Blazers post game analysis

[coldfish]

Following up with the Rose comments: I would categorize Rose's first half against OKC and the first 3 quarters against Portland as awesome. I knock Rose for not being PG. Its even in my sig. However, that's somewhat of a misnomer based on people being predeceived about the value of a pure point guard. I think very highly of Rose and I view the ability to either take over yourself or distribute as an elite talent that very few in the NBA have ever had.

His fourth quarter passing was horrible, I think it was the OKC game, and the three straight trips last night. Maybe he's tired, but rather than make up a reason, I'll just say it was really bad and scary.

As much as his shooting against OKC, the bad and lazy passes bothered me a lot more (though I appear to be in the minority there).

I don't think you are in the minority. Several of his turnovers were bad. Embarrassingly bad. I think that's the primary reason why Rose isn't getting "great" evaluations from everyone.

[coldfish]

The most impressive thing about Deng's 40 ball was that we weren't even running plays for him. Kover made a comment after the game about how spectacular Deng was because most of his success came within the offense.

Let's be honest, this offense is an absolute perfect fit for Deng's skill set and vice versa. Its a huge departure from the Vinny sets. That fact is a lot of the reason why I was so disappointed in Luol's first two games this year.

At some point, I'm going to get a handle on the offense and I'll give a detailed accounting of it. As of now, I don't really get it, but I see patterns emerging. It really doesn't seem like a full triangle type motion offense as much as a series of set plays with minor options in them.

[kyrv]

Following up with the Rose comments: I would categorize Rose's first half against OKC and the first 3 quarters against Portland as awesome. I knock Rose for not being PG. Its even in my sig. However, that's somewhat of a misnomer based on people being predeceived about the value of a pure point guard. I think very highly of Rose and I view the ability to either take over yourself or distribute as an elite talent that very few in the NBA have ever had.

His fourth quarter passing was horrible, I think it was the OKC game, and the three straight trips last night. Maybe he's tired, but rather than make up a reason, I'll just say it was really bad and scary.

As much as his shooting against OKC, the bad and lazy passes bothered me a lot more (though I appear to be in the minority there).

I don't think you are in the minority. Several of his turnovers were bad. Embarrassingly bad. I think that's the primary reason why Rose isn't getting "great" evaluations from everyone.

I would double Rose to get the ball out of his hands on a regular basis. I would want someone else to have the ball, with the added bonus that he at times will pretend he's being single covered and commit a turnover or not be in a very good position to set up a good shot.

[puma0821]

I didn't know if this was thread worthy so I decided to post this here…

Bernstein just stated on his show that as Watson noticed that he was about to be taken out of the game in the fourth quarter, he decided to jack up a long 3 with time on the clock. He also stated that to him, the act is SO egregious that he would bench/demote him to the NBDL and look for a new back up point guard. Now I am not a big fan of CJ but it's seems like right now he is our only option so they cant really do that.

What would you guys do. Thoughts?

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

I hope that the Chicago Bulls first legit superstar since Michael Jordan has a PERFECT game one of these nights. Maybe then he can excape the post-game criticism that he gets from this board. GEEEEEEZ!!!!

P.S....Was I supposed to put the above statement in green font?...LBVS.

[bad knees]

Puma,

Swirsky and Wennington observed the same thing with Watson, and really were critical about it. Said that Thibs should punish him by taking away playing time for a while. I think it's one reason why Derrick was in there (committing turnovers) to the end.

[Hangtime84]

Following up with the Rose comments: I would categorize Rose's first half against OKC and the first 3 quarters against Portland as awesome. I knock Rose for not being PG. Its even in my sig. However, that's somewhat of a misnomer based on people being predeceived about the value of a pure point guard. I think very highly of Rose and I view the ability to either take over yourself or distribute as an elite talent that very few in the NBA have ever had.

only player I can think of is Magic

[Jo Jo English]

Interesting little side story developing with Watson it appears. I wish I wouldn't have deleted the game from my DVR so I could check it out since I missed it live during the game.

Let's hope C.J. takes the criticism constructively and buys a little more into the team concept.

