Portland JailBlazers @ Orlando Magic 7:00 P.M @ Amway

magicmamma · Post #361 » by **magicmamma** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:54 pm

Solid Snake wrote: Well its your opinion its been on the rise, but I think that is quite laughable. The defense has been bad. Not the worst in history but not where it needs to be either. And certainly not on the rise.

His opinion and SVG's opinion. I agree with both of them.

"I thought it was by far the hardest defensive effort we have made in a long time," Van Gundy said. "I thought we really fought. They are very, very good and I was proud of our guys with the defensive effort."

LINK

TooNice00 · Post #362 » by **TooNice00** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:36 pm

i wish we could just get howard, hedo, and rashard all going at the same time offensively.

mhectorgato · Post #363 » by **mhectorgato** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:57 pm

Regarding our defense, I was very happy Aldridge didn't get going. He had 12 points in the first 1/2 and none in the 2nd. Both Lewis and Dwight had issues with him in the first half.

We still had our "fly-out" style defense at times, but in the late stretch of the game, they stepped up and hit contested shot after contested shot - so got to give them credit.

We got a couple of good stops.

Spiney - maybe you need to adjust your rabbit ears on the TV set, perhaps the reception was fuzzy ;-)

. Keyon had a very sub average at PG last night. I think the reason he stayed in the game was for defensive reasons. Too many possessions he looked to drive early in the clock or would pound the ball in spot waiting for position to be established or a screen to be set, only to get to someone with a few seconds on the clock. He definately looked like a 2 playing the PG spot to me.

spinedoc · Post #364 » by **spinedoc** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:02 pm

There were times where the defense looked good, but it surely wasn't a consistent effort. We looked at each other and said "that was better" more than once, but overall I wasn't that happy with it. They struggled again rotating to the open man. Even though Portland took too many shots, too many of them were wide open. We could have easily lost this game just like we did to the Cats if the Blazers had made more of those. Now of course Dwight was the beast that he is and it would spark little spurts of effort, but they still have a long way to go if we are going to do any damage in the playoffs.

theTHIEF · Post #365 » by **theTHIEF** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:06 pm

if i see keyon drive to the lane, one more time in a half court set with no one tailing him, im going to probably walk down to the bench and kick him...

mhectorgato · Post #366 » by **mhectorgato** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:06 pm

spinedoc wrote:There were times where the defense looked good, but it surely wasn't a consistent effort. We looked at each other and said "that was better" more than once, but overall I wasn't that happy with it. They struggled again rotating to the open man. Even though Portland took too many shots, too many of them were wide open. We could have easily lost this game just like we did to the Cats if the Blazers had made more of those. Now of course Dwight was the beast that he is and it would spark little spurts of effort, but they still have a long way to go if we are going to do any damage in the playoffs.

That's the fly-out defense I was refering to ... we sag in the middle, or have 2 guys follow a guy running around a screen leaving the screener open.

But there several were times when we were able to get important stops. They also made a lot of hand in the face/contested shots.

spinedoc · Post #367 » by **spinedoc** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:09 pm

mhectorgato wrote:Regarding our defense, I was very happy Aldridge didn't get going. He had 12 points in the first 1/2 and none in the 2nd. Both Lewis and Dwight had issues with him in the first half.

We still had our "fly-out" style defense at times, but in the late stretch of the game, they stepped up and hit contested shot after contested shot - so got to give them credit.

We got a couple of good stops.

Spiney - maybe you need to adjust your rabbit ears on the TV set, perhaps the reception was fuzzy . Keyon had a very sub average at PG last night. I think the reason he stayed in the game was for defensive reasons. Too many possessions he looked to drive early in the clock or would pound the ball in spot waiting for position to be established or a screen to be set, only to get to someone with a few seconds on the clock. He definately looked like a 2 playing the PG spot to me.

