Game Thread 2026 NBA PLAYOFFS - RND 1 - GAME #3 - SPURS @ BLAZERS - APRIL 24, 2026 - FRIDAY - 7:30 PM - PRIME (3 Viewers)

[UKRAINEFAN]

- Not winning this game means Portland has no business winning the series.

- Live by the 3, die by the 3. Portland died in the mid-3rd quarter and early 4th quarter & cost itself a 15 point lead. Ideally, being able to set up some emergency plays is vital to fixing this issue. Portland doesn't seem to be able to do that.

- Outside of scrappy defense, Portland lacks an identity.

- As we saw in the regular season, Portland's play style is easily exploited by the Spurs even without Wemby. When you have four star caliber guards like the Spurs have, Portland cannot play like it did. If you just run in, dribble hand-off, chuck the ball, and miss your shots....you simply allow the Spurs guards to run the same playbook back against you. And they'll do it more effectively since I estimate four of them can score 17-22ppg (Fox, Castle, Vassel, Harper). Basically, they get all those extra possessions due to the Blazers fast paced but chaotic play. No amount of scrappy defense will stop that.

- Refs were atrocious and inconsistent. But Portland allowed the 15 point lead to get swung by around 30 points. No one to blame but yourself.

- In Games 2 & 3, I felt Jerami Grant's lack of court vision hindered the team in crucial moments. He stopped the ball way too much and allowed the Spurs to gain crucial points during pivotal moments when the starters were resting.

- Still expect 6 games.

- Deni still looks hurt and out of sync. Sharpe, as well.

- Portland still a young team. Expect a few more years of this. If Sharpe and Scoot can improve by 2029, Portland will make a jump and develop an identity. If not, one or both may need to be traded for a player that fits.

Unless you get a superstar under 30 years old back, I think it's a mistake to trade either right now. It seems the way the current NBA works, teams will depend on 3-5 guard rotations that can generate offense like the Spurs, Thunder, & Pistons do. Trading two young guards for one guy seems like a terrible idea once Dame and Jrue get too old in a few years.

Reading about all Spurs' young guys makes me wish we still had our draft pick.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

I expected more from Grant and Sharpe.

I didn't.

 

[Everything Beagle]

Broooo? Calm down. They are currently one or two players away from being top 6 or 8 in the league. That is a contender.
If a team is top 4 in either conference you have a valid chance at making the finals. If you are in the conference finals you are indeed contending.

Contender is top two in the conference, imho. SA and OKC have that locked up. Also, being two players away is nice until you have to give up players to get players; our front office and ownership are not smart enough to put us in contention.

 

[wizenheimer]

Forbes is the end all be all for valuation. You are right.

do you have a better source?

what exactly is it you're saying? You don't think PK made an honest bid? He doesn't know about business valuations?

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

do you have a better source?

We have been over this time and time again. Do you think you have any bias towards Phil Knight? Like I said, I hope we all find someone that loves us as much as you fight the good fight for uncle Phil.

Phoenix sold for 4 billion And Charlotte sold for 3 billion around the same time. Thats a start.

Jody obviously made the right decision by holding on. That is indisputable.

 

[Everything Beagle]

do you have a better source?

what exactly is it you're saying? You don't think PK made an honest bid? He doesn't know about business valuations?

Phil Knight was offering for the same reason Jody didn’t take the offer: it was a lowball offer knowing the new media deal would up the team’s value.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[wizenheimer]

Jody obviously made the right decision by holding on. That is indisputable.

have I ever said she didn't? Please point out where I disputed that

what I'm saying is gauging PK's 2022 offer by the Blazers 2026 sale price is so lacking in any context it's total bullshit

 

[kjironman1]

Contender is top two in the conference, imho. SA and OKC have that locked up. Also, being two players away is nice until you have to give up players to get players; our front office and ownership are not smart enough to put us in contention.

Many think that way but honestly are we saying the Nuggets when healthy are not in the mix? The way the Cavs are playing they sure seem like they are in it. Are we saying the Twolves have no chance?
IMHO any team in the top 8 are in it. Just my take.

 

[blazerkor]

Many think that way but honestly are we saying the Nuggets when healthy are not in the mix? The way the Cavs are playing they sure seem like they are in it. Are we saying the Twolves have no chance?
IMHO any team in the top 8 are in it. Just my take.

I think it's safe to say that it depends year to year. Sometimes there are only 4 true contenders and other years there are as many as 8.

I don't think there are ever just two contenders... I think when you get down to those top two or even three teams you're probably debating who the favorite is, which to me is a step above contenders.

 

[twobullz]

do you have a better source?

what exactly is it you're saying? You don't think PK made an honest bid? He doesn't know about business valuations?

Charlotte had just sold for 3b the Bucks and Mavs both sold for 3.5b. Why would the blazers have taken 2b, when the going price at the time was 3+B?

 

[Chris Craig]

Note that he didn't show up in SA to support his OTHER ex-team.

He was at game 2

 

[Chris Craig]

Broooo? Calm down. They are currently one or two players away from being top 6 or 8 in the league. That is a contender.
If a team is top 4 in either conference you have a valid chance at making the finals. If you are in the conference finals you are indeed contending.

