Game Thread GAME# 1: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - OCTOBER 23, 2019 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 (PDT), ESPN & NBCSNW

[Pinwheel1]

To me both Dame and CJ looked like they were gassed from the start. They certainly did not looked to be in mid season form. This was not a fine tuned machine out there.

But what frustrated me most was once again, our center can't guard other 3 pt shooting centers on the perimeter. Nurk can't do it and Hassan can't do it. You can't take them out because then Jokic would just pound inside, which Hassan did a great job defending against. You can't switch him on Millsap because he can also shoot 3's as well and is more mobile. There has to be a better solution.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Although I agree it can be frustrating when CJ attempts to "shoot" himself out of a slump, how quickly we forget that CJ started slow last year and people were freaking out. It was unfortunate last night but if you haven't figured out by now that you are going to get some rough nights like that from CJ but a lot more great nights from CJ then I don't know what you have been watching for the last few years. I will however conceed that I wish he passed just a little more in some situations.

 

[ABM]

More props for Dame by comparison. @THE HCP 's guy Laker LeBron walks off the court during the National anthem yelling his 'look at me' nonsense...

Wow, no kidding...

 

[illmatic99]

The offense is clunky. I thought initially it had to with the lack of spacing with both bigs, but our bench looked awful as well.

Ball just doesn't move. We have too many guys wanting to jack shots. Ant needs to be more Dame and less CJ. And let Mario initiate the offense-- he actually looks to get the defenses scrambling. Way too many dribble handoffs on the perimeter last night in this bullshit weave that Terry loves instead of moving north-south.

 

[tlongII]

I'm not over-reacting. We'll play better. Denver was unconscious from deep last night. If they shoot the league average we win that game.

 

[julius]

Wow, no kidding...

First thing first. I think this is the first time the "wait 20 games" mindset should apply to the team at the start of the season. I feel the Blazers are a W.I.P. team (work in progress). They'll iron out some clunks...hopefully.

Secondly, wtf? I'm not a believer that the NA is the end all be all of patriotism (etc), but wtf? LeBron took some heat for his ill timed/stupid comments about China and the Houston GM, so maybe he should kind of be a little more cautious about stuff?

Not saying he shouldn't be able to speak his mind, but it's like this was a glitch in a video game...couldn't he wait till *after* the singer was done to scream "I'm an attention whore"?

 

[julius]

I'm not over-reacting. We'll play better. Denver was unconscious from deep last night. If they shoot the league average we win that game.

Agreed. That and CJ picked a bad night to go Juan Dixon/Derek Anderson on the Nuggets.

 

[hoopsjock]

We lost the game because...

1) Only 13 assists and 20 turnovers, which means there was very little ball movement.

2) 3 of our 4 guards were a combined 8 of 32 from the field.

Despite giving up a lot of uncontested 3's the overall defense was decent and at times looked elite with the starting lineup especially.

 

[ABM]

Agreed. That and CJ picked a bad night to go Juan Dixon/Derek Anderson on the Nuggets.

Yeah, not to mention that horrible bad taste from the WCF the Nuggets still had in their collective mouths. In other words, "Take that!.....and That!.....and THAT!!...."

 

[julius]

Yeah, not to mention that horrible bad taste from the WCF the Nuggets still had in their collective mouths. In other words, "Take that!.....and That!.....and THAT!!...."

Tho honestly, if that's the revenge/message they wanted to send, it really only said that they're going to lose again in the playoffs.

They realistically barely beat a team with 7 new players, 3 new starters, CJ barely showing up and still missing arguably it's 2nd more important player.

Yeah a W is a W, but some W's have much more power to them then others.

 

[Blazers Roy]

I see a lot of analysis here.

We lost the game because we gave them a million open threes while our shots were contested at the other end.

The End.

 

[julius]

We lost the game because...

1) Only 13 assists and 20 turnovers, which means there was very little ball movement.

2) 3 of our 4 guards were a combined 8 of 32 from the field.

Despite giving up a lot of uncontested 3's the overall defense was decent and at times looked elite with the starting lineup especially.

Outside of Damian's assists, the team had *5* assists. And 1 off the bench (and that came from Skal).

A lot of the lack of cohesiveness was still getting to know the new guys, but also just such predictable offense.

 

[beast blazer]

Based on shooting alone, we should have lost by 25+. But we stayed close with grit and scrap. Mate McMullen would have been proud. But the offense was a dishimbled mess. Cj and bazemore in particular....

 

[ABM]

They realistically barely beat a team with 7 new players, 3 new starters, CJ barely showing up and still missing arguably it's 2nd more important player.

Yeah a W is a W, but some W's have much more power to them then others.

True. And Stotts is very adept at plugging pieces into place. I'm thinking by Dec/Jan we're going to have a pretty well-oiled machine. My biggest concern thus far regarding this season is the early schedule. Hoping we can hang in there until Stotts has a full grip on things.

 

[BonesJones]

True. And Stotts is very adept at plugging pieces into place. I'm thinking by Dec/Jan we're going to have a pretty well-oiled machine. My biggest concern thus far regarding this season is the early schedule. Hoping we can hang in there until Stotts has a full grip on things.

