Pick and Scroll
Nathan Begley | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 at 10:16AM Your daily (Mon-Fri) roundup of links from around the blogosphere, typically Trail Blazers related.
• A quick note, last night LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 rebounds, four assists, and four steals. All three of those statistics are very good for any power forward, much less one haunted by the finesse label. That said, Aldridge gets crucified a bit for last night’s debacle in the articles below. He deserves to be criticized for being hesitant offensively, that is true, but the entire team deserves criticism for an absolute failure to get the ball to Aldridge in advantageous positions. Credit the Thunder for executing a great defensive game plan, but far too often the Blazers looked like Washington Generals, throwing terrible passes often right into the hands of a defender. Kelly Dwyer summed it up best in his Behind the Boxscore:
22 turnovers for the Blazers, murder in a slowish game like that, as that represented nearly a quarter of the team’s possessions. Oklahoma City already defends like mad, and you’re going to hand them the ball one in every four times down the court?
• John Hollinger covers last night’s game as the centerpiece of today’s ESPN Daily Dime.
Forget about their youth, their inexperience, and the difficulty of the Western Conference. Forget all that, and just know this: The Thunder are going to the playoffs.
Well, if Hollinger is right, that’s one more seat taken in the game of musical chairs that is the Western Conference playoff race. I hope Portland is not one of the teams left standing when the music stops.
• Coup from Rip City Project credits the Thunder defense and looks forward to the Phoenix game.
• The Oregonian’s Jason Quick says Portland may have started the All-Star break a bit early. Of course, as Quick notes in the article, the Blazers will have played a league-leading 55 games before the break after tonight. Between the sheer volume of games and all the injuries, the Blazers need the All-Star weekend more than anybody. [Note as of this writing, the Oregonian link says “Blazers_Hornets” if the link is corrected, my link will be no good.]
• Wendell Maxey has an absolute must-read breakdown of Aldridge vs. Jeff Green.
• Mike Barrett gives his take on last night’s contest and notes the death of a streak, before last night, Portland had won 44-consecutive games when holding their opponents to 90 points or less.
• Something that annoys me about Aldridge is that if he bobbles the ball, or if it gets poked away and he recovers it, he will immediately look to pass. Without fail, all a defender has to do is poke the ball and they erase Aldridge as an offensive threat. If Aldridge would fake the pass and then go for the turnaround jumper, I would be happy. If Aldridge would fake a pass out toward the three point line and then turn, put the ball on the floor and take a dribble towards the rim, I would be elated. I think Aldridge just doesn’t have any confidence in his ball handling abilities and until he remedies that, what you see is what you get.
• Although, what you get with Aldridge isn’t so bad, he was honored today by being named to the U.S. National Basketball 2010-12 roster.
• Tom Haberstroh from HoopData has been playing with Google Motion again and contrasts the Warriors run-and-gun offense with Portland’s slow and efficient attack.
• Kevin Pelton has five thoughts on the Trail Blazers vs. Thunder matchup.
• Wayne Vore of Pounding the Rock talks about how to tell if a team is executing its offense.
• Tyler Lockman of TrueHoop Network sister blog Valley of the Suns anticipates the return of former ASU star Jeff Pendergraph:
For Arizona State University basketball fans, it might seem strange to see one of the program’s greatest players ever in anything but maroon and gold.
No, not James Harden, who spent just two years in Tempe and now dons blue and orange for the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’m talking about Jeff Pendergraph, the four-year forward/center who finished his career at ASU having played and started more games than any player in Sun Devil history.
• As a final note, the trade winds are a-blowin’. What trade rumors from around the league would most help, or hurt, Portland’s playoff chances? Let us know in the comments below.
Reader Comments (3)
Hey, what happened to the trade rumors about C-Bosh?
Is that over now?
A huge issue with LMA last night was him not sealing his man in the post. Two or three of the turnovers were due to his man being able to sneak in front of him and steal the entry pass. It's up to him to keep the passing lane open.
He was also beyond abysmal on defense in the first half. Three or four layups that ran right past him.
A bad game? No, it wasn't bad. But there were huge issues with his effort in the first half, especially.
I always thought the Bosh rumors we're Blazers fan generated. As ideal of a proposal they were, there was never really have life behind that rumor. At least, none that I ever heard from anyone outside Portland.