RealGM

I didn't watch last night's game. I'm just looking at the box score. Did LaMarcus really play 40 minutes and only get two rebounds?

He also got 4 steals and had the highest +/- on the team. Nate kept him in for most of the game so he must have been doing something right.

Actually what happened here was that LMA was working incredibly hard at keeping ZBO off of the boards... ZBO had 7 boards, which was well below his AVG, especially considering the Blazers small front line.

Look at the guard's rebounding numbers, this was totally because of the work LMA was doing fighting ZBO.

I am generally not a LMA apologist, and get as frustrated with La-Marsh-mellow as much the next guy, but last night he was definately workin. I would also say over the last month, his effort to play inside and rebound has been much improved.

That's what I was looking for. I knew there had to be some sort of rational explanation. I did notice the guard rebounding and was hoping someone could validate that this was in part due to Aldridge boxing out.

aldridge is never going to be a great rebounder. People expecting that he will are simply being unrealistic.

But he's not as bad as some make out either. I read in O-Live that over the previous 24 games going into last night, Aldridge had been averaging 21 points and 8.8 rebounds on 52% shooting.

The key in the future for the Blazers isn't Aldridge grabbing more rebounds, it's Oden playing more games.

Really last night was a perfect example out of what we'd like to see out of Aldridge consistently. I'd like more boards, but he fought for position and got everyone else a decent shot. He was working on boxing out and the guards did a great job of cleaning it up. This really felt like one of, if not the first game (didn't see the Chi one) where Portland really got back into fighting for rebounds. It seems like the first few games since the Camby trade that Portland felt he'd get all of the rebounds and there wasn't any point in boxing out.

There were certainly some times where Aldridge was beat last night--but I think that's expected when you're having to battle a guy like Randolph. But for the most part I think he did well. He also had to ensure that Zach couldn't set up for that 19' jumper, so there were a couple times where he was out of position to get boards anyway.

Aldridge was a big contributor to last night's win. Didn't show up on the stat sheet but he was big.

jakjup216 wrote:jakjup - I'm getting tired of these types of posts out of you. You need to either clean it up or find another message board. Thanks.

Yeah! ......wait....wait, what?

You don't want to mess with Billy--he's usually the last one of us mods to get upset, so whatever jakjup said you can be assured it was pretty bad...

mojomarc wrote:You don't want to mess with Billy--he's usually the last one of us mods to get upset, so whatever jakjup said you can be assured it was pretty bad...

speaking of mods, did you guys banish Spykes to Siberia or something?

I never realized he only got 2 reb yesterday. I agree that his rebounding numbers were limited but he put alot of effort of fighting Z-Bo for rebounding position.

Wiz, we could tell you, but we'd have to banish you there with him!

Nice stats for Aldridge over the last 24 games. I'd be very happy with those numbers.

ebott wrote:I didn't watch last night's game. I'm just looking at the box score. Did LaMarcus really play 40 minutes and only get two rebounds?

He also got 4 steals and had the highest +/- on the team. Nate kept him in for most of the game so he must have been doing something right.

Eric, I like you. You're a quality poster that adds to this forum.

I am a hater of LMA's rebounding and general physicality.

That said, I think your post is out of place. LMA has been, perhaps, the most consistent offensive player for our beloved team for a number of weeks. Homeboy is shooting lights out. He plays a ton of minutes. Fault him for defensive IQ or whatnot, he's not a slouch.

I HATE when people post (for example) Bargnani was 18/8 for the last 3 months of 2008. Or xxxx baseball player bats 343 against lefties in night games on weekends below the 45th parallel in months with an average temperature below 63.

#12 shot 53% from the field in January with 8.46 rebounds per game.

Yes his rebound rate is average at best, but let us not forget the injuries to the #2 and #5 rebounders in the league(prior to injury).

What I mean by that is when those 2(or 1) come back full strength(hahaha yea right) LMA is the perfect fit.

Also: I like beer.