Game Thread GAME# 43: BLAZERS @ 76ERS - JANUARY 16, 2016 - SATURDAY, 4:30 PM (PST), CSNNW

[Darkwebs]

2015-16 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
18 - 24
(8-15 Road)
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
4 - 37
(2-16 Home)





_____________________________
---------PROBABLE STARTERS---------

PG

DAMIAN LILLARD VS ISH SMITH

SG

C.J. McCOLLUM VS HOLLIS THOMPSON

SF

AL-FAROUQ AMINU VS JaKARR SAMSPON

PF

NOAH VONLEH VS NERLENS NOEL

C

MASON PLUMLEE VS JAHLIL OKAFOR


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WHEN: 4:30 PM, SATURDAY, 1/16/2016

WHERE: WELLS FARGO CENTER, PHILADELPHIA, PA

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

​

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--------------BENCH--------------
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

FRAZIER , HENDERSON , CRABBE , HARKLESS

CONNAUGHTON , LEONARD , DAVIS , KAMAN

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

CANAAN , McCONNELL , MARSHALL ,

COVINGTON , HOLMES , LANDRY , BRAND


INJURIES
TRAIL BLAZERS
Maurice Harkless (right knee patellar tendonitis): PROBABLE
76ERS
Jerami Grant (left calf strain): DOUBTFUL.
Nik Stauskas (left shoulder contusion): DOUBTFUL.
Joel Embiid (right foot injury): OUT.



HEAD COACHES

- VS –

TERRY STOTTS --- BRETT BROWN



76ERS' OFFICIAL GAME NOTES
BLAZERS' OFFICIAL GAME NOTES ​

• Saturday marks the first of two matchups between the Trail Blazers and 76ers in 2015-16.

• Portland won both of its games against Philadelphia last season, marking the team’s first season sweep over the 76ers since 2001-02.

• The Trail Blazers are 6-2 in their past eight games against the 76ers.

• Portland has won two consecutive road games against Philadelphia. The Trail Blazers last won three consecutive games at the 76ers from 1999-2000 to 2001-02.

• Portland has won the first game of this season series in each of the past four years.

• In his most recent game against the 76ers on Dec. 26 of last season, Damian Lillard scored 28 points (9-17 FG, 3-8 3-PT) and dished out nine assists. Both represent career-highs in six career games against Philadelphia.

• Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless was drafted 15th overall by Philadelphia in the 2012 NBA Draft.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: 76ers lead, 55-50
IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 33-21
AT THE 76ERS: 76ers lead, 34-17

 

[PDXFonz]

Hope to win this one. I'm on board for winning everything we can after being at that Thunder game and seeing that this team has some magic in them. Gonna suck if we drop some that we should be winning, but we've got this.

 

[Blazer4ever]

This 6ers team is terrible but I'm hoping the Blazers don't sleep on this one. The 2nd game of a back-to-back, against a team with little talent but a lot of ambition to get some wins, I hope we take this easily and move on to the next game, don't lay an egg here

 

[kjironman1]

Well i get a day off to be able to write something about a game and i draw the Sixers? Okay it could be worse i guess...No not really. The Sixers are a mess but they have at least won a couple games as of late. They signed Elton Brand and picked up Ish Smith. Seems to have started to make some games respectable. Smith can hit some 3's and the Blazers will have to cover the arc. Philly as a whole shoots a lot of 3's but if you pressure them they really don't hit a high percentage. They don't cover real well in transition and they don't play good pick-n-roll defense. I guess there is not much to say that is good about a team that sits in the bottom third of the league in every category. Free throws, Points allowed, Turnovers you name it they are not doing well.

Lets change our focus to the Blazers and how about we start with Dame! Last night Lillard added another 33 points and 10 assists to his year. He seems to have got back into game shape and he is doing his thing. This is just another testament to the real genius of what the Spurs do. They play the game as a team and keep their guys rested. Mandatory days off and allocated rest. We have watched it over and over again in the last few seasons as the Blazers simply ran out of gas down the stretch. Dame seems to be playing at a high level and is hitting shots. Lets see how that translates into a B2B tonight?

