Before we move on to the rest of this road trip, I find it necessary to draw a final bit of attention to the Detroit win. That might have been one of the top three most impressive wins I’ve seen out of Portland in the last three years. Taking the Pistons’ shot in the second quarter, adjusting at halftime and going on the fourth-quarter mini run…that’s what veteran teams do at home. And it didn’t require any particular heroics, just methodical execution and solid defense. Sometimes the lack of drama in a win can mark the most dramatic change in a team, and last year, we do not win that game.
SJ mentioned the glimpses we saw of the Big Three playing together at the Palace, but that’s only quasi-true. We’ve seen the Greg Oden-Brandon Roy two-man game result in dunks and layups, which is nice, to say the least. We’ve seen plenty of LMA-Roy. But we haven’t seen that high-low LMA–Oden game we got a taste of two summers ago. I imagine this will come along as Greg gets his explosiveness back and gets more and more comfortable passing out of the block (which he’s exceeding my expectations at already), but it’s worth noting that there’s plenty left to come out of that group.
As for Greg, here’s three things to think about. First one is simple: he absolutely locked down the paint on Sunday. You want a reason for Allen Iverson’s subpar line, look no further than the big guy. We have to hope that Greg doesn’t develop Dwight Howard-itis and become afraid of getting dunked on (OK, that might be a completely unsubstantiated side-complaint, but far too often I see Howard watching easy shots a few feet away when you have to believe he could have challenged…and he wasn’t in foul trouble).
Second: Watch Greg’s elbows whenever he grabs a rebound. Those things pop out like the wings on a Transformer action figure. Pure, dangerous (for the opponent) fundamentals. The odd thing, though, is that Greg seems to bring the ball up from his gut, rather than his chest, with his elbows in too tight. That’s leading to some of the strips underneath we are seeing. Easily fixable.
Third and finally: Remember how in the last few years, Martell Webster had a tendency to sort of drift into the far corner and stay there for an entire possession? Greg did that a couple times on the weak block against Detroit. Granted, this is because that’s where the dumpoff pass or offensive boards are going to be, but that’s where Greg seems to shrink a little bit. Just because you have more of a passive role in a certain play doesn’t mean you can’t play big and stay active. Especially for a big, I’d like to see more one-step flashes from Greg with his hands up, even if they are just as decoys. Overtime, as Greg further learns how to use the defensive attention he earns, this will become part of the LMA–Oden dynamic.
If you didn’t read it last week, here’s Henry Abbott’s assessment of the Blazers prior to the Detroit game. I have the utmost respect for any writer who can admit to being a fan of a particular team and still earn a diverse readership, but Abbott had some poignant things to say about that:
"Unless, of course, you find yourself in the peculiar position of being both a national NBA blogger with a commitment to fairness and a dyed-in-the-wool Blazer fan. I have long feared the day when by Blazer fandom could cause profound and persistent objectivity problems for my NBA coverage.That time is coming.Please, bear with me."
As for the Knicks, as big of a win as Sunday’s was, a loss to the Knicks would be just as disappointing. New York puts up the most three-attempts in the league, and because of that they always have a chance to win if enough players catch fire. That said, they are weak in the middle, don’t play defense, don’t rebound, and more often than not, don’t seem to care. The Blazers just need to punish them inside, don’t fall into the D’Antoni trap, and play their game. That final point, being able to do that consistently against bad teams is just as vital to being good as doing it consistently against good teams.
P.S. I still can’t figure out this damn gray line running through our posts. The experts are being called in. Please bear with us.