I was at the game mhec, and admittedly there were a lot of distractions. I think we've gotten prettier cheerleaders btw. But from what I saw, he was the only one that was able to drive effectively. Although Carlos looked good shooting the ball in the first half, his drives got shut down a lot. He would leave his feet to pass, and ended up turning the ball over. Maybe Stan was benching him for that I don't know, but at least his shot was falling. Dooling does what Dooling does, and thats force shots. I expect a certain amount of that from him, but his abililty to keep the dribble and drive is what I liked the most. He finished a lot of plays around the basket.

spinedoc · Post #368 » by **spinedoc** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:15 pm

mhectorgato wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

That's the fly-out defense I was refering to ... we sag in the middle, or have 2 guys follow a guy running around a screen leaving the screener open.

But there several were times when we were able to get important stops. They also made a lot of hand in the face/contested shots.

Definitely, but there were a lot times where we were standing around too. I want a playoff caliber style of defense, and thats consistent effort until the horn sounds. I didn't see that last night.

theTHIEF · Post #369 » by **theTHIEF** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:16 pm

i think tht Shard played really good perimeter defense last night...he stuck with his guy almost every time...Portland was just drilling shots left and right from out there...

mhectorgato · Post #370 » by **mhectorgato** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:23 pm

spinedoc wrote:Definitely, but there were a lot times where we were standing around too. I want a playoff caliber style of defense, and thats consistent effort until the horn sounds. I didn't see that last night.

Agreed ... but I don't we'll get that with this group.

I think a good balance is the best we can ask/expect out of this group. We have defensive role players, and it's a matter of using the at the right time.

Last Guardian · Post #371 » by **Last Guardian** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:53 pm

magicmamma wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

LINK

And I disagree with both. At least I can use the amount of wide open shots teams get to back my point up.

Pinot love · Post #372 » by **Pinot love** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:46 am

re: your defense

If Portland had been hitting it's shots like it had once the streak started, you would have lost. Your defense wasn't great, it allowed many open perimeter shots. That's Portland's problem though. They're like a college team that relies on the three. Eventually they burn out.

Pinot love · Post #373 » by **Pinot love** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:51 am

magicmamma wrote:
"I thought it was by far the hardest defensive effort we have made in a long time," Van Gundy said. "I thought we really fought. They are very, very good and I was proud of our guys with the defensive effort."

LINK

They did fight very hard, to keep Portland's pantie wearing butts from getting easy baskets. Your team did a good job of exposing our greatest problem, taking it to the rack and getting "easy" buckets. Aldridge and Outlaw always fade away. Roy is the only player who will create points in the paint consistently, but he's not strong to enough to do so to the extent to carry this team.

From my observation you're the second best team in the East right now, though Detroit will pick it up, a lot. That battle will depend on how much you progress. I think you do have the ceiling to beat them out.

lovehoops01 · Post #374 » by **lovehoops01** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:54 am

mhectorgato wrote:Regarding our defense, I was very happy Aldridge didn't get going. He had 12 points in the first 1/2 and none in the 2nd. Both Lewis and Dwight had issues with him in the first half.

We still had our "fly-out" style defense at times, but in the late stretch of the game, they stepped up and hit contested shot after contested shot - so got to give them credit.

We got a couple of good stops.

Spiney - maybe you need to adjust your rabbit ears on the TV set, perhaps the reception was fuzzy ;-). Keyon had a very sub average at PG last night. I think the reason he stayed in the game was for defensive reasons. Too many possessions he looked to drive early in the clock or would pound the ball in spot waiting for position to be established or a screen to be set, only to get to someone with a few seconds on the clock. He definately looked like a 2 playing the PG spot to me.

Van Gundy actually was asked about why Keyon saw so much time at PG in the second half during the postgame news conference that was broadcast on the radio. He said something like, "Carlos had it going, but I just thought that Keyon was seeing the other guys who were open a little better tonight so I decided to stick with him.''

