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[Roy was off all night, finishing with six points on 3 of 11 shooting from the field.]
Whoops-e-daisy.
http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/in...o_86_andr.html
Andre Miller scored 16 points in his first exhibition game as a Trail Blazer. Portland travels to Sacramento to face the Kings on Wednesday.
It took Andre Miller all of one game to provide Trail Blazers fans seven million reasons why the team signed him to a free agent contract this summer.
In a game the Blazers played in fits and starts, Miller was the calming and dominant force, leading his new team to a 98-86 win over Sacramento on Tuesday night at the Rose Garden in the exhibition opener for both teams.
Miller made 5 of 6 shots from the field and finished with 16 points and four assists. But more importantly, he was the driving force in the game's most crucial stretches, particularly during a 21-11 run in the first half. Miller was the catalyst in the run, displaying solid ballhandling in traffic and his veteran savvy, such as faking as if he would pull up his dribble only to accelerate and blow past a defender for a layup.
"You just saw him direct," coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought he did a good job quarterbacking and directing and basically running our counter sets. Whenever the defense made mistakes, he played basketball and made reads."
Miller barked out plays and directed teammates with hand motions and head nods, establishing order to what was otherwise a rusty and sloppy Blazers performance. When Miller left in the second quarter, the team scored five points in the half's final 5:49.
It was the type of steady and productive play that prompted the Blazers to sign the 10-year veteran to a two-year contract that will pay him $7 million per season.
Miller wasn't the only new-look Blazers player.
Center Greg Oden, entering his second season on the court, looked much improved, finishing with 18 points and nine rebounds.
Oden, who is 14 pounds lighter than he was last season, showed quicker feet and improvement in his offensive game. Late in the first quarter, he quickly spun to his right, leaving Kings center Spencer Hawes guarding air. Oden was fouled at the rim, and he made one of two free throws. In the second quarter, he hit a jump hook from the right side of the key, a shot that he rarely, if ever, made last season.
Oden also hit a mid-range jump shot and looked spry while swiping a Jason Thompson shot out of the air.
"He looked pretty good," McMillan said. "I thought he got deep post position and did some good things."
As for the rest of the team ... well, there's clearly work to do, and the Blazers have seven more exhibition games over the next three weeks to work out the kinks before the season opener Oct. 27 at home against Houston.
"That's a great film for us to teach from," McMillan said. "We needed that game to look at ourselves and to see where we were at. We have a lot of work ahead of us."
At the top of McMillan's list of improvements will be rebounding. The smaller Kings outrebounded the Blazers 44-34.
Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge, still engaged in a contract negotiations, finished with a game-high 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting, most of them from the perimeter.
The Blazers started with the same lineup they used during last season's 54-win season: Steve Blake at point guard, Brandon Roy at shooting guard, Nicolas Batum at small forward, Aldridge at power forward and Joel Przybilla at center.
The Blazers opened the game with a perfectly executed pick-and-roll, with Przybilla converting a layup after receiving a bounce pass from Blake. But there were some kinks as well. Roy airballed his first shot -- a wide-open three pointer -- and then was unable to convert a lob pass from Blake.
Roy was off all night, finishing with six points on 3 of 11 shooting from the field.
The most effective unit of the night was the one directed by Miller, who played with Rudy Fernandez, Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw and Oden.
When Miller wasn't directing traffic, he was deferring to Fernandez, who is being auditioned as a play-making guard this preseason. Fernandez looked the part, amassing three assists in the first 12 minutes, including a repeated effort to get Oden the ball in the post, and a zip pass to Miller for a baseline jumper.
McMillan opened the second half with a different starting lineup, going with Miller, Roy, Webster, Aldridge and Oden. They played the first 7:46 of the third quarter, outscoring Sacramento 18-13.
Unlike the preseason opener last year, when the Blazers were sharp and electric during a 110-81 pasting of the Kings, the Blazers struggling to put away the rebuilding Kings. It was 57-55 midway through the third quarter, but a late run, capped by a Blake three-pointer put the Blazers up 72-62.
Notes
Former Blazers guard Sergio Rodriguez played 15 minutes and finished with seven points, one assist and three turnovers while shooting 1 for 6 from the field. ... Kings star Kevin Martin was 2 for 10 from the field and prized rookie Tyreke Evans, the fourth overall pick this summer, had 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting. ... The Blazers played 12 players -- everybody but rookie Dante Cunningham and veterans Juwan Howard and Jarron Collins.
