Talkhard

In 40 minutes of action last night, LaMarcus Aldridge snagged a grand total of 4 rebounds. That's right, 4. Meanwhile Steve Blake had 5 all by himself, and Jarret Jack matched Aldridge with 4. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when our guards are rebounding better than our star 6'11 big man.

On a night when his shot wasn't falling, Aldridge should have been pounding the boards. Instead, he wimped out. Maybe he's already thinking about Oden scooping everything up next year, but that's no excuse. Our "bigs" have to play "big" or we're going to lose more often than not.

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MrJayremmie

ALdridge always blocks out their PF, Aldridge usually tips a ball out for others, Aldridge always runs for the fast break...

He isn't the most physical or the best rebounder. We know this. *shrug*

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Jerryd Bayless

Talkhard

There's no fast break without a rebound first . . .

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Boob-No-More

And two of the four were in the last minute when the game was out of reach and Houston was just running out the clock. He did shoot 50%, but most of that was jump hooks over Scola in the first half (see the comments I just posted in the game thread). So, he didn't exactly have an off shooting night. And the Blazers did, as a team, have a significant rebounding advantage - mostly thanks to Joel. Channing also did a good job on the boards in limited minutes and had a very nice game over all. Aldridge had a 5" height advantage over Chuck Hayes, but Hayes did a good job out muscling Aldridge, shutting him down defensively and keeping him off the boards. Hayes only had one rebound, but he did a good job boxing out Aldridge and not letting him get anywhere near an offensive rebound, as did Carl Landry (Aldridge's lone offensive rebound came against Scola in the first half).

So, team wise the Blazers did a good job on the boards, but yeah, I'd like to see our 6'11" starting power forward be more aggressive on the glass.

BNM

MrJayremmie

This is true. But i'd say most of the time Joel has it under control.

I'm with you that Aldridge definitely needs to work on positioning and being strong and goin' for rebounds though. Its something that we need from him.

I don't get why he has games with 10-12 rebounds then like 2-4 the next game.

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Jerryd Bayless

e_blazer1

To be fair, Joel was dominating the glass and the Blazers outrebounded the Rockets 44-35 so I don't think you can point to Aldridge's rebounding as a major deciding factor. Still, there's no doubt that he needs to improve his rebounding skills.

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mediocre man

Scola averages 6 rebounds per game and got 3
Landry averages 5 rebounds per game and got 3

Scola shoots over 50%, but was held to 0-2 nad in constant foul trouble guarding Aldridge.

As stated above, Aldridge tips a lot of balls out to the guards, and then beats them down the court for easy baskets...(if they ever pass it to him)

He's never going to be a 10+ rebound a night guy.

Keep in mind also that the Blazers out rebounded the Rockets by 9. Aldridge was a big part of that with his tips and box outs.

As for "on a night when his shot wasn't falling", Aldridge shot 50%, which is considered pretty damn good

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Boob-No-More

Also, one reason the guards (and Travis) got so many rebounds was the number of missed 3-pointers that lead to a lot of long rebounds. The Blazers missed nine 3-pointers (4-13) and the Rockets missed eleven (11-22). Longer shots usually means longer rebounds, and that was definitely true last night. When the Rockets did miss from beyond the arc it almost always resulted in a very long rebound. I believe all three of Blake's defensive boards came off missed Houston 3-pointers, as were many of Outlaw's.

If you look at the box score, you'll also see Houston's bigs didn't exactly pull down a lot of boards either. Their guards and small forward got as many, or more boards than any of their bigs (6 for Battier, 6 for McGrady and 5 for Head vs. 5 for Mutombo). Same reason.

BNM

Dan

LaMarcus had as many assists as Jack did, and 1 fewer than Blake.

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nikolokolus

I can see why people would complain about LMA's rebounding total, but it's kind of hard to pin anything on him when the rest of the team had such a lackluster night.

In general though, I somehow think LMA's probably going to be one of those 23-24 PPG/ 8 RPG kind of guys in a few years playing the high post and picking up the scraps left by Joel and Oden.

I can live with that.

dudleysghost

It's a corollary of the law of averages. If you average 7.5 a game, you are going to have some nights with 11, and some with 4. I don't think any of the excuses really ring true, but I don't think LMA needs them. He's not a great rebounder, and never will be, but he's still pretty good.

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MrJayremmie

^yea, ilove him.

One of my favorite players in the NBA.

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Jerryd Bayless

LameR

+1

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