Game Thread GAME# 50: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - APRIL 6, 2021 - TUESDAY, 7:00, NBCSNW

[Tince]

LAC-130
PDX-115

Stuff like this will get you banned from the sportsbook in Vegas... nailed it!

 

[AldoTrapani]

I’m back.. I stopped commenting to just make ya realize I don’t mean to gloat..

But we call can agree this ain’t working now right?

 

[GDiama]

I’m back.. I stopped commenting to just make ya realize I don’t mean to gloat..

But we call can agree this ain’t working now right?

But we miss Zach Collins, just wait to see what happens when he is back, he ll eat them alive. And wait for Nurk to return. He will be great for 20 minutes before he goes down again.

 

[AldoTrapani]

But we miss Zach Collins, just wait to see what happens when he is back, he ll eat them alive. And wait for Nurk to return. He will be great for 20 minutes before he goes down again.

Its all good. We just need to do something major. It’s not working. That’s why I say I feel bad for Dame. Granted he’s been terrible latley but he tried his best all year. It’s ironic he fell off right when his best teammate was coming back. I really thought he had the MVP this year. It was his for the taking

 

[BonesJones]

1. Marang has a podcast?!?

2. And you actually listen to it?!?

Nope. He guested on a Mavericks podcast and if was brought to me from someone random.

 

[Serbian]

I think the approach to counter the blitzing of Dame is wrong. You can’t allow a team to completely take your best player out of the game by just blitzing him.

Right now when Dame gets blitzed, he gives it up and just sits out the rest of the play. This is exactly what the opponent wants. What Steph Curry does so well is he finds a way to get back in the play when teams blitz and force him to give up the ball. He’ll pass and cut or relocate to continue the play. He doesn’t just pass the ball and stand at half court like Dame does.

Steph is a natural shooting guard. Lillard needs the ball in his hands he is not a screen chaser and catch and shoot guy thats not his game never was never will

 

[stampedehero]

Trail Blazers vs. Clippers - Box Score - April 6, 2021 - ESPN<<<<<

 

[kjironman1]

I think the approach to counter the blitzing of Dame is wrong. You can’t allow a team to completely take your best player out of the game by just blitzing him.

Right now when Dame gets blitzed, he gives it up and just sits out the rest of the play. This is exactly what the opponent wants. What Steph Curry does so well is he finds a way to get back in the play when teams blitz and force him to give up the ball. He’ll pass and cut or relocate to continue the play. He doesn’t just pass the ball and stand at half court like Dame does.

Stotts actually addressed this well in his post game interview. (I know some around here didn't hear or want to hear) He said when teams go all in to blanket Lillard the rest of the team needs to work harder for him and get him better looks. I think this as well. They need to understand a little better exactly who will make shots for them and that is Lillard.
They had a little of this going at times but i have also seen times the Refs call fouls on the screens they are using to get him open.
The posters here are calling for it. "Get Lillard looks off ball". The reporters asking questions are asking about it. Stotts himself is saying "We need to work harder for him". It's up to the players to get out there and make it happen.
I also think Nurk would have helped a bit. When he distributes from the top Lillard can move better and the team has nobody that sets a screen better than Nurk.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Stotts and his pathetic rotations.
CJ just gave us 5 straight baskets in the first ? Well my little card says it's time to bench him ! Powell is playing amazing in the 3rd ? Time to sit !

 

[SIeepwalker]

I can't stand watching Melo anymore

 

[bobf]

I’m back.. I stopped commenting to just make ya realize I don’t mean to gloat..

But we call can agree this ain’t working now right?

Interesting that you disappeared right when Ca$hconsideratins appeared and neither of you can spell “latley” correctly.

Gloat? You’re right about as rarely as expected for someone who cherry picks small samples of negative outcomes and then draws sweeping conclusions from them.

You say Powell can’t make FT’s which is wrong. You say Kanter is better than Nurk which is wrong. You say “we suck” which is wrong.

We’re good but we’re not in the same level as top tier teams like Jazz, Clippers, Sixers, Bucks, Lakers. That was obvious at the start of the season.

