Webster Disarms 3-Guard as Blazers Feast on Wolfmeat: 106-78 by: torridjoe Mon Nov 23, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PST

With an aerial bombardment worthy of Sarah Palin, a suddenly rejuvenated Martell Webster and the rest of the Blazers went Wolf-hunting on a reliably bad Minnesota team that has now provided 30% of Portland's wins this season, blowing them out this time by the greatest margin at 28, 106-78.  It ended up a laugher, and in contrast to the previous two games the team did not tighten up when their control of the game was threatened. More interestingly, it was the first game for the return of the original starting lineup, which effectively demotes Andre Miller to the second unit and re-hires Martell for the reinstated small forward spot--and for the forseeable future, it looks like the new "regular" lineup. It also means Brandon Roy moves back to his familiar two guard slot, and for a variety of reasons not least of which is Star Treatment, that's important. A series of unenthusiastically supportive statements from the generally very honest but positive Roy has made it clear he was at best in adjustment during the three-guard experiment. To get a sense of how important it was to him, here's what he told Blazer's Edge after the game: Brandon Roy, on the other hand, looked as happy as he did the day he signed his max extension, practically gushing over the return to the original starting lineup. "Of course I like it, I'm back to my natural position," Roy said. He later added, "I wish we would have stuck to it a little longer" earlier this year. Sounds to me like those statements we heard this week about Roy not grasping his role found the right set of ears. His on-camera interview with the Blazers broadcast team said similar things, related to having Blake as his feeder and a shooter like Martell to dish to. If decisions like this were based purely on matchups, such as those where the opposing three is one Roy could easily handle or when the Blazers three is misfiring, I think you might see it come back (and you still might, regardless). But McMillan would be a fool to change it back for any more than a single game without touching base with Roy, and I think Roy's first reaction would be "Nawww..." The three guard threw him off, and if your star is not being maximized in the system it's not a good enough system on an ongoing basis.  {more, after the NBA highlights vid with some sweet material}

torridjoe :: Webster Disarms 3-Guard as Blazers Feast on Wolfmeat: 106-78

So the combined success of not just Martell but also Rudy as fillers of the Travis Gap has made the three-guard expendable, but now that it's gone I think it's likely to stay gone even if Webster runs dry again. It's a lot to hope for to have him throw down a double double (21/13!) like that every night, but either he or Rudy is going to have to deliver that very thing or the Blazers will struggle in their offense against teams who work Oden/LMA to foul trouble and blanket Roy.  The other half of the change once again elevates Blake to starting point, and puts Miller into a situation where you have to start talking positively about "roles and jobs" while he leads the second unit. But without him, and without the scoring punch Outlaw gave the bench, Rudy is trying to feed Juwan Howard or Joel Przybilla, and it's not working. Miller is a good scoring threat on drives and fast breaks that Blake cannot provide, and helps carry the team when guys like Blake, Rudy and Martell are cold. If he's out, that whole unit's cold and it can get ugly. So he's the veteran, he knows he's here to indeed play a role and not be the core of the team, and he's going to have to anchor the second unit so that leads in the first and third quarters don't disappear in the second and fourth.  The other thing that I came to realize about the hot starts in the three-guard lineup during that six-game winning streak, was that they were not necessarily functions of the backcourt spreading the ball better...but the improved offensive and defensive play of Greg Oden. It just so happened that while the three guards were doing their thing, Oden was routinely blocking shots and then throwing them down at the other end. When Oden went out, either at the end of his normal shift or because he'd picked up his second foul, invariably the offense would sputter some. (If LA got into trouble and Howard came in, things got demonstrably worse). But bring Oden in again, and suddenly there were options again.   Saturday's clubbing of the Wolves Saturday was an example of what happens when it all comes together at once--Roy can create, Blake hits his outside shots, Oden is beastly and Webster is the dagger man. As first year coach and pitied soul Kurt Rambis pointed out to reporters afterwards, there are a lot of Blazers to keep up with, and that's true of most teams. (The Wolves are just super-happy-awful at it).  I was surely excited about what the three-guard was capable of, and it both seemed needed at the time and appeared to cure a lot of short term ills. But I did acknowledge that it was going to work on some teams better than others, and that the competition was rather weak to judge. What I didn't really address, and what I typically tend to downplay in my reasoning because it's hard to judge if you're not an insider, is how chemistry is affecting the team. It was getting results, but it wasn't working, and a lot of guys knew it.  Regardless of the success, ultimately the lineup was doomed to short term success at best--and maybe that's all McMillan figured he'd get out of it too. But if it was truly just a 10-game bridge to postpone the reality of the Batum and Outlaw injuries though, it may not have been the best switch. It certainly turned out to be jarring for some, and it postponed the experience of the standard lineup working more together with Oden. Every game where Greg can get 25 plus minutes, he will have a significant positive impact on the Blazers' chances. Every time. To wit, 16, 5 and 3 in 23:37 against Minnesota. To some extent his minutes may be controlled by whether Aldridge gets into foul trouble, such that Nate keeps Joel in longer to cover the hold in the middle rather than expose Oden by himself. But a a couple more minutes and he'd have had his 20 points. Al Jefferson got the best of him a couple times at best, but the rest of the night the rim was off limits.  The Blazers should get the chance to start another little run, as a Bulls team having trouble on the road and already 0-2 vs the Lakers and Nugs this trip will come into the Garden Monday night. The amazingly still-winless Nets follow the Bulls on Wednesday, and the previously defeated Memphis Grizzlies give us something to do after Thanksgiving on Friday night. the Grizz also hopeless on the road at 1-6. Look for everyone to "get comfortable" this week, on grandma's cooking and some solid wins in a comfortable regime.

Tags: 2009-10, recap, Minnesota Timberwolves, Blazers, pro basketball, NBA, (All Tags)

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