More to like about Batum

I hate pulling this much from someone else's work, but the whole thing is so good. Remember that New York Times article about Battier from a few months ago (which I linked to here)? Well, one of the things it talked about was Battier combing the a book full of tendencies and percentages before games. I know that this story about Batum doesn't say exactly the same thing, but it might only be a short matter of time until the coaches are putting together the same sort of book for Nicolas. And this kid is only 20. Crazy. Read the full article here. It's just one more in a series of the best beat work in the league by Jason Quick.

The walking basketball encyclopedia

One thing that wasn't different during pregame was rookie Nicolas Batum, and his ritual of reading the game notes at his locker.

The game notes are a stapled pack of statistics, player bios, team trends, records, etc., which are compiled for the benefit of reporters. However, in the Blazers locker room, a small stack is always present on the back counter, and Batum is the only player I have ever seen look at them.

"Every game,'' he says.

I first noticed this early in the season, in Detroit. At the time, I thought it was because Batum was bored and was having trouble mingling with his new teammates. The game notes, I figured, became his pregame buddy.

But as I'm finding out more and more, there's quite a personality and quite a sharp mind behind the docile looks of this Frenchman. He becomes more and more interesting to me everyday.

Turns out, the 20-year-old Batum likes studying the game notes for two reasons: To know everything about his opponent, and to satisfy his curiosity about various players' career highs, which he can recite on cue.

"Did you know Shaq had 29 rebounds and 15 blocks - in the same game,'' Batum offers, unsolicited. "Same game!''

He then flips a page and directs my eyes to Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo.

"Mutombo - 31 boards, 12 blocks,'' Batum says, using his index finger.

Of course, the main reason he scours the notes is to study the man he will guard. That's why he flips the pages back to Ron Artest. He aligns Artest's bio in the game notes with the page on Artest from the Blazers' scouting report.

"I just want to know who I guard,'' Batum says. "I don't want to be surprised by anything.''

I remark that Artest is a big man.

"Two sixty,'' Batum says immediately, lifting the game notes to show the scouting report page, which shows the height and weight of Artest. "I'm 220.''

We study the scouting report page together. Under Artest's height and weight, it informs that he is right handed.

"See here,'' Batum says, placing his finger on "right handed". "It says that, but he goes left all the time.''

Batum then points out two statistic lines. One has his season averages. The next has his averages against the Blazers. Proudly, Batum points out that Artest's averages against the Blazers are lower than his season averages, including points (17.1 to 15.0) and field goal percentage (41.7 to 36.4).

As I write these down, Batum has returned to the game notes, and Artest's bio, where it lists all his career highs.

"Eight steals. Four times,'' he says, shaking his head.

As I get up to head into McMillan's office, from behind I can hear Batum has found another gem.

"McGrady, 62 points ...''

Playoff basketball

I didn't get to watch the destruction of the Suns the other night, nor did I see the demolition of the Grizzlies on Saturday. But thanks to nba.com running a promotion for two-day free broadband league pass I did watch most of tonight's decapitation of Utah. Decapitation because they lost their head (or heads, depending on what you think about Boozer and Sloan – who both got kicked out). The game was fun to watch. Our defense once again looked pretty good, with nice movement and help from the weak side. And our offense is a thing of beauty. I mentioned as the season started that I thought this team could be like the championship team, a young group who moves the ball well and knows how to score. As we get closer to the playoffs these guys are doing that with consistency, and it's a great sign of what's coming down the road. I know I've mentioned Nicolas Batum before, but I can't get enough of that guy. He's going to be great. And I still love Sergio Rodriguez. I'm ecstatic that he got back into the rotation and has been playing well. Get excited for playoff basketball coming back to Oregon.

Coming back soon

Double entendré? Yes please!

Sadly, my soccer team is mathematically eliminated from playoff contention – unless it turns out that another league team did something illegal earlier in the year to disqualify themselves – which means that our season will be over after our game next Tuesday. I would love to make the playoffs, but I'm also excited to have a little more time to prepare for school and make sure that I'm taking care of all the school things that I've been letting slide a little bit. In addition, I'll be able to start posting more again, which is exciting. In fact one of the reason's it is exciting is that...

