different question.
That said, further discussion is encouraged, but try not to be an idiot.
rusty,
actually, i was just having a bad day. i don't listen to lars because his ravings are a little much for even a "card carrying kook"... hehe
don't take it personally. well, go ahead and take it personally if you want. up to you. like i said, bad day, what better place to vent than thru an anonymous comment on an obscure blog.
but back to reality for a bit. here's my darius take, for real.
1. he's got an amazingly athletic nba body
2. his hops, body control, and long skinny arms are matched by few, surpassed by even fewer
3. he skipped college and went straight into the nba, lessing the chance that he would get some solid fundementals drilled past his cornrows
4. his lack of work ethic completely finishes any hope of greatness
5. he's been in the league for several years and has done...nothing.
6. he's a blowhard. now that might be construed as the pot calling the kettle black (no racial overtoned intended) but hey everyone knows he is. and i don't call myself a premiere NBA player and then procede to go 2-17 from the field. i call myself a mediocre high-school level basketball player and then go 2-17 from the field.
ok enough rambling. maybe i should go to bed. is this better rusty?
- ramblingidiotkook (and o'reilly critic, but that's another discussion that i'll leave well enough alone)
Anon-
All good points. Sorry to see your not as kooky as I'd hoped... I guess I'm still not ready for primetime.
hehe...
hey, why does everyone jump on the "dump on dixon" bandwagon? we haven't even seen him play a regular season game yet.... I know the preseason is for evaluating players but i'd like to give dixon at least 10 to 20 games with 15 to 20 minutes of action each game and evaluate his performance from there. i was at the seattle game and even though he didn't really do much i thought he was underrated because he's small but very wiry and strong. it seemed like he worked very hard, especially when a bigger guard would try to manhandle him?
your thoughts?
Having watched Dixon in two games, I don't see how the team can take the gamble of giving him 15-20 consistently. He's too small, not tough, and too streaky a shooter, especially considering that at his size most of his shots have to come from the outside. And, of course he's working hard when he's getting manhandled. It's like trying to stay on your feet in a hurricane -- you have to work hard not to just get blown over.
Knowing nothing about Dixon when he came in, I was completely open to the possibility. Having used my chance to evaluate him, I think he's a waste of money. If I'm wrong, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
what's with the dixon hating? He had 16 points last night. preseason is for evaluating ROOKIE players. And for all you who have jumped on the Webster bandwagon, he's been sucking. where's the d. No doubt he's gonna be a great player...just in 3 years. Dixon's a solid option who will get a steal or two a game, give the team 12 points a game, and most importantly, explode for 30 every two weeks. I watched him with the wizards last year and when he was in the game, he scored. Period. When he started he scored at least 20. Wait till the season to judge dixon.
I agree with anon. I have the same opinion of Dixon. And I'm predicting Webster will be another Tracy Murray, which isn't a bad thing, but nothing too incredible either.
We shall see.
Post a Comment