Game Thread 2024-25 GAME #50 - BLAZERS VS SUNS - FEB 3, 2025 - MON - 7:00 PM - CHARGE - KUNP - BLAZERVISION

[Chris Craig]

_______________________________________

REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS

(13) BLAZERS 20-29 (9) SUNS 25-23

_________________________________________

STARTERS


Anfernee Simons Deni Avdija

Toumani Camara Jerami Grant

DeAndre Ayton


Tyus Jones Devin Booker

Kevin Durant Ryan Dunn

Nick Richards

_________________________________________

WHEN: FEBRUARY 3, 2025 - MONDAY - 7:00 PM PST

WHERE: MODA CENTER PORTLAND OR



TV BROADCAST



Antenna 2.2, Xfinity 302, DTV 688



Antenna 47, 16

STREAMING



RADIO BROADCAST


__________________________________



__________________________________

BENCH


Shaedon Sharpe Scoot Henderson

Donovan Clingan Dalano Banton

Kris Murray Jabari Walker

Rayan Rupert Duop Reath

Justin Minaya* Bryce McGowens*

Tazé Moore*

Matisse Thybulle° Robert Williams°

* Two Way Player
° Injured Player


Bradley Beal Grayson Allen

Mason Plumlee Royce O'Neale

Monte Morris Damion Lee

Bol Bol Oso Ighodaro

Jusuf Nurkic

Jalen Bridges* Collin Gillespie*

Ty Ty Washington*

* Two Way Player

_________________________________________

COACH


Chauncey Billups

Mike Budenholzer

_________________________________________

INJURIES

BLAZERS

Matisse Thybulle - Ankle - Out
Robert Williams - Hand - Quest

SUNS

None

_________________________________________

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

BLAZERS VS PACERS 2/4 - 7:00 PM

BLAZERS VS KINGS 2/6 - 7:00 PM

BLAZERS @ WOLVES 2/8 - 5:00 PM

_________________________________________

GAME NOTES
​

• The Blazers are 113-133 all time vs the Suns
• Chauncey Billups is 3-6 vs Mike Budenholzer
• The Blazers are 5-9 against the Suns during Chauncey Billups tenure
• The Suns defeated the Blazers 103-97 on 11/2 in Phoenix
• The Suns defeated the Blazers 116-109 on 12/15 in Phoenix
• The Blazers defeated the Suns 127 - 108
• Jusuf Nurkic played for the Blazers from 2017-23
• Mason Plumlee played for the Blazers from 2015-17
• DeAndre Ayton was drafted with the #1 pick by the Suns in the 2018 draft. He was traded as Part of the Lillard trade to PHX for Jusuf Nurkic and Nassir Little
• Toumani Camara was drafted by Phoenix with the #52 pick in the 2023 draft and later traded to Portland as part of the Lillard trade for Jusuf Nurkic and Nassir Little.

__________________________________

​

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Blazers may end up battling the Warriors and Kings for the 10th seed.

 

[OR-84]

I wonder what trade will happen during this game.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I will be shocked if we beat them twice in a row. KD has had two days to sit and stew over it.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I will be shocked if we beat them twice in a row. KD has had two days to sit and stew over it.

I'm not sure we get enough respect for them to consider stewing over last game. They probably just think we got lucky. Plus with the Luka/Fox trades and their own team rumors for the next 3 days maybe they are distracted.

The Suns just aren't a very good team either. Their two best players have duplicate strengths. In 1999 this type of big3 might have been a good contender because they could have filled out the rotation with MLE types and flipped end of bench guys for better role players. With the current CBA the Suns don't seem able to make any of those moves.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I'm not sure we get enough respect for them to consider stewing over last game. They probably just think we got lucky. Plus with the Luka/Fox trades and their own team rumors for the next 3 days maybe they are distracted.

The Suns just aren't a very good team either. Their two best players have duplicate strengths. In 1999 this type of big3 might have been a good contender because they could have filled out the rotation with MLE types and flipped end of bench guys for better role players. With the current CBA the Suns don't seem able to make any of those moves.

So if you were a betting man, who would you put your money on tonight? It is hard to beat a team back-to-back. The Suns have certainly not played up to expectations, but they do have two stars. Plus Beal off the beach who is shooting 40 % from deep. I think the Blazers are due for a bad game.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

So if you were a betting man, who would you put your money on tonight? It is hard to beat a team back-to-back. The Suns have certainly not played up to expectations, but they do have two stars. Plus Beal off the beach who is shooting 40 % from deep. I think the Blazers are due for a bad game.

The current Phoenix spread of 4.5/5.0 favorite seems very reasonable to me.
The money line is -195/+170... so the middle of that is about 182.5. That gives Phoenix a 65% chance and the Blazers 35% chance. Again I'd say that is very reasonable.

Phoenix was also a 4.5 favorite in the prior game and Orlando was a 5.0 favorite before that where we won both. So who knows I certainly could see us winning.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Thinking about this more I might actually lean towards the Blazers having closer to a 40-45% chance to win. The Blazers are playing well lately, healthy, at home, and that Phoenix team is just not great. But Booker/KD are still the two best players on the court so they should certainly be favorites.

Personally I don't think the results of the prior game have a bearing at all either way on this next game.