 

[kjironman1]

Stotts and his pathetic rotations.
CJ just gave us 5 straight baskets in the first ? Well my little card says it's time to bench him ! Powell is playing amazing in the 3rd ? Time to sit !

Not that i disagree. I watched it a bit different. I didn't mind the subs. CJ needs that 3-4 mins rest and Powell did also as he was the best option as well in the fourth.
My problem was Melo/Ant coming in for them and stinking the place up.
Simons comes in for CJ at 3:05 in the 1st.
Anthony was already in for RoCo but as soon as CJ left he started trying to be Legacy Melo. Melo misses his next 3 shots in a row and of course absolutely no defense was being played.
Powell soon had to come back in for Simons. Then with Jones/Little/Powell the Blazers started to stop them again.
That was an ugly 3-4 mins of bad basketball no question. 12 points to end the quarter pretty much ended the game.

 

[LayneStaley]

We might finish with the worst defense in NBA history.

This deserves a firing alone.

 

[James lamphear]

Its all good. We just need to do something major. It’s not working. That’s why I say I feel bad for Dame. Granted he’s been terrible latley but he tried his best all year. It’s ironic he fell off right when his best teammate was coming back. I really thought he had the MVP this year. It was his for the taking

Problem is Dame is one problems on D this year. Yes he scores a lot of points for this team and has made clutch shots at the end of games for wins and he made some good plays at the right time but overall his defense has fallen off this year. Watching him and the defense confirm its.

 

[Scalma]

It’s the same shit pretty much every time we play a good team. Teams sell out to stop Dame and Stotts does nothing to counter it. For example, why not let CJ dribble the ball up the court so teams stop blitzing at half court?

Everyone wants to blame Stotts and I agree almost completely, but it’s also still hilarious to me that Olshey thought Kanter and Melo (and Simons) would be a good pairing off the bench.

When Nurk and Jones and Roco play together our defense is fine, but when we go to any other unit we get obliterated. Kanter is a nothing defensively, it’s almost like he’s not even there. It only gets compounded when Melo is also out there because he can’t keep anyone in front of him.

It’ll never happen because Terry is robocop, but RHJ needs to be in the rotation when he signs, preferably over Melo. I’ll take the “hit” offensively for what he provides defensively. We’ve got enough other guys that can score.

 

[Hoopguru]

It’s the same shit pretty much every time we play a good team. Teams sell out to stop Dame and Stotts does nothing to counter it. For example, why not let CJ dribble the ball up the court so teams stop blitzing at half court?

Everyone wants to blame Stotts and I agree almost completely, but it’s also still hilarious to me that Olshey thought Kanter and Melo (and Simons) would be a good pairing off the bench.

When Nurk and Jones and Roco play together our defense is fine, but when we go to any other unit we get obliterated. Kanter is a nothing defensively, it’s almost like he’s not even there. It only gets compounded when Melo is also out there because he can’t keep anyone in front of him.

It’ll never happen because Terry is robocop, but RHJ needs to be in the rotation when he signs, preferably over Melo. I’ll take the “hit” offensively for what he provides defensively. We’ve got enough other guys that can score.

Last night I saw Dame without the ball coming up court with both CJ & Powell and he didnt look happy, once he stood with his hands on his hips and the other time he had his hand palms facing up. Absolutely Love DL but Im not sure he like not having the ball all the time coming up court and setting things up. The blazers imo play better when they have motion and swing the ball rather than slow ball. I wonder if Dame is struggling with chemistry with the three guard line up?

 

[Scalma]

Last night I saw Dame without the ball coming up court with both CJ & Powell and he didnt look happy, once he stood with his hands on his hips and the other time he had his hand palms facing up. Absolutely Love DL but Im not sure he like not having the ball all the time coming up court and setting things up. The blazers imo play better when they have motion and swing the ball rather than slow ball. I wonder if Dame is struggling with chemistry with the three guard line up?