[Ajosu]

GOOD:
Deng (gameball)
Rose (minus the sloppy passing in the 4th qtr)
Noah (can't be superman every game, but still did his thing)
Asik (because of where we expect him to be vs where he is already)
Thibodeau (At one point, King commented on how refreshing it was to have our coach actually "coaching" on the sidelines!)

OKAY:
Korver (he hit a few shots that helped us maintain our lead amidst a Portland run)
6 minutes of Brewer (he actually made a jump shot)
Scalabrine (he's not expected to do anything, and he didn't kill us)
Bogans (he's not expected to do much, and he didn't really hurt us)
JJ (sure, he had a few fouls, but a few of those were from help d, which prevented layups)

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN OKAY AND BAD:
Taj (fouls way too much, not enough rebounding)
Watson (I just don't feel comfortable with him running the point)

I thought Rose played a very controlled game, and read the defense well, except for the turnovers in the 4th. With Deng stepping up tonight, Rose could take his foot off the gas for large stretches.

Asik really made an impact on the floor. He is learning the NBA game really fast, and you can't teach 7 foot. When he got 5 fouls, I was actually hoping he would come out, because I didn't want to have to rely on Gibson down the stretch if/when Asik fouled out.

Refs really blew the whistle too much.

Noah has never been a great man defender, though he has stepped up big in late game situations. He got lit up a little bit by LMA, though a handfull of his shots were tough and contested, and he was just hitting. Noah could improve his man defense a little, but I'm not too concerned about last night.

Overall, our team executed really well, ran good plays on offense, and played smart defense. Portland is an excellent rebounding team, so I understand us giving up a few second chances opportunities. Great win by us, though, as we seemed to have this one uncer control from the very beginning.

[coldfish]

Following up with the Rose comments: I would categorize Rose's first half against OKC and the first 3 quarters against Portland as awesome. I knock Rose for not being PG. Its even in my sig. However, that's somewhat of a misnomer based on people being predeceived about the value of a pure point guard. I think very highly of Rose and I view the ability to either take over yourself or distribute as an elite talent that very few in the NBA have ever had.

only player I can think of is Magic

MJ did it during the title runs. He would start out a game looking to defer quite frequently and if no one else had it, he would take over. If you go through his box scores in the 90's, you will find that the games where he scored the most were close but the ones where he took 15 shots were butt whoopings. There are other, lesser, examples.

However, in general, most players only have one mode of play. Their output for a given game is a result of factors that are often outside their control such as their shot being off (scorer) or their teammates being off (passer).

[panthermark]

It is starting to look like we would have been better off with the other Watson..(No...not Randy.....whom you might know as Joe the Policeman from the "What's Going Down" episode of That's My Momma"....Earl Watson).

[DuckIII]

Interesting little side story developing with Watson it appears. I wish I wouldn't have deleted the game from my DVR so I could check it out since I missed it live during the game.

Let's hope C.J. takes the criticism constructively and buys a little more into the team concept.

I missed that too. But I can also see that being somewhat involuntary. If he was open, so what if he shoots a three with time on the clock?

And if he did "jack" one, then the right response is for Thibs to say "Don't do that anymore." Not to smack him down over one split-second decision.

[kyrv]

I didn't know if this was thread worthy so I decided to post this here…

Bernstein just stated on his show that as Watson noticed that he was about to be taken out of the game in the fourth quarter, he decided to jack up a long 3 with time on the clock. He also stated that to him, the act is SO egregious that he would bench/demote him to the NBDL and look for a new back up point guard. Now I am not a big fan of CJ but it's seems like right now he is our only option so they cant really do that.

What would you guys do. Thoughts?

Ya stuff like that is why it's hard to take him seriously. Maybe he can name one(1) person who has been sent to the NBDL for taking one(1) horrible shot. Or, maybe he can't.

Maybe he should try to figure out that despite his noob rantings, Harangody is in fact on a NBA roster. Oh noes! Wrong again!

[kyrv]

Interesting little side story developing with Watson it appears. I wish I wouldn't have deleted the game from my DVR so I could check it out since I missed it live during the game.

Let's hope C.J. takes the criticism constructively and buys a little more into the team concept.

