Post#12 » by Biddy77 » Sat Nov 29, 2014 6:00 pm
Wow...
Blazer fan here. Still suffering from a bit of loss static after watching that one. A few things from a Blazer fan's perspective:
- the Griz defensive style is *dependable*. It's not the George Karl, swarming pressure, or the gimmicky Byron Scott side-trapping kind of D. The Griz play defense that *will* yield consistent, math based results. They pressure just enough to be constantly unsettling, and are nearly always around when the shot goes up. The Blazers' ball movement didn't produce as many wide open looks as we're used to getting, and we typically get another 3-5 easy buckets on back door plays that just weren't there against the Grizzlies. Very impressive awareness and defensive communication.
- from the opposition perspective, it was obvious that the Griz were pushing touches and shots to Gasol, but everything else felt very in-the-flow. It didn't feel like Conley or ZBo were shooting as much as they did, which is perfect. They picked spots well.
- some decent bench contributions in spurts. Udrih had a nice little stretch that he probably should have stopped a couple plays earlier. Koufas and Leuer had a nice little stretch. The odd thing was that it felt like the reserves each had a couple impact plays and then just sort of tapped out.
I came away from the game feeling like the Grizzlies are clearly a better team than the Blazers, specifically because of that D. The team looks solid and cohesive offensively, but special on defense in a way that is very playoff ready.
1/17/2015 prediction: Curry outplays Westbrook in the 14-15 playoffs.