Portland TrailBlazers 90, Houston Rockets 89

  • There are two obvious storylines abstracted from this game.  I will delve deeper into these matters shortly.  My first concern is the subject of one Aaron Brooks.  It is performances such as these which mount my skepticism regarding his growth potential.  As I have explained ad nauseam, it is his development which is the most important personnel theme of the Houston Rockets’ 2009-2010 campaign.  A 3-9 clunker against a conference rival simply isn’t indicative of the reliability one would hope to have established heading into next year.  There is a very strong argument to be made that Brooks’ trade value exceeds his actual player value.  Still, it is early and in a season such as this one, patience should prevail.
  • Bayless – He’s better than Brooks.  Such a bold declaration should ruffle some feathers but its clear upon first glance.  He has the same raw package that has allowed Aaron Brooks to feast on the slower guards of the league (and inflate his value in the process.)  The distinction is that he boasts the size which would have cemented Aaron at a higher tier.  Case in point, on multiple occasions, we saw Bayless utilize a devastating stutter step pull-up jumper dribbling towards his right, a shot I personally consider to be one of the most difficult in basketball to master.  On the surface, this may appear to be an exercise of grasping at straws, but that ability by Bayless (enabled by his superior size) is a lethal tool; a tool of which Aaron Brooks will eternally need to compensate for not having.  Essentially, Aaron has to do anything to create some space (usually crossing back in reverse between his legs or jab stepping left) to squeeze off the shot.  I’m not saying this precludes success (see: Parker, Tony).  But the ability to shoot without a window is a pretty big deal in this league.
  • I have to wonder why Trevor Ariza was guarding Brandon Roy on the most important possession of the game.  It should be fairly intuitive by now.  Battier doesn’t reach.  Ariza and his infamous predecessor do/did.  In that situation, I think you prefer Battier forcing a contested jumpshot over the instinctual defensive methods of Ariza.  Obviously Rick Adelman is privy to player tendencies, so I’m wondering if perhaps there is something I am overlooking.  Judging by his high number of game saving charges/tips/rebounds/rotations, I think it is actually possible that Shane might conceivably have more defensive value to this team (on a final possession) as a help defender rather than a primary defender.  There’s also the issue that it is a guarantee that he won’t get lost under screens (leading to the open 3 off the kick-out.)  Moving forward, it would be fruitful to take note of the percentage of game-ending possessions in which Shane is guarding the opposing primary scorer (if that player is a wing.)  This could shed some more light into Daryl Morey’s usage of situational metrics in player/possession analytics.
  • That Luis Scola scored 21 points on 9-17 from the field came as a shock to me in viewing the box score.  I didn’t notice the production.  The power forward production has emerged as the most interesting storyline of this season, leading me to my next point:
  • The series of consecutive possessions during which Carl Landry devoured every carom in sight has vaulted to the forefront in my mind as the defining sequence of the Houston Rockets’ 2009-2010.  For those not having enjoyed the benefit of witnessing this live, excuse the hyperbole.  The determination itself was microcosmic of the stuff that has allowed this group to keep their heads above water.  More importantly, at a personal level, that 4th quarter stretch for the first time, for me, beckoned forth that curiosity; planted that first real seed of doubt.  I don’t think I can any longer definitively say that it is in the team’s best interests to continue a platoon (at that position.)  I don’t know at this moment but this development has serious implications with the upcoming decision on Scola this summer.  This will need to be assessed more closely.
  • And of course, Saturday’s match regretfully provided the second most monumental event of the current NBA season (after Brandon Jennings’ flirtation with greatness).  It was really only the gloom in the tone of the broadcast call of the play that brought to my attention that something had gone terribly wrong for Greg Oden.  I had merely assumed it was a routine fall, not one that could possibly alter the route of a franchise.  As a Rockets fan, with the obvious allusions, this does hit home.  But not quite at the level of significance of the event’s actuality.  Discussing the implications with Kevin Arnovitz earlier, he mentioned that I could obviously empathize.  But I can’t.  This is something greater than the plight of Yao or Tracy.  For us, or at least for me, there was not that horrific suddenness of reality.  I had become numbed to our circumstances.  Tracy was already 28 when it became clear that for him greatness might not be achieved.  Yao was also older.  It was a progression of decline which prepared the onset of the inevitable.  I didn’t feel anything when Yao was written off for the season.  For the Blazers, despite his previous injuries, it is the suddenness in this young age which induces emotion.  Yes, Greg Oden has been injury prone, but there was still that hope that captivated the imagination.  That was not there for Yao and Tracy – they weren’t robbed of their professional ‘adolescence.’  For Oden, with each injury prior to his maturation, that prior ‘hope’ begins to glimmer, crushing the dreams of an entire fanbase.  I wish Greg Oden the best in his recovery because this league needs him to succeed.  This league needs the Portland ‘project’ to be given its fair chance to unwind on its course.
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