I missed that too. But I can also see that being somewhat involuntary. If he was open, so what if he shoots a three with time on the clock?

And if he did "jack" one, then the right response is for Thibs to say "Don't do that anymore." Not to smack him down over one split-second decision.

Bernstine does not share your common sense, but my guess is Thibs does.

[Jo Jo English]

Interesting little side story developing with Watson it appears. I wish I wouldn't have deleted the game from my DVR so I could check it out since I missed it live during the game.

Let's hope C.J. takes the criticism constructively and buys a little more into the team concept.

I missed that too. But I can also see that being somewhat involuntary. If he was open, so what if he shoots a three with time on the clock?

And if he did "jack" one, then the right response is for Thibs to say "Don't do that anymore." Not to smack him down over one split-second decision.

Agreed. This entire story could be much ado about nothing. Without seeing the play in question for myself or hearing any direct quotes from those involved I personally won't take it too seriously. I guess I was just acknowledging that this could be the beginnings of some issues with C.J. Watson if Wennington and Swirsky thought enough of it to mention it last night and it was also a topic of conversation on sports talk radio today. I'm going off of second half information here as I've only heard anything about this on the board, in this thread.

It could be nothing more than a case of overreaction, but it does raise a red flag in my eyes if guys like Swirsky and Wennington are taking C.J. to task on the air, during the game. Those guys have their respective fingers on the pulse of the team much more than I.

But again, all of this is just idle talk to waste time on a message board. It was probably just one insignificant play.

[BuffaloBull]

Interesting little side story developing with Watson it appears. I wish I wouldn't have deleted the game from my DVR so I could check it out since I missed it live during the game.

Let's hope C.J. takes the criticism constructively and buys a little more into the team concept.

I missed that too. But I can also see that being somewhat involuntary. If he was open, so what if he shoots a three with time on the clock?

And if he did "jack" one, then the right response is for Thibs to say "Don't do that anymore." Not to smack him down over one split-second decision.

According to the game log, Rudy made a shot with 9:14 left in the 4th, then Watson took his three at 8:52. In my book, a three with two seconds left on the clock doesn't exactly count as a chuck.

It'd be interesting to see the replay. In my mind I remember it not being the best look, but with that little time on the clock, I'm not sure you get much better.

Watson hasn't been great so far but I'm willing to give him some time. Speed is his greatest asset, and it's hard to play fast when you are still thinking through the schemes and not just intuiting them. CJ played for Bruce Pearl and then Don Nelson. It's going to take him time to find his game inside our motion offense.

[bad knees]

Swirsky and Wennington do have common sense, unlike Bernstein, and they were quite animated about the issue. Apparently Watson was bringing up the ball, saw Thibs signal to Derrick to go to the scorers table, and then launched an ill-advised, get-mine-before-I-get-taken-out 3 pt shot early in the shot clock from way deep.

[Vicino]

I'm glad any issues with CJs shot selection are being worked through early in the season. This guy is used to playing in a system where anything thrown at the basket is a "good shot."

He hasn't looked comfortable running half-court sets thus far, and his decision-making has been suspect to say the least.

C.J. and Brewer in particular won't be fair to judge until mid-December.

[kyrv]

Swirsky and Wennington do have common sense, unlike Bernstein, and they were quite animated about the issue. Apparently Watson was bringing up the ball, saw Thibs signal to Derrick to go to the scorers table, and then launched an ill-advised, get-mine-before-I-get-taken-out 3 pt shot early in the shot clock from way deep.

Yep I don't recall the shot, I'll assume it was a bad/horrible shot.

Watson has been a disappointment to me so far, aside from this play.

[larcat]

I remember that shot. I also remember distinctly thinking "WTF C.J" when he took it.

I get very nervous when ever he has the ball. It isn't that he looks that terrible (except some of his passes) but more that he seems to be trying to pretend he is Derrick Rose rather than being a competent pure distributor who can take the shot if there is no other option. Instead, he seems to dribble himself into situations where he has *no* options, and puts up difficult shots. Maybe I am being too harsh, but everytime he checks into the game, I get really anxious.