Points in the Paint

» June 5, 2009 10:19 PM | By Brandon Hoffman

Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: “Fifty four regular season victories. A Northwest Division co-championship. The first postseason appearance in five years. A talent-laden roster has its privileges. But, as it turns out, it has its drawbacks, too. After rebuilding the franchise from the ground up through shrewd draft picks and blockbuster trades, the Trail Blazers are discovering this offseason that things might not come so easily this time around. Even though the Blazers have four open roster spots heading into next season, and five draft picks in this month’s NBA draft, prospects — and their agents — are avoiding Portland like it’s been striken with swine flu. ‘We’re fighting to get some of these kids in for workouts,’ said Chad Buchanan, the Blazers’ director of college scouting.”

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “When a team loses by 25 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the spotlight shines on the losing coach. Stan Van Gundy didn’t hide from it. After his media briefing ended Friday, Van Gundy pulled up a chair outside the visiting locker room at Staples Center for what amounted to a group therapy session with a small group of writers. Losing teams make adjustments, so you’re up, Stan. What’s it gonna be? ‘There’s two or three things in terms of who we play that we have to at least look at,’ Van Gundy said. The longer Van Gundy spoke, the more obvious it became that the Lakers present by far the most difficult matchup problems the Magic have seen. The diversity of their offense, the searing focus of Kobe Bryant, the length and quantity of their big men — obvious answers were in short supply even after what must have been a demoralizing film session. And the longer Van Gundy went on, the more apparent it became that he didn’t have the answers yet — that this was more of a thinking-out-loud exercise than a summary of what he already knew.”

Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: “No apologies necessary. That was Bobcats coach Larry Brown’s advice to Allen Iverson recently, when Iverson expressed some regrets. The two had a difficult relationship when Brown coached Iverson in Philadelphia, but they still admire each other. ‘He was telling me how he made some mistakes,” Brown recalled Friday. ‘I said, ‘Wait a second; you scored 30,000 points or so.’ I don’t think anybody his size has done what he’s done. So I told him don’t even worry about that. Think of what you’ve done and what you’ve accomplished. Move forward.’”

Tom Povtak of FanHouse: “Orlando has turned out bad defensive nights in two of its other three Game 1s this postseason. In Game 1 of the Philadelphia series, Orlando allowed 100 points in 88 possessions, for a defensive rating of 113.5. In Game 1 of the Cleveland series, the Magic gave up 106 points in about 88 possessions, for a defensive rating of 119.4. The Magic defense did well in Game 1 of the Boston series (a 100 defensive rating), but blew it in Game 2 there (a 124 rating). What’s it all mean? Well, Orlando can defend, despite what you saw Thursday. Its playoffs defensive rating is 106.3, far better than the Game 1 effort at Staples. And that’s not twisted up — though Philadelphia is a mediocre offensive club, both Cleveland and Boston boasted offenses in the top six in the regular season (with the Cavs just 0.3 points per 100 possessions behind L.A.). The Magic shut down Boston’s attack in four of seven games, and competed decently against Cleveland despite LeBron going godlike. It won’t mean a thing if the Magic can’t get their own offense going, and to be honest there are myriad issues here to fix. But Orlando has shown it can fix them over the course of the playoffs.”

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