It was good to see the Blazers pull out the win on the road to an undefeated team in a playoff esque atmosphere. A lot of times it goes the other way. A gutsy and hard earned win.
There was definitely a few plays he could have used it on earlier to keep or help build momentum, but holding off using it untill the end paid off. I agree Hats off to Terry for his patience there.
Dame played well in the 2nd half and helped us win. His slow starts concern me. The Blazers early woes were as much on him as they were on Tolliver (and Stotts). Dame is still struggling from deed as well.
CJ was being his old self for sure. He was driving into three guys in the lane and I was cussing at him, but he made the shots he normally misses. And he caught me by surprise with his passing. He plays so much better when he plays within the offense.
Yeah, it Hurts, especially with Nurk and Pau already out and a thin front court. They were able to pop his shoulder back in and he says he feels good, but he will likely be out a spate of games. Skal should start in his place, but Stotts will likely go with Hezonja. The Blazers will be forced to play small ball. Hopefully, Stotts doesn't give Tolliver more minutes. Talk abiut adding insult to injury.
It is going to be a tough game. Maybe resting so early in the season will end being a bad thing for the Spurs. Let's hope so eith no injuries on their side. Another 2-0 team. This one with the best coach in the NBA. Don't over stretch, you might dislocate your shoulder.
Go to Whiteside all night. He needs to go hard and make San Antonio foul him. He can hit the free throws and he dominate inside against them. LaMarcus is not going to stop him. He can easily beat LA for rebounds. The hardest part of that assignment is Whiteside coming out on Aldridge. He has problems with laying off and not covering the perimeter and long jump shots.
Don't underestimate Murray and Forbes, but yeah Dame and CJ need to go at them all night. They are far better than their counter parts.
Hood vs DeRozan is a better matchup than you let on. Hood can guard the hell out of DeRozan with his length and help counter him on the other end. Hood hit all of his 3's last night and is shooting 45% from the arc on the season.
Bazemore will be very important tonight, especially on the defensive end. I have a feeling he is going to play well on the other end as well tonight.
Mario will likely start in place of Zach. He feels like a Stauskas type player who will have a few games where he blows up the boxscore, but mostly he will have subpar uneventful nights. Hopefully, tonight will be one of those explosions.
An issue with Mario is he is too frantic and isn't able to maintain control of the ball because of it. If he slowed down just a bit, learned how to maintain control in those tense situations he would be much better.
