The Afterparty: Hawks/Blazers Game 5
A party full of post-game links and coverage to give you every over-analyzed angle in hopes of making your Blazers IQ that much greater.
I already vented about Nate McMillan last night, so I'll spare you a second one on the disappointing performance. You can only complain about a lack of on-ball defense, too many jump shots, and Travis Outlaw so many times.
And to all the Outlaw supporters out there, I could care less that the guy had 9 points down the stretch to keep the game close. Close isn't a win. His plus/minus on the game was -8 and he was out of position at least a half dozen times in the second half which turned into uncontested layups for Atlanta. Obviously, he's not the only guy at fault, but you could put him at the top of the list.
- The media row report. [Blazers Edge]
- McMillan looking for Miller to start taking over. [Blazer Banter]
- And a ton of quotes from Roy and Blake. [Blazer Banter]
- Atlanta does more than break through MB. [Mike Barrett]
- Blazers going in the wrong direction? [Jason Quick]
- Also not fairing well in chemistry. [Bust a Bucket]
- That enemy recap which stings. [Peachtree Hoops]
Tweet of the Game...
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4 comments:
Yeah, I'm one of those Outlaw supporters. I simply don't know how you can watch that game last night and put Outlaw at the top of the list of people responsible for the loss. He was aggressive, going to the hole and attempting to dunk and drawing free throws, and hit key shots to keep the team in the game. I'm not one to brush aside plus/minus stats, but in this case, it just takes a little common sense to see that Outlaw was one of the better guys last night. Andre Miller was -13. You don't have him on blast today. And we all know he's the better guy to have in the game at critical times, not Blake. LaMarcus was -9.
I'm going to continue to plead with you: stop making Outlaw the scapegoat. I saw him truly miss ONE rotation on defense last night. You "could put him at the top of the list," but that'd be a mistake, especially last night.
How about Greg and Joel, who didn't do much against this smaller team? How about Brandon shooting 1-6 on threes and under 50% again? Blake went 2-10 and he was a +2. Sometimes, plus/minus means nothing, and sometimes, Outlaw's a guy who keeps us in games. Both were true against Atlanta.
Everyone should be on blast that's for sure. I'm just seeing this "Outlaw kept us in the game" talk and I would argue that's not the case. Plus/minus numbers tell a huge tale. The guy scored 19 points last night yet the team was -8 with him in the game. That means he is doing absolutely nothing on the defensive end of the floor. Sure he might have scored 9 of his 19 in the 4th to keep it close, but throughout the entire game he hurt and hurt and hurt this team.
I'd put Miller and Aldridge on blast, but I just did it to LA the other day, and for Miller it's pretty obvious he looks like hell.
I will give Outlaw somewhat of a break because I think he was forced into some situations last night defensively that he's probably never been in before.
Man, it's all awful from last night...I could rant for hours hah.
I grant you that: lots of blame to go around last night. We have to bear in mind that there are 4 other guys on the floor who help compose one guy's plus/minus outcome for the night. Outlaw's on the second unit with Miller, who was -13. For 3 quarters, the bench did nothing, and I think those combined plus/minus numbers reveal that.
And Miller's -13 looks really bad seeing as he had 11 assists and 0 turnovers. Shows just how badly the Blazers PG play is defensively and how on fire the Hawks were in the 2nd half.
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