Game Thread GAME# 13: HAWKS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 16, 2021 - SATURDAY, 7:00 PM, NBCSNW

[Darkwebs]

2020-21 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
ATLANTA HAWKS
5 - 5
(3-2 Road)
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
7 - 5
(3-3 Home)

______________________________
---------PROBABLE STARTERS---------

PG

TRAE YOUNG VS DAMIAN LILLARD

SG

CAM REDDISH VS C.J. McCOLLUM

SF

DE'ANDRE HUNTER VS DERRICK JONES Jr.

PF

JOHN COLLINS VS ROBERT COVINGTON

C

CLINT CAPELA VS ENES KANTER

-----------------------------------------------------------------
------- JERSEYS -------

--

--------------------------------------------------------------


WHEN: 7:00 PM (PST), SATURDAY, 1/16/2021

WHERE: Moda Center, Portland, OR

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

-----------------------------------------------------------------



--------------BENCH--------------

-------- ATLANTA HAWKS --------

GOODWIN , RONDO , MAYS

SNELL , HUERTER , HILL

FERNANDO , OKONGWU , KNIGHT


---- PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS ----

SIMONS , TRENT Jr. , BLEVINS

HOOD , LITTLE

ANTHONY , GILES



INJURIES
HAWKS
Onyeka Okongwu (inflammation, sesamoid bone, left foot): PROBABLE
Clint Capela (right hand soreness): QUESTIONABLE
Rajon Rondo (right knee injury maintenance): QUESTIONABLE
Danilo Gallinari (right ankle sprain): OUT
Kris Dunn (right ankle surgery): OUT
Bogdan Bogdanovic (avulsion fracture, right knee): OUT
TRAIL BLAZERS
Jusuf Nurkic (broken right wrist): OUT
CJ Elleby (left foot strain): OUT
Keljin Blevins (personal reasons): QUESTIONABLE
Zach Collins (left ankle stress fracture): OUT



HEAD COACHES

- VS –

LLOYD PIERCE --- TERRY STOTTS



OFFICIAL HAWKS' GAME NOTES
OFFICIAL BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

• The Trail Blazers Jan. 16 game against the Hawks is the first of two meetings between Portland and Atlanta this season. The second matchup will come during the Second Half of the season.

• LAST SEASON: The Trail Blazers and Hawks split the season series in 2019-20, 1-1. Portland has won three consecutive home games against Atlanta.

• Damian Lillard scored 30 points (8-17 FG, 3-9 3-PT, 11-12 FT) to go with seven rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block against Atlanta on Nov. 10, 2019. Lillard has scored at least 30 points in two straight games opposite the Hawks.

• In two games against the Hawks last season, CJ McCollum averaged 29.0 points (51.0% FG, 26.7% 3-PT, 57.1% FG), 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.0 steals.

• Trae Young averaged 30.0 points (33.3% FG, 19.0% 3-PT, 88.9% FT), 6.0 rebounds and 12.5 assists in two games against Portland last season. His 29.0 career scoring average against the Trail Blazers is his third highest against any team.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: SERIES TIED, 58-58
PORTLAND HOME: Trail Blazers lead, 37-21
ATLANTA HOME: Hawks lead, 37-21

​

 

[Darkwebs]

It's hard not to feel depressed after tonight. A day ago, we were riding high on a 4-game win streak after 2 thrilling comeback wins. But 24 hours later, not only did Indiana break our win streak, they broke Nurk as well. That's quite the swing in emotion.

Well, the Blazers don't have much time to mope and feel sorry for themselves, there's a game right around the corner.

Luckily, the Hawks aren't one of the elite teams of the NBA and they are a bit banged up. Not to mention the Blazers luck out again, as Atlanta will be yet another opponent who is coming into Portland on the second night of back-to-back. Hopefully, this can lead to the Blazers winning comfortably (hey, stop laughing).

Without Nurk, Harry Giles will get a chance to show off his talent. I'm very curious to see what he can produce as part of a regular rotation. He won't be playing against end-of-the-bench scrubs now.

We may have lost the first game of the homestand, but we got 6 more games.
Time to make some hay. No excuses!

 

[Scalma]

It’s not gonna happen but I think Giles would be a good fit with the starters. He’s every bit a passer as Nurk so you can run the same stuff, and is more agile defensively than Kanter.

 

[B-Roy]

It’s not gonna happen but I think Giles would be a good fit with the starters. He’s every bit a passer as Nurk so you can run the same stuff, and is more agile defensively than Kanter.

I’d still start Kanter because it fundamentally breaks up to the Kanter/Melo minutes. That is more important in my eyes.

 

[wizenheimer]

I’d still start Kanter because it fundamentally breaks up to the Kanter/Melo minutes. That is more important in my eyes.

also, Dame and Kanter developed a real nice PnR action last year before kanter started getting injured

 

[AldoTrapani]

I can’t wait for the rebuild

 

[blazerkor]

I think we can win this game. I don't see why not. Nurk is very important to the team but this will force Stotts to make some changes to his rotation and hopefully get him to change up some of his schemes on both ends. I think Dame will assert himself in a different way than we saw him try to tonight. That will open up a lot for CJ, it will also make Kanter really deadly at the hoop where he actually finishes better than Nurk. The thing about our defense is, I don't know if it really will be much worse because it's been so fucking awful. So I just think that we can outscore the Hawks in a shootout but I guess we'll see.

