Talkhard

Would someone please tell me what our strategy was for last night's game? Were we trying to win, or not? I can't figure it out.

I have to think we didn't care about winning, since we sat Roy for the entire second half. And when Roy was on the court, he looked like he wasn't even interested in being out there. I have to wonder if he himself cared about this game.

What was McMillan's strategy? He sat Roy in the second half, but kept Aldridge in there until the bitter end. Why? Was it important for Roy to get some rest, but not Aldridge? Is Roy the prince of the team, and given special treatment? It doesn't make sense to me.

Then, with less than a minute to go, McMillan called a timeout. That really confused me. Why would you call a timeout if you weren't trying to win? But if you were trying to win, why wouldn't you have played Roy in the second half?

The result of all this confusion? We played a horribly sloppy game and embarrassed ourselves by losing to the Phoenix bench. Some guy named Sean Marks, whom I had never heard of, got 16 points and 13 rebounds and killed us in the paint. We were routed by a bunch of scrubs that hadn't played all year.

This was a pitiful way to end a season in which we always played with pride and always fought hard. Last night we went out with a whimper, and a pretty pathetic one at that.

__________________
"Damn the Blazers. Damn them to hell. They are working the rest of the league like a speed bag." --Jay, lifelong Pacers fan

STOMP

both teams were going through the motions last night with nothing on the line. Banged up from a long season on the end of a back to back, it was about as productive as the last day of your Senior year in HS.

If all games were that bad I'd have more of a life

STOMP

__________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaQprMCe20A&NR=1

Talkhard

A winning record wasn't worth playing hard for?

__________________
"Damn the Blazers. Damn them to hell. They are working the rest of the league like a speed bag." --Jay, lifelong Pacers fan

World B. Free

Roy was hurting. Don't you pay attention to the announcers? Why risk him getting hurt for nothing? Win or lose that game, we didn't end the season with a losing record. I am proud of that. Most ppl had us pegged for 25 wins if that.

I notice a lot of ppl on this forum cry a lot about little stuff. Be happy more.

__________________

craigehlo

There's no way of sugar coating that loss, it was ugly. Even w/o Roy we should easily be able to beat the Suns 3rd stringers with our key players. The Blazer should have been playing with more purpose to end above .500 and failed pretty miserably.

This loss just reiterated a few thought I have on the team for the entire season:

- We could use a starting quality PG.
- LMA needs to work on his post game.
- We need a vet (SF preferably) on this team that can get to the free throw line consistently.

Yega1979

Most of the guys Portland played will be backups next year too. LaMarcus is the only starter(next year) that played the whole game. Roy, as the announcers said, was really banged up, and he's been toughing it through the last few weeks.

But still, it did seem like their bench was toying with us in a way. Things only seemed to change when we put Sergio in the game. When Roy is not 100%, we really don't have anyone that can initate the offense other than Sergio.

__________________
"Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

Hermann Goering, Nazi leader

VenomXL

While this loss was ugly, there's no way it was the worst of the season. I think it was pretty evident by the amount of people that didn't travel with the team that the Memphis game was the real finale. It seemed like they were just going through the motions out there. They played no defense what so ever in the first half. It looked like Roy was just trying to gut it out. I would have liked to get the winning record and have gone out with a bang, but I still see the Memphis game as the true send off for this team.

It just means that the winning record we'll have next year will also be the record that gets us into the playoffs. I'm OK with that.

nikolokolus

Screw it, after Beating Dallas, LA, and Memphis the way they did in the last week of the season they gave fans at the RG a great show and a great effort, and without anything to really play for and playing the second of a back-to-back when all they can probably think about is a nice long rest after a grueling season I wouldn't hold their feet to the fire too much over this game.

Both teams pretty much emptied the bench, giving 2nd and 3rd string guys a chance to go out and ball -- it almost felt like an exhibition game.

BlazerCaravan

Yeah, the second Phoenixs coach found out that winning the game wouldn't change their playoff position, he cleared the bench. Minutes later, Nate cleared his as much as he could. A backcourt of Von Wafer and Sergio Rodrigez apparently won't win many games.

__________________
The kids are all right!

alext42083

Yeah, I wouldn't read too much into this loss. Sure it was disappointing not to beat Phoenix's scrubs, but it was the second half of a back to back after an emotional night at the Garden.
It's certainly nothing to be upset about or make you ill after a good year.

__________________

World B. Free

At least Von got a chance! He was really trying too. Looks like he wont earn a spot next year.

__________________

Talkhard

One simple question . . .

When did it stop being important to have a winning season this year??!!

I thought we wanted to start a winning tradition in Portland, and to always think of ourselves as winners, and fight hard to win every single game. I guess I was wrong. On the last day of the season, when a winning record was easily within our grasp, we decided to just throw in the towel.

But thank God Roy was able to rest the second half!! I'm sure that's going to make a big difference in our first playoff series ... er, . . . I mean on Roy's first hole of golf this summer.

__________________
"Damn the Blazers. Damn them to hell. They are working the rest of the league like a speed bag." --Jay, lifelong Pacers fan

World B. Free

Dude you need to relax. Did we have a losing season? Was this season a success? Answer me that and wipe your tears. All you pessimistic Blazer fans drive me nuts!!!! Be happy man. We didn't throw in the towel. We lost a game. Deal with it.

__________________

Talkhard