Game Thread GAME# 67: BLAZERS @ MAGIC - MARCH 20, 2015 - FRIDAY, 4:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

[Darkwebs]

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


____PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS____

DAMIAN LILLARD (PG) , ARRON AFFLALO (SG)

NICOLAS BATUM (SF) , LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE (PF)

ROBIN LOPEZ (C)
_________________________________





________ORLANDO MAGIC________

ELFRID PAYTON (PG) , VICTOR OLADIPO (SG)

TOBIAS HARRIS (SF) , DEWAYNE DEDMON (PF)

NIKOLA VUCEVIC (C)
_________________________________




WHEN: 4:00 PM (PST), FRIDAY , 3/20/2015​

WHERE: Amway Center, Orlando, FL

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

​

------------------------------------------------------



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

BLAKE , McCOLLUM , CRABBE, GEE

WRIGHT , FREELAND , LEONARD , KAMAN

ORLANDO MAGIC

RIDNOUR , GREEN , GORDON , HARKLESS

GORDON , NICHOLSON , O'QUINN , FRYE



INJURIES
TRAIL BLAZERS
Wesley Matthews (ruptured left Achilles’ tendon): OUT
MAGIC

Tobias Harris (sprained left ankle): QUESTIONABLE
Dewayne Dedmon (ankle): QUESTIONABLE
Willie Green (low back spasms): QUESTIONABLE
Evan Fournier (sore right hip): OUT
Devyn Marble (detached retina, left eye): OUT








HEAD COACHES

- VS –

TERRY STOTTS --- JAMES BORREGO




BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

• Friday marks the second and final regular season matchup between the Trail Blazers and Magic in 2014-15.

• Portland defeated Orlando 103-92 at the Moda Center on Jan. 10, behind 25 points from LaMarcus Aldridge on 10-of-22 shooting.

• The Trail Blazers have lost two straight matchups and three of their past four games against the Magic in Orlando.

• LaMarcus Aldridge has scored 20+ points and made 10+ field goals in six consecutive games against the Magic. In those six games he’s averaged 26.6 points and shot 56.0% (70-125).

• Arron Afflalo has shot 59.4% (22-37) and averaged 18.0 points in his past three games against Orlando. Afflalo played two full seasons with the Magic in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

• Damian Lillard handed out a career-high 12 assists against Orlando on Feb. 10, 2013.

• Nicolas Batum (14 pts, 10 reb, 14 ast) notched his second career triple-double against the Magic on Mar. 25 of last season.

• In the game between these two teams earlier this season on Jan. 10, Nikola Vucevic recorded game-highs of 34 points and 16 rebounds on 15-of-23 shooting (65.2%). In his past two games against Portland he has averaged 28.0 points and shot 60.9% from the field.


• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: Trail Blazers lead, 28-22
IN PORTLAND: Trail Blazers lead, 16-10
AT THE MAGIC: Series tied, 12-12

MAGIC'S OFFICIAL GAME NOTES




GO BLAZERS!!!
​

 

[Darkwebs]

Reserved

 

[Strenuus]

Hey Dark, looks like Tobias Harris is a game time decision for Friday. There's a good chance he won't play, given his history of injuries and Orlando being out of the playoffs.

 

[Strenuus]

By the way... Damn, Devyn Marble... detached retina. That sounds like it really, really sucks. My best to him.

 

[Boise Blazer]

Hopefully another chance for Afflalo to have a great game against a former team.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

What the hell is going on here? I go out of town for a few days and we lose to 2 crappy teams!? Well then......I guess I'd better stay on the computer for the rest of the season if you guys can't maintain the forum mojo any better than that. The madness stops now!

 

[Strenuus]

What the hell is going on here? I go out of town for a few days and we lose to 2 crappy teams!? Well then......I guess I'd better stay on the computer for the rest of the season if you guys can't maintain the forum mojo any better than that. The madness stops now!

Crappy? lol. Wizards are a playoff team, and the Heat have been pretty darn good since acquiring Dragic and Whiteside started beasting.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

Crappy? lol. Wizards are a playoff team, and the Heat have been pretty darn good since acquiring Dragic and Whiteside started beasting.