 

[SIeepwalker]

and hopefully get him to change up some of his schemes on both ends.

lmao

 

[Serbian]

Im very excited to play without nurkic. I was devastated when we lost him 2 years ago but i have seen enough from nurkic. He doesn’t put time in gym cane out of shape and stunk up joint in bubble. Dame said Giles is first in every day practicing on his own before anyone arrives, that kid deserves chance. And Enes has been scoring more pts more Rebounds in less minutes. We went to WCF finals with enes and enes will put in the work . You see stotts is such a loyalist that if nurkic became worst player in nba stotts would still start him and give him more minutes no matter what.

Zach and nurkic both did not develop. Both are injury prone and both need to be traded.

 

[TBpup]

..500 and under teams... we are okay against them.

 

[Serbian]

..500 and under teams... we are okay against them.

Look there are no weak teams anymore. The rockets yesterday without Wall and gordon beat the spurs!! The spurs are always tough and beat lakers and almost beat lakers twice without Aldridge. The NBA this season might be most competitive in history. Both west and east gotten much stronger. There no gimicks. I believe there will be only total of 4 teams in nba that will be level weaker than rest of 28 teams. You supposed to beat the weaker teams anyhow

 

[TBpup]

Look there are no weak teams anymore. The rockets yesterday without Wall and gordon beat the spurs!! The spurs are always tough and beat lakers and almost beat lakers twice without Aldridge. The NBA this season might be most competitive in history. Both west and east gotten much stronger. There no gimicks. I believe there will be only total of 4 teams in nba that will be level weaker than rest of 28 teams. You supposed to beat the weaker teams anyhow

No weak teams?
Only 4 weaker teams than the rest of the 28?
Okay, we will agree to disagree.

There may be more 'upsets' due to this crazy season, no fans, lack of passion playing in empty gyms, but there are a lot of weak, crappy, not close to contender teams out there. Using the .500 Spurs who haven't done anything in a few years now, and manage to squeak out a win here and there doesn't mean a lot IMO. They aren't close to being a contender. Same with the Rockets. Just because a better team loses focus and gets beat once in a while, doesn't mean the team that beat them is any great shakes.

 

[kjironman1]

Ok so some people are going to get their wish. Giles will play and in the indirect issue Kanter will start so we won't be seeing both Kanter and Melo together as much.
Now you will see Melo with Giles unless Stotts decides to go with Giles as a starter and keep Kanter and Melo together??? He has done some stupid shit like this before dammit! Don't call me an idiot yet?

 

[Serbian]

No weak teams?
Only 4 weaker teams than the rest of the 28?
Okay, we will agree to disagree.

There may be more 'upsets' due to this crazy season, no fans, lack of passion playing in empty gyms, but there are a lot of weak, crappy, not close to contender teams out there. Using the .500 Spurs who haven't done anything in a few years now, and manage to squeak out a win here and there doesn't mean a lot IMO. They aren't close to being a contender. Same with the Rockets. Just because a better team loses focus and gets beat once in a while, doesn't mean the team that beat them is any great shakes.

Again your missing the point. There might be legit 4 teams total In nba that are contenders and 4 teams that will suck. Which means the other 24 teams will be evenly matched where each team can beat a legit contender as well. Just watch . I predict 3rd seed will have no more than 5 games advantage to a team ranked 9th or 10th in both conferences. The west has always been loaded and a powerhouse but the east would have 3 good teams and major major drop off. Thats no longer the case, 10 teams in the east will be very close to each other from rank 4th through 12 I predict.

 

[Scalma]

Stotts mentioned the possibility of shuffling kanter and Giles in the starting lineup based on matchups. This will be the first test of whether or not that was just lip service as Giles is a better matchup against Capela than Kanter.

 

[wizenheimer]

by the way, I like any poll where 'Duh' is the first choice. I don't need to see the other options

 

[stampedehero]

Ok so some people are going to get their wish. Giles will play and in the indirect issue Kanter will start so we won't be seeing both Kanter and Melo together as much.
Now you will see Melo with Giles unless Stotts decides to go with Giles as a starter and keep Kanter and Melo together??? He has done some stupid shit like this before dammit! Don't call me an idiot yet?

I would call you a logical thinker.

 

[stampedehero]

2020-21 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
ATLANTA HAWKS
5 - 5
(3-2 Road)
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
7 - 5
(3-3 Home)

______________________________
---------PROBABLE STARTERS---------

PG

TRAE YOUNG VS DAMIAN LILLARD

SG

CAM REDDISH VS C.J. McCOLLUM

SF

DE'ANDRE HUNTER VS DERRICK JONES Jr.