The NBA season is soooooo close now. Some more things that are coming back soon... ...Channing Frye at full strength
...Steve Blake at full strength
...Blazermania in absolutely full force
...Brandon Roy's habit of making other players (and executives) in this league look foolish
...Kevin Pritchard's habit of making everyone believe in his superiority as a GM to anyone else in pro sports
...the Larry O'Brien trophy to Portland (as I said back on November 2, 2008).

Maybe the Celtics can win, as long as they can score

Hollinger wrote about the argument over which aspect wins championships, defense or offense. He included this snippet about the Blazers versus Bulls in 1992.

Chicago vs. Portland, 1992 NBA Finals

The 1991-92 Bulls won 67 games with a dominating offensive attack led by Mr. Jordan, of course. In the Finals they ran up against a Portland team that also was wickedly talented but did most of its damage at the defensive end, where it finished a close second in defensive efficiency.

Portland's defense did the job, holding Chicago to 104 points per game -- right at the Blazers' season average on D and six below Chicago's. But, as with the Knicks in '93, the Blazers' offense didn't come through. A Blazers team that scored 111.4 points a game in the regular season didn't hit that mark in regulation once, and averaged 96.7 -- nearly 15 below its regular-season average -- for the series.

Verdict: Inconclusive

My knowledge of the game is better now than it was then, and I like knowing that Portland was able to slow down Phil Jackson's triangle offense featuring Michael Jordan. It's just too bad the defense couldn't do it.

I still love Ime

As the title of this blog suggests, I'm a bit of a sports bigamist. I'm not a complete sports bigamist, but I have cheered for the Spurs since the early '90s, as long as they aren't playing Portland. Well, I'm happy they won tonight. But even more than that, I love that one of my favorite Blazers from last year did a great job for them. Ime Udoka – who played high school ball in Portland, starred at Portland State, and then had a Rudy-like rise to the NBA last year to become a starter for the Blazers – was five for five from the field, including three for three form the three point line as the Spurs beat the Hornets tonight. He also had three rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block, all in 19 minutes. I love that guy, and I'm really happy he's an important contributor on the team I still believe will win the NBA championship this year.

I have to put it in writing

The Nuggets will beat the Lakers.

Reasons? I've got a few:

1. I hate the Lakers. That shapes everything I think. And I hate hearing my students talk about how good they are. Again, this shapes everything I think about this series.


2. Denver can play great defense. They did it enough times to be ranked 10th in defensive efficiency for the season, while being the first ranked team in pace. And that's pretty impressive because they're running a lot but still doing a good job of keeping teams from scoring a lot per 100 possessions. That still ends up being a lot of points, but shows some decent defense. The best example was that Seattle game when they won 168-116.


3. George Karl has been a good coach in the playoffs a few times. Three times, really. In 92-93 and 95-96 with Seattle, and in 2000-2001 with Milwaukee. Those teams were above .500 in the playoffs, but none of them won the finals. Still, if he can get everything together with those crazy guys, maybe it'll work.


4. While I don't think the Nuggets can do anything to stop Kobe, I think that they have a chance to completely shut down the front court help on that Lakers team. Camby and Martin should easily shut down any combination of big men that LA will trot out there. If that happens, Kobe might give up and try to win it on his own with his offense, instead of focusing on the defensive end shutting down 'Melo, which doesn't bode well for the Lakers – as I've already said – especially since Kobe won't have to put in that much effort to get his points. The extra effort won't get him that many more points, but the points that 'Melo will get with Kobe focusing on the offensive side will be enough. Barely.


5. The big three question marks for the Nuggets are going to come out and play well. Okay, I have no evidence for this, but the Nuggets will win if these three come to play in every game: J.R. Smith, Linas Kleiza, and Eduardo Najera.


6. Did I mention that I hate the Lakers? Yeah, that's important for this, and the one other important thing: I don't think anyone is picking the Nuggets. Didn't they learn from the Warriors last year? This is a team that won 50 games in the west. They showed glimpses of brilliance, and they're pretty tough to beat a mile up. If the Staples Center was some amazing place where the fans brought the ruckus, I'd say that there was no way Denver can steal a game in LA. But this is a stadium filled with celebrities who are there to be noticed.

Denver wins in six.