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12/29/08, 6-7pm
Note: only hour show due to Duck basketball
Hosts: Mike Barrett, Mike Rice, Brian Wheeler
Summary
- McMillian – I see areas we still need to improve on. We just go to focus on it and commit to doing it.
- Mike Rice – last five years in the West the teams with the best win record on the road advance to the playoffs. Portland is 8th and Utah 9th best of the nine teams contending for 8 playoff spots.
- Predictions for 2009 – Mike Barratt - “Trail Blazers will make a blockbuster deal right before the trade deadline using Raef LaFrenz’s contract to land a former all-star”
- John Hollinger, ESPN Analyst – 93% chance Portland will make the playoffs and 38% chance Portland will win the division
Nate McMillan – interview
- Boston
- Greg’s x-ray was negative. He got tangled up inside late in practice. He should be able to play against Boston.
- Brandon’s hamstring started to tighten up in the Toronto game. He’s doing OK, he got some treatment and he’s expecting Brandon to be ready to play against Boston.
- ((BW) – what do you think your club needs to do different this time around against Boston?) Boston is the best team in the NBA that plays a full 48 minutes. There are a lot of teams that play well against them for 1, 2 or 3 quarters. Boston gets better as the game goes on. They know how to win. They know time, scores, where to go on plays, they are very familiar with each other.
- We want to beat this team. We need to play a full 48 minutes. In order for us to do that we need to match their physical play. They like to talk and we can’t lose our focus and get caught up in the talk. We need to take care of the ball and move the ball around. Attack them while they are rotating and you can take advantage of that.
- Rondo is probably the most improved player from last year to this year. Even through Garnett is the vocal leader on the team. Boston follows what Rondo says on the court. They believe in Rondo. He is perfect for the Celtics as he is a good defensive player and good distributor to three very good offensive players.
- ((BW) – with Garnett’s way of getting into players heads, is there a way of coming back or ignoring him) Nate doesn’t think you ignore Garnett. You have to be aggressive against him, you have to go at him. Kevin likes to do all that talking but he backs it up. The only way you can do is come back at him with aggressive play.
Defense - ((MR) – you were testy in Monday’s practice) – Just defensively some of the things we ask these guys to do we keep repeating ourselves. This time of the year in order to beat these good teams that we saw previously and coming up we need to tighten up the defense. I see areas we still need to improve on. We just got to focus on it and commit to doing it. There was a couple of slippage, that I had to raise my voice. I didn’t think it I was that loud (Rice laughs and says oh yeah it was). We are getting into January and teams are going to be better and we need to improve as well.
Toronto game - They were shooting the ball extremely well in the 1st half. We talked to the players that the Raptors couldn’t keep shooting like this for long since they played the night before. We told the players to get closer to the shooters in the 2nd half and they did and it started to affect their shots.
Bayless - ((MR) – Will we see Bayless play since Roy is injured?) – We will give Bayless a chance to play with the starting unit in practice and I had him play at the PG and SG. He really doesn’t want to experiment with the starting lineup this late in the season. Bayless will get time this season, but won’t guarantee it will be every game. He just needs to be ready.
Team - comments
- Greg Oden
- (MB) We saw Greg get hurt late in practice and x-rays show no serious damage. Will Greg play against Boston?
- (MR) The way Oden’s ankle rolled against Randolph, it didn’t look serious. A good tape job should do the trick.
Brandon Roy - (MR) We may see Jerryd Bayless start tomorrow in place of
- (MR) He wants Brandon Roy to be 100% going up against New Orleans (1/2) & @LA Lakers (1/4). The season is more important than one game against Boston. We all want revenge on Boston, but winning against a conference opponent is more important.
Defense - (BW) – The win last Saturday against Toronto was a good defensive effort. Something that Nate has been preaching all season. Also, Roy is saying this is what the identity of the team should be.
- (BW) – The Blazers can learn a lot by watching game tapes of the Boston games and the great defense they do.
- (MR) – During Blazer practice after going through a couple of set of plays, the players would go over to the TVs sets and review their plays. Both coaches and players would point out if they communicated or how to react on both offense and defense and then went back and ran the plays again.
Road Trips - (MR) - The team that does the best for the last 5 years on away games has made the Western playoffs. Off the 9 teams contending for the 8 playoffs spots in the West, which are the worst teams so far on the road? Utah is 9th and Portland is 8th. So Portland will really need to improve their road games. This next road trip will mean a lot for the Blazers.
- (MB) – The next road trip Chicago (1/12), Philadelphia (1/14), New Jersey (1/15) & Charlotte (1/17)
Boston - (MR) – Mike would like to see a grinding, pulling, aggressive game from the Blazers.
- (MR) – He thinks the game will be in the low 80’s.
- (BW) – One thing Brian noticed in the last game against Boston was they had Garnett in the lineup when Portland had their bench. Also, in the LA Laker game, they had Kobe in the game against the Blazer bench. Seems like we may need to have one of starters in with the bench against Boston.
- (MR) – Against the really good teams like Boston and the Lakers, Rice agrees that Nate needs to change the bench lineup a bit.
Channing Frye / Ike Diogu - (MB) – We see Ike on some games and some not. What do you think is going on?
- (MR) – Rice thinks it depends on team we play against. A team like Sacramento with outside shooters you want a Frye out there. If Channing Frye doesn’t have to bang against a bigger player and can pull them out with his outside shot, then it is a Frye night.
NBA - comments
- (MR) – After Boston’s two losses, Paul Pierce said they would sit down and talk about it. They must of took their frustration out on the Kings as Boston beat the Kings badly (108-63). Mike felt sorry for the Kings fans that had to watch that game.
- (MR) – Boston has bought into playing defense. Rondo has improved his game a lot with his defense. Paul Pierce & Ray Allen are now bought into playing solid defense.
- (BW) – If you look at all the coaching changes, none of the teams have benefited from firing their coaches.
2009 Predictions - comments
- (MR) – The Blazers will finish 6th and lose in the 1st round
- (MR) – Rice thinks they will be matched up with New Orleans and it will be hard to win against them.
- (MR) – Keep an eye on San Antonio, as they are 2nd in the standings without all their players healthy. They could move up and win the Western Conference.
- (BW) – He predicts the Blazers will finish 5th and go up against Denver, 4th and win in the 1st round.
- (MB) – Barrett predicts the “Trail Blazers will make a blockbuster deal right before the trade deadline using Raef LaFrenz’s contract to land a former all-star”.
John Hollinger’s stats – ESPN Analyst - comments
- (MB) - Hollinger predicts 93% chance the Blazers will make the playoffs
- (MB) - On pace to win 50 games (50-32)
- (MB) - 38% chance to win the division
- (MB) - 3.2% - to win #1 seed in the West
- (MB) - 10% - chance to make the finals
- (MB) - 2% - chance to win the NBA title