I don't know what I was thinking....I'm so emotional....a complete homerotic break.

 

[KingSpeed]

What the hell is going on here? I go out of town for a few days and we lose to 2 crappy teams!? Well then......I guess I'd better stay on the computer for the rest of the season if you guys can't maintain the forum mojo any better than that. The madness stops now!

Miami and Washington are very good teams. They both have tremendous starting lineups when healthy.

 

[kjironman1]

A couple of road losses has Portland looking to get back to it's winning ways and along comes a good team to do just that. The Magic while seemingly a decent team just might not be able to put together a healthy starting unit that would be able to scare most NBA teams. Really a pregame on this is a bit hard with all the "Questionable" players. What we can do is look at trends. Even looking at the last time these two played doesn't really work. The Blazers were without Lopez and Freeland. Started Kaman and really had these guys down and were looking at a blowout in the first half. The Blazers then started a trend of letting teams back in it by letting up on opponents when they get a large lead. Nicola Vusevic caught fire and blasted his way to 34 points and 16 rebounds. He pushed the Magic right along and actually made the Blazers have to play 4 quarters.

The Magics offense is not rated real high and they have problems with ball movement. They can ISO a bit too much and they depend on Mid range shots. Problem is they don't make a lot of them. When they try to move the ball they often fall victim to turn overs. They do have a couple three point shooters. Channing Frye will try to stretch the floor and Oladipo will take some. If they are hitting them they can make any game interesting.

Orlando also has some problems defending good offensive teams. They can force some turn overs because teams seem to take more chances against them. There have been quite a few highlight reel type shots at Orlando's expense. The fact is Aldridge will pose huge problems for them. There is just no way Channing is going to stop LaMarcus. If we see the kind of ball movement the Blazers can do they will be in for a very long night.

Lots of people wondering about Damian Lillard. When are we going to see "Dame Time" again on a consistent basis? Where has his shot gone? Why isn't he able to play against the greatest PG's? Is he ever going to be what we are looking for in an All-Star PG? The fact is Damian Lillard is a great PG. He is just still learning how to play at this level. People who are really watching him can see he is evolving his game. Teams are not going to allow "Dame Time" any more. He has become so good that teams now must take him seriously all the time. The book on Lillard is absolutely do not let him get an open look from 3. Do not allow him to drive to his right and take away his right hand. Pound him early and make him pay on every drive! Absolutely do not let him have an easy open mid range shot. Contest everything. When Aldridge was younger we watched this also. Teams took away the things he was doing. Eventually he kept adding more things and now he will never be stopped 100%. You can take some things away but he will get his. Damian Lillard will continue to add things Like the Floater and he will get better with his left hand. His ball handling will improve and teams will start to overplay him just like Parker. He will never be CP3 or Williams but he will be Damian Lillard.

Couple good matchups to watch will be AAA vs Oladipo and Lopez vs Vucevic. If the Blazers hold even on these this game will go into the win column.

Pick today is Damian Lillard. Blazers have too much fire power and the Magic just don't cover shooters well.

Go Blazers!

kjironman is a fan!!!

 

[blue32]

Nice write up Kjiro.

 

[kjironman1]

One Player i missed was CJ? This might very well be a game he could go for extended minutes and drop 20. He has been moving well with and without the ball plus he seems to be catching onto the system pretty well.

 

[Kaydow]

A couple of road losses has Portland looking to get back to it's winning ways and along comes a good team to do just that. The Magic while seemingly a decent team just might not be able to put together a healthy starting unit that would be able to scare most NBA teams. Really a pregame on this is a bit hard with all the "Questionable" players. What we can do is look at trends. Even looking at the last time these two played doesn't really work. The Blazers were without Lopez and Freeland. Started Kaman and really had these guys down and were looking at a blowout in the first half. The Blazers then started a trend of letting teams back in it by letting up on opponents when they get a large lead. Nicola Vusevic caught fire and blasted his way to 34 points and 16 rebounds. He pushed the Magic right along and actually made the Blazers have to play 4 quarters.

The Magics offense is not rated real high and they have problems with ball movement. They can ISO a bit too much and they depend on Mid range shots. Problem is they don't make a lot of them. When they try to move the ball they often fall victim to turn overs. They do have a couple three point shooters. Channing Frye will try to stretch the floor and Oladipo will take some. If they are hitting them they can make any game interesting.

