Game Thread GAME# 49: BLAZERS @ LAKERS - JANUARY 31, 2020 - FRIDAY, 7:30 PM, ESPN & NBCSNW

[wizenheimer]

 

[PCmor7]

Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce giving Dame major props. It's like this game seemed to make people realize how good he is more than the goodbye shot over Paul George last year.

Jalen: "People keep saying Anthony Davis is one of the top five players in the league. I keep thinking, 'When did he pass Damian Lillard.'"

Heard a couple commentators say Dame is the true heir to Kobe's "Mamba Mentality," and it's showing now.

 

[blazerfan11]

Really liking his progression. he has a confidence and hustle the team needs. Seems like Dame, CJ and melo all trust him too.

When he was defended on the 3-point line he went to the free-throw line area and hit shots instead of making it too complicated.

 

[42N8Bounce]

I think Lillards Robin is Hassan Whiteside...

It took a bit of time, but I think those two are starting to develop some nice chemistry. Whiteside is looking for Dame's passes, and Dame is getting him the ball in good positions to score.

Take a look at his nice solid up-slope in his scoring average. I attribute that to him getting more and more comfortable playing with Dame.




30 points tonight against the Lakers. We knew Whiteside could rebound and block shots. Being a solid scoring threat is icing on the cake.

 

[The Professional Fan]

Ariza has always been a great glue guy on good teams. Who cares about what he does playing on teams like the Kings. He’s made for the role he’s filling now.

So when people like Chad Doing and others even on this message board proclaim that the Ariza trade was STRICTLY and ONLY due to cost cutting what do we feel or say about that? This is an honest question. I'm not trying to bait anyone. It's an interesting question. As shitty as the Bazemore signing was, could be as great as the Ariza trade is. Basically every move of Olshey is this. Make a move, migh work, oh shit it didn't work, fix it. Make a move, oh it worked, pay them. I know I couldn't do better than him if I'm being honest. It's an interesting ride

 

[PCmor7]

All of you conspiracy theorists in here that thinks the league dictates who wins the games should be feeling like fools. We had 22 fouls called against us and they had 21 fouls called against them. That hardly looks like a rigged game.

Thanks for contributing to the thread, Mr. Silver.

 

[Scalma]

So when people like Chad Doing and others even on this message board proclaim that the Ariza trade was STRICTLY and ONLY due to cost cutting what do we feel or say about that?

You point and laugh at them.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce giving Dame major props. It's like this game seemed to make people realize how good he is more than the goodbye shot over Paul George last year.

Jalen: "People keep saying Anthony Davis is one of the top five players in the league. I keep thinking, 'When did he pass Damian Lillard.'"

Heard a couple commentators say Dame is the true heir to Kobe's "Mamba Mentality," and it's showing now.

Shit..high praise...
He deserves every word.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Anyone know why Luka didn't play tonight for the Mavs?

I didn’t read why but I see the headline that he’s out 6 games

 

[OneSport3]

Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce giving Dame major props. It's like this game seemed to make people realize how good he is more than the goodbye shot over Paul George last year.

Jalen: "People keep saying Anthony Davis is one of the top five players in the league. I keep thinking, 'When did he pass Damian Lillard.'"

Heard a couple commentators say Dame is the true heir to Kobe's "Mamba Mentality," and it's showing now.

Jalen is right. When Davis is on the floor and Lebron is not, the Lakers have a negative +/-. When LeBron is on the floor and Davis is not, the Lakers actually a positive +/-.

While Davis is extremely talented, he doesn’t have the leadership or mentality to lead a team.

 

[PCmor7]

So when people like Chad Doing and others even on this message board proclaim that the Ariza trade was STRICTLY and ONLY due to cost cutting what do we feel or say about that? This is an honest question. I'm not trying to bait anyone. It's an interesting question. As shitty as the Bazemore signing was, could be as great as the Ariza trade is. Basically every move of Olshey is this. Make a move, migh work, oh shit it didn't work, fix it. Make a move, oh it worked, pay them. I know I couldn't do better than him if I'm being honest. It's an interesting ride

Baze was a trade, not a signing, and, when it was done, it made sense, because, at the time, we had Rodney playing the starting 3, and we had Zach, so we had two 7-footers inside and a 6-8 wing. We needed a backup guard, and Baze in a lot of ways seemed a better fit than the guy traded for him, Evan Turner.

When the injuries happened, we got really small, and it turned out Bazemore just wasn't the fit it appeared he might be when he was acquired. Getting Ariza and a lottery ticket like Gabriel actually was an amazing return, in hindsight. Of course, I still am holding my breath that Ariza's play holds up at 34.

 

[wizenheimer]

I'm not sure I've seen any cheat code as good as the one Dame is using right now

and here's a really relevant question: will Whiteside's performance tonight make it more likely or less likely he's traded

personally, I've never though there was much chance he'd be traded; I don't think Portland got him with the thought of "trade asset"

 

[Darkwebs]

Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce giving Dame major props. It's like this game seemed to make people realize how good he is more than the goodbye shot over Paul George last year.

Jalen: "People keep saying Anthony Davis is one of the top five players in the league. I keep thinking, 'When did he pass Damian Lillard.'"

Heard a couple commentators say Dame is the true heir to Kobe's "Mamba Mentality," and it's showing now.

Oh yes! Give me more....

Spoiler: NSFW

 

[PCmor7]

I didn’t read why but I see the headline that he’s out 6 games

Injured again. Same thing he hurt earlier. I think it was an ankle.

