Game Thread GAME# 64: BLAZERS @ SUNS - MARCH 6, 2020 - FRIDAY, 6:00 PM, NBCSNW

[Darkwebs]

2019-20 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
28 - 35
(11-22 Road)
PHOENIX SUNS
24 - 38
(11-22 Home)


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

PG

DAMIAN LILLARD VS RICKY RUBIO

SG

C.J. McCOLLUM VS DEVIN BOOKER

SF

TREVOR ARIZA VS MIKAL BRIDGES

PF

CARMELO ANTHONY VS DARIO SARIC

C

HASSAN WHITESIDE VS ARON BAYNES


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------- JERSEYS -------

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WHEN: 6:00 PM (PST), FRIDAY, 3/6/2020

WHERE: TALKING STICK RESORT ARENA, PHOENIX, AZ

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

​

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

SIMONS , TRENT Jr. , HEZONJA

LITTLE , HOARD

GABRIEL , SWANIGAN , BROWN


- PHOENIX SUNS-

HARPER , CARTER , LECQUE

OKOBO , JEROME , JOHNSON

OWENS , DIALLO



INJURIES
TRAIL BLAZERS
Zach Collins (dislocated left shoulder): OUT
Jusuf Nurkic (left leg): OUT
Rodney Hood (torn Achilles): OUT
SUNS
Deandre Ayton (sprained left ankle): DOUBTFUL
Kelly Oubre (right knee): OUT
Frank Kaminsky (right patella stress fracture): OUT



HEAD COACHES

- VS –

TERRY STOTTS --- MONTY WILLIAMS

OFFICIAL SUNS' GAME NOTES
OFFICIAL BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

• Friday's game will be the third of four matchups between the Trail Blazers and Suns during the 2019-20 season. The season series is tied, 1-1.

• LAST MEETING: The Suns took down the Trail Blazers at Moda Center on Dec. 30, 122-116. Damian Lillard paced Portland with 33 points (10-20 FG, 5-12 3-PT, 8-12 FT), fi ve rebounds, seven assists and one steal, while Devin Booker led Phoenix with 33 points (9-19 FG, 15-15 FT), six rebounds and seven assists. It was the first time in his career that Booker has been perfect from the stripe with at least 15 FTM.

• CJ McCollum scored 25 points (11-21 FG, 1-4 3-PT, 2-2 FT) to go with two rebounds, six assists and one steal on Dec. 30.

• Hassan Whiteside had 16 points (7-13 FG, 2-2 FT) to go with 22 rebounds and three blocks in Portland's last meeting with Phoenix.

• Kelly Oubre scored 29 points (11-21 FG, 7-10 3-PT) to go with five rebounds, two assists and three steals on Dec. 30. His seven three-pointers were a career-high.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: Suns lead, 121-107
IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 71-44
AT THE SUNS: Suns lead, 77-36

 

[Darkwebs]

Portland is still alive in the Playoffs hunt, as are the Suns. Neither team has given up hope of making the post-season, so this game is huge for both.

Phoenix has lost 4 games in a row, and their chances of a playoff berth are slipping away.

Meanwhile, the Blazers have won 2 games in a row, but just can't seem to catch up to 8th-place Memphis, who has won 3 straight.

Portland needs to build a big win-streak if they want to gain ground on the Grizzlies, so the Blazers cannot afford to lose this game against a sub-.500 team.

Rip City!!!

 

[Darkwebs]

BATTLE FOR THE 8TH

​

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I took the Pau Gasol option on the poll question. It was Ezeli all over again and what doesn't make sense is not signing another big after it was clear Pau couldn't play. A healthy Pau or a Joakim Noah was exactly what this team needed all season.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Trading Skal for nothing

 

[kjironman1]

Blazers need a three game win streak.

 

[BonesJones]

The answers to this poll question confuse me. We sign a healthier backup big, we dont ever sign Melo. Sign a backup PG? For the minimum? We wouldnt get anyone good. Curry was impossible to keep. If we kept Kanter, no Hood...

 

[SIeepwalker]

The answers to this poll question confuse me. We sign a healthier backup big, we dont ever sign Melo. Sign a backup PG? For the minimum? We wouldnt get anyone good. Curry was impossible to keep. If we kept Kanter, no Hood...

Skal !

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

The answers to this poll question confuse me. We sign a healthier backup big, we dont ever sign Melo. Sign a backup PG? For the minimum? We wouldnt get anyone good. Curry was impossible to keep. If we kept Kanter, no Hood...

My guess is there were viable backup pg's available for the minimum who would be better than Simons... Now I am in favor of giving Simons minutes and letting him figure out the NBA game with actual playing experience, but also if they were actually good and going to the playoffs I think having a good backup to Dame would be really good to have, but it turns out that doesn't really apply.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

My answer to the question could be either signing Mario or signing Tolliver, but really it's not offering Layman enough to keep him around.

