Atlanta @ Portland

[The Sebastian Express]

Ugh. That is so ridiculous. Clearly one must know that smoking goes on bars. If people want to avoid smoking they can. Everyone will say "well people can smoke in the privacy of their own home" well that is true but people can party without smoking in the privacy of their own home as well.

Okay sorry for that side rant.

[Wizenheimer]

Since no one else in 12 pages of game thread have mentioned him, I will: this was the second game in a row where Sergio made a real difference. The comeback in the third was sparked by him coming in. Yes, he's still not a great shooter, but if I could get a PG that could give me six assists with no turnovers for every 14 minutes he plays, I'll take it. Also, I seem to remember a couple steals he had, but the ESPN boxscore said he didn't have any--does this seem wrong to anyone else?

Great game by Roy, but we're at the point now where we may as well put "Roy is a god!" in all our sig files and leave it at that since all the other superlatives are pretty much redundant at this point.

on sergio you have some selective memory: it's not 2 games in a row unless you only count games against atlanta.

Over the last 9 games...not so good at all

in the 2 atlanta games he had 20 points and 10 assists with no turnovers

in the other 7 games he scored 6 points on 1-11 shooting and went scoreless in 4 of 7 games. Also he only had 2 assists while commiting 7 turnovers. He did have 3 steals against Houston, and I seem to remember him having a steal in this game.

Still, that's not a good stretch of games for him. 2 good games out of 9 isn't that impressive.

[Charlie78]

You must be a smoker TSE. For me i am stoked about it because I can go out without ending up smelling like an ashtray. Not that having two kids under 4 leaves me much time but its nice to have the option. Pretty soon well be like california were you can only smoke in your car or home. Unless your smoking weed of course.

[mojomarc]

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Well no offense, but if you are trying to keep from knowing the Blazer score, shouldn't this be the last place you come to?

This thread was the last place I came--the person in question started an entirely new thread entitled "Big win for the Blazers tonight." If you're referring to RealGM, then if we keep all of the game talk in the game thread established for the purpose, there shouldn't be any worry of spoilers on the rest of the board.

[d-train]

I don't feel like debating basketball so thankfully Charlie78 and TSE are having a smoking argument. I don't smoke because only idiots do that. I love a few idiots but they are still stupid for smoking. On the smoking in bars debate, it is very simple. Neither the smoker nor the non-smoker has any rights. The bar belongs to someone and that is the person who should have the right to decide which legal activities can occur in his or her bar.

[Billy]

Back to basketball..

I was pleased to see Sergio have a solid game and it was good to see that Nate is feeling a little more comfortable with him in the game. I think that next year will be the year that we can start to pass some more concrete judgment on Sergio. For now I'll just say he continues to be up and down but he's at least starting to realize that in order to get into the game you have to adjust your game to the situation.

[The Sebastian Express]

You must be a smoker TSE. For me i am stoked about it because I can go out without ending up smelling like an ashtray. Not that having two kids under 4 leaves me much time but its nice to have the option. Pretty soon well be like california were you can only smoke in your car or home. Unless your smoking weed of course.

Oh no. I don't smoke at all, or drink for that matter. I guess I just have a problem with people trying to restrict activities that can be entirely avoided. There are so many other places one can go without encountering smokers. Why take away the bars?

This thread was the last place I came--the person in question started an entirely new thread entitled "Big win for the Blazers tonight." If you're referring to RealGM, then if we keep all of the game talk in the game thread established for the purpose, there shouldn't be any worry of spoilers on the rest of the board.

So what if after a devestating loss that could have ramifications on the next several games someone decides to start a thread asking what that loss means? What if we started adopting post game threads like several other boards do? The Raptors and Bulls, for starters? That usually have the result in the post game topic?

What if Brandon goes for a triple double and it is one of the RealGM wiretap headlines and that spoils you?

Sorry, but I think if someone truly wants to avoid finding out the result of a game they wont visit sports sites of any kinds.

[mojomarc]

Wiz--I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Sergio had a strong game against the Rockets as well, although his contributions didn't show up so much in the stat sheet. When he entered the game against the Rockets, we were down 23-11; when he left, the score was tied 32-32. His energy was instrumental. In the second half, he held down the fort while Roy rested, leaving +1. So for the game, he was +13, which for Sergio is an astounding improvement. A lot of this was due to Sergio's harrassing defense, where he forced a ton of turnovers against the Rockets. He did the same thing last night.

As far as the last nine games, notice I specifically didn't bring that up because I was trying to point out how Sergio has seemed to turn a bit of a corner over the last few games compared to where he had been during that bad stretch.

[mojomarc]

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So what if after a devestating loss that could have ramifications on the next several games someone decides to start a thread asking what that loss means? What if we started adopting post game threads like several other boards do? The Raptors and Bulls, for starters? That usually have the result in the post game topic?

But we're not the Raptors or Bulls boards. We don't post the result in the post game topic, and I would suggest that we don't.

What if Brandon goes for a triple double and it is one of the RealGM wiretap headlines and that spoils you?

I don't read wiretap headlines at all, much less during games.

Sorry, but I think if someone truly wants to avoid finding out the result of a game they wont visit sports sites of any kinds.

It has never been an issue on this board before, and if the poster in question had simply avoided starting a new thread to discuss the game (which is definitely frowned upon on RealGM) then it wouldn't have been an issue like it hasn't been an issue the 15 or so games previously this season that I did the exact same thing without having the game spoiled for me.

