Game Thread 2025-26 GAME #38 - BLAZERS VS ROCKETS - JANUARY 7, 2026 - WEDNESDAY - 7:00 PM - KUNP - BLAZERVISION (2 Viewers)

[kjironman1]

I mean “Hand on the ball with the red light on” means the shot had not left his hand right?

In the end Blazers win and that’s what we want right? Right? Or does this just kill the tank a bit more?

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I mean “Hand on the ball with the red light on” means the shot had not left his hand right?

In the end Blazers win and that’s what we want right? Right? Or does this just kill the tank a bit more?

The Larry Nance/Markkanen trade was in 2021 with Chicago... We have pushed that draft pick back more than enough years - I'm totally fine with finally handing it over in 2026.

Plus giving it to Chicago now guarantees we get our 2027 pick and the 2028 unprotected swap with Milwaukee becomes guaranteed. Only way the Blazers don't give Chicago a pick or lose the Bucks swap is if we miss the playoffs in 2026 and 2027 and 2028. Blazers have already missed the playoffs 4 straight season. Do you want that to be 7 or more years?

Blazers should go hard for the playoffs now!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

 

[Mrvioletowl]

No wonder Jokic is fav player.

 

[B-Roy]

This game is also a stark reminder that 50/50 games usually even themselves out at the end of the year. Blazers lost some on some tough buzzer beaters this year to Orlando and Chicago. I think they got those two back with this and the Sacramento game.

 

[PCmor7]

They’re staying for Friday game

Maybe they are mentally broken and are just going home and taking a forfeit.

 

[Chris Craig]

And actually, it's amazing that the refs didn't try to gift the Rockets the game with the last call on the tip-in, but you know what? This is a fact: it was not up for interpretation or argument; when you pause the replay, his hand is clearly touching the ball when the red light goes on. It would have caused an extreme backlash and investigation into the refereeing. It couldn't be called anything but a no basket. The refs are crooked, but they aren't dumb.

Yeah, they could screw us on the foul with Love getting knocked down because they could argue that's subjective (it was a foul, but they could say it's not). A hand being on the ball after the red light is on, is objective and they couldn't give Houston the win.

 

[Chris Craig]

I don’t know man. It’s really close. And in my opinion the shot doesn’t show clearly that the ball was already tipped or being tipped. Not “clear as day” as you call it. Glad they got the call but you have to admit that might not have warranted an over turn.

It clearly shows he was in the midst of tipping it. But, it had not left his hand before the buzzer. If a ball is still touching the players fingers/hand it cannot count. Period.

He rebounded the ball and readjusted to tip it in one handed. If he had just tapped it back towards the basket without first palming it, and it went in, the timing probably would have worked, but he took just too long. Thems the breaks.

 

[Chris Craig]

We have a win streak!!! And we have won 6 of the last 7!!!
One game below .500 ball and still severely iniured. Fully healthy, we are a playoff team.
Might be time to bump that season prediction thread.

Two games

 

[1 Eye Jack]

Progression- things that typically show a team is on the rise
1. Winning several games against good teams
2. Having lots of close games whether you win or lose
3. Players who are starting to make the leap from average starters to borderline all stars or you see future potential all star
4. Player who can take over game
5. Team identity

Same thing can be said of players
1. Player starts to show what they are capable of during early season workouts (buzz about the player making the leap) normally guys on the team are the first to notice
2. Player starts to have several break out games
3. Player begins to be more consistent
4. Player seems to score more efficiently and with less effort (getting 18-20 points every game and you hardly notice)

 

[e_blazer]

Two games

Four, but who’s counting?

 

[Chris Craig]

Four, but who’s counting?

?

We are 18-20. We win two more games, we are at .500

 

[Chris Craig]

Progression- things that typically show a team is on the rise
1. Winning several games against good teams
2. Having lots of close games whether you win or lose
3. Players who are starting to make the leap from average starters to borderline all stars or you see future potential all star
4. Player who can take over game
5. Team identity

Same thing can be said of players
1. Player starts to show what they are capable of during early season workouts (buzz about the player making the leap) normally guys on the team are the first to notice
2. Player starts to have several break out games
3. Player begins to be more consistent
4. Player seems to score more efficiently and with less effort (getting 18-20 points every game and you hardly notice)

Not mention doing so with a third of the team missing, including most of our guards.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

?

We are 18-20. We win two more games, we are at .500

Yes, but if another team were 19-19, we would be one game behind them in the standings. Or put another way, if we had won one of the games we've lost, we'd be .500.

I personally see it your way, but I understand SSS's.

 

[e_blazer]

?

We are 18-20. We win two more games, we are at .500

I thought you were talking about the winning streak.

