Game Thread Game #6 BLAZERS @ HORNETS - OCTOBER 31, 2021 - SUNDAY, 4:00 PM, ROOT SPORTS

[B-Roy]

setting aside the trash shooting by Dame and the poor defense, one thing I saw tonight was that Charlotte countered Portland's collection of 6'3 with:

Miles Bridges 6-6
Gordon Hayward 6-7
LaMelo Ball 6-6
Kelly Oubre Jr. 6-7
Cody Martin 6-5
P.J. Washington 6-7

that made difference in the quality of shots the Blazers got

(by the way, it's kind of sad how much a shell-of-himself Hayward is now

And yet we outrebounded them. The game was lost on stupid offense from Dame/CJ + Chauncey riding the starters who were getting outworked. Also if both teams shot closer to their average percentages on threes it would be been closer.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Lillard can't shoot, and he's killing us is the sad reality. I cringed when they subbed out Ant and put in Dame with 9.5 minutes left.

I think "can't shoot" is overstating it. "Is currently shooting fucking terribly" is certainly true.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Only 6 games in, but I'm even more convinced the Blazers need a CJ for Simmons move.

Now convince Morey.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

Only 6 games in, but I'm even more convinced the Blazers need a CJ for Simmons move. 24 shots for CJ....at the expense of other players who were shooting well. Dame isn't off the hook either, but he isn't going anywhere.

The Blazers need more size and someone who can legitimately defend 1-on-1. They don't really have that now.

CJ needs his own team where he isn't sharing with a backcourt teammate like Dame. This is very little different than years past.

I agree with your second and third points....but why Simmons?

Yes, the defense would be nice - but if anything, this game shows that we are already a shakey 3 pt shooting team. In the modern NBA, how do you win with bad 3 point shooting? How does making that weakness worse help us improve?

 

[OneSport3]

Maybe I'm seeing something else but this game was 1000% winnable in so many ways.

Agreed. Even with Dame and CJ shooting so terribly we were in the game. Came down to rotations mistakes by a rookie HC. We probably had a better chance to win tonight if Ant got more of Dame or CJ’s minutes.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

Only 6 games in, but I am more convinced than ever that Simmons is not what we need.

BE as pissed at me as you like, but if we are going for a major trade it needs to be a young player who can transition into our #1 scoring option over the next couple of years. Dame is not immortal.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Well I don’t think anyone is expecting the Blazers to make the playoffs.

 

[Mr. Robot]

charlotte is 5-2, theyre having a really good start to the season, they also had a really good shooting night

loss doesnt bother me, but the way we played in the second half bothers me, too much shooting from dame & cj mccollum and forcing things

 

[AldoTrapani]

I’m ready to pay Simons and rebuild. This shit is getting old. Trade Dame for a bunch of picks, Cj for whatever we can get. Pay Nassir what he’s worth. Get a new Gm and let’s start a new era

 

[calvin natt]

Some people thinks we are legit and answer to that your not legit until you can win on the road.

Legit what? Title contenders? I don’t think a single person thinks that.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Btw Norman Powell sucks too.. He’s overrated as hell around here

 

[Mediocre Man]

Good effort. Not quite there yet, but they’ll be a tougher team come playoffs…..assuming we get there

 

[MickZagger]

This is a game that later in the season we win.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Sucks that we lost but if Damian is only 75% of what we know him to be, we win this. It's going to be mixed results until Damian gets going and he keeps consistency.

Also, Roco is not getting it done, and no way we invest the majority of our cap into 4 guards. Which one do we move? Still CJ? Anfernee? We definitely need to upgrade our forwards.

Continuing to love what Nassir and Anfernee bring to this team. Also, free Nance.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Maybe the Blazers are just coasting right now.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS –TRAILBLAZERS HEAD COACH

On the Hornets run midway through the third quarter:

“Yeah, that was a tough stretch right there. I thought we were in good shape at the half and yeah, that was a tough
little stretch right there. To go for a gamble, don’t get it, dunk, turn it right over, that was a tough stretch. But still
even with that being said, there was so much game left. I thought we got caught up kind of playing their style. They
kind of just get up and down and run and play like you’re at the park and it’s easy to get caught up like that because
that’s fun. It’s fun to play that way. I thought we got caught up there.”

On what led the Hornets to being around the rim more on offense in the second half:

“A lot of broken coverages. We changed up the coverages a few times and had two or three guys doing it the right
way, the other two or three guys kind of not making the adjustment or doing the coverage that we changed it from
and that cost us several times. A lot of over-helps cost us several times, so probably just weren’t focused enough
defensively in the second half."

