Portland Trail Blazers: Mike Barrett's Blog

Defensive Breakdowns Blamed

posted: 11/29/2006 at 7:56 AM

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The identity of this Portland team was established in the first few games. The hard-working, scrappy, defensive-minded, never-say-die-attitude-Blazers were showing what they could be when they truly bought into Nate McMillan's philosophy. Following last night's 105-97 loss to the Indiana Pacers, McMillan said the team has to get back to what was bringing them wins. He was mostly talking about defense.

Several games ago I had scratched a note to myself on my desk. It simply says "Portland is 5 and 0 when holding opponents under 100 points." Forget the offense. When you're a young, shorthanded team, you're going to have to outwork people at the defensive end. You can't always control whether or not your outside shot is falling, but you can always give a better effort on defense.

For the third game in a row a Blazer opponent scored over 100, and this time it wasn't the high-scoring Kings, or Phoenix Suns. The Pacers came into the game averaging 95 points per game, which ranked them 25th in that catagory in the NBA. They shot 52 percent from the field, 38 percent from behind the three-point line, and had 28 assists on 38 field goals.

Despite those numbers from Indiana's offense, and Portland's struggles shooting the ball, the game was still tied at 75 after three quarters. So, give the Blazers credit there. They had battled back from an 11-point hole they dug in the first two minutes of the third quarter, and were in a good position, on their home floor, to pull out the game with a strong defensive mindset in the fourth quarter. It didn't happen that way, as the Pacers put up 30 points in the quarter.

In defense of the Blazers, over the past three games they've caught some pretty good teams at perhaps the wrong time. Sacramento returned Brad Miller and Ron Artest to the lineup on Saturday in that game, and were better than they had showed in their recent games. Phoenix had been struggling and was due for a good game. They played their best game of the season Sunday night. And, Indiana was kicking off a 5-game western swing, following a humbling loss to Toronto on Sunday. They were looking at last night's game as a must win. I also think it is safe to say all three of those teams are better than their records. McMillan doesn't want to hear excuses like that, but it's reality.

It was nice to see Joel Przybilla return to the lineup for Portland against Indiana. He played just 7 minutes in the first half, but went 16 in the second half, and grabbed 10 rebounds. His return will undoubtedly help the team defensively.

Jarrett Jack recorded a career-high 21 points, and also had 6 assists on no turnovers. He continues to improve. The Blazers, as a team, outrebounded Indiana 47-34, and recorded 21 offensive rebounds. You don't lose very often when you grab that many offensive boards and outrebound a team by that margin. The problem was, they shot an uncharacteristic 39 percent from the floor, their lowest percentage of the season.

Zach Randolph had 30 points and 11 rebounds, but was just 11 for 27 from the field. We said this before the game on the TV broadcast, and it held true in this game- no one in the NBA defends Zach like Indiana's Jeff Foster. That's the reason Rick Carlisle started Foster last night. He forced Zach into the 11 for 27, and also caused him to turn the ball over 5 times. Keep in mind, the Blazers play this Indiana team again next Friday, in Indianapolis.

There are two home games left before the long six-game trip back east. Orlando is in town on Friday, and Atlanta is at the Garden Sunday. You can bet the Blazers won't be spending much time on offense in practice today or Thursday.

18 Comments:

dlsfan said...: I know Zach has had a great begining this season but he still seems to be looking the other direction when opposing player drive to the bascket. On offense he sould be our first option but not the only option. The offense is bogging down trying to run everything through Zach. As good as Zach is he still appears to be part of the problem, not the solution.; 9:26 AM
mjrgramaje said...: Mike Barrett's Blogs are so much better than John Canzano's from the Paper, Mike writes the facts and John just write negetive stuff only. Good Job Mike!!! They will learn to play Defense, There still playing good these are just championship caliber teams there playing right now. I am real happy to watch Portland this year because they actually look like they care about this season more than last. Hopefully they keep trying and the wins will come with experance. Go Blazers!!! I believe in you.; 9:59 AM
Mark said...: Well, coach Nate did what I thought he should have done last night by playing Joel and Jamaal at the center and having LaMarcus come in at the 4 spot while Travis moved down to the 3 spot. It would have worked out just fine if Portland could have made some shots. When you out rebound your oppnonent by 10, you should not lose. Portland needs to play more of a 2-3 zone. I guess it doesn't help all that much that our best perimeter defender is still out with the heel injury.

