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

[Predator]

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.

Really, really tough to make any decision with Dame playing / shooting like this.

If Dame isn’t having the worst shooting stretch of his career we are probably a 5-1 team right now - but we all know what they say about ifs and buts.

 

[wizenheimer]

And yet we outrebounded them.

I was thinking more in terms of Portland's 6'3 guards having to score over Charlotte's 6'6-6'7 defenders

but in terms of rebounds: Hayward-Bridges-Ball-Martin outrebounded Powell-CJ-Roco-Simons by 26-10

 

[FlashWad]

Worst stretch we have ever seen from Lillard. Maybe a thread should be made dedicated to talking about that because he has looked horrid so far.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Worst stretch we have ever seen from Lillard. Maybe a thread should be made dedicated to talking about that because he has looked horrid so far.

To many homers here to do that. He’s a feast or famine player. I been saying that for a long time.

 

[James lamphear]

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

I guess you don't go on Twitter do you.

 

[Bingo Bango]

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.

Who cares about replacing Lillard? The goal is to win a championship. Period. We should get anybody we think can help us accomplish that goal NOW, before Lillard leaves or is over the hill. I would settle for 10 years of mediocrity just to win another title. It’s been 45 years since that happened in Portland.

 

[wizenheimer]

Dame's shooting is really bad; worse is he's forcing shots when he shouldn't. He has enough other skills not to need to 'shoot his way out of a slump'

he's passing and defending well (for him) but the Blazers aren't really good unless Dame is scoring well too. That's a roster weakness

 

[Tince]

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

I have a hard time putting Dame's struggles on Billups' scheme or him as a leader

However, those who felt stronger that Dame used to play so well despite Stotts horrible schemes, having to be doing some serious mental gymnastics right now to explain this away.

 

[Tince]

Dame's shooting is really bad; worse is he's forcing shots when he shouldn't. He has enough other skills not to need to 'shoot his way out of a slump'

he's passing and defending well (for him) but the Blazers aren't really good unless Dame is scoring well too. That's a roster weakness

I'm not sure he's defending well either, his assists are in line with the last 5 years and his turnovers are the highest they've been since 2015.

It's a rough stretch.

 

[Idog1976]

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.

Because our problem is being unable to DEFEND the 3, which requires athletic bigs who can rotate and/or defend one on one.

 

[FlashWad]

To many homers here to do that. He’s a feast or famine player. I been saying that for a long time.

hes never been this bad for so long though. there was a thread on r/nba on him today and some other teams were saying hes purposely tanking his trade value nonsense. But he has looked considerably bad back to the Olympics.

 

[FlashWad]

I'm not sure he's defending well either, his assists are in line with the last 5 years and his turnovers are the highest they've been since 2015.

It's a rough stretch.

It was sad to see in one of his interviews he was saying how he thought his defense has been amazing so far. I think maybe hes thinking hes exerting himself too much on defense and its effecting his shot?

 

[AldoTrapani]

Glad ya seeing this. Been telling these posters for awhile now. Great leader tho

 

[OneSport3]

I'm not sure he's defending well either, his assists are in line with the last 5 years and his turnovers are the highest they've been since 2015.

It's a rough stretch.

He’s definitely not defending well. When Chauncey said there a 2-3 players that lose focus on D, it’s Dame and CJ. They have lapses where they lose focus and are a second off on rotations that just kill the defense.

 

[royo]

Nothing unexpected here. Charlotte is kinda what Suns was last year but w/o CP3. They were fun to watch last season and why would anyone expect they got worsen with that great chemistry.

If Lillard were himself Blazers would be higher.
We still need to trade CJ for size and it will be all good.

One thing. It might be bit frustrating for Billlups to talk about effort every other game. It was Blazers problem under Stotts' as well. To be honest I don't get it.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Nothing unexpected here. Charlotte is kinda what Suns was last year but w/o CP3. They were fun to watch last season and why would anyone expect they got worsen with that great chemistry.

If Lillard were himself Blazers would be higher.
We still need to trade CJ for size and it will be all good.

One thing. It might be bit frustrating for Billlups to talk about effort every other game. It was Blazers problem under Stotts' as well. To be honest I don't get it.

Yup

 

[GDiama]

Lillard is just 31 and he looked amazing just few months ago. There are no drop offs like this. He will be fine. He probably didn't handle his injury very well and pushed himself to play for the gold medal which made things worse.

 

[Labinot41]

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

Yeah he cost us the game with Dame

 

[Zach Collins Enthusiast]

Powell worst +/- on the team. Minus 21 in 33 minutes. He lost us the game

 

[Fairly-Hard]

He shot 10-24 and 4-11 from 3. Not an efficient game at all.

Yeah and he did it getting to the free throw line once. Id also say over 36% from 3 isn't all that bad. Nurk was 5-9 and 0-2 with 4 TO's. He did pluck 14 rebs.
Now go back and read the comment i responded to. It said "By Far" which was not that case at all.
Nurkic missed both threes and played so poorly in the third that he single handedly gave up a 8 point lead. Billups essentially had to pull him and was unable to play him more than 26 mins.
Just watch how this plays out. Everyone wants to wait 20-30 games and i suggest that as well. Nurkic will continue to have episodes like this and eventually Billups will lose his patience.

