Thursday, December 11, 2008

Jazz Game Recap

First off, I want to announce my new co-author of this blog Ryan Gossett. He will be assisting me and game summary’s and previews, along with covering for me when I have too many dates to blog. When you get a chance give Goose a shoutout.

Well, it looks like we are on the opposite end of a streak. The Blazers lost to the Jazz 97-88 for their second consecutive loss. The story of the game was our poor shooting from downtown, and their points in the paint. Blazers shot 6-27 (22.2%) from the 3 pt. line. Even if they make 33% from three that is another 12 points, which in theory would have given us the win. It was an unusually off night for the Blazers from 3, where they normally shoot 41%.

The other story of the game was Utah’s points in the paint advantage. Utah had approximately 56 points in the paint to the Blazers 30. What was also peculiar was the fact that most of the points in the paint were generated from dribble penetration then dishing when we came over to help. Another disturbing fact is that Carlos Boozer, who can usually be counted on for a fair amount of points in the paint, did not even play tonight.. Millsap continued his outstanding job of filling in for Boozer. Millsap had 17 points and 12 boards (7 offensive). In the first half Okur burned the Blazers for 21 points. At halftime the Blazers did a good job making an adjustment and held Okur to just 2 points in the 3rd quarter, and six in the entire 2nd half.

Bottom line, the Blazers are a jump shooting team and our shots just weren’t falling tonight for whatever reason. They were getting good open looks, just not cashing in and making Utah pay for doubling Roy and Aldridge who both had stellar games. Roy ended with 33 points and 9 boards and Aldridge, who scored 12 points in the first quarter alone, ended with 22 points and 6 boards.

Individual Performances

Brandon Roy: Roy tied a career high in points with 33. You could tell he was trying to throw the entire team on his back and carry them to victory, but was unable to get enough help from the rest of the Blazers. What I found interesting (and a little disturbing) was that Roy had no assists for the first time this season. Overall, great effort from Roy, but he couldn’t do it all by himself.


Lamarcus Aldrdige: Aldridge came out like a man possessed, ripping the Jazz for 12 points in  the first quarter, made up of not only jump shots, but tough post moves as well. Aldridge again had a stretch in the 4th quarter where he scored 6 points in a row, and started our comeback. However, the Jazz quicklyadjusted and began sending double teams his way, and as we already noted we could not capitalize on the open shots. Overall another strong game for Lamarcus.


Greg Oden: Oden continues to look very weak with the ball, as he got stripped multiple times by smaller players. He did however have a few offensive boards that helped keep possessions alive. Oden found himself at a big disadvantage on the defensive end, as he could not stay with the quickness of Okur or Millsap. Oden continues to be the most inconsistent Blazer on a night to night basis.


Steve Blake/Sergio Rodriguez: Both of our point guards played poorly this game, and might have combined for our worst effort out of the point guard position all season. Blake who has been on fire as of late, went 2-7(28.5%) from 3 even though most were wide open looks. Blake’s defense on Deron Williams was above average, but he could not counter on the offensive end. In stark contrast Williams gave Sergio fits all night. Not only could he not hang physically, but Williams quickness was also a problem for Sergio. It is somewhat ironic that the game after what was possibly Sergio’s best of the year, he came out and posted 0 assists and 4 turnovers in just 18 minutes. Which raises the question once again, is he our future at the backup point guard position?

Rudy Fernandez: Rudy also had a rough night shooting. He was 1-6 (16.6%) from 3, and it is also notable that 6 of his 7 shots were from deep. It would have been nice to see Rudy adjust and get to the rim a little more to hopefully gain his rhythm and also capitalize on his great free throw shooting.


Frye & Outlaw: Both of these guys were also ineffective all night. What hurts the most with these two is if their jumper’s are not falling they fail to bring anything else to the table. Granted both have shown the ability to put up other stats when given ample time (especially Frye), but unfortunately there is no minutes to be found on this deep team.

Joel Pyzbilla: The vanilla gorilla did not get much time tonight despite Oden’s less than impressive outing as he has a tough time extending out on centers who can shoot (i.e. Okur). Pyrz was mostly a non factor.


Game Summary in One Sentence:

Poor jump shooting, and poor defensive rotations, leading to layups, combined for a Blazers road loss.

Well, it’s never easy to write after a loss, but here’s to our next 10 of 12 games at home. Let’s start another streak.


Fire & Rice out (Goose & Kyle).

5 comments:

  1. I dont think the Blazers are going to be a completely legit playoff team until they can learn how to play when their jump shots stop falling. If they would fall all the time we'd have been in the playoffs last year. We need to start learning to adjust our game if those shots arent falling...right now, we just keep shooting. WORD UP GOOSE!!!! You better give Frye some love every now and then...I know it'll be tough, but do it for me!

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  2. Looking forward to a long homestand......hopefully we can do some damage now.

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  3. I agree with the game summary completely. The loss was a result of poor defense which often resulted in wide-open lay-ups. The fact that we shot so poorly did not help the matter.
    Last night we looked like a young team with a lot of maturing to do. I feel like Oden in particular has a lot of maturing to do. I hate to do this to him, but he looked like a star middle school player, playing with a bunch of senior ball players (especially when he had the ball). He just isn’t up to speed yet and does not have much confidence. I am certain it will just take a string of games where he plays exceptionally well to realize what he can really do against NBA bigmen. Even if it does take longer for him to develop I have a good feeling it will all pan out!
    As for a positive note, Roy had an outstanding performance last night showcasing how dominant he can be!

    Good job Kyle and Goose!! I love this and will read this everyday!

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  4. Thanks for love D-block! And good point about Oden, I am not worried and constantly have to remind myself to be patient with him. Great thing is he is in a position where he doesn't have to dominate because of all the great pieces we have around him.

    Yost, good to see ya on here! And I completely echo your statement.

    I agree Fox, but it seems like every time I say that, the Blazers come out and rip off some impressive win's anyways. It will definitely be an interesting situation to monitor as the Blazers move closer to the trade deadline...

    -Kyle

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  5. I think the fear of being a "jump shooting team" and the concerns that go along with that were deff showcased last night (which is exactly what fox was talking about above). I really hope we can get a plan B option when the jump shots arent falling that is better than give roy the ball and everyone sit around and watch him hopefully score. I wish we had someone else that would take the ball to the rim to go along with B Roy, Aldridge is constantly fading away from the hoop, oden gets stripped every other time he goes up, and the rest of the players are just jump shooters. Ideas other than getting another player who can get to the hoop i guess could be running more pick and rolls when the shots arent falling and try and get either a quick drive or dish to the big fella setting the pick after he rolls?

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