Game Thread GAME# 37: BLAZERS @ HEAT - JANUARY 5, 2020 - SUNDAY, 3:00 PM, NBCSNW

[Tince]

Nurk and Zach there quick enough to they can hedge against the pick and still get back but Whiteside can't not quick enough on his feet.

I think this is a very solid take and is not a knock on Whitesides overall abilities. If Whiteside was paired with guards who could stay in front of his defenders, he would be more of an asset. I've never seen a defensive scheme that works long term if the majority of individual defenders can't stay in front of their man 1:1. This years roster is LOADED with players who can't stay in front of their guy.

 

[illmatic99]

Why didn't ant start?

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Lotta good stat lines for our players even though we lost.

 

[DDolla]

Do we still make the playoffs?

 

[JDC]

The best defensive team in the league drops the big deeper than anybody and gives up the 3rd most 3's in the league.

 

[hoopsjock]

Dame had a great OKC series (in the system), which led to Denver giving a lot of attention to him and opening up CJ (in the system), and then we lost to a team with 3 all-stars despite having a lead for the majority of the series.

Every team/coach in every series does things well and not so well. I'm sure OKC fans were wondering why their coach let Dame go off with no ball movement. Denver fans probably wondered why their coach allowed CJ to go 1:1 and beat them. Doesn't mean Malone was a horrible coach or even had a horrible scheme. You could easily make a case OKC and Denver were more talented than us, though I liked our depth against OKC beacuse I think quality depth matters.

Every coach has things they do well and things they don't.

 

[DDolla]

I feel bad for Dame

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Memphis can pull even with us tonight

 

[hoopsjock]

The best defensive team in the league drops the big deeper than anybody and gives up to the 3rd most 3's in the league.

And I guarantee if a player was 7/9 from 3 they'd make some sort of adjustment against that.

 

[Tince]

Why didn't ant start?

Only logically explination I can come up with is that our 2nd unit is already so devoid of offensive talent that he wanted to have a little fire power? Obviously Trent was so bad that Stotts made the change in the 2nd half.

 

[James lamphear]

We was close to our average on offense without CJ. To me Dame got double double along with Whiteside. Dame should be able to do this every night.

 

[James lamphear]

Memphis can pull even with us tonight

Memphis been playing real well lately.

 

[DDolla]

Next stop Toronto.... lol good luck! Might as well rest Dame

 

[James lamphear]

And I guarantee if a player was 7/9 from 3 they'd make some sort of adjustment against that.

You would think.

 

[Tince]

And I guarantee if a player was 7/9 from 3 they'd make some sort of adjustment against that.

My memory could be wrong, but I feel like the games where Whiteside played a bunch of minutes for Miami, Dame got a lot of clean looks from three. Whiteside at 30ft is a massive liability, even worse than Nurk (who isn't great). Would be nice to have a guy like Collins who could show on defenders out at distance.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Memphis been playing real well lately.

Yep. Least talked about team in the NBA.

 

[BigGameDamian]

 

[KSF-ERIC]

You would think.

We DID make an adjustment after Dragic went 7/9 from 3. He didn’t make another three after that. 0/1.

 

[Tince]

I think one of our biggest problems is we practice against ourselves. When the only time you see movement without the ball or hustle after long rebounds is in actual games, how are you supposed to be prepared for it?

I like the story, but I don't think NBA teams practice full go much at all during the season. Granted, it appears some people here have access to practice, so they could say for sure.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

We would’ve won this game if Miami didn’t go crazy from 3 at end of third.

the thing is; the team can't wait until mid third quarter to start playing hard.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

And I guarantee if a player was 7/9 from 3 they'd make some sort of adjustment against that.

Stotts did. 0/1 the rest of the way.

 

[Tince]

Every coach has things they do well and things they don't.

I knew we agreed

 

[kjironman1]

So CJ upper respiratory "TRADE" infection for this game?

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

So CJ upper respiratory "TRADE" infection for this game?

He can't be traded until Jan 30th, so unless he's sick for the next like 3 weeks...

 

[James lamphear]

I watch the 1st two games of the season Zach 95 percent of the time he challenge the shots the around him. When he his protecting the rim he doing good job making it difficult to score by going straight up. Some people didn't think we miss him but we miss him a lot especially on defense.

 

[kjironman1]

He can't be traded until Jan 30th, so unless he's sick for the next like 3 weeks...

Those pesky upper respiratory illnesses you know....

 

[kjironman1]

Blazers simply don't have the defensive players right now to stop anyone. Melo is a complete loss on defense. They absolutely need a defensive Small Forward and a defensive Power Forward that can score. Until they fill those needs they will not be winning many games. On the road you got to play defense.

 

[James lamphear]

I think this is a very solid take and is not a knock on Whitesides overall abilities. If Whiteside was paired with guards who could stay in front of his defenders, he would be more of an asset. I've never seen a defensive scheme that works long term if the majority of individual defenders can't stay in front of their man 1:1. This years roster is LOADED with players who can't stay in front of their guy.

The problem is we never had guard that stay in front of there man. The best one was Curry last year.

 

[hoopsjock]

Stotts did. 0/1 the rest of the way.

Nope.

 

[Tince]

The problem is we never had guard that stay in front of there man. The best one was Curry last year.

I've always wondered why Olshey never wanted to give Stotts a Greg Anthony type backup that he could deploy on nights like tonight when Dame/CJ were getting torched.