On the team’s issues with focus so far:

“It’s just the NBA season, I’m pretty sure every team could say the same thing. This is probably just going to be
something that we’ve got to keep getting better at. I think you’ve heard me say several times, who can stay focused
for the longer stretches. Nobody stays focused for the entire game, but the longer stretches you can stay focused,
chances are you’re going to put yourself in a good position to win the game. Tonight we did a poor job of that.”

On what he can attribute the Hornets shooting 20-42 on 3-pointers to tonight:

“Yeah I can it attribute that to just over-helping. A lot of times we were ok and didn’t have to pull all the way in under
the basket, and we did so and it just opened up a free lane to a 3-point shot. I thought we over-helped on LaMelo
(Ball)’s drives knowing that he can make that floater, we want to make him finish. You can overreact and you start
looking at the ball, and he’s whipping that thing out and guys are getting shots. Those are loud shots on the road,
those three-point shots. Again, just kind of a lack of focus.”

 

[AldoTrapani]

Sucks that we lost but if Damian is only 75% of what we know him to be, we win this. It's going to be mixed results until Damian gets going and he keeps consistency.

Also, Roco is not getting it done, and no way we invest the majority of our cap into 4 guards. Which one do we move? Still CJ? Anfernee? We definitely need to upgrade our forwards.

Continuing to love what Nassir and Anfernee bring to this team. Also, free Nance.

We need to sign Simons and Little then rebuild. Get a bunch picks

 

[GrandpaBlaze]

Btw Norman Powell sucks too.. He’s overrated as hell around here

It would appear, based on comments in game threads so far this year that:

• Nurk sucks
• RoCo sucks
• Powell sucks
• Dame fell off a cliff
• CJ is still MeJ

On the positive side we have:

• Ant is MIP material
• Nance is really good
• Nas has blossomed
• Zeller is so good he’s out for blood each game

Sounds to me like the lineup should be:

• Dame / Smith Jr
• Ant / CJ (McCollum in case you weren’t sure)
• Nas / Powell
• Nance / RoCo
• Zeller / Nurk

Alternatively we should trade our entire starting lineup (that sucks remember) for a bunch of picks and a defensive guy who can’t/won’t shoot.

Wow. Given all that, I’m grateful Olshey is GM.

Talk about over reaction; we all knew there were a lot of changes and that things would take time. In reality, however, some people just have a tendency to prematurely shoot their wad.

Patience Grasshopper, patience.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

It would appear, based on comments in game threads so far this year that:

• Nurk sucks
• RoCo sucks
• Powell sucks
• Dame fell off a cliff
• CJ is still MeJ

On the positive side we have:

• Ant is MIP material
• Nance is really good
• Nas has blossomed
• Zeller is so good he’s out for blood each game

Sounds to me like the lineup should be:

• Dame / Smith Jr
• Ant / CJ (McCollum in case you weren’t sure)
• Nas / Powell
• Nance / RoCo
• Zeller / Nurk

Alternatively we should trade our entire starting lineup (that sucks remember) for a bunch of picks and a defensive guy who can’t/won’t shoot.

Wow. Given all that, I’m grateful Olshey is GM.

Talk about over reaction; we all knew there were a lot of changes and that things would take time. In reality, however, some people just have a tendency to prematurely shoot their wad.

Patience Grasshopper, patience.

First, let me say it would take more than that to make me grateful Olshey is our GM

There is more than one kind of problem here. Some problems are fixable (eg players learning new schemes). The second kind isn't fixable because the player is who he is. With the second kind, patience changes nothing - it just puts off the tough decision.

 

[Chris Craig]

It would appear, based on comments in game threads so far this year that:

• Nurk sucks
• RoCo sucks
• Powell sucks
• Dame fell off a cliff
• CJ is still MeJ

On the positive side we have:

• Ant is MIP material
• Nance is really good
• Nas has blossomed
• Zeller is so good he’s out for blood each game

Sounds to me like the lineup should be:

• Dame / Smith Jr
• Ant / CJ (McCollum in case you weren’t sure)
• Nas / Powell
• Nance / RoCo
• Zeller / Nurk

Alternatively we should trade our entire starting lineup (that sucks remember) for a bunch of picks and a defensive guy who can’t/won’t shoot.

Wow. Given all that, I’m grateful Olshey is GM.

Talk about over reaction; we all knew there were a lot of changes and that things would take time. In reality, however, some people just have a tendency to prematurely shoot their wad.

Patience Grasshopper, patience.

We know how well the starting lineup can play. We saw it last season. They just need to get it together and they will. The bench is great.

