[MAS RipCity]

Since Damon can't run a team, how come we don't just start Telfair? What do we have to lose? Damon brings nothing when he can't make anything. I can guarentee that at the end of hte year, we will look back at this loss and know it cost of something worth while. Our bigs are worthless, if our guards can't get them the ball in good post posistion. Zach never once had deep inside posistion.
Telfair
Miles
Rahim
Zach
Theo

please.....

[Tince]

Originally posted by MAS RipCity!


LOL all of the blame goes to MO, sure we missed open 3's,but that's mo's fault we took so many.

It's either you take wide open 3's, that tha players should hit about 40% of the time, or FORCE the ball in the middle of the lane (which we did a lot of) and turn it over. We didn't finish any better near the hoop than we did outside the 3-point line because the Nets defense dared us to shoot. The only thing that Nets wanted us to do more than shoot the ball outside, is force the ball inside between five defenders.

[Playmaker0017]

The issue was spacing.

Cheeks is an idiot, no question.

But, this wasn't HIS loss. Our guards kept their men sagging in. They made sure they couldn't get the entry pass in and then found a way to jack shot after shot.

Reef was forced to take outside shots with no time on the clock ... the last thing you really want ... and Randolph was forced to take outside shots (until the end of the game, when the team finally got the ball to him in the post ... and guess what? He scored)

Play.

[Playmaker0017]

Originally posted by MAS RipCity!
Since Damon can't run a team, how come we don't just start Telfair? What do we have to lose? Damon brings nothing when he can't make anything. I can guarentee that at the end of hte year, we will look back at this loss and know it cost of something worth while. Our bigs are worthless, if our guards can't get them the ball in good post posistion. Zach never once had deep inside posistion.
Telfair
Miles
Rahim
Zach
Theo

please.....

Man, I love you for this lineup ... but you just said our big men are worthless without outside shooting.

You insured that we would NEVER hit an outside shot again with this lineup.

The secret isn't needing outside shots ... it is being patient enough to get the ball in the post. Swing it if you have to, but actually TRY to get it in the post.

Our guards didn't try to get it inside at all.

Play.

[Tince]

Play seems to understand the issue...

Cheeks isn't the best, but there is a lot more to us losing than Mo's gameplan tonight.

[mook]

well there's 3 hours of my life I want back.

well said, Hap. not much else you can add. that was possibly the worst display of professional basketball I've ever squandered three hours of my life on.

there's not a single positive to take from that game, except that Telfair played 2 minutes and didn't screw up much.

[Playmaker0017]

Originally posted by Tince!
Play seems to understand the issue...

Cheeks isn't the best, but there is a lot more to us losing than Mo's gameplan tonight.

I think it was poor execution of a pathetic plan.

Both parties are to blame tonight.

We avoid our strength, which is the post and rely on our weakness ... which is the outside shot.

They were playing a zone, and quite often it was hard to get the ball inside. So, you wait a few ... if the man can't establish a decent post then you swing to the other side ... that man should have post position ... if not, you'll be open for the 3.

Instead our guards walked in one step and made sure the entry pass was impossible and then played one on one. I saw too many possessions where only our guards touched the ball.

It looked like a poor gameplan. It looked like awful execution.

I think Cheeks is the wrong man for the job. Spend the money to get Jackson (the overrated) out of retirement. Do something. Put our big man coach as the HC ... at least they will emphasize getting it down low.

Play.

[Blazerfan024]

Originally posted by Tince!
What proof do you have that Portland didn't run any plays? I specifically have been watching if we run plays because this has been brought up before, and Portland runs a play over 50% of the time. That is actually high for the NBA. NBA teams don't run a Flex or motion like you may see at the high school level, but they run sets where the players must read the defense and react accordingly. Portland ran more plays that New Jersey, yet NJ won.

I think watching Portland Stand around and look at eatchother like a JV basketball team tells me they have no plays, did you see anyone calling plays? I saw maybe 2, An offense is not ran by standing around and by cheeks not doing anything about it makes it his fault period.

No Movement? Do you want Cheeks to move up and down the sideline? There was only one player who moved a lot tonight, and that was Ruben. Again, New Jersey is in a very soft zone clogging up the entire middle. I'm not sure what knowledge you have of zone offenses, but I've been taught that when a team is playing a soft zone you want ball movement more than player movement.

Whos fault is it these players are not moving? Its called no plays, no direction, and no leadership. Cheeks has no balls and thats why people like damon are not being benched when they should be. Actually I know alot about zones and a zone is more broke down with ball movement and player movemen, did u see much ball movement tonight or player movement?
I dont think so.

No Leadership? Very valid point, this team has no leadership...clearly not Mo's fault. Is it Cheeks' job to make ZBo a leader? You don't make leader, you either have them or you don't. Our most qualified leaders would be SAR (who has only been a Blazer for less than one year, and will be traded this seaon), Theo (who has no role in the offense), or DA (Who doesn't play enough to be a leader). ZBo should be our leader, but he doesn't want to, neither does Miles. Mo can't force players to be leaders. Flip Saunders is not a leader, Keven Garnett is a leader, and that's why Minnesota is good. The only coach I can really think of that was more of a leader than any of his players was John Lucus, and that style got him fired in less than two years.