Orlando also has some problems defending good offensive teams. They can force some turn overs because teams seem to take more chances against them. There have been quite a few highlight reel type shots at Orlando's expense. The fact is Aldridge will pose huge problems for them. There is just no way Channing is going to stop LaMarcus. If we see the kind of ball movement the Blazers can do they will be in for a very long night.

Lots of people wondering about Damian Lillard. When are we going to see "Dame Time" again on a consistent basis? Where has his shot gone? Why isn't he able to play against the greatest PG's? Is he ever going to be what we are looking for in an All-Star PG? The fact is Damian Lillard is a great PG. He is just still learning how to play at this level. People who are really watching him can see he is evolving his game. Teams are not going to allow "Dame Time" any more. He has become so good that teams now must take him seriously all the time. The book on Lillard is absolutely do not let him get an open look from 3. Do not allow him to drive to his right and take away his right hand. Pound him early and make him pay on every drive! Absolutely do not let him have an easy open mid range shot. Contest everything. When Aldridge was younger we watched this also. Teams took away the things he was doing. Eventually he kept adding more things and now he will never be stopped 100%. You can take some things away but he will get his. Damian Lillard will continue to add things Like the Floater and he will get better with his left hand. His ball handling will improve and teams will start to overplay him just like Parker. He will never be CP3 or Williams but he will be Damian Lillard.

Couple good matchups to watch will be AAA vs Oladipo and Lopez vs Vucevic. If the Blazers hold even on these this game will go into the win column.

Pick today is Damian Lillard. Blazers have too much fire power and the Magic just don't cover shooters well.

Go Blazers!

kjironman is a fan!!!

Nice preview. This should be a "W" as long as we don't turn it over 20 times and go 5-27 on 3PFG. Need to come out with defensive energy and protect the ball. If we do that, we'll coast to an easy win even if we don't shoot that well. I'm sure our guys remember last year's drubbing at their place, probably our low point of the year. We're pretty close to "must win" territory after losing the last 2 and looking at Memphis and Golden State coming up. I hope you're right about Dame busting out tonight, but he's got a tough matchup with Payton who locked him up pretty good earlier this season in PDX. He is way overdue though, so we'll see. He should be around 40% on 3s like he was last year. It's probably too late for him to flirt with that since he's slipped all the way down to 34%. Batum matchup with Maurice Harkless or Tobias Harris is one to watch IMO. When he's able to create offense we are so much more dynamic. He's at his best when he gets about 15 pts with 7/8 assists. Give me some of that tonight and big lead in the 4th so we can rest our guys for Memphis.

 

[KingSpeed]

Magic warming up

I think we can take them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[H.C.]

I hope Vuacic or however you spell his name doesn't drop 34 on the Blazers again.......

 

[BrianFromWA]

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Magic warming up

I think we can take them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They look really short.

 

[DUB]

I don't like east coast games. It's 9:30AM here.

 

[EGame]

nice to see us look like were ready for vacation so early.

 

[kingslayer]

Maybe a slow start is what we need?

 

[EGame]

I wonder if we are going to try and attack the paint like the Magic do or shoot jumpers all night.

 

[gatorpops]

Can anyone get the radio feed? It won't start

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'm going to start a de fense chant

 

[BrianFromWA]

But not with a dame cJ backcourt

 

[H.C.]

Kaman with two straight low bbiq plays to end the quarter.
One not passing the ball out to blake as part of the offense...(Aldridge screen'd blakes guy)
And second not stopping the ball.. and basically screening CJ off.. giving Ben Gordon a wide open 3.
The 3 to end the quarter is not on CJ, it's on Kaman.

 

[B-Roy]

CJ is okay on man defense, but his awareness is pretty damning.

 

[EGame]

lmao this exact lineup better not see burn come playoff time. they don't understand defense.

 

[kingslayer]

Yeah this lineup isn't going to play any defense.

 

[EGame]

our bench is straight up fucked come big boy playoff time. Blake blowing a wide open layup is all i need to know.

 

[BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94]

So, when is the team gonna stop digging holes?