 

[tester551]

Many of Olshey's decisions in the last 12 months can be directly tied to the contracts he handed out in 2016. So, the 2016 contracts are the correct answer on the poll question.

 

[Labinot41]

Relying on Zach Collins, who was the only good power forward on the roster

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Giving Stotts an extension.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Not having a back up point guard is the Blazers biggest issue right now.

 

[Chris Craig]

Hindsight is 2020

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Hindsight is 2020

right now is 2020.

 

[Chris Craig]

right now is 2020.

So you see what I did there

 

[hoopsjock]

Not having a back up point guard is the Blazers biggest issue right now.

I would've put money on you saying that not trading for Kevin Love and making most of the roster "untouchable" would be the biggest problem.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

So you see what I did there

I can't until 2021.

 

[Bruno_Sabino]

No kelly and no ayton. This is a MUST win game. memphis lose tomorrow and we still on hunt. lets go!

 

[Bruno_Sabino]

Giving Stotts an extension.

after being sweept. that was brutal

 

[tlongII]

Gotta lose this game!

Pau obviously.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

I voted Pau as the worst.... but doing a bad 1 year vet minimum contract isnt a terribly bad move. The problem is Neil swung and missed on all of Pau, Mario, Tolliver, Bazemore, 2020 Simons. Then we had a couple more injuries than expected.

Outside the 2016 free agents Neil has been a better than average GM. Those contracts were horrific and hurt this franchise for 48 months.

 

[blazerkor]

It's not just that Olshey signed CJ, who doesn't fit with Dame, to a 3 year extension. It's the amount of money that was committed to CJ, who is again a bad fit for this team. So the CJ extension is Olshey's worst move and I don't think it's close.

 

[SharpesTriumph]

It's not just that Olshey signed CJ, who doesn't fit with Dame, to a 3 year extension. It's the amount of money that was committed to CJ, who is again a bad fit for this team. So the CJ extension is Olshey's worst move and I don't think it's close.

I dont think CJ trade value is worse this summer than if he was on an expiring contract.

So signing CJ isnt a bad move. I think your criticism should be Neil not trading CJ.

 

[Bruno_Sabino]

N

It's not just that Olshey signed CJ, who doesn't fit with Dame, to a 3 year extension. It's the amount of money that was committed to CJ, who is again a bad fit for this team. So the CJ extension is Olshey's worst move and I don't think it's close.

how you say that... cj is not the problem my friend he’s the reason we made WCF. We have 2 guys who are brilliant and love to play here.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

No kelly and no ayton. This is a MUST win game. memphis lose tomorrow and we still on hunt. lets go!

Yep! I figure we can only lose 6 games the rest of the way and none of those can be vs Grizzlies.

 

[Scalma]

I don’t think giving CJ an extension was a bad move. My bigger issue is how he’s utilized by Stotts. He has elite catch and shoot percentages but Stotts prefers to let him handle the ball, even if it means freezing everyone else out. It’s also annoying that we saw what CJ could be while Dame was out, but will most likely revert back to the more selfish player now that he’s returned. Part of that is on CJ, but I put more of the blame on Stotts because at the end of the day, he’s enabling it. Imagine CJ in a Klay role, he’d kill it and the offense wouldn’t be so stagnant when he’s off.

 

[Scalma]

I don’t think giving CJ an extension was a bad move. My bigger issue is how he’s utilized by Stotts. He has elite catch and shoot percentages but Stotts prefers to let him handle the ball, even if it means freezing everyone else out. It’s also annoying that we saw what CJ could be while Dame was out, but will most likely revert back to the more selfish player now that he’s returned. Part of that is on CJ, but I put more of the blame on Stotts because at the end of the day, he’s enabling it. Imagine CJ in a Klay role, he’d kill it and the offense wouldn’t be so stagnant when he’s off.

To expand on this

CJ is shooting 47% from outside on catch and shoot. (3.5 attempts a game)

Pull ups? 30% (4 attempts a game)

Last year he shot 40% catch and shoot, 35% pull-ups.

If Stotts would utilize him like Klay/Redick/etc, he would be a monster and everyone (including me) would stop bitching about him.

 

[tester551]

To expand on this

CJ is shooting 47% from outside on catch and shoot. (3.5 attempts a game)

Pull ups? 30% (4 attempts a game)

Last year he shot 40% catch and shoot, 35% pull-ups.

If Stotts would utilize him like Klay/Redick/etc, he would be a monster and everyone (including me) would stop bitching about him.

I believe this is more of a CJ thing than Stotts. Its not like Stotts is necessarily encouraging him to pull-up more (nor does it appear he's discouraging him).

Stotts let's his veteran players play in the manner they like the most. CJ loves his pull-up game & believes he's the best in the NBA at that....even when the stats show otherwise.