If Roy's injury doesn't look any better after this next MRI scan, than I suggest he go in for surgery to completely fix the problem. If his heel does look better, I would think that there's still a very high possibility of re-aggrivating the heal and we'll all be in the same position we're in now. Hopefully Roy can get back out on the court soon! By the way MB, I love your blogs! Keep up the good work.; 11:23 AM
ProudBFan said...: Thanks for keeping the Blogs going, Mike. As usual, a couple of comments:

1. I'm sure you didn't mean to state that the Pacers were averaging 25 points per game coming into last night's game.

2. It's not just defense. It's offense, too. The Blazers simply do not have dependable perimeter shooting to compliment their decent inside game. If Nate isn't drilling the boys on their perimeter shooting - with hands in their faces - he should be.

3. And it's not just defense and offense. It's the transition game too. As in, the Blazers have almost NO transition game. They constantly take their time getting the ball up the court, and letting their opponents set up defensive shop all the while. And they are getting beat back down the court on fully half of their opponents' possessions when their opponents employ a full-court attack.

4. And it's not just defense, offense, and transition game. It's rebounding, too. The Blazers are dead last in the NBA in total rebounds per game at this point in the season.

5. And it's not just defense, offense, transition game, and rebounding. It's the Blazer Dancers, too. They just aren't trying hard enough!

6. On the serious side, I still can NOT figure out why Brandon, the Blazers, and the physicians didn't just decide to do the surgery as soon as the pain became an issue. It's not like that bone is going to shrink all by itself. He could be well on his way to recovery by now, instead of still being lost in uncertainty.

I know the boyz will improve and that it's going to take time. I didn't expect them to really begin clicking until the 2nd half of the season, anyway. We have had a number of great stories and pleasant surprises already this season, and I'm sure more are in store for us.

So I'm not giving up on the boyz, but I AM concerned that many of them may become discouraged as the losses pile up. The only way they are going to turn things around is to grit their teeth and rededicate themselves to doing just that, no matter how many games they lose.

GO BLAZERS!!!

PBF; 11:46 AM
pepeseldon said...: For God Sake!!! When is going Portland coach to realize that Sergio Rodriguez deserve much more minutes on the court??? Sergio has everything a point guard needs ... I know he is very young but he has a huge experience playing complicated games and he doesn´t hide when his team needs him (if you want a good example of that, you should see the semifinal against Argentina in the last World Championship in Japan).; 1:22 PM
MadDogg said...: Defense, defense, defense. Everyone is saying it, and yet no one seems to be thinking about where the problem is coming from. It's easy, his name is Z-Bo. He never gets back, he rotates slowly or not at all, his footwork is too slow, and mostly he just saves his energy for offense.

Speaking of which, his offense is predictable, it slows ball movement, disrupts the offensive flow, causes needless turnovers, and generates buckets less than half the time.

He has talent, but also has an oversized ego, very little court vision, horrific ball handling skills, and most importantly, a massive contract.

My advice. Let Randolph have his 30-12 at the expense of winning. When Roy comes back, give him the oppurtunity to find his role as a #2 option. If not, get rid of him.

It doesn't matter if he goes somewhere else and plays well, he's not playing well here. Period. Stats don't mean jack, if you can't play as a team, you can't win. Period. Go Blazers. Period.; 1:39 PM
shawn said...: The problem with this Blazers team is that they rely way too much on Zach, also Dixon. Last night in the 4th. Zach, an Dixon continued to shoot the ball. Dont get me wrong they did hit some, but the point is when they take that many shots in a row like they did an do, it isnt very hard for the other team to figure out who to guard and who is going to get the ball. In my opinion Jack is the go to guy, he has a higher field go percentage. I think most of the better teams in the NBA are good because of the point guard as well as defence...; 4:18 PM
RJNelson18 said...: The reason the Blazers lost last night was not because of a defensive breakdown, it was from Joel not being 100% in shape, and Brandon sitting on the bench. Once everybody gets back, it will all take shape.
Go Blazers.; 5:53 PM
RealisticFan said...: Oh ... my ... gosh! Shut up about Sergio already. I know there are a lot of fans of this kid, but let's try to be a little objective here! He has some talent and he'll be a good player for the Blazers in a year or two. But if Sergio were to play more minutes than he is now, it would actually stunt his progress. He has a lot of bad habits that will only correct themselves through consistent repetition in practice. Nate McMillan is much, much smarter than all the Sergio lovers on this board, so trust his coaching instincts and stop clamoring for more minutes for Sergio. Nate is giving him as much time as he deserves!; 9:07 PM
mrblazer said...: I disagree, in part, with realisticfan. First of all, i think Sergio is good, right now. I suspect he'll only improve over the next couple of years. Also, i don't think more time would stunt Sergio's development. Sergio has been playing at a high level for a long time, now. It's not like he just became a McDonald's all-star. The guy is a world champion.
These bad habbits of his must have slipped my mind when he was dropping 10 dimes and scoring 9 points on 4 of 5 shooting in 22 minutes. I wish Jack had some of those bads habbits, as well. It seems Sergio has a bad habbit of leading the league in assists per 48 minutes.