 

[TBpup]

I agree with your second and third points....but why Simmons?

Yes, the defense would be nice - but if anything, this game shows that we are already a shakey 3 pt shooting team. In the modern NBA, how do you win with bad 3 point shooting? How does making that weakness worse help us improve?

Last year, Simmons was elite at getting teammates better shots. They shot '3's at a much higher percentage with him on the floor than without.
But to be fair, if Dame continues to shoot like he is, it won't much matter who else comes here.

But watchinig CJ jack up 24 shots when the entire regular bench got 22 shots....and hit 15 of them for 68% shooting, turns my stomach.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

CHAUNCEY BILLUPS –TRAILBLAZERS HEAD COACH

On the Hornets run midway through the third quarter:

“Yeah, that was a tough stretch right there. I thought we were in good shape at the half and yeah, that was a tough
little stretch right there. To go for a gamble, don’t get it, dunk, turn it right over, that was a tough stretch. But still
even with that being said, there was so much game left. I thought we got caught up kind of playing their style. They
kind of just get up and down and run and play like you’re at the park and it’s easy to get caught up like that because
that’s fun. It’s fun to play that way. I thought we got caught up there.”

On what led the Hornets to being around the rim more on offense in the second half:

“A lot of broken coverages. We changed up the coverages a few times and had two or three guys doing it the right
way, the other two or three guys kind of not making the adjustment or doing the coverage that we changed it from
and that cost us several times. A lot of over-helps cost us several times, so probably just weren’t focused enough
defensively in the second half."

On the team’s issues with focus so far:

“It’s just the NBA season, I’m pretty sure every team could say the same thing. This is probably just going to be
something that we’ve got to keep getting better at. I think you’ve heard me say several times, who can stay focused
for the longer stretches. Nobody stays focused for the entire game, but the longer stretches you can stay focused,
chances are you’re going to put yourself in a good position to win the game. Tonight we did a poor job of that.”

On what he can attribute the Hornets shooting 20-42 on 3-pointers to tonight:

“Yeah I can it attribute that to just over-helping. A lot of times we were ok and didn’t have to pull all the way in under
the basket, and we did so and it just opened up a free lane to a 3-point shot. I thought we over-helped on LaMelo
(Ball)’s drives knowing that he can make that floater, we want to make him finish. You can overreact and you start
looking at the ball, and he’s whipping that thing out and guys are getting shots. Those are loud shots on the road,
those three-point shots. Again, just kind of a lack of focus.”

Great to see him talking about specific things that need to be corrected; I don't think we heard that much from the previous coach. I like seeing that phrase "over helping"; which has been used by me and a couple other posters during Stotts era and also this season; now I know I'm on the right track!

 

[Tince]

We have the same amount of points in the paint.

Agreed... I was talking about the ease of the looks we were getting in the 2nd half compared to the Hornets.

We struggled to stay in front one on one which put too much pressure on our scheme.

 

[Tince]

I thought Nurk was having a solid game up until the point in the 3rd where he started jawing at the FT line, then turned the ball over on the next inbounds, and set a hard screen and got an offensive foul. 7 point swing in seconds

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Lu Dort is the only 6’3” player on the planet that can check SF full-time.

The lack of size is going to be attacked in the playoffs.

 

[Tince]

Lu Dort is the only 6’3” player on the planet that can check SF full-time.

The lack of size is going to be attacked in the playoffs.

I think Billups is certainly trying to mask this issue and is doing a decent job at it, but at the end of the day, I'm worried it'll be too much for a scheme to overcome when teams have a chance to dial in their game plan.

 

[TBpup]

I think Billups is certainly trying to mask this issue and is doing a decent job at it, but at the end of the day, I'm worried it'll be too much for a scheme to overcome when teams have a chance to dial in their game plan.

Exactly this. And it makes our switches almost completely ineffective because we are switching a smurf out on a 6'9" wing time after time. Even if they do manage to stay close, it is still often just a matter of shooting over a much smaller player.

 

[Tince]

Interesting listening to Billups presser where the question is asked why this is the 3rd time in 6 games he's talked about the team lacking effort/focus. Are the guys not buying into him? Do we have some guys who have always had this issue?

 

[THE HCP]

coaching/system perhaps?

Does that get credit for Dame’s play as well?

 

[Predator]

you think snell is comparable to Roco? LOL. Standard Blazer fan living in the moment.

Last season Tony Snell was better than Robert Covington has been so far this season, that’s how bad Roco has been.

https://stathead.com/tiny/WgElO

What were you saying again, genius?