When does he ever have a full grip on things?

 

[julius]

I see a lot of analysis here.

We lost the game because we gave them a million open threes while our shots were contested at the other end.

The End.

It's like the team decided a few years ago, that they can only play one kind of defense. And to play this kind of defense, they had to sacrifice 3 point defense.

 

[ABM]

When does he ever have a full grip on things?

I think you know what I meant.

 

[julius]

True. And Stotts is very adept at plugging pieces into place. I'm thinking by Dec/Jan we're going to have a pretty well-oiled machine. My biggest concern thus far regarding this season is the early schedule. Hoping we can hang in there until Stotts has a full grip on things.

Me too. I'm not super worried about the W/L record, I think the WC will cannibalize itself this season.

 

[STOMP]

The offense is clunky. I thought initially it had to with the lack of spacing with both bigs, but our bench looked awful as well.

Ball just doesn't move. We have too many guys wanting to jack shots.

...and too few shooters who can make shots. The offense from the 2nd unit was just fugly. Hopefully last night will turn out to be an aberration rather then what some here have been fearing since the offseason moves.

STOMP

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Every time Zach gets a BS foul all I imagine is the ref saying “You can’t be an American white jumping around and blocking people like that, Zach! Take your privileged ass to the bench!”

Yeah, referees are notoriously SJWs.

 

[illmatic99]

...and too few shooters who can make shots. The offense from the 2nd unit was just fugly. Hopefully last night will turn out to be an aberration rather then what some here have been fearing since the offseason moves.

STOMP

Ya say what you want about usage but losing Seth and Meyers, two elite shooters from 3, is gonna be a problem unless Ant steps up, or Baze starts making shots.

 

[Natebishop3]

Tolliver seems like a massive bust. Hopefully he integrates better over time but the guy contributed nothing. An empty stat sheet.

MeJay was back to his old tricks. Same guy as last year. We live by the MeJay and we die by the MeJay because if his shot isn’t going down you can count on two things: he won’t pass the ball and he won’t stop shooting.

The bench desperately needs some vets. Hopefully Pau still has some gas left in his tanks.

 

[julius]

Tolliver seems like a massive bust. Hopefully he integrates better over time but the guy contributed nothing. An empty stat sheet.

MeJay was back to his old tricks. Same guy as last year. We live by the MeJay and we die by the MeJay because if his shot isn’t going down you can count on two things: he won’t pass the ball and he won’t stop shooting.

The bench desperately needs some vets. Hopefully Pau still has some gas left in his tanks.

I'm afraid if the team is hanging it's hat on Pau...we're boned.

Btw, they need to go back to staggering CJ and Dame. Having them both sit makes the bench significantly weaker/less effective.

 

[Natebishop3]

I'm afraid if the team is hanging it's hat on Pau...we're boned.

Btw, they need to go back to staggering CJ and Dame. Having them both sit makes the bench significantly weaker/less effective.

I’m pretty sure that’s what Stotts did in the second half. It’s just that CJ was ice cold.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Wow, no kidding...

Wow... I'm not really into doing national anthem before every games (even in my own country), and obviously don't give much shit about the USA national anthem...

But this is just ugh... a really bad look.

 

[julius]

I’m pretty sure that’s what Stotts did in the second half. It’s just that CJ was ice cold.

The good (?) thing about CJ's game last night wasn't so much that the defense stopped him, as much as he was just off. The bad thing is when he's off like last night, he goes into tunnel vision (as you and others have stated).

CJ have a typical game last night and imho, the team wins.

Him having a shitacular game kind of exposes the potential warts for the team. Hopefully Bazemore, Simons and Mario can find their shot/rhythm.

 

[illmatic99]

Tolliver seems like a massive bust. Hopefully he integrates better over time but the guy contributed nothing. An empty stat sheet.

MeJay was back to his old tricks. Same guy as last year. We live by the MeJay and we die by the MeJay because if his shot isn’t going down you can count on two things: he won’t pass the ball and he won’t stop shooting.

The bench desperately needs some vets. Hopefully Pau still has some gas left in his tanks.

This kinda stat line is hard to do. How do you not even trip into a rebound?

 

[mook]

This kinda stat line is hard to do. How do you not even trip into a rebound?
View attachment 28028

Jesus. Did Meyers Leonard ever have a stat line that bad last year?

Jesus. I just looked it up:
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leoname01/gamelog/2019

No, no he didn't. Anthony Tolliver just had a worse night in his debut than every single game Meyers played for us last year. (I mean, there are a few stinkers in there where Leonard played like 5 minutes and did jack shit, but nothing where he had a chance to play more than 10 minutes.)

Jesus.

Uh, welcome to Portland again Anthony Tolliver. You can start playing now, you know. Just in case you're waiting for an invite.

 

[mook]

Holy fuck, I had to research this some more. There's not a single game in Meyers Leonard's career where he went 13 minutes with 0 points and 0 rebounds.

Tolliver really left his mark here.

Kind of like my underwear after Taco Bell.

 

[HailBlazers]

He's a utility 3 and D player. If the 3s not falling yes he's worthless but not sure what y'all were expecting if you've ever seen him play.