Game Thread 2023-24 Game #29 - BLAZERS VS KINGS - DECEMBER 26, 2023 - TUESDAY - 7:00 PM PST - ROOT

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blazerfan11 said:
How did Jerami Grant end up playing more minutes (28) than Jabari Walker (22) ???

What a joke.
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Because he's better.

Can you enjoy the win without tearing down a vet for one night?
 
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Tince said:
I can only imagine what the Kings board is saying right now with multiple bench guys having career nights on them.
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I imagine it’d go something like this:

“Kingz4Eva” said:
This is fucking bullshit! We always get lit up by some scrub! Duop fucking Reath FFS! Sabas pwned him at the World Cup, but of course he’s en fuego against us! FML!!!
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blazerfan11 said:
He wasn't better in this game. Not even close.
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Agreed... Unfortunately, there isn't a great way of knowing who's going to have the better game before the game. So what happens is coaches typically lean towards the player who has performed better previously in games/practices. For example, Grant has been better throughout his career, better this season, and even was better last game vs Golden St. Just because a player has a better first half, doesn't mean he's more likely to have a better second half.

What we did see is Billups played Grant 7 minutes less than his season average and Walker 5 minutes more. All things considered, I think Billups has been more flexible with minutes than many of the great coaches would be.

Grant is better than Walker, it's not even close. Be thankful we suck so badly that guys like Walker are given a longer leash when they do play well because stuff like that won't happen near as much if we ever get good again. Not to mention, if we do get good again, a lot of the young guys you love will be the vets, taking minutes from the new young guys you'll love, while you trash the vets that you used to love.
 
Tince said:
Because he's better.

Can you enjoy the win without tearing down a vet for one night?
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It's not just them, though. There are a bunch of posters in this thread doing variations of the same thing.

If the Blazers lost to a better team while actively trying not to be too good, it'd be bad. Since the Blazers convincingly beat a better team, then they have to nitpick every other little thing and speak it into fail.

I'm surprised in the case of last night's game I'm not reading more about how we're ruining our lottery chances by winning. That'd be the easy narrative. Instead I'm reading things like how Chauncey might have marginally mismanaged minutes in a double-digit win, how Scoot's still terrible after going 17 points, 11 assists and probably something like a plus-20, and how I need to apologize to a random poster on this board because he didn't take the time to read two posts back to see that we were in agreement from the jump.

Nope, the world's ending, the house is burning down, everything's terrible.
 
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wizenheimer said:
don't trade him just to make a trade, but he should certainly be available in a larger deal
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Yes, obviously. Don't make trades just to trade, but don't fall in love with your own players, especially role players, if it's the thing that's going to hold up making a deal that'd make the team better.

FTR, I don't think Nate was suggesting the latter. I think he's saying not to underestimate Thybulle's value to the Blazers.
 
OneSport3 said:
Ant is averaging 27.1 PPG. If he satisfied the minimum games played requirement, he would be 11th in the league in scoring. Above guys like Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard, Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James and Anthony Edwards.
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Ant is actually shooting slightly better than Lillard from both 2 and 3pt range this year. But Damian gets to the line a lot more. He never seemed to be able to shine much when Lillard was playing.
 
Sac kind of played like they all had Christmas dinner and then got on a plane and went to Portland to play a basketball game.
Blazers played like they all had a great day off yesterday and watched a bunch of games then got up ready to play.
 
BankTeller said:
It’s incredible that now, 27ppg barely cracks the top 10. I remember Joe Johnson being around that ranking for a couple years in ATL back in the early ‘10s, but he was averaging like 19-21ppg in a given year.
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it has become a volume-dependent stat. I guess it always was, but it's more-so now, IMO. Ant is tied for 5th in the NBA in FGA at 20.7. 10 years ago, Durant was 2nd in FGA at 20.8 averaging 32 points; Melo led the league at 21.3 FGA. Only 3 players averaged 20 FGA or more that year. Currently, 8 are averaging 20 or more. SGA averages the same 20.7 FGA as Ant, but averages 4 more points a game mainly because he averages 3 more made FT's a game. Dame is only averaging 0.9 fewer points on 3.1 fewer shots. Like SGA, Dame's big advantage over Ant is the FT line

it's a guard dominated league now. Of the top-30 in points, only 2 are bigs (Embiid, Jokic); 3 if you count Giannis. 10 years ago, 9 of the top-30 were bigs
 
Tince said:
Agreed... Unfortunately, there isn't a great way of knowing who's going to have the better game before the game. So what happens is coaches typically lean towards the player who has performed better previously in games/practices. For example, Grant has been better throughout his career, better this season, and even was better last game vs Golden St. Just because a player has a better first half, doesn't mean he's more likely to have a better second half.

What we did see is Billups played Grant 7 minutes less than his season average and Walker 5 minutes more. All things considered, I think Billups has been more flexible with minutes than many of the great coaches would be.

Grant is better than Walker, it's not even close. Be thankful we suck so badly that guys like Walker are given a longer leash when they do play well because stuff like that won't happen near as much if we ever get good again. Not to mention, if we do get good again, a lot of the young guys you love will be the vets, taking minutes from the new young guys you'll love, while you trash the vets that you used to love.
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I don’t know that Grant is better than Walker. Esp at that position where rebounding is important. I wonder if you thought David Lee was better than Draymond because he scored more.
 
KingSpeed said:
I don’t know that Grant is better than Walker. Esp at that position where rebounding is important. I wonder if you thought David Lee was better than Draymond because he scored more.
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Grant is better than Walker, it's not even close, and I like Walker... also, I didn't mention scoring as the reason.
 
fantastic game. They were fully healthy and we are out two large contributors in Ayton and Sharpe.
This team is getting better. Its not all about the numbe4rs. The eye test says they are starting to know each others tendencies and gel better. Still alot of work to do, but the strides are evident, both individually and as a whole.


On the side, I was at the game in a suite and I have to say. Its the first time in a few years i've been on the club level and the level of disappointment was overwhelming. When I used to go to club games on the regular, there were different types of food all over. Chinese, Mexican, Italian, plus the normal pretzel, hotdog, popcorn vendors.
Now there is virtually nothing. A pizza bar, a salad bar a Mexican place and a couple of popcorn and hotdog stands.
Just when I thought the Blazers penny pinching on the fans dime couldn't get any worse, I was mistaken again. Probably because they have to spend so much more money now on IT tech support to fix the continual issues the app and digital everything has created....

Anyone else been to club games over the years and seeing this? When I first became a season ticket holder, they used to have buffets even. Fricken vulcans are ruining evreything for the fan experience.
 
KingSpeed said:
I don’t know that Grant is better than Walker. Esp at that position where rebounding is important. I wonder if you thought David Lee was better than Draymond because he scored more.
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Rebounding and playing with energy.

The first 3Q of the game last night, Grant played like he was high (and/or didn't care). Slow on rotations & slow to get back. Very lazy.

The last 6 minutes, Grant played with much more energy and effort on D.
 
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