Can't really say he was wrong on that call tonight. Check out the box score. Carlos played 22-plus minutes with 0 assists and 3 turnovers. And there definitely were a couple plays that could have been turnovers but Carlos took a shot instead. Keyon played almost 26 minutes with 5 assists and 1 turnover.

lovehoops01 · Post #375 » by **lovehoops01** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:15 am

FFBlitzace wrote:Refs calling everything now....on us.

The officiating was OK except for that last quarter (before that, they weren't really calling a lot of fouls on anyone). The thing that is so frustrating watching games when the calls start going against the Magic is that there is one ref who keeps making all the calls (not just one ref, but one ref in that particular game). No one else is making calls. It was like he personally just decided that the game should be closer so he was gonna give the Blazers a chance to catch up. And Van Gundy will talk to the guy about it, but he'll just stand there and shake his head like, "What I'm hearing is 'blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' '' Now, that said, the Magic did some dumb stuff in the last minute when the Blazers went on the foul fest to try to close the gap. That 8-second call on Hedo was just ridiculous (the play, not the call).

Optimus_Steel · Post #376 » by **Optimus_Steel** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:48 pm

spinedoc wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

I was at the game mhec, and admittedly there were a lot of distractions. I think we've gotten prettier cheerleaders btw. But from what I saw, he was the only one that was able to drive effectively. Although Carlos looked good shooting the ball in the first half, his drives got shut down a lot. He would leave his feet to pass, and ended up turning the ball over. Maybe Stan was benching him for that I don't know, but at least his shot was falling. Dooling does what Dooling does, and thats force shots. I expect a certain amount of that from him, but his abililty to keep the dribble and drive is what I liked the most. He finished a lot of plays around the basket.

I agree the cheerleaders have gotten alot hotter this year.

theTHIEF · Post #377 » by **theTHIEF** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:08 pm

Pinot love wrote:re: your defense

If Portland had been hitting it's shots like it had once the streak started, you would have lost. Your defense wasn't great, it allowed many open perimeter shots. That's Portland's problem though. They're like a college team that relies on the three. Eventually they burn out.

well since we're going to play the IF game....

IF Orlando had been in the same form they were in their first 20 games Portland would have lost by 40 on Saturday, if both teams were in their top forms, Orlando would have only won by 20...but instead two mortal teams battled...

and don't forget that IF Grandma had balls we would have called her Grandpa...

Pinot love · Post #378 » by **Pinot love** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:14 pm

thEthIEf wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

well since we're going to play the IF game....

IF Orlando had been in the same form they were in their first 20 games Portland would have lost by 40 on Saturday, if both teams were in their top forms, Orlando would have only won by 20...but instead two mortal teams battled...

I'm sure we can agree to disagree... But I know I'm right, especially considering during that time when Portland was at it's lowest and Orlando it's highest, they played each other Orlando won by 11.

My point wasn't so much about who is better, but that Orlando allowed many open shots, shots which had been falling the last 20 games or so for Portland.

theTHIEF · Post #379 » by **theTHIEF** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:15 pm

you're too cute...

TNMagicFan · Post #380 » by **TNMagicFan** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:26 pm

Keyon did play better at PG . I was surprised to see him actually make a pass a few times . I agree with SVG on Dwight and Shard's defensive effort . Those guys really made an effort on defense even when they weren't getting any shots . When we signed Shard people said he wasn't able to play defense ,but he obviously can play decent defense .

I am so sick and tired of the guards not passing the ball to Dwight . Why are they like this ??? You got Dwight shooting 60% from the field and no one will pass the ball to him . It's f*cking ridiculous !I can't count how many times I've seen a clear path to pass to Dwight and they just jack up a jumper . Everyone gives Shard alot of **** but he is one of the best "team" guys we have . If he can get the ball to Dwight he does . Not like the rest of the team who just passes it to him when they WANT to . This is supposed to be an "inside out' offense . Apparently Shard is the only one who got the memo .