Game Thread GAME# 35: BLAZERS @ JAZZ - DECEMBER 31, 2015 - THURSDAY, 6:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

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There goes the playoffs!
 
I only caught the fourth quarter after missing the last couple of games. I'll say this for the Blazers: They played with high energy. Leonard is a very tall guy trying to play forward, and fitting right in because of his energy. I think he'd be better at center, but of all the very tall players I've ever seen, few would have maintained the high energy for a full game that he does. Most would tire from trying to play forward.

The trouble with Stotts' system is that the rest of the league gets up for us and plays with the same energy against us.
 
You da man, DWD!

That's just crazy!

That should be dunk of the night AND assist of the night.
 
Well the bench guys made a couple buckets...score looks more respectable...fugly effort by the good guys tonight

In the 4th we had energy. Were the first 3 quarters different?
 
Harkless 0-5 from three.

Need to throw him into the deep end more often, let him learn to swim.
 
In the 4th we had energy. Were the first 3 quarters different?

Maybe the answer to my question is:

We are a great 4th-quarter team in blowouts we lose.
 
Okay, I missed most of the game, but this is a short thread, so I'm going to read it, side-by-side with the boxscore play-by-play. The popcorn's on the kettle, the beer's outside cooling in the snow with the mole trying to chew through it, and this great game is about to start! I am psyched up!
 
Blazers got blown out by a team missing 4 of 5 projected starters to begin the year. That's about as ugly as it gets. Not much more to say.
 
Blazers got blown out by a team missing 4 of 5 projected starters to begin the year. That's about as ugly as it gets. Not much more to say.
We're missing 5 out of our 5 starters from last year.
 
Maybe the Blazers can sign Ryan Anderson next offseason, then Steven Adams the year after that

Lillard
CJ/Crabbe
Crabbe/Aminu/Harkless
Anderson/Davis
Adams/Plumlee
 
I remember a couple of posters arguing for that, and several more lukewarm ones afraid to disagree.
Meyers problem is he doesn't seem to be able to (or confident enough to) shoot unless he has a wide open set shot, and you only get so many of those a game.
 
Meyers problem is he doesn't seem to be able to (or confident enough to) shoot unless he has a wide open set shot, and you only get so many of those a game.

I think it's because Meyers has a shot release that is both low and slow. This makes it difficult for him to get his shot off comfortably in traffic.
 
I have always been critical of Leonard as a bumpkin whose contact lens irritation prevents his radar from knowing who is near him, and who in his early years had no physical endurance or mental concentration.

But now I'll say something in his favor. The endurance and concentration problems have been conquered. The contact lens problem has been reduced.

As for shooting. I was the first poster to note that he's a good shooter. I know, you'll deny it, but I remember saying it early in his rookie year, and soon more posters started saying it. But now, everyone's down on his shooting. I differ.

The definition of a good shooter differs for a 7-footer (and Leonard's really about 7-2) than the definition for a guard. The great shooting centers I've seen (e.g. Durant, McAdoo and maybe only a couple more) made the shots whenever they wanted, like a great-shooting guard. But all other centers known for their shooting (e.g. Laimbeer, Meyers Leonard) could only make about 3 per game, shooting slowly with no opponent within 8 feet, in situations carefully choreographed by their coaches. It was the threat, not the actuality, of their outside shots which intimidated the opponents.

You guys expect Leonard to shoot 8 out of 15 long shots like Durant or McAdoo, with a quick release and a man on his arms, and I just want him to make about 3 out of 3 slow thoughtful shots to scramble the opponents. (Now that I think of it, a lot of McAdoo and Bird's shots were slow hook shots with a long windup of 2 seconds...why haven't our coaches taught that to Leonard?) It's on Stotts to design a conservative reliable play and run it just a few times per game. Leonard is no Durant, and you can count on your fingers the players his height in history who made shots in volume from outside, as he is unwisely expected to do.
 
There's no Leonard thread right now, where that post would get more visibility, so I probably wrote that for nothing here in our humble little game thread.
 

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