[The Sebastian Express]

Yeah but people aren't perfect and it's going to happen again in the future, maybe not the near future but it will happen again in the future. The best way to avoid being spoiled is to avoid sites that deal with sports until you've watched the game.

It'd be like someone wanting to avoid spoilers to Cloverfield going to a site discussing the movie.

But whatever, I guess.

[J~Rush]

Whenever I'm watching a replay I make sure not to watch any highlights or go to any internet sites or talk to anyone about the game. The most annoying thing is when "Portland" or "blazers" catches my eye on the little scroll bar down underneath and I instinctively read it. All my hard work down the drain.

[mojomarc]

Yeah but people aren't perfect and it's going to happen again in the future, maybe not the near future but it will happen again in the future. The best way to avoid being spoiled is to avoid sites that deal with sports until you've watched the game.

It'd be like someone wanting to avoid spoilers to Cloverfield going to a site discussing the movie.

But whatever, I guess.

Yeah, no point in really discussing this further. My point was simply that if the post was made in the game thread where it belonged nothing would have been spoiled.

OT: from what I understand, actually seeing Cloverfield spoiled it more than any spoilers could have.

[Fitz303]

Wiz--I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Sergio had a strong game against the Rockets as well, although his contributions didn't show up so much in the stat sheet. When he entered the game against the Rockets, we were down 23-11; when he left, the score was tied 32-32. His energy was instrumental. In the second half, he held down the fort while Roy rested, leaving +1. So for the game, he was +13, which for Sergio is an astounding improvement. A lot of this was due to Sergio's harrassing defense, where he forced a ton of turnovers against the Rockets. He did the same thing last night.

As far as the last nine games, notice I specifically didn't bring that up because I was trying to point out how Sergio has seemed to turn a bit of a corner over the last few games compared to where he had been during that bad stretch.

LOL.. Sergio and harassing defense is an oxymoron. He got into the passing lanes and got a couple steals, but he got burned repeatedly not only by Alston, but by Brooks as well when he was playing straight up. Steals to me is such an overrated stat because over half the time its because youre gambling on defense and when you dont get the steal, youre leaving your team very vulnerable. He also did not leave that game +13.. He actually left -9.. He did not play well besides those 3 steals

[Wizenheimer]

Wiz--I'm sorry, but you're wrong. Sergio had a strong game against the Rockets as well, although his contributions didn't show up so much in the stat sheet. When he entered the game against the Rockets, we were down 23-11; when he left, the score was tied 32-32. His energy was instrumental. In the second half, he held down the fort while Roy rested, leaving +1. So for the game, he was +13, which for Sergio is an astounding improvement. A lot of this was due to Sergio's harrassing defense, where he forced a ton of turnovers against the Rockets. He did the same thing last night.

As far as the last nine games, notice I specifically didn't bring that up because I was trying to point out how Sergio has seemed to turn a bit of a corner over the last few games compared to where he had been during that bad stretch.

I did mention about the 3 steals in the Houston game I believe, but IMO, you're giving him too much credit.

And yes, Sergio brings energy into a game. But my nephew brings energy into my house when my sister visits, and the result is usually mud on the floor, food on the wall, and broken glass.

You did say he 'made a difference' and since that's so subjective, I can't dispute that. I don't find +/- stats persuasive at all though.

The main thing would be that 2 games in an 82 game season is not a 'corner turned'. To this point, his good games are isolated amongst clusters of nondescript and bad games. I hope he does turn that corner, but I don't think that can be concluded yet.

[Fitz303]

While im not much for the whole +/- in general (Aldridge was -24) because its everybody on the court who impacts that, not just one guy for the most part, but heres the link

http://www.nba.com/games/20080125/HOUPOR/boxscore.html

[mojomarc]

-The main thing would be that 2 games in an 82 game season is not a 'corner turned'. To this point, his good games are isolated amongst clusters of nondescript and bad games. I hope he does turn that corner, but I don't think that can be concluded yet.

I said "seemed to turn a bit of a corner," so don't take this to mean that I think that from here on out he's an all-star. I'm just saying that his play has jumped noticeably. That's all.

[Wizenheimer]

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I'm not sure where you are getting the -9. I literally counted up the plays where he was in and the score change was +13. If someone else is saying he was -9, then the game play-by-play doesn't support that at all.

they list the +/- at NBA.com:

http://www.nba.com/games/20080125/HOUPOR/boxscore.html

like I said, I don't put much stock in that stat. Channing was +20 for that game, by the way.

[d-train]

All stats are overrated. Here is an example. A player can be so terrible as an offensive threat the team on defense completely ignores that player. That would help the terrible offensive player get offensive rebounds because the defense is out of position to box him out off the boards. So, the terrible offensive player gets inflated stats because the opponent ignores him. Stats are more of a measure of how bad the player is than how good he is.

[Yadadimean]

You must be a smoker TSE. For me i am stoked about it because I can go out without ending up smelling like an ashtray. Not that having two kids under 4 leaves me much time but its nice to have the option. Pretty soon well be like california were you can only smoke in your car or home. Unless your smoking weed of course.

Well I only smoke if I'm drinking so no smoking at the bar is kind of a drag (no pun intended) but its not a big deal. I'll just go outside. You're still allowed to smoke outside in California too. lol

[Effigy]

Washington and California both outlaw smoking in bars. It was always only a matter of time before Oregon caved too.