 

[RR7]

Yes, but if another team were 19-19, we would be one game behind them in the standings. Or put another way, if we had won one of the games we've lost, we'd be .500.

I personally see it your way, but I understand SSS's.

That reminds me of ...I think it was magnifier way back in the day not understanding games under .500 and arguing forever on this specifically. Like all of his posts, it was a real slog to read through.

 

[andalusian]

YH is a project, but this was a good game for him. He looked like an NBA players out there. Not a particularly good one, but he did not look completely out of sort. This is good.

We have seen that Blazers have done well with players that proved stuff in lower categories. Deni was a MVP of a foreign league as a teenager. DC was a monster in college and won there - and it translates. YH was a good player at a lower level league. That's where the hope is with him, it will take some time, but there is a chance it translates sooner or later.

 

[1 Eye Jack]

YH is a project, but this was a good game for him. He looked like an NBA players out there. Not a particularly good one, but he did not look completely out of sort. This is good.

I think like most players as you get more playing time the better you look. Love looked unplayable at beginning of the year as did Sidy. I also go back to my Spurs theory a lot depends on how your coaches allow you to work through your mistakes and play to your strengths. YH has a ton of potential and I mentioned this last night the fact they are kind of forcing him out there and living with his mistakes to me is a sign that RWill is likely traded at trade deadline. We struggled to get out to shooters with both YH and RW playing together but we stuck with it, it also hurt at other end of court because neither is respected shooter so teams sagged more.

I’m going to stand by my prediction that YH will eventually be starting caliber center maybe better

 

[Rastapopoulos]

It feels so good!

Did you know that young Chuck was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers? Not what you'd think if you'd just seen him on King of the Hill, living in Mega Lo Mart.

 

[andalusian]

They played YH and RW3 together because the Rockets are so effin' huge. They also mostly played Zone and tried to protect YH from having to switch and go on the perimeter where he really struggles.

The real question of YH's future in the league is if he can improve his mobility. DC is not a quick guy - but he has such a huge wingspan - that he remains effective on the perimeter even when he is beaten - he can reach and try to affect the shots from behind. Yang does not have that advantage - so he will have to really work on his foot speed in addition to recognition and understanding of defense in the NBA. But, it was nice to see that they could keep him in the game and not have to sub him out immediately because he was unplayable.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

The fact that we won this despite giving genuine minutes to Yang and Rayan is just amazing.

Gotta say, seeing Amen Thompson up close: he really cannot shoot A LICK.

 

[Hoopguru]

Just a thought....Dame had to feel pretty good about how Durant was playing at his age, and achilles issue he overcame. Cant wait for Dame to be plugged into the rotation.

 

[riverman]

It was clearly still being touched by the Rocket player's hand with the red light on around the backboard. Open your eyes. If anything, this corrected the egregious overturn of the foul against Love, where the refs tried to hand the game to the Rockets.

Do you realize how many people bet on this game? And the dollar amounts? You think the refs aren't crooked? The NBA is literally tied with the mob. Documented. Have you seen how many couches have been getting technicals lately and ejected? The officiating is a joke. Completely crooked.

nothing is worse than a couch that complains to the refs!

 

[Quatro44]

I don't remember "Zebras" ever helping out the Trail Blazers, like ever. We have been hosed by them by a lot and probably would have gotten hosed in this game too without the review.

 

[THE HCP]

Good win but the Blazers need to learn how to block out cause they are HORRIBLE at it. It looked like Sharpe did ZERO in terms of blocking Smith out and .1 more seconds and this would have been a loss not a win -- PERIOD

But we WON!

 

[andalusian]

TE can't handle Deni's speed. It's easier to complain about officiating - but Deni is playing to the rules and TE is not fast enough, disciplined enough to handle it.

The great players learn to adjust and do not blame stuff elsewhere. Hard to argue that Deni gets these and-1 calls when KD got tons of them as well, some of them on much more marginal contact than what Deni was generating.

 

[Everything Beagle]

But we WON!

The Rockets lost

 

[THE HCP]

Add this to the Dame 0.8 game and Houston is going to start thinking they are cursed in Portland.

 

[THE HCP]

it is starting to smell like racism or SOMETHING other than genuine concern over his game.

Bro! This is close to the worst post in the history of this joint. Something the JinxSpeed guy would bang out on their keyboard. C’Mon.

 

[Chris Craig]

Yes, but if another team were 19-19, we would be one game behind them in the standings. Or put another way, if we had won one of the games we've lost, we'd be .500.

I personally see it your way, but I understand SSS's.

Another team isn't. And, I'm not talking about how far we are below the team above us. Just how far we are from being at .500. sure, but we didn't win one of the games we lost. We are 18-20, 2 games under .500