Nah

That Spurs core though. They will be contenders for a long time.

 

[Chris Craig]

I expected more from Grant and Sharpe.

Don't. Especially, Grant. Cronin should be fired for paying him what he did. Atrocious contract.

 

[inconceivable]

This is the explanation. Sharpe and Clingan saw the article about Portland letting Milwaukee choose 2 of the young players in addition to Jerami and picks for Giannis. They are purposely playing bad as to discourage Milwaukee from choosing them. They wanna stay here.

 

[wizenheimer]

Charlotte had just sold for 3b the Bucks and Mavs both sold for 3.5b. Why would the blazers have taken 2b, when the going price at the time was 3+B?

Utah sold for 1.6B in 2020
Minnesota (+WNBA franchise) sold for 1.5B in 2021 (litigation delayed sale till 2025)
PA offered more than 2B for Blazers in 2022

seems like a pretty normal progression

another factor that hasn't been mentioned: at the time of PA's bid for the Blazers, the Blazers owned The Moda center, and the age of the Moda was not positive value at the time because of it's age and major need for an expensive remodel. Any buyer at the time would know they faced a major renovation cost. I'm not sure how that impacted valuation but I'd imagine it did not enhance it considering the valuation jumped after the Blazers sold the Moda for one dollar

by the way, Charlotte sold more than a year after PK made the offer for the Blazers. Dallas was sold a year and a half after PK's offer. Milwaukee was sold a year after

 

[Idog1976]

Didn’t the trust force her to sell to the highest bidder?

I actually didn't know about the Trust/Charity part of things. It's odd she didn't just sell to Phil when it was a fair valuation at the time. This does make me less mad at her.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

have I ever said she didn't? Please point out where I disputed that

what I'm saying is gauging PK's 2022 offer by the Blazers 2026 sale price is so lacking in any context it's total bullshit

Lol ok man.

Phoenix sold for 4 billion in 2022, but the Blazers were valued at 2 billion (sorry, forgot the "+" there) because Forbes told us so.

 

[riverman]

My understanding is that money is not the reason Paul Allen’s estate didn’t want to sell to Phil Knight. I heard it was purely political and ideological differences.

 

[blazerfan11]

Please make another thread about this team buying thing and Phil Knight.
There probably already is one.
it doesn't belong in the game discussion!!!!!
And keep it out of future game discussions!
Might as well not even have threads just one big mess.

 

[Idog1976]

I expected more from Grant and Sharpe.

Sharpe is injured and Grant just doesn't care he got his bag. That's why I want him gone, he takes minutes from other younger wings.

 

[Idog1976]

Reading about all Spurs' young guys makes me wish we still had our draft pick.

Yep, I'm convinced Dumbdumb and ownership wanted to penny pinch and a draft pick if it hits the lottery is a lot of money and he's a shortsighted idiot (see masseuse and two way player video I posted above). I already don't like him. He punched WAYYYY above his weight class and now wants to cut corners and penny pinch. I'm pretty sure he bought the team as a short term turn around sale, at least god I hope so. We need a truly extraordinarily rich guy to buy the team. Someone who is worth 11+ digits.

 

[twobullz]

Sharpe is injured and Grant just doesn't care he got his bag. That's why I want him gone, he takes minutes from other younger wings.

Could it be Grant came back to early from his injury and not close to 100% but still trying to help the team?

 

[wizenheimer]

Lol ok man.

Phoenix sold for 4 billion in 2022, but the Blazers were valued at 2 billion (sorry, forgot the "+" there) because Forbes told us so.

again, I ask, what is your point? honestly I can't see any other than trying to pull my chain

I'm saying that PK offering 2.1-2.2B in 2022 has little bearing on what the team sold for 4 years later

 

[wizenheimer]

Please make another thread about this team buying thing and Phil Knight.
There probably already is one.
it doesn't belong in the game discussion!!!!!
And keep it out of future game discussions!
Might as well not even have threads just one big mess.

sorry

 

[Idog1976]

Could it be Grant came back to early from his injury and not close to 100% but still trying to help the team?

I don’t think so. Im a long term Grant hater so Im biased. He is wildly up and down and the main issue is we have a bunch of wings and the young guys are getting better (if they get playing time) and are vastly cheaper. Fortunately, our cheap owner will almost certainly jettison him this summer purely for penny pinching reasons.

 

[wizenheimer]

I don’t think so. Im a long term Grant hater so Im biased. He is wildly up and down and the main issue is we have a bunch of wings and the young guys are getting better (if they get playing time) and are vastly cheaper. Fortunately, our cheap owner will almost certainly jettison him this summer purely for penny pinching reasons.

I think Dundon will find it a challenge to trade Grant for cost savings unless he attached a 1st

 

[Idog1976]

I think Dundon will find it a challenge to trade Grant for cost savings unless he attached a 1st

Yep, scary stuff.

 

[Idog1976]

I think Dundon will find it a challenge to trade Grant for cost savings unless he attached a 1st

I think people will soon miss the Salad Days of Jody Allen and Kolde running things and I say that with full awareness of how awful they were.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

When Harper was destroying us, I wish Tiago would have put Thybulle on him.