Game Thread GAME# 31: BLAZERS @ PELICANS - DECEMBER 23, 2015 - WEDNESDAY, 5:00 PM (PST), KGW

[jlprk]

To pass the time, the N.O. commentators are talking about tonight's other games, and this week's Pelican games. They say that Will Barton had 23 points in the 1st half (did I hear that right) but was shut down when Jrue Holliday got serious on him.

Makes me wonder which of our lousy subs will break out with other teams as soon as we let them

 

[SlyPokerDog]

7 quick 3pt shots and we're right back in it!

Oops...

Make that 8 quick 3pt shots.

Go Blazers!

 

[DaLincolnJones]

pretty shot by Plumdog

 

[jlprk]

To ratchet up the pressure on McCollum and Stotts to give McCollum a lot of minutes at PG, Olshey didn't give Lillard a good sub. So now we pay.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

Pat should go pitch and make some cheese

 

[jlprk]

Montero gets in and did he make the shot? Connie in with Frazier, Vonleh, and Leonard.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Oi fruddle duds.

 

[jlprk]

Leonard makes one and brings us up to only 25 down with 4 minutes left.

 

[DaLincolnJones]

base bal will be verry verry good to me...says Pat

 

[jlprk]

Leonard backs in the big defender and turns around and puts in the 10-footer! He's been told to practice that move in garbage time.

 

[DUB]

MyLe is pretty good at posting up at the free throw line.

I wonder what he'd be like on the low post?

Stotts seems determined to not let us find out.

 

[jlprk]

Back in 1971, Mel Counts had played for a different team every year. He was 7-0, probably 6-10 by today's standards, and was a purely garbage time player. When the coach put him in, the crowd would always start laughing. This was the official announcement that we were in garbage time.

Leonard suddenly making all his shots reminds me of Counts, a tall white guy.

 

[RipCityDSCPL]

Shit damnit!!

Tourettes acting up?

 

[jlprk]

Montero makes 2 FTs then Connie puts in an 18-footer after a slow fake. Not bad.

 

[oldfisherman]

To pass the time, the N.O. commentators are talking about tonight's other games, and this week's Pelican games. They say that Will Barton had 23 points in the 1st half (did I hear that right) but was shut down when Jrue Holliday got serious on him.

Will had a similar game against the Lakers last night.

Will came off of the bench and scored 18 points in the first quarter. He had 22 points three minutes into the second quarter. Then the Lakers decided to guard Will and he finished the game with 25 points.

 

[jlprk]

The Pelicans were trying the whole 2nd half to not run away with the game and embarrass us and make us mad. They paced themselves well. Gracious winners.

 

[jlprk]

I know he's played, but haven't even noticed Harkless on the court. He's extremely inconsistent.

He's good at passing, but his teammates miss, so he goes sullen. He wants to be a playmaker like Batum but without the unnecessary dribbling. So his passes surprise teammates, not preceded by dribbling warning them of the coming pass.

 

[blue9]

I think I'd like to see Montero as our back-up PG. There's some potential there, whereas there really isn't with Frazier.

 

[jlprk]

Will had a similar game against the Lakers last night.

Will came off of the bench and scored 18 points in the first quarter. He had 22 points three minutes into the second quarter. Then the Lakers decided to guard Will and he finished the game with 25 points.

That is probably the game they were talking about. I barely heard them in passing while I was typing.

 

[PCmor7]

Not that it would make a difference, but I'd love to know what our defensive gameplan is when it comes to playing high screen and roll. I was critical last year that our bigs backed off all the time and gave up open 3s, but I chalked it up to playing RoLo and LA, who weren't agile from side to side. I thought getting Plumlee and Davis to go with Leonard would allow us to blitz the ballhandler more, take some of the initiative out of the offense's hands, don't let them dictate things. But we seem to get perpetually caught in no man's land now.

It's mostly Leonard, and for a while I thought it was just that he is so passive at everything that he just has no confidence going out and forcing 6-3 guys to try to drive by a 7-1 guy. But as I watch more and more, it's everyone of our bigs.

IMO, when you are playing undersized bigs, play to their strength ... use their agility. Of course sometimes our small guards are going to get caught with a bad matchup, but I'd rather take my chances with that than just giving up and letting the other team do whatever they want.

 

[jlprk]

Well..gotta go to work! Go good guys! Have great holidays all of you!

It's 7 pm. You work the streets?

 

[oldfisherman]

That is probably the game they were talking about. I barely heard them in passing while I was typing.

Will had 32 points against NO Sunday night. It sounds like he had two hot starts in the last week. So maybe you heard right.

 

[jlprk]

You have me eager to watch Will Barton. I'd like to see one of those 2 taped games.

 

[jlprk]

Riverman left late in the game, saying he had to go to work. Now, I understand that he's probably good-looking, but can you really make money that way?

 

[jlprk]

I came onboard at the end of the first quarter, checked the box score, and Gordon was the big star. I look at the box score after the game, and Gordon was mediocre-to-alright. Now that I think of it, he was invisible in the last 3 quarters.

Per minute, the stars were Anthony, Tyreke, and Jrue. We need names like that.

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailyleaders/_/gameId/400828319

 

[jlprk]

Frazier only played 18 ninutes! How is that possible? Then why did he have to play 48 the previous game?

Right there is a big reason we were so bad tonight. No real playmaker.

McCollum played 35 minutes. 48-18=30. McCollum played 30 minutes as playmaker and 5 minutes at SG. Henderson 21 minutes, Crabbe 31 minutes.

As I posted a couple of times, McCollum wasn't shooting off of passes, which is his main talent. He was busy trying to be a Lillard.

 

[jlprk]

I see that Babbitt got 2 minutes and Dante Cunningham 6. I wonder what Babbitt thinks as he watches Meyers Leonard.

 

[jlprk]

Without Lillard, Ed Davis had to shoot more. He shot 1-9, but had his usual 12 rebounds in 18 minutes. 3 blocks. I like him.

 

[jlprk]

Looking at the box score, I think, our players weren't as bad as it all looked. Not bad. Then I remember, box scores don't tell much when garbage time began in the 1st quarter.

 

[jlprk]

Ed Davis and Plumlee combined for 24 rebounds in 41 minutes of play. We won the game!