I agree that we should be patient with Sergio, but i don't think Jack needs to be playing 40+ minutes a game. My main problem with the minute distribution at PG, however, is just that Dickou continues to get minutes handed to him he hasn't earned. I can only think of one decent game he has had all season. Why should Sergio be splitting back-up minutes with him?; 11:48 PM
DT-Vinsanity said...: realisticfan, saying that coach McMillian is always right with his decisions is not really realistic, in fact is very relative... I mean, what about the time when McMillian had Dickau as the second PG of the rotation and Sergio was the third? Was it a "smart" decision? If you're correct and the coach is sooooo smart and always fair with the decisions he has made, then both Dickau and Sergio deserve to be at the same time the 2nd point guard of the team, and that's a sort of contradiction.

In my opinion, the fact that Sergio has progressively been playing more and more minutes is the evidence that coach McMillian, initially, was not sure about Sergio's skills to play NBA games, but now Nate has realised that he does have those skills. Maybe Nate understimated Sergio when he said he should go to the D-League before the season had started; I'm pretty sure Nate has changed his mind a little bit on that and now he doesn't think Sergio should go the D-League.

Of course, Jarrett Jack is, today, a better PG than Sergio, and Jarrett is starting. No doubt about it. Probably Sergio will be able to improve his NBA skills and get experience if he plays 20 minutes every game (and that's something normal, like any other 2nd PG of the league), and when people say that he should play more, I think they're just refering to this, to play 20 minutes, and not to start Sergio.

By the way, I can't really understand what you're refering to with "he has a lot of bad habits". As far as I remember, McMilian said in September that "Sergio knows where to be on the court" and said that was because "his natural basketball IQ", but he never said anything about "a lot of bad habits"... and if McMillian is so smart, then he is smarter than you and me, and if he has not said anything about those bad habits, then Sergio hasn't got them. I'm just following your way of thinking about it.

The only "bad" thing he's said about him is that as he's still learning English he loses a bit of communication in the court... which is not a bad habit to be corrected in practice, and still, despite of it, his numbers in assists are really high, and drives the team to play better when he's on the court, which is basically the purpose of a true PG.

I just can't imagine how good Sergio can be in a year or two.

P.D Mike, any updates about Brandon Roy's heel?; 5:10 AM
Adrenalize said...: Couple things here...
First, the defense is glaringly the biggest problem. We really need to improve the interior defense, (during the Suns game it looked like they were performing layup drills on us)so hopefully with Joel back that will help. Also, with soo much youth on this team, we should NEVER be getting beat soo often in transition!
Second, what is the deal with Martell? Teams are clogging the middle and playing Zack tough, only way to stop that is effective outside shooting and Martell is supposed to be the guy for that. He has been almost invisible lately. He needs to get start creating shots for himself and not be soo tentative. Dixon shoots almost twice as often with less minutes. With Martell, Outlaw and Jack shooting from outside, Zack would have a lot more room to move inside and create lanes for Outlaw and Jack to get to the rim also.

When you mention being last in the NBA in rebounding, there arent a whole lot of rebounds to be had when your opponent is shooting +50% from the field.; 5:31 AM
BLAZER PROPHET said...: It's not only defense (watching Pacers walk the ball by Zebo and score while he watches on makes me want to vomit) but just plain experience. The Pacers are a veteran group and know how to milk a call, execute just a bit better when needed... all the things we will do in a couple of years.; 7:06 AM
L.A.PortlandFan said...: Ok, so throughout the years I have had a ruff time being down here in L.A. yet remaining a die hard Portland fan. But it has really given me the chance to look from the outside in. I have noticed that there is something that seems to happen with us blazer fans when we have some small snafu's in our game play. We immediately become bitter and start blaming whomever we can. Except ourselves.