[Roy was off all night, finishing with six points on 3 of 11 shooting from the field.]
Whoops-e-daisy.
And yet we still won by 12. Pretty impressive, huh?
You got the parade scheduled either way so yer set.
tee, hee.
Everybody loves a parade!
But, not when you lose, for Christ's sakes.
God Damnit Thong... I come on these forums and they are always spammed with your articles ripped straight out of the oregonian!! This is war !
Blazers only beat the worst team in the NBA by 12 pts??? pathetic
You ain't no better, Jazzy, yer always comin' on here peekin' up my kimono tryin' to get into my Depends. People who live in glass homeless shelters should not throw stones.
This is the 2nd time you have used this ridiculous statement. Stop copying and pasting your own posts gle!
GD you, bustin' the Cubby so early of a morning. HTH did I know you read it the first time. You didn't respond!
Now I feel naked & embarassed.
Now I feel naked & embarassed.I think this might actually be the 3rd time you have used this. It's time to retire it!
Yer too damn sharp for me this morning, Jazzy.
Just slappin es and taking names!
The Kings won't be the worst team in the league this year. They've improved. They're still bad, but they're better. It's not like we lost at home to a Rockets team without T-Mac, Yao, and Artest. You know, something horrible like that...
I thought Miller was a good pick-up, better fit than Hedo. Won't be surprised if he helps them make a much more balanced team all the way around. Might even help them get out of the first round of the playoffs... maybe.
Then again, all you did was beat the kings.
Blazers fans get to talk absolutely zero about losing to the Rockets.
Bet he didn't also pull down 19 rebounds.
Shouldn't Tlong be pinked?
It thought pinkage was automatic for people who start too many threads
Blazers put there full squad out and only won by 12
Portland might be the 2nd best team in West with Miller running the show.
Rofl at this thread. Andre Miller...Really?
I'm sure Pop and company are already drawing up schemes to stop this guy Miller. Watch out NBA!!
Miller searching for right fit in Portland
By Marc J. Spears
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – With 3:31 left in the first quarter, Andre Miller finally shed his warm-ups, left the Portland Trail Blazers’ bench and stepped onto the court. Miller’s delayed entrance to the game wasn’t because of injury; as the NBA’s reigning ironman, he hasn’t missed a game in more than six years. Nor was Miller being punished for violating a team rule.
The reason for the benching was simple: The Blazers aren’t ready to call Miller their starting point guard, even if he was the team’s most significant acquisition of the offseason.
Instead, Miller finds himself battling for the job with Steve Blake – the same guy for whom the Blazers spent the summer searching for an upgrade. After coming off the bench for Portland’s first two preseason games, Miller started Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers. He played well and is expected to start again in the preseason, but Blazers coach Nate McMillan still seems to like the idea of bringing Miller off the bench.
For Miller, the unexpected compe ion is only one of a handful of issues that have made it challenging for him to get settled with his new team.
“If I was told right out when I had my meetings that I would be a backup, then I wouldn’t have come here,” Miller told Yahoo! Sports this week.
McMillan has said he told Miller during their summer meeting in Las Vegas that he very well might make him a reserve. Miller doesn’t remember the meeting quite the same way. What is clear is that Miller wasn’t Portland’s first choice on the free-agent market. The Blazers initially thought they had a deal with forward Hedo Turkoglu only to see Turkoglu leave for Toronto. They then signed forward Paul Millsap to an offer sheet the Utah Jazz matched.
Through it all, the Blazers also wanted to find a veteran floor general to help lead one of the league’s most talented, yet youngest, rosters. The Blazers inquired about trading for Steve Nash and expressed some interest in signing Jason Kidd, but both players stayed with their respective teams, so they gave Miller a three-year, $21 million contract. The $7 million third season is at Portland’s option.
“He’s such a talented player,” Blazers All-Star guard Brandon Roy said. “We’re just trying to see where he’s best, because that’s how he’s going to help our team. …We needed him on this team.”
Miller has shown flashes of how he can help the Blazers. He’s a smooth, smart point guard who throws a great lob pass. He should help the Blazers, one of the league’s slowest-paced teams, improve their fast break, even though he’s not exceptionally athletic himself.