Dame has always welcomed playing off the ball, even encouraged it. I remember how much he liked having Eric Maynor handle the offense. Actually now that I think about it, that might’ve been the last time we had another true pass first point guard on the roster that could actually play. That was 8 years ago.

 

[illmatic99]

It’s the same shit pretty much every time we play a good team. Teams sell out to stop Dame and Stotts does nothing to counter it. For example, why not let CJ dribble the ball up the court so teams stop blitzing at half court?

Everyone wants to blame Stotts and I agree almost completely, but it’s also still hilarious to me that Olshey thought Kanter and Melo (and Simons) would be a good pairing off the bench.

When Nurk and Jones and Roco play together our defense is fine, but when we go to any other unit we get obliterated. Kanter is a nothing defensively, it’s almost like he’s not even there. It only gets compounded when Melo is also out there because he can’t keep anyone in front of him.

It’ll never happen because Terry is robocop, but RHJ needs to be in the rotation when he signs, preferably over Melo. I’ll take the “hit” offensively for what he provides defensively. We’ve got enough other guys that can score.

It's not even robocop, it's his mindset in general. It's all about offense and lineups offensively. There is no thought given to the defense.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Not that i disagree. I watched it a bit different. I didn't mind the subs. CJ needs that 3-4 mins rest and Powell did also as he was the best option as well in the fourth.

Why can't you tweak the rotations to ride the hot hand ? CJ got you straight buckets while Dame wasn't doing anything, a competent coach could have switched their substitution patterns. Same with Powell, can't you keep him in the game while he's going off ? When he came back in he had cooled off...

Of course Melo laid another egg and took terrible shots. I swear every time I see him in the post I lose a part of my soul

 

[blazerkor]

Last night I saw Dame without the ball coming up court with both CJ & Powell and he didnt look happy, once he stood with his hands on his hips and the other time he had his hand palms facing up. Absolutely Love DL but Im not sure he like not having the ball all the time coming up court and setting things up. The blazers imo play better when they have motion and swing the ball rather than slow ball. I wonder if Dame is struggling with chemistry with the three guard line up?

Dame got wide open a bunch of times off the ball last night and those two weren't looking for him. So after being hounded and ball denied for most of the night, I would expect Dame to be annoyed when he gets open and no one is looking up and finding him. And if you're insinuating that Dame thinks that Dame is always the best option... you're damn right he does. He's Damian Lillard.

 

[Hoopguru]

Dame got wide open a bunch of times off the ball last night and those two weren't looking for him. So after being hounded and ball denied for most of the night, I would expect Dame to be annoyed when he gets open and no one is looking up and finding him. And if you're insinuating that Dame thinks that Dame is always the best option... you're damn right he does. He's Damian Lillard.

I get that and Dame is the man, and he too can get frustrated when he doesn't have the ball in certain situations. Sure seems like something chewing on him? I guess he's only human.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Problem is Dame is one problems on D this year. Yes he scores a lot of points for this team and has made clutch shots at the end of games for wins and he made some good plays at the right time but overall his defense has fallen off this year. Watching him and the defense confirm its.

Fallen off? He’s had trash defense since he set foot on an NBA court. Him and Harden are literally known as one of those worst defending guards out there

 

[Pinwheel1]

I get that and Dame is the man, and he too can get frustrated when he doesn't have the ball in certain situations. Sure seems like something chewing on him? I guess he's only human.

Probably pissed that George, Beverly, and Rondo were getting the best of him.
Dame had a bad game. Yes, part of that was because he was doubled but he still missed some open shots. 2-14 is not good.
CJ shot well, and Powell was successful at being aggressive, even against one of the best defenders (Kawhi) in the world. But some of that credit has to go to the fact they were doubling Dame out high.

 

[AldoTrapani]

 

[wizenheimer]

I think the approach to counter the blitzing of Dame is wrong. You can’t allow a team to completely take your best player out of the game by just blitzing him.