 

[oldmangrouch]

So when people like Chad Doing and others even on this message board proclaim that the Ariza trade was STRICTLY and ONLY due to cost cutting what do we feel or say about that? This is an honest question. I'm not trying to bait anyone. It's an interesting question. As shitty as the Bazemore signing was, could be as great as the Ariza trade is. Basically every move of Olshey is this. Make a move, migh work, oh shit it didn't work, fix it. Make a move, oh it worked, pay them. I know I couldn't do better than him if I'm being honest. It's an interesting ride

It really comes down to how much tread he has left on the tires.

 

[BrianFromWA]

If you take off the 3s, only Oscar Robertson has done it with him.

 

[e_blazer]

That’s quite a bit to pay for shop rags.

 

[blazerkor]

Anyone know why Luka didn't play tonight for the Mavs?

He twisted his ankle in practice and will be out at least a six games.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...uka-doncic-right-ankle-sprain-least-six-games

 

[blazerfan11]

Jalen Rose and Paul Pierce giving Dame major props. It's like this game seemed to make people realize how good he is more than the goodbye shot over Paul George last year.

Jalen: "People keep saying Anthony Davis is one of the top five players in the league. I keep thinking, 'When did he pass Damian Lillard.'"

Heard a couple commentators say Dame is the true heir to Kobe's "Mamba Mentality," and it's showing now.

I'm shocked how little Anthony Davis seemed to play for such a big guy. He was like Meyers Leonard plus.

So when people like Chad Doing and others even on this message board proclaim that the Ariza trade was STRICTLY and ONLY due to cost cutting what do we feel or say about that? This is an honest question. I'm not trying to bait anyone. It's an interesting question. As shitty as the Bazemore signing was, could be as great as the Ariza trade is. Basically every move of Olshey is this. Make a move, migh work, oh shit it didn't work, fix it. Make a move, oh it worked, pay them. I know I couldn't do better than him if I'm being honest. It's an interesting ride

Turned Meyers and Harkless into Whiteside, a player we know he wanted. Ariza is better than I expected. I expected Bazemore to be as bad, but he was worse.
If Collins is playing PF and Whiteside at center and they funnel guys into Whiteside with their length, that would be tough to score on. Collins is pretty good off the ball too, he could come in and help if Whiteside is holding up his man.

 

[CupWizier]

What an amazing game and yet another superhuman performance by Lillard and with a huge national audience

WOW

 

[julius]

I just watched the ESPN.com highlights of the game.

Zero plays involving the Blazers on offense. You'd think the Lakers won going away...

 

[julius]

I just watched the ESPN.com highlights of the game.

Zero plays involving the Blazers on offense. You'd think the Lakers won going away...

 

[PCmor7]

Jalen is right. When Davis is on the floor and Lebron is not, the Lakers have a negative +/-. When LeBron is on the floor and Davis is not, the Lakers actually a positive +/-.

While Davis is extremely talented, he doesn’t have the leadership or mentality to lead a team.

He was dominating the Blazers for 12 minutes tonight. Then he kind of disappeared.

I agree with you. He's as talented as just about anyone in the NBA. But I posted it last year when there was all the talk of him joining the Lakers ... I can easily think of more than five guys who are better than him or at least you can make an argument are, and I don't even think that includes Dame. But he's one of those guys because of his physical skills, when he's on a roll, you just ooh and aah at him. Do you get that on a consistent basis? I'm not sure.

 

[blazerfan11]

Baze was a trade, not a signing, and, when it was done, it made sense, because, at the time, we had Rodney playing the starting 3, and we had Zach, so we had two 7-footers inside and a 6-8 wing. We needed a backup guard, and Baze in a lot of ways seemed a better fit than the guy traded for him, Evan Turner.

When the injuries happened, we got really small, and it turned out Bazemore just wasn't the fit it appeared he might be when he was acquired. Getting Ariza and a lottery ticket like Gabriel actually was an amazing return, in hindsight. Of course, I still am holding my breath that Ariza's play holds up at 34.

If you look at Bazemore's numbers before Portland he was apt to be a crappy 2-point shooter and not pass the ball well. Since Turner helped run the 2nd unit, I think it was a minor loss in the end. It seemed just a trade to make a trade to me.
But getting Ariza wasn't any trade to make a trade.

 

[TBpup]

I just watched the ESPN.com highlights of the game.

Zero plays involving the Blazers on offense. You'd think the Lakers won going away...

Not surprised....they did it for so long, I haven't watched ESPN in years. So big market oriented.

 

[SheedSoNasty]

Fully expected us to lose tonight while having the refs screw us over repeatedly. Have I mentioned that I love being wrong?

Dame was doing Dame things out there, we got Hassan’s best, good defense from Gabriel and Ariza and we beat LA in their building on Kobe’s night. Surreal.

 

[wizenheimer]

I'm shocked how little Anthony Davis seemed to play for such a big guy. He was like Meyers Leonard plus.

WTF???

AD had 37pts, 15reb, 6ast, & 5 blks....if that's little, Wilt was the last real big

 

[oldmangrouch]

I just watched the ESPN.com highlights of the game.

Zero plays involving the Blazers on offense. You'd think the Lakers won going away...

Not at all surprised to hear that.

 

[PHXBlazer1]

What an amazing game and yet another superhuman performance by Lillard and with a huge national audience

WOW

Good point. This had to be one of the most watched games of the season..and Dame killed it

 

[blazerkor]

Thanks for contributing to the thread, Mr. Silver.

Nah, I just always think when people say the league rigs games it's crazy and tonight kinda proved it.