Game Thread 2025-26 GAME #10 - BLAZERS @ MAGIC - MONDAY - NOVEMBER 10, 2025 - 4:00 PM - KUNP - BLAZERVISION (9 Viewers)

[PCmor7]

Couple of things

On last play think Jrue should held off dribbling. Sharpe should have cut shoulder to shoulder of it’s open hand off if not hopefully defenders get confused and Jrue can drive the ball with to hoop or kick out or handoff is clean and Sharpe is able to penetrate.

100% agree with Sharpe analysis, I’ve been saying same thing Sharpes strength is mid range and in setting up his open 3’s. I think he’ll get better with 3’s just matter of time. I like this offense even though it’s ugly at times. They want layins or 3’s but Sharpe needs to be the exception his game is mid range and he’s ideal for pick and role type offense. Running a few of these at end of games would be smart.

Our depth is killing us, losing Blake and Thybulle are big losses. We’re not able to pressure full court like we were and it’s showing with lower turnovers and steals. Hope Scoots back soon but also think we could use better depth.

Grants game drives me nuts true black hole when he’s on it works out but he’s a ball stopper who always thinks he’s open forces so many out of control drives.

Lastly we’ve found our playing style found our key group now we build to our system similar to how San Antonio did. Just a thought but seems like more Euro style players fit this type of system.

You're right about Jrue dribbling too soon, but I think the 4.5 seconds on the clock dictated that more than him being impatient. If there were 6 seconds on the clock, I'd absolutely agree with you. With that time and score, though, you need to have better spacing to run that.

 

[Mrvioletowl]

He could so easily use his size against opponents. It's just not there.

Would you say we had better center rotation LAST season, or THIS?

It's a small sample size, but in vacuum, it was better last season. Ayton, as frustrating as he was, gave us two more options on offense - pick and pop mid range game and the ability to finish lobs. DC is more ground bound and often has to catch, gather and then try to score.
This should be about future, though. I see no reason the corpse of RW3 and Reath should be getting playing time over Yang, if the outcome is the same. Let the kid get some game reps. He wouldn't do worse than 2-18 from three. He sets good picks. He's smart enough to pick up things, especially with how limited practice time is.
But I'm nitpicking. Season is young, we have most of our guard rotation out and we are in every game until the end.

 

[julius]

Curious how you think about my season prediction. When I said, “We will be a more competitive, actually better team, but maybe not win as many games as last season.”

Why can't I see this?

 

[julius]

It's amazing that a global moderator can also be a troll.

But hey, you got your win for the night, taking a shot at someone because they said a few weeks ago that defense travels better than offense. Congrats. Go pat yourself on the back. Maybe get someone to give you a cupcake, too.

How is me commenting about the media guys always saying "defense follows teams" when they go on the road?

Who said that on here??

 

[wizenheimer]

No. It wasn't. It was me that said defense travels. I've never said Yang was going to be an all-star.

But keep trolling.

defense does travel...but you know what? that's not much of an accomplishment because we know that HCP travels too....I mean, if he can travel...

but your point is correct. Good defense is more consistent; it doesn't need periods of momentum or hot streaks, although those can help. But most good defensive teams play better defense at home where it's easier to maintain intensity with the crowd behind you. At least that's my theory this morning. I don't know if stats provide proof

it's not much, and a too small sample size, but I just checked at BBREF: the Blazers have given up 117.2 points/game at home; and 121.4 points/game on the road. A 4.2 point differential

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Why can't I see this?

Can we refine the blocking feature so that it doesn't block everything some people post, just what they have to say about their broken record topics? So it would block @THE HCP talking about Westbrook's stats or anything to do with Ayton or Simons?

 

[PCmor7]

defense does travel...but you know what? that's not much of an accomplishment because we know that HCP travels too....I mean, if he can travel...

but your point is correct. Good defense is more consistent; it doesn't need periods of momentum or hot streaks, although those can help. But most good defensive teams play better defense at home where it's easier to maintain intensity with the crowd behind you. At least that's my theory this morning. I don't know if stats provide proof

it's not much, and a too small sample size, but I just checked at BBREF: the Blazers have given up 117.2 points/game at home; and 121.4 points/game on the road. A 4.2 point differential

The bigger thing just from playing and coaching is that when you're at home you're shooting against a background you shoot against half the games your season. It's a significant change, just having that feel for seeing things the same way for a part of the game that requires muscle memory and precision. You probably can get into the whole idea of sleeping in a familiar bed, going to a familiar locker, etc. In HS, it's a lot easier to shoot when you're driven 15 minutes in your family car to your gym rather than sat in a bus for two hours and then had to do it.