The one main reason why I totally love Portland is the immense feeling of heart that the city portrays. Now there have been small blurbs where it seemed that the team was also reflective of the cities character, but not often enough. Basketball is a game that is highly dependant on skills. But in my opinion the greatest skill has nothing to do with ball handling, or shooting, or even conditioning. It has to do with passion! I believe that a team has to be just that, Passionate. When you look at all the teams that have been champions throughout the years you can recognize one thing. Teamwork/Unity. Now maybe if we see more of Rasheed Wallace type passion with less Ruben Patterson type complaining or blaming, then the team would find its niche; Start to gel and see that problems can be fixed when a Portrait in turned into a Mural. Let’s rally behind the blazers. Lets show that heart which has made the Rose Garden one of the loudest Arenas in sports history. Let’s just say "hey we have our lineup now let’s throw all in a bowl, mix it round and come out with a playoff caliber cake". What do ya say Portland, do you have the heart I always admired and relished in, or are you going to implode once more. I firmly believe that the sixth man sitting in the stands or 1,200 miles to the south listening on KXL, really make a team or a city what it should be.; 12:12 PM
The Back Judge said...: Having watched Jarrett Jack for 3 years at Georgia Tech, I can vouch for his leadership, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Sergio Rodriguez may be a talented player, but to place the burden of leadership on him at this early stage of his career would be wrong. Furthermore, to point to Sergio's 9-point 10-assist outing as reason for more minutes is absurd. Before you blindly accept statistics, consider the context in which they were obtained. Those 9 points and 10 assists were earned in a 119-101 blowout loss to the Suns (a team that likes to run) in "garbage minutes" as some like to call it. Spectacular statistics do not always equate to spectacular performances.; 1:19 PM
peregrinebrm said...: Sergio has played well lately, yes. It can be difficult to improve young players, but Sergio has made it easy in his case by being good enough to play real back-up minutes. Be sure that the staff is watching him carefully.

With regard to bad habits and earlier caution on McMillan's part, well, remember the pre-season? One box score near the end showed Sergio with 8 turnovers in 19 minutes. I can't remember ever seeing such a thing before, and Dickau is an established, steady player who dropped 40 on Portland two years ago. So the staff should be excused for being cautious with Sergio, while on the other hand their recent use of him proves that they didn't lose sight of or forget him. He's already helping the team and should get better and better.; 3:21 PM
Westside Erik said...: WHAT IN THE WORLD is going on with Brandon? I sat and watched him for awhile (through binoculars) during the first half of the Phoenix debacle and let me tell you, the expression on his face was of someone that looked very uncomfortable and, dare I say, confused. My whole big fear about his situation is that he was improperly diagnosed, which is not uncommon and happens all the time. I feel like someone in charge got the wrong info, made the wrong call, didn't seek secondary medical advice, something. I strongly feel the Blazers need to address the public with the exact course of events surrounding his condition over the last three weeks and why they chose to pursue the method of treatment they did. Sorry for the rant but this just reeks of a pathetic treatment that has resulted in a major waste of time.; 11:09 PM
mrblazer said...: In Sergio's first meaningful action this season, he had 8 assists in the final quarter against Minnesota who kept playing in fear of losing a lead, once again. The very next night he had 8 assists again in 26 minutes of meaningful action in a game where JJ played poorly for 21 minutes. Against NJ, in the first half, Portland was -22 with Jack on the floor and +9 with Sergio. Jack recovered and had a nice second half, but we would have had a much bigger hill to climb for a win had Sergio not performed as he did. In the 5 games that Sergio has played at least 12 minutes, he's averaging about 6.6 assists in about 18.4 mpg. That's 17+ assists per 48 minutes. Numbers like that at any point in the game are remarkable.

Do know what you're talking about, and watch more than one game, before calling one's campaign absurd. Thinking Sergio is incapable of handling a backup role on this team, independently, is what is absurd. Anyone who watched the World Championship tournament and all his games thus far in the regular season could easily see he's capable.; 1:07 AM