 

[Fairly-Hard]

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

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

When Chauncey said there a 2-3 players that lose focus on D, it’s Dame and CJ.

Yeah he cost us the game with Dame

Powell worst +/- on the team. Minus 21 in 33 minutes. He lost us the game

I'm reading quotes. Seems like everyone can see they lost a game. All have their wrinkle on why and who is to blame.

Fact is Basketball is a team game. You win and lose as a team. That includes the coach. Defense is completely dependent on the players doing their job and communicating. Sure hope the Blazers Locker room doesn't have this kind of "Toxic" finger pointing going on because if it starts Billups tenure here will be very very short.

 

[Bingo Bango]

It might be bit frustrating for Billlups to talk about effort every other game. It was Blazers problem under Stotts' as well. To be honest I don't get it.

The other Blazers spend so much time watching Lillard and McCollum dribble the ball and maneuver to get their shots that it makes them passive. It’s the cost of hero ball. The team relaxes and lets the star guards be the heroes.

 

[Chris Craig]

The other Blazers spend so much time watching Lillard and McCollum dribble the ball and maneuver to get their shots that it makes them passive. It’s the cost of hero ball. The team relaxes and lets the star guards be the heroes.

Lillard needs to play with the ball again. Playing him off the ball is just giving more shots to CJ and keeping Dame in a slump.

 

[royo]

The other Blazers spend so much time watching Lillard and McCollum dribble the ball and maneuver to get their shots that it makes them passive. It’s the cost of hero ball. The team relaxes and lets the star guards be the heroes.

I guess Billlups have to wait for CJ to be traded. Olshey does not help in this situation. Let CJ be hero somewhere else already. I love his game and wish him best, but I'd like to see final Blazers product already.

 

[bobf]

Dame this year:
Overall is 38/109 or 35% vs 44% career
From 3 is 13/56 or 23% vs 37% career

These are both about two Standard Deviations below his career averages. e.g. Sqrt(109 x 0.44 x0.56) / 109 x 2 = 9.5% while Dame is 9% below his career FG%.

There is a 5% chance of being two SD away from the mean and 2.5% chance of being two SD below the mean. So in any sample of 109 shots or 56 threes we can expect Dame to slump this bad 1 in 40 times.

So this is still well within normal variance territory.

 

[illmatic99]

Dame this year:
Overall is 38/109 or 35% vs 44% career
From 3 is 13/56 or 23% vs 37% career

These are both about two Standard Deviations below his career averages. e.g. Sqrt(109 x 0.44 x0.56) / 109 x 2 = 9.5% while Dame is 9% below his career FG%.

There is a 5% chance of being two SD away from the mean and 2.5% chance of being two SD below the mean. So in any sample of 109 shots or 56 threes we can expect Dame to slump this bad 1 in 40 times.

So this is still well within normal variance territory.

Been a while since I took stats but aren't you assuming normal distribution for his shooting to determine variance? Is it normal?

 

[Tince]

I'm reading quotes. Seems like everyone can see they lost a game. All have their wrinkle on why and who is to blame.

Fact is Basketball is a team game. You win and lose as a team. That includes the coach. Defense is completely dependent on the players doing their job and communicating. Sure hope the Blazers Locker room doesn't have this kind of "Toxic" finger pointing going on because if it starts Billups tenure here will be very very short.

To be clear. My quote was not saying that's why we lost, it was simply pointing out when the last big momentum shift happened. Like you said, so many factors played into the loss.

Also, I'm never worried that what is said on a message board in any way is a reflection of what is said in the locker room. Nor do I think people on a message board pointing out reasons that contributed to a loss (or win) is toxic in any way.

 

[Hoopguru]

Lillard needs to play with the ball again. Playing him off the ball is just giving more shots to CJ and keeping Dame in a slump.

Its not just CJ but Norm & Nurk....Dame still put up 20 sots last night however.
I think its the pace of the game and movement of the ball that Dame is adjusting too. I also think he has a lot of miles on him for 31.

 

[HailBlazers]

I have a hard time putting Dame's struggles on Billups' scheme or him as a leader

However, those who felt stronger that Dame used to play so well despite Stotts horrible schemes, having to be doing some serious mental gymnastics right now to explain this away.

Stotts scheme was constant pick and roll for Dame. Of course he's going to do better in an offense centered on him. No gymnastics required.

All everyone wanted was better team ball and we're seeing it now with Chauncey.

 

[OneSport3]

I'm reading quotes. Seems like everyone can see they lost a game. All have their wrinkle on why and who is to blame.

Fact is Basketball is a team game. You win and lose as a team. That includes the coach. Defense is completely dependent on the players doing their job and communicating. Sure hope the Blazers Locker room doesn't have this kind of "Toxic" finger pointing going on because if it starts Billups tenure here will be very very short.

It's not about finger pointing, it's about accountability. Recognizing where your faults are and addressing them. Chauncey said that he will not be shy to put an address on where the problem is.