Defense is largely a matter of scouting and desire. Effort doesn't change appreciably like shooting into a familiar background does. The only thing that might affect that is feeding off the fan energy.

The stats are hard to tell, simply because it also comes down to who you're playing and who you have available, and the style you play, too. Generally, though, I think the vast majority of coaches and players will tell you that defensive performance has less variation than offense. You might have an off shooting night, but you always can play hard.

 

[e_blazer]

I don't know when I've seen two more bizarrely anti-clutch plays in the last few seconds of a game than Banchero's T-Rex level short arm of his free-throw attempt and Jrue's seemingly out-of-body experience at running into Banchero and turning the ball over. Bane's last second three was just one of those crazy shots that demonstrate the power of NBA muscle memory and sometimes find the net. Makes you want to bang your head against the wall when it happens to your team.

The losses to the Heat and the Magic were the kind of winnable games that will probably bite the Blazers' butts at the end of the season.

 

[wizenheimer]

about Clingan: the coaches need to step in and adjust the game he plays. It's like the ghost of Meyers Leonard came to Clingan in a dream and said: "hey man, you should chuck more three's; that's what I did after my rookie year. Just don't record yourself playing any online games"

% of FGA's at the rim: last season .617....this season .463
% of FGA's within 10' of rim: last season .839....this season .597
% of 3ptFGA: last season .147....this season .403
3PA/game: last season 0.7....this season 2.7
average shot distance: last season 5.8'....this season 11.4'
FT Rate: last season .311....this season .179
eFG%: last season 56.0%....this season 52.2%
TS%: last season 57.4%....this season 56.0%

it is fucking ridiculous that's he's playing this way and it's even more ridiculous the coaches are letting him. He needs to play like Gobert, not play like Meyers

he has doubled his shot distance and more than 40% of his shots are three's. That has dropped his shooting efficiency and his FT rate is only 57% of what it was last year. He's become a less efficient player and frankly, he needs all of the offensive efficiency he can generate

his offensive rebounding rate hasn't really suffered yet. It's gone from 17.3%-->17.0%. But watching him, I think he's even stronger with more stamina and better reactions to rebounds off the rim than he was last season. If he wasn't spending so much fucking time camped out around the arc I'd estimate his offensive rebounding rate would be around 20%, and that would be phenomenal

again, this represents a coaching issue to me, just like Sharpe's 3 point chucking. Now, I'd like to think that Sharpe's game last night is a sign of things to come. That he's going to mainline his style toward dribble drive and occasional mid-range with three's being an adjunct...rather than the other way around. But one game doesn't make a sea change. And the Blazers need a permanent sea change for both Sharpe and Clingan

bottom line is that Sharpe-Camara-Clingan are gunning up 16 three's/game and are only converting 27.6% of the time. What does that do? Well, last season Portland attempted 37.7 three's a game; that ranked 14th and they converted 34.2% of the time. This season they are tossing up 42.4 three's/game; that is the 5th most attempts in the league and they are only converting 33.3% of the time

before we get too giddy about a new system, we may want to know if it has some major points of failure, and so far, it has. Adjustments are definitely needed

 

[wizenheimer]

The losses to the Heat and the Magic were the kind of winnable games that will probably bite the Blazers' butts at the end of the season.

maybe...but there are always offsets

the Utah, Denver, and OKC games were all lose-able games that went Portland's way. All 2 point wins. Those one possession games usually balance out between wins and losses over a season, even for good teams. If you count the Minny game, and since it was within 2 points with 28 seconds left, it should be counted, that would mean the Blazers have had 5 one-possession games and are 3-2. My half-assed theory says another loss is coming

 

[e_blazer]

maybe...but there are always offsets

the Utah, Denver, and OKC games were all lose-able games that went Portland's way. All 2 point wins. Those one possession games usually balance out between wins and losses over a season, even for good teams. If you count the Minny game, and since it was within 2 points with 28 seconds left, it should be counted, that would mean the Blazers have had 5 one-possession games and are 3-2. My half-assed theory says another loss is coming

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but for a young team like the Blazers that's trying to overachieve what the prevailing wisdom says is their ceiling for this year, they have to bank all of the winnable games that they can and hope to accumulate a few extra wins against teams that they aren't favored to win.