Another player that seems to be feeling the effect of the schedule is Mason Plumlee. While he is still playing hard his numbers are dropping. Might be time to give him a little rest when the opportunity comes. We are seeing him start to play a bit out of control when he is in there. The thing about Plums is he play so hard all the time that you just can't knock the guy. I watched last night Stotts went back to the Plumlee/Leonard combination he was using regular at the start of the season. It is working well because Meyers is back to making shots and going after boards. Shoulder injuries are weird. They linger in the back of your brain for a long time. You wonder every time you reach above your head if it's going to hurt. Same thing with a Collar Bone (Clavicle). Meyers numbers have steadily increased over the last 3 weeks and he is pretty much back to where he was in November. Meyers has now played a little over 800 minutes at the PF position. If you remember his first year he went 1200 mins at center and just never got going really. The next 2 years he combined for about 1200 mins at center behind Rolo. They pretty much started his whole career over and switched him up. I looked at some numbers and he is absolutely without a doubt the best mid range shooter on the team and if you look at the last month he has been deadly from 3 point. Not sure where the Meyers experiment is going but my bet is if he continues for the next 3 months like this he will stay a Blazer.

Aminu is doing his work on defense and offense. He is playing solid and i expect him to be a key factor tonight. Philly will try to cover Dame and CJ but will forget all about Aminu. If he gets his shot going he could have his best game of the season. I really like the look when they play Crabbe and Al-Farouq together. This is the Blazers crunch time defense and it works well.

I have not been impressed with Vonleh but that is to be expected. I hope they continue to play him in the role he is in as he does seem to be learning some things. Got to give him all the same "He is young" and "He has potential" stuff we gave Meyers.

Tonight i will go with CJ as my pick. The lack of an interior defender and the ability CJ has to get a shot spells trouble for the Sixers. Look for 30 from CJ tonight unless the Blazers get a lead and rest players. The other thing that plagues the Blazers is off shooting nights on B2B's. Cj can get to the rim.
Go Blazers!
Kjironman is a fan!!!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Game time!

 

[KingSpeed]

Whoa. One of the Sixers announcers is Alaa Abdelnaby.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

Wow. Even their TV crew is tanking.

 

[riverman]

Go Blazers! Need to blow these guys out and see a Montero, Alexander 4th qtr tonight!

 

[Strenuus]

GREAT START!

9-2...

Philly.

 

[Strenuus]

Make that 11-2

 

[MightyMouseOps1]

Very poor start

 

[KingSpeed]

We'll win by 20+

 

[PDXFonz]

Put Vonleh on Okafor!!!

 

[RipCityDSCPL]

Games barely started and we are already losing by 9!?

 

[Strenuus]

We'll win by 20+

We should.

 

[KingSpeed]

Games barely started and we are already losing by 9!?

No worries. Philly is awful. Worse than Brooklyn.

 

[PDXFonz]

Philly has put a nice team together. They might not have needed to tank as hard as they did...Maybe now they will have too much young talent, too many guys who need the ball.

Sometimes you don't want to be greedy. Especially when you have such a solid group of young talent.

 

[chzbrgr]

mason gettin

 

[Strenuus]

Are we really down 15-4? lol.

 

[KingSpeed]

We should.

Sixers only lose by 12 ppg this year. A 20 point Blazer win would be impressive.

 

[Strenuus]

Sixers only lose by 12 ppg this year. A 20 point Blazer win would be impressive.

it should be nothing short of impressive.

This start is anything but, though.

 

[PDXFonz]

It's the 76'ers. I bet we score 40+ in the 3rd or 4th quarter tonight. They might get up by 20 and lose by 30.

 

[BlazerBeav]

We have had some downright awful first 6-8 minute stretches in the last 2 weeks.

 

[riverman]

Well this is an embarrassing start

 

[RipCityDSCPL]

No worries. Philly is awful. Worse than Brooklyn.

I was being sarcastic. Saying what the haters are thinking.

#Notworried

 

[KingSpeed]

Vonleh is torching the Sixers' defense

 

[MightyMouseOps1]

On a positive note Noah hitting some jumpers

 

[PDXFonz]

Vonleh showing what I've been saying. His shot is dropping tonight!

 

[chzbrgr]

VONLEH 2for2! alright!

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Has Vonleh hit two jump shots in a row any other time this season"