Damian Lillard's foot

[kjironman1]

Our good defensive bigs will likely be in foul trouble due to how much they have to clean up.

Or in foul trouble on the bench? Seems like having two guys with 3 fouls in the second and 5 in the fourth could actually happen quite a bit.

Guarding the 3 is not as simple as getting in their faces. What about rotations and getting through screens?

It does help to have a hand in their face but you have to rotate and get through screens to get there. This seems obvious but maybe it isn't?

 

[kjironman1]

Since Jason Quick seems to be who you all are going to believe. Does Lillard have plantar fasciitis?


Now that tweet is last night. Does anyone now think there is a problem with Damian Lillard?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Us scoring is not going to be a problem. With Dame and Nurk running their two man game, with both CJ and Melo available to iso and hopefully hit open threes and Zach cleaning up down low, the starting lineup should be good to go on O. Gary and Hassan can also score off of the bench and I'm interested to see if Nas can contribute on offense as well... hell maybe Ant will even show up. No, offense won't be our big challenge. Defending the perimeter however is a scary prospect. We better stay up on three point shooters, if we can do that then we should win a good amount of games but that is a big if. I think we can stay up in the faces of other team's shooters and let our really good defensive bigs clean up when our perimeter defenders get blown by but Dame, CJ and Melo really need to commit to stopping the three. Our bench has much better defenders on it so if the starters can do their part then I think we will win enough games to get into a tough first round match up with the Lakers.

I like your optimism. I hope they surprise me.

 

[wizenheimer]

under Stotts, when you look at Portland's total game, offense & defense, it's always been a case of bop-a-mole. Blazers shoot the three well but their transition defense is horrible. They play good transition defense, but they miss 44% of their FT's. They make all their FT's, but their opponent dominates the paint scoring. They keep the opponent off the foul line, but Portland shoots 17% on three's.

they rarely put it all together. But they've won a lot of games, mainly because of Dame.

Portland's margin of error is usually pretty thin, but with their current position in the standings, and the questions about Dame's health, they have no margin of error. It wouldn't absolutely doom them, but if they lose to Memphis tomorrow, their odds of making the playoffs would have to drop to less than 10%. That's the only game they have against the teams they are fighting for the 8th-9th seed, and losing it would be really bad

 

[e_blazer]

Since Jason Quick seems to be who you all are going to believe. Does Lillard have plantar fasciitis?


Now that tweet is last night. Does anyone now think there is a problem with Damian Lillard?

He had plantar fasciitis that caused him to miss a few games last January. Starting up after a long layoff, it wouldn’t be surprising for it to flare up again. Hopefully, it just got a bit sore and they shut him down as a precaution. We’re going to find out shortly.

 

[blazerkor]

Couple things your missing:
1.) Were playing better than average teams so using average opponents PPG to project our opponent PPG in the bubble is underselling jt.
2.) Part of replacing Ariza with Collins is moving Melo from the 4 to the 3 which makes things worse as well.

Don't you think replacing Melo with Collins makes our defense better though? I'm not saying our defense is better or equal to what we had, I just think you are going to be way over on your prediction (if it's not just purposeful hyperbole) of us giving up 125 points per game. If we do give up 125 points or more in our first game then I would and Melo's immobility is obviously one of the big problems on defense then don't you think Gary will take over the starting 3 spot?

 

[BonesJones]

Don't you think replacing Melo with Collins makes our defense better though? I'm not saying our defense is better or equal to what we had, I just think you are going to be way over on your prediction (if it's not just purposeful hyperbole) of us giving up 125 points per game. If we do give up 125 points or more in our first game then I would and Melo's immobility is obviously one of the big problems on defense then don't you think Gary will take over the starting 3 spot?

I was thinking we'll give up around 120

 

[blazerkor]

I was thinking we'll give up around 120

fair enough

 

[kjironman1]

I think Mr Quick reads this forum.

 

[e_blazer]

I think Mr Quick reads this forum.

Well, that's good since that can be a lingering problem. OTOH, it would be nice if he said the soreness was gone? Jason, if you're reading, any update on that?

 

[kjironman1]

Well, that's good since that can be a lingering problem. OTOH, it would be nice if he said the soreness was gone? Jason, if you're reading, any update on that?