You are not understanding our leaders are Damon and DA, WHY? Because Cheeks believes this team runs through them by HIS choice, How is that not his fault? He chose who leads the team, and they SUCK at it. This falls back on cheeks period. He makes the decisons and will take responsibility for it.

Look, Mo isn't the worlds greatest coach, and there are better coaches in the NBA. However, tonight, Portland didn't lose because of Cheeks, they lost because of the players!

When will it ever be cheeks fault? As long as we run our O through Damon and DA this team will suffer period and it has shown. Any coach with half a brain would realize this team needs to be ran through SAR and Zach period. Cheeks until the 4th quarter didnt show any emotion, he sat played with his nails, and did nothing to get this team motivated. The players yes played like crap but when all you do is shoot 3's that seems to happen more than not. This team needs a coach.

[CelticPagan]

Ahh, the TrailbLOSERS strike again! It seems like every year we set an NBA record for fewest points in a game.

I really thought we could have a good season, but this game proves they are nothing but stupid losers.

PLAY DAMN TELFAIR!!!!!

[Playmaker0017]

Telfair should have gotten some time.

I'm not a huge fan of the kid yet ... but there is no excuse when we were playing like we were.

Play.

[MAS RipCity]

Originally posted by Playmaker0017!


Man, I love you for this lineup ... but you just said our big men are worthless without outside shooting.

You insured that we would NEVER hit an outside shot again with this lineup.

The secret isn't needing outside shots ... it is being patient enough to get the ball in the post. Swing it if you have to, but actually TRY to get it in the post.

Our guards didn't try to get it inside at all.

Play.

I know I said our bigs can't do much wihtout outside shooting, but Telfair brings something our starting backcourt can't do...throw an entry pass to get our bigs good position.

[Tince]

BlazerFan024-

I'll tell you what. Let's both watch tomorrows game and we'll each keep track of how many times Portland runs plays. I would be surprised if it's much less than Boston.

I think watching Portland Stand around and look at eatchother like a JV basketball team tells me they have no plays, did you see anyone calling plays? I saw maybe 2, An offense is not ran by standing around and by cheeks not doing anything about it makes it his fault period.

Cheeks would take out Damon and put in NVE. Then when neither of them could cut it, he put in Telfair. Who else is he supposed to put in to run the point?

I didn't see anyone calling plays, but I saw Portland run plays over half the time.

Whos fault is it these players are not moving? Its called no plays, no direction, and no leadership. Cheeks has no balls and thats why people like damon are not being benched when they should be. Actually I know alot about zones and a zone is more broke down with ball movement and player movemen, did u see much ball movement tonight or player movement?

Do you want Cheeks out there on the court pushing the players? Everyone Portland player has two legs and a brain, they're professional basketball players and have been playing this game their entire life. They've had many other coaches than Cheeks, so even if Cheek weren't telling them what to do, as competitors they should know to move themselves.

Ball movement certainly beats a zone. What proof do you have that Mo wasn't telling them to move the ball? Do you really think he sits there during the timeouts and says, "Hey Damon, just hold the ball for 20 seconds, then shoot it."?

Your other suggestion is player movement. That works well when a team is playing an honest zone. New Jersey wasn't, so that made ball movement even more crutical. However, despite that, I can think of over a dozen times that Portlang brought SAR or ZBo to the high post to get the ball and sent a wing running along the baseline to try and create movement.

You are not understanding our leaders are Damon and DA, WHY? Because Cheeks believes this team runs through them by HIS choice, How is that not his fault? He chose who leads the team, and they SUCK at it. This falls back on cheeks period. He makes the decisons and will take responsibility for it.

Who do you want to run this team? We don't have Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, or John Stockton on this team. Cheeks doesn't pick who is on his team. Most captains in the NBA and picked based on tender with the team, minutes played, and the frequency they touch the ball. Damon and Anderson would be the msot two qualified captains. It's not Mo's fault they aren't good, he can only pick the best qualfied.

When will it ever be cheeks fault? As long as we run our O through Damon and DA this team will suffer period and it has shown. Any coach with half a brain would realize this team needs to be ran through SAR and Zach period. Cheeks until the 4th quarter didnt show any emotion, he sat played with his nails, and did nothing to get this team motivated. The players yes played like crap but when all you do is shoot 3's that seems to happen more than not. This team needs a coach.

Again, New Jesery was playing a zone that prevented the ball to go in the middle. However, Zach/SAR still got a combined 30 shots! How many more do you want them to take? They shot a horrible percentage because everything inside was forced.

The worst part of all this is that I thought Mo should have been fired two years ago, but that's not the point tonight. My entire point tonight is that most people on this board blindly blame Cheeks everytime, even when it's not his fault.

Newsflash, this team is going to lose to bad teams no matter who the coach is. And when that happens, you guys will blame the next coach. At some point you have to realize it's not only the coach.

[D-Up]

Originally posted by Playmaker0017!


I think it was poor execution of a pathetic plan.

That is a perfect short description of what happened tonight. And I agree, both parties are to blame. We have a subpar coach and players whose talents doesn't mesh well together. Not a good combination.

[Playmaker0017]

Originally posted by D-Up!

That is a perfect short description of what happened tonight. And I agree, both parties are to blame. We have a subpar coach and players whose talents doesn't mesh well together. Not a good combination.

I think our talents would be fine if we had a coach like Sloan.

Play.