Right now when Dame gets blitzed, he gives it up and just sits out the rest of the play. This is exactly what the opponent wants. What Steph Curry does so well is he finds a way to get back in the play when teams blitz and force him to give up the ball. He’ll pass and cut or relocate to continue the play. He doesn’t just pass the ball and stand at half court like Dame does.

what you are talking about is the remedial Stotts offense. Portland runs no off-the ball action for Dame when he's not being blitzed either. The sum of it is Dame shifting toward the sideline while somebody holds the ball above the center of the three point line, then cutting back to the ball off a mild screen and then getting the ball back 30 feet from the hoop....all so he can try and initiate some PnR with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Most of the time it ends up in "Dame, please save us again ISO".

But he's a 6'2 guard and he's not going to consistently beat traps, doubles, and even triples from taller players. If a team sells out their defense like the Clippers did last night, Dame's part of the equation will be small, and potentially ugly. No avoiding that. It will be up to the other Blazers to punish a team for over-flexing their defense to one player. Those other Blazers have to be able to consistently win those 4-on-3 situations. Powell had a great game; CJ and RoCo had good games; Kanter went for 13 & 15. And still, Portland was in a 20 point hole halfway thru the 4th Q.

the notion that it's on Dame to force the Blazer offense to run off-ball action for him makes no sense. Stotts is in charge of the offense. He's also in charge of training camps and practices. The reality that Portland is as unprepared for the "stop-Dame" defense 6 seasons after Memphis heavily deployed it against Portland in the 2015 playoffs is a lot more on Stotts and Olshey than Dame

you mentioned Curry. This season, Curry's assisted FG rate on three's is over 59%; Dame's rate is 40%. On two's, Curry's assisted FG rate is over 40%; Dame's rate is 15%. Curry has an oveall assisted FG rate of nearly 50%. Dame's rate is almost half that at 26%. Curry hardly played last season, but the season before his assisted FG rate was 59%, and on three's was 67%. Dame's overall rate last season was 18%, and on three's was 30%. That all looks to me like the Warriors have a plan they have implemented to have the offense actually create opportunities for Curry. What is Portland's plan for Dame other than "here's the ball Dame, go score, oh, and while you're at it, run the rest of the offense too".

Of course, the Warriors have actually had guys on the roster like Green, and Livingston, and Iggy, and Durant that had established skills of floor vision and passing. All that while Olshey has been insisting that Portland doesn't need no stinking PG because they have CJ and Simons

 

[twobullz]

Last night was a perfect example why DJJ should be the starting SF. Just for the defense, plus it gives the Blazers some pop off the bench with Powell.

 

[DDolla]

Last night was a perfect example why DJJ should be the starting SF. Just for the defense, plus it gives the Blazers some pop off the bench with Powell.

Yes I agree. Not sure why are we starting Norm when we average 31 points in 1st qtr

 

[kjironman1]

Why can't you tweak the rotations to ride the hot hand ? CJ got you straight buckets while Dame wasn't doing anything, a competent coach could have switched their substitution patterns. Same with Powell, can't you keep him in the game while he's going off ? When he came back in he had cooled off...

Of course Melo laid another egg and took terrible shots. I swear every time I see him in the post I lose a part of my soul

Not disagreeing at all. I also don’t like the three guard as much as it’s being used.
I just am having more trouble with Legacy Melo right now.
Time to start playing to win games.

 

[tester551]

I think the approach to counter the blitzing of Dame is wrong. You can’t allow a team to completely take your best player out of the game by just blitzing him.

Right now when Dame gets blitzed, he gives it up and just sits out the rest of the play. This is exactly what the opponent wants. What Steph Curry does so well is he finds a way to get back in the play when teams blitz and force him to give up the ball. He’ll pass and cut or relocate to continue the play. He doesn’t just pass the ball and stand at half court like Dame does.

100% correct.
This also goes back to coaching. It appears that Stotts and Dame are both fine with him being taken out of the play.

 

[Pinwheel1]

100% correct.
This also goes back to coaching. It appears that Stotts and Dame are both fine with him being taken out of the play.

Unless of course, the two defenders stay with him at half court. I will take 4 on 3 if CJ and Powell and RoCo are also on the court.