 

[Pinwheel1]

The current Phoenix spread of 4.5/5.0 favorite seems very reasonable to me.
The money line is -195/+170... so the middle of that is about 182.5. That gives Phoenix a 65% chance and the Blazers 35% chance. Again I'd say that is very reasonable.

Phoenix was also a 4.5 favorite in the prior game and Orlando was a 5.0 favorite before that where we won both. So who knows I certainly could see us winning.

On a side note, spreads for NBA games have to be the least accurate of any professional sports with so many players sitting out games at the last moment.

 

[blazerkor]

Thinking about this more I might actually lean towards the Blazers having closer to a 40-45% chance to win. The Blazers are playing well lately, healthy, at home, and that Phoenix team is just not great. But Booker/KD are still the two best players on the court so they should certainly be favorites.

Personally I don't think the results of the prior game have a bearing at all either way on this next game.

ESPN matchup predictor agrees with you. I gives us a 43.5% chance of winning the game.

 

[THE HCP]

I will be shocked if we beat them twice in a row. KD has had two days to sit and stew over it.

He was out at the Nike campus all day, getting wined and dined. I’m quite sure he wasn’t stewin about us.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Personally I don't think the results of the prior game have a bearing at all either way on this next game.

Really? I think any prior game is a huge factor unless the team is so bad they have no chance regardless.

 

[Pinwheel1]

He was out at the Nike campus all day, getting wined and dined. I’m quite sure he wasn’t stewin about us.

So you are saying KD has no pride/competitive fire anymore? That does not sound like him to me. We will see how he plays after being a -22 on Saturday against the Blazers.
I think the Suns will be locked in on this one.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I will be shocked if we beat them twice in a row. KD has had two days to sit and stew over it.

That's what I thought when we played Minnesota twice back in November, but we won them both. BTW, we kind of went into a tailspin after that that lasted until our recent surge.

 

[KingSpeed]

Suns aren’t any better today than they were two days ago and wer’e trending upwards. Booker had a sensational game on Saturday and we still destroyed them, I expect us to win tonight. We’ll see.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

Really? I think any prior game is a huge factor unless the team is so bad they have no chance regardless.

I mean it can be a factor in that a team might have a style of play or a personnel matchup that is more advantageous/disadvantage to one specific opponent.

But no, we see teams routinely beat another two times in a row or split when they have two games. Bad teams more often lose and better teams more often win. But even very bad teams can win and very bad teams can lose. One single game always has a randomness and unpredictability.

I tend to bet for and against the Blazers more than other teams as I usually have more knowledge on the current status of the team. Still I largely sit back and don't bet on the vast majority of Blazers games, sometimes I don't bet on a game the whole season. Except for rare games I can't predict what will happen accurately enough to overcome betting fees.

If I thought there was some higher probability of beating an opponent that a team just lost to I'd look at betting that way. Its just not a significant statistical occurrence.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

So you are saying KD has no pride/competitive fire anymore? That does not sound like him to me. We will see how he plays after being a -22 on Saturday against the Blazers.
I think the Suns will be locked in on this one.

I'd think he has the same competitiveness for all regular season games. He always wants to win. I don't think he will try harder tonight than he did Saturday when the Blazers won.

Are you saying Durant didn't want to win back on Saturday nor had any competitive fire then?

Maybe there is a playoff rematch or Christmas game or nationally televised game in the regular season he decides to try just a tad bit harder for. The Blazers are none of those things.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

That's what I thought when we played Minnesota twice back in November, but we won them both. BTW, we kind of went into a tailspin after that that lasted until our recent surge.

We won in Houstan and Atlanta after that so we had some more nice wins... then our vets came back into the rotation and we went into the tailspin.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I like all the positive attitudes regarding our team. Am I in the right forum?

 

[blazerfan11]

I will be shocked if we beat them twice in a row. KD has had two days to sit and stew over it.

Shocked?
The suns beat the Golden State Warriors by 25 points in San Francisco the night before playing the Blazers.

Nobody for the Suns played more than 29 minutes besides Devin Booker.

they knew the Blazers had won six out of the last seven and had just trounced Orlando by 29 points.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Shocked?
.

OK....... surprised.

 

[blazerfan11]

Happy Birthday Scoot!

 

[THE HCP]

So you are saying KD has no pride/competitive fire anymore? That does not sound like him to me. We will see how he plays after being a -22 on Saturday against the Blazers.
I think the Suns will be locked in on this one.

Not saying that at all. The complete opposite. He is so sure in himself and ability to bounce back that he didn’t waste 1 second yesterday stewin’.

 

[Natebishop3]

Do the suns blow it up if we nuke them again?

 

[blazerfan11]

Phoenix looks like garbage.

 

[illmatic99]

just atrocious defense from phoenix.

 

[Natebishop3]

just atrocious defense from phoenix.

Just effort in general. They look cooked.

 

[blazerkor]

Wow! Chauncey's philosophies are really solid and I don't think there's a good answer for them when he has the right players. Just pressure on defense and pressure on offense. On offense just getting downhill and making layups/dunks or the right pass and making open shots is pretty much enough to win.

 

[Natebishop3]

Why the actual fuck did we start making it the Simons show?

 

[Natebishop3]

Simons basically just let them back into the game with his trash defense and stupid iso offense.

Tank. Commander.