PF

JOHN COLLINS VS ROBERT COVINGTON

C

CLINT CAPELA VS ENES KANTER

-----------------------------------------------------------------
------- JERSEYS -------

--

--------------------------------------------------------------


WHEN: 7:00 PM (PST), SATURDAY, 1/16/2021

WHERE: Moda Center, Portland, OR

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

-----------------------------------------------------------------



--------------BENCH--------------

-------- ATLANTA HAWKS --------

GOODWIN , RONDO , MAYS

SNELL , HUERTER , HILL

FERNANDO , OKONGWU , KNIGHT


---- PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS ----

SIMONS , TRENT Jr. , BLEVINS

ELLEBY , HOOD , LITTLE

ANTHONY , GILES



INJURIES
HAWKS
Onyeka Okongwu (inflammation, sesamoid bone, left foot): PROBABLE
Clint Capela (right hand soreness): QUESTIONABLE
Rajon Rondo (right knee injury maintenance): QUESTIONABLE
Danilo Gallinari (right ankle sprain): OUT
Kris Dunn (right ankle surgery): OUT
Bogdan Bogdanovic (avulsion fracture, right knee): OUT
TRAIL BLAZERS
Jusuf Nurkic (broken right wrist): OUT
Keljin Blevins (personal reasons): QUESTIONABLE
Zach Collins (left ankle stress fracture): OUT



HEAD COACHES

- VS –

LLOYD PIERCE --- TERRY STOTTS



OFFICIAL HAWKS' GAME NOTES
OFFICIAL BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

​

High School players are not allowed to play.

 

[stampedehero]

If we lose this one, the fire Stotts thread will be hot.

 

[kjironman1]

If we lose this one, the fire Stotts thread will be hot.

Built in excuse now though. I hate it but it's true.

 

[Cugel]

Better hope capela don't play. I see this as a loss, unfortunately. Portland has terrible perimeter defense and Young tends to kill us.

Let's face it this is a 7 man roster right now. 7 that have actual nba experience and skill. Nobody can convince me otherwise.

And fucking point guard on the bench. This was Neil's doing. I recall him appearing quite defensive at the idea of getting a REAL point for the second unit. Simon's game has not improved at all since his rookie year. I like the guy I really do but he isn't a good fit at point. He is another iso heavy guy. I see the nurkic injury as the end of playoff hopes.

As soon as dame or cj sit the shit hits the fan. god forbid they miss games.

 

[wizenheimer]

As soon as dame or cj sit the shit hits the fan. god forbid they miss games.

we've seen this movie before. As the injuries mount, Dame and CJ play more minutes, especially Dame. That's the only way Stotts knows how to avoid piling up losses....grinding Dame into the floor

and by the time the playoffs roll around, Dame usually has some nagging, fatigue-type injuries. Then other teams start playing as physical as they are allowed against Dame. It's a cycle just about guaranteed to end with a quick exit from the playoffs

 

[tester551]

and by the time the playoffs roll around, Dame usually has some nagging, fatigue-type injuries. Then other teams start playing as physical as they are allowed against Dame. It's a cycle just about guaranteed to end with a quick exit from the playoffs

IF they even make the playoffs...

For the record, I think they'll sneak in with the 7/8th seed. However, I still see this team having a higher probability of missing the playoffs than getting the 4th (or better) seed.

 

[THE HCP]

Im very excited to play without nurkic. I was devastated when we lost him 2 years ago but i have seen enough from nurkic. He doesn’t put time in gym cane out of shape and stunk up joint in bubble. .

I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but didn't Nurk play well in the bubble?.......... "stunk up joint in bubble"?

 

[Serbian]

I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but didn't Nurk play well in the bubble?.......... "stunk up joint in bubble"?

Biggest lie ever. He had 2 good games. Did you see how many bunnies nurk missed in bubble?? Insane amount. Now new season who has the worst finishing rate around rim of all starting centers in nba!? Nurkic!!! . Guess who has hightest in nba? Its Kanter!

 

[THE HCP]

Biggest lie ever. He had 2 good games. Did you see how many bunnies nurk missed in bubble?? Insane amount. Now new season who has the worst finishing rate around rim of all starting centers in nba!? Nurkic!!! . Guess who has hightest in nba? Its Kanter!

So you seem to be very set in your mind that we are better WITHOUT Nurk? We will see bro.

 

[THE HCP]

Biggest lie ever. He had 2 good games. Did you see how many bunnies nurk missed in bubble?? Insane amount. Now new season who has the worst finishing rate around rim of all starting centers in nba!? Nurkic!!! . Guess who has hightest in nba? Its Kanter!

I was actually very pleased with what we got out of Nurk in the Bubble......considering his god damn leg snapped and fell off the season before.

 

[Pinwheel1]

We need Nurk for sure. But he has not looked good since his injury. Not enough time in the gym/weight room. A broken wrist will not help that. Next year is his contract year. I bet he comes back hungry and in better shape.

Having said that we can not depend on him to ever be healthy. We need another option.

 

[blazerkor]

Built in excuse now though. I hate it but it's true.

Is it though? Isn't this a lot like the team that he rode to his best playoff run? If we don't get out of the first round, Olshey should be fired, Stotts should be fired and they should do a massive rebuild around Dame... not worrying about his timeline but getting younger guys that are ready to win now and if they stick around, after Dame.

 

[THE HCP]

The Kanter signing looks fantastic now!