Miller has started every regular-season game but one since his rookie year, but McMillan is seriously considering having him lead the team’s bench. Greg Oden also got his first start of the preseason on Friday, and the opening lineup looked ragged at times. Miller is clearly a better all-around point guard than Blake – who is a much more dependable 3-point threat – but McMillan says it’s more important who closes games than starts.
“We will look at what works for this team,” McMillan said. “He’s played well with the starting group as also the group he’s coming off the bench with.”
Miller has long believed he is one of the NBA’s most underappreciated point guards, which makes the current situation even more difficult for him to swallow. He averaged a well-rounded 16.3 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds for Philadelphia last season and has played in 530 consecutive games, the league’s longest active streak.
“I feel like I have to continue to prove myself,” Miller said. “I don’t think I’m respected as a player. I have no idea [why].
“There are only so many point guards you can talk about and their accomplishments and stuff like that. I have a pretty good, solid resume, but I don’t think it’s respected. Head up, I think I’m just as good as any point guard in this league, defensively and offensively.”
The biggest knock on Miller is that he has never won big. He’s made the playoffs five of the past six seasons, but has never advanced past the first round. He’s not a good 3-point shooter and few people remember the last time he dunked, so wide-spread popularity has never followed him.
“Dre is a baller and he knows how to play the game,” McMillan said. “I would put his IQ up there right with the top point guards in the league as far as knowing what to do in this league on the basketball floor with the players that he has.
“You look at guys like a [John] Stockton, who give the ball to the players and understand the time and score situation. You’re talking about the top guards as far as basketball IQ and taking advantage of what they do as well as their teammates can do.”
Miller arrived at Portland on Sept. 14 to get acclimated to his new teammates and city, but his first month in town hasn’t endeared him to the locals. The Oregonian reported Miller was the only player with a guaranteed contract who didn’t pass a conditioning test at the beginning of training camp. Miller admitted he didn’t pass the test – which required running baseline to baseline and back 10 times within a minute – by eight seconds, but he also said he wasn’t the only player that failed. While the paper reported Miller was punished with a week of extra conditioning with the strength and conditioning coach, Miller said he actually chose to do the work.
Miller said he weighs 213 pounds now, hopes to be in the 203-206 range during the season and is in the same shape that he’s always in this time of the year. He also points to the fact that he’s missed only three games his entire career as evidence that his conditioning has never been an issue.
“I know I didn’t make it,” Miller said. “And if I didn’t make it, there were probably two to four other guys that didn’t make it. And afterward, those guys came to me and told me that their times were fixed.”
*********************
The Blazers have a collegial spirit to them that is unique in the NBA. Miller is a self-described loner, which has raised questions about how he’ll fit in with the we-are-family franchise. The Oregonian reported Miller didn’t have a lengthy conversation with Roy during the first week of practice and Miller has been slow to discuss his private life with local reporters. When a caller to a Portland radio station said Miller didn’t sign an autograph for his son at a mall, that sparked further questions about his affability.
“I just come get the work done, go hoop and go home,” said Miller, who, at 33, is much older than most of his teammates. “There are a couple other players probably quieter than me. Nicolas Batum don’t say nothing.
“I’m sitting on the baseline and I’m hearing fans in the audience say, ‘Sit with the team.’ I just got here. [The fan] said, ‘Sit with the team. Stop acting like that.’
“I was like, ‘Damn.’ They wouldn’t have said that if [the media] didn’t give a false impression. I never have had any problems with any fans. I socialize with fans at appearances and in public.”
Since the end of the “Jail Blazers” era, Portland fans are understandably sensitive about the character of their players. If it makes them feel better, Miller has a young son, is not married, loves dogs and has stayed out of trouble after being raised by his mother in the tough streets of Watts in Los Angeles. Miller hopes the fans will focus more on what he can do to make them a championship contender than how he would choose to spend his time on a deserted island.
“I’ve always been a team player, always been about winning,” he said.
Miller maintains he wants to be in Portland, and why wouldn’t he? The Blazers have surrounded him with the best collection of talent he’s had in his career. He just wants to focus on the job at hand.
“The big thing for Andre is we know who he is,” Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said. “He just has to be Andre. He is the most cerebral player we’ve had in a long time.
“And trust me, the city will embrace him and wants to embrace him. We are known for the mantra of, ‘Keep Portland weird.’ Dre will fit in.”
Disgruntled already?
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