Outcoached... Once Again

A depleted San Antonio Spurs team going into a back-to-back missing two of their "Big 3" players of the great Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, the Blazers had their best shot in two decades to escape the Alamo Dome, errr, I mean the AT&T Center with a dubya... And with the Blazers depth, that should have made the task more reasonable to accomplish....



BUT... their is a thing called an "x-factor" that I factor in and that my blog followers is COACHING! In one corner, the Spurs arguably have the best coach in the game today in 4-time champion Greg Popovich. And in the Blazer's corner, you probably have the MOST OVERRATED coach today in Nate McMillan, errr, I mean McMuffin. A man before last season had one great season and that was his CONTRACT season in Seattle where he miraculously and somehow led the Sonics into the 2nd round of the Playoffs.

McMuffin said the game plan was to stop Tony Parker (uh... duh when Duncan and Ginobili are missing), yet he couldn't figure out how. Parker only finished with 39 points on 17 of 27 FGs (63%), 9 dimes, and 5 boards. Parker played last night too, but that didn't stop him from dissecting Nate's incompetent scheme. Nate left Blake and Sergio to guard Parker for most of the game in whom the All-Star blew by them both with relative ease.

Oh, did I mention Blake went an incredible 0-9 tonight and only managed 1 assist, which was worthy of 24 minutes according to Nate...

As the 4th quarter ticked down, Nate ended up in desperation and tried putting Travis Outlaw on Parker. Every Blazer fan watching this game on TV was probably yelling at their TVs to put Batum back in... Unfortunately, we have a coach that is a blithering idiot.

The best options IMO for stopping or at least slowing Parker down were probably Nic Batum and Bayless. I recall the few times that the Frenchman guarded his fellow Frenchman, Nic was effective in slowing Tony down... BUT then there's Nate's motto of "If it works, ignore it" went into effect as Batum would get his commonly (1st quarter) 3rd quarter sub out and not return in the (2nd qtr) 4th quarter. For the 2nd night in a row, Batum was very efficient in 8 points on 3-7 FGs (2-3 from distance) and of course, the intangibles on the defense, yet McMuffin somehow inexplicably thought he was only worthy of 16 minutes, which was the least amount of minutes for any Blazer that did not have a DNP by his name...

J-bay, on the other hand, didn't see a second on the floor...

I still am mind-boggled in what Kevin Pritchard sees in Mr. Sonic...

UNREAL Comeback vs. Detroit

I have to admit, the Blazers deserved to lose the game tonight vs. Detroit. And it was all because of Nate McMuffin'. McMuffin' did everything possible in the 4th to TRY to lose that game. I'm not joking...

A VERY stellar Jerryd Bayless tonight and to not see him in the final 8 minutes or so in the game was unexplainable. Did Nate not see the FIRE and PASSION J-Bay displayed out there? Did Nate not see us turn a 14 point deficit into a lead with J-Bay or is he blind or that moronic?

The fact that McMuffin' tried to sub in an uninspiring Greg Oden during the final minutes of the game with a 2 point lead that eventually turned into a 3 point deficit before resubbing Joel Przybilla back in (probably because somebody in the front row yelled that to him because Nate doesn't normally like to resub Joel for some idiotic reason)...

AND, let's just ignore Travis Outlaw's game winning bucket... If Travis wasn't playing in the 4th quarter at all, the Blazers run away with this one. Just look at the dozen (or more) points he surrendered to Tayshaun Prince and the numerous rebounds he failed to box-out or got out-hustled on... McMuffin', didn't Nicolas Batum's performance vs. Lakers earn him those 4th quarter minutes you gave to Outlaw?? Not to mention Batum is probably the best forward poistion defender on the team that would have a great chance at stopping Prince...

BUT because the Blazers won, the media will praise McMuffin' on the comeback win when all he did was make the game more exciting to (ignorant) fans along with giving me an ulcer and gray hairs, and this will also cover up Outlaw's horrific flaws on anything but his act of taking insanely difficult shots...

Sergio Wanting to Be Traded... Say It Ain't So!!

Down with Coach McMuffin' and his stubborn and retarded tactics!!



A nice piece by Jason Quick of the Oregonian and apparently, Blazer fans responding to Mr. Quick's work also disagree with Nate's decision of underusing Sergio (What a surprise. Kevin Pritchard, I love what you've done with the team, but dammit!! You have to remove McMuffin'. Look at the potential of this team and realize if anyone can f*** this up, it it Nate).

Other than Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez is the most flashy, razzle-dazzle player on the team. Oh, and the fact that when Sergio and Rudy play together, we get some wicked alley-opp reverse layups and dunks. Sure, Sergio is turnover prone, but usually when he is in on offense, he is the major reason why we get open shots, more points in the paint, and of course the flare spectacular passes of the Spain sensation.

Other than Brandon Roy's 1.9 seconds of the Houston OT, Roy has been less than the All-Star form he was last year. Could it be because he is playing out of position more at the Three (aka small forward) or PG?

Steve Blake at PG?? Sure he'd make a great backup. I don't even know why Steve resigned with Portland in the first place. He was the backup/3rd PG under McMuffin' originally but now you want to start and play Blake 30+ minutes?! We are going nowhere with Blake (or Nate for that matter).

Ideally, I'd love for Sergio to start and Jerryd Bayless to backup. Kevin Pritchard has three months to make the anticipating blockbuster deal that Blazer Nation pondering about. Make the right one KP!! Right now, I wish the league was allowed to trade coaches... Again, I've said it before, McMuffin' for D'Antoni!! You see how much better the New York Knicks are this season?!

Coach Nate McMuffin': Mark my words and kiss my @$$! If Sergio Rodriguez is traded because of your bullheaded, two-cent incompetent brain of underusing him every game, I guarantee you'll regret it and he will be the next Jose Calderon!!