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I'm glad they're pissed off. They should be.
HOUSTON – Three games into the season and the Trail Blazers have reached an apparent boiling point: their defense, or lack thereof.
So forget about Brandon Roy's 42 points on Saturday. And the fact that LaMarcus Aldridge had his first $65-million-worthy game (27 points on 13-of-16 shooting). The only offensive talk in the Blazers locker room had nothing to do with offense, but rather the defense.
It has been some time since a Blazers locker room was as openly irritated as Saturday night, when effort, comprehension and motives were questioned by some players following a 111-107 loss to the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center.
Aaron Brooks zigzagged his way through and around the Blazers defense en route to 28 points and 8 assists and Rockets newcomer Trevor Ariza busted the Blazers with transition baskets and three-pointers on his way to 33 points, leaving the Blazers in a familiar situation: Bemoaning their defense.
"Same (stuff) as last year," center Joel Przybilla said, his cheeks red from agitation.
Indeed, if there was a blemish on last season's 54-win campaign, it was the defense. Among the most concerning problems was preventing penetration, and contesting three-point shots.
Predictably, the Blazers talked big in the preseason. Defense, they all said, was a priority, an emphasis. Because after all, the good teams, the championship teams play defense, they said.
But here are the Blazers, owning a 1-2 start to the season, and the same problems are still dogging them. Now, they almost sound ashamed for talking so much about the defense.
"We can talk about it as much as we want, that's why it's almost hard to even talk about it," Roy said.
But talk they did.
Both Roy and Przybilla said effort is at the forefront of the problems.
"We know what we have to do, and it just comes down to effort," Roy said. "It's one thing to see everybody trying to do it. But there are a lot of plays where it doesn't seem like our effort is there."
When told that a lack of effort was hard to see from press row, Roy quickly shot back.
"I see it," Roy said. "I don't know if we are confused, or what."
Perhaps more aggravating was that this is nothing new. Defense was harped on last season …
"….And the year before," Roy said finishing the sentence. "But at least last year we played hard."
Nobody was pointing fingers at individuals, and coach Nate McMillan refused to speak about specific players. However, he was livid during a first-quarter timeout, directing most of his ire at Travis Outlaw. McMillan later said his tirade was sparked by poor rotation on the weakside, which allowed Carl Landry an open baseline jumper.
McMillan also played starting small forward Martell Webster only 14:32, the fewest of any of the nine Blazers who played. He said the reason for Webster's abbreviated minutes was defense.
Przybilla said the problems are not obvious, but rather more specialized. It's him leaving his man to cover for another teammate, but no one following suit to cover his man.
"It's not one guy, as a team we weren't on the same page," Przybilla said. "We have to get it together as a team."
Blake said part of Saturday's struggles were caused by the Rockets' movement and spacing, and them shooting the ball well. But he also admitted the Blazers played a part.
"There's obviously defensive issues when a team scores that many points on you," Blake said. "But we grew into being a good defensive team last year, and the way it's looking now, we are going to have to do that again. I'm not going to get too frustrated yet because we fixed it before. It's the third game. There's time to work on it."
There won't be much time, however. The Blazers face Oklahoma City tonight, which features high-scoring Kevin Durant.
"I see a team right now that is thinking too much," Roy said. "I think our minds our in other places, like 'Ho can I score? How can I get my rhythm? How am I going to get chemistry?' Instead, we should just be focusing on defense."
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindbla...d_107_lac.html
Issues?
I'm glad they're pissed off. They should be.
Non-issue.
lol, Blazers.
Start Andre Miller, Travis Outlaw, and Joel Przybilla, and give them the majority of the minutes at their respective position, and the defense would be less of a problem.
they should trade blake and all of their sf for an elite sf
They have a coach who is not very good.
Blake couldn't even fetch them a bag of Doritos
Blazers just aren't a good defensive team. Most of their players are offense guys, not defense. Pryz and Outlaw are probably their two best defenders right now. The rest are average or below average defenders.
Three way trade with Houston and Filler team, ship out Blake, Rudy, and their hoarded SF's for Battier + some defensive PG.
NO! We shouldn't trade Battier, because he is the obvious leader of this team. Rudy will walk in a few years anyway, so no need to trade for him
They could've had an elite sf in the draft a couple years ago.
Beside from him being our captain, I really don't see why we can't trade him.
Captains can be traded right?
A big 3 of
Roy/Durant/Aldrige
lol pritchard
If they are not interested in playing defense, then just send us Przybilla for Finley and Bonner. They can help you with that.
Because he can mentor Trevor on how to become an elite defender, and hold the team together through tough stretches
Both the Rockets and the Blazers would be better if they swapped Scola and Aldridge.
Or maybe the Blazers can call up the Thunda and trade their elite SF for Oden.
If the Blazers lose to the Thunder tonight, T-long's state of mind has to be in question, on the other hand, he will just say what he is supposed to say, "non-issue"
did you even watch the game, GTFO. Travis Outlaw was BY FAR was the WORST player in game last night.
lol pritchslapped
Yes but he was by far the BEST player in game 1
I was half-expecting to see the usual retort of "non-issue", coming from Blazerfan.
Another victim of the Adleman Motion Offense. Still can't figure it out eh Jailblazers?
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