Game Thread GAME# 70: BLAZERS @ JAZZ - MAY 12, 2021 - WEDNESDAY, 6:30, ESPN & NBCSNW

[Darkwebs]

2020-21 REGULAR SEASON RECORD
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
40 - 29
(21-13 Road)
UTAH JAZZ
50 - 19
(31-4 Home)


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

PG

DAMIAN LILLARD VS JOE INGLES

SG

C.J. McCOLLUM VS ROYCE O'NEALE

SF

NORMAN POWELL VS BOJAN BOGDANOVIC

PF

ROBERT COVINGTON VS GEORGE NIANG

C

JUSUF NURKIC VS RUDY GOBERT




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

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WHEN: 6:30 PM (PDT), WEDNESDAY, 5/12/2021

WHERE: VIVINT SMART HOME ARENA, SALT LAKE CITY, UT

TV BROADCAST:

RADIO BROADCAST:

​

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

SIMONS , BLEVINS , ELLEBY

LITTLE , HOLLIS-JEFFERSON , JONES Jr.

ANTHONY , LEAF

GILES III , KANTER


------ UTAH JAZZ------

CLARKSON , THOMAS , FORREST

ONI , HUGHES

MORGAN , BRANTLEY

ILYASOVA , FAVORS , AZUBUIKE



INJURIES
TRAIL BLAZERS
Carmelo Anthony (ankle sprain): QUESTIONABLE
Zach Collins (left ankle stress fracture): OUT
JAZZ
Juwan Morgan (right heel soreness): QUESTIONABLE
Mike Conley (right hamstring tightness): DOUBTFUL
Donovan Mitchell (sprained right ankle): OUT



HEAD COACHES

- VS –

TERRY STOTTS --- QUIN SNYDER

OFFICIAL JAZZ'S GAME NOTES
OFFICIAL BLAZERS' GAME NOTES ​

• The Trail Blazers May 12 game against the Jazz will bring the season series between the two teams to a close. Utah leads the series, 2-0.

• LAST GAME: Utah won the last matchup between the two teams, 122-103 on April 8 in Salt Lake City. Damian Lillard led Portland with 23 points (8-21 FG, 3-12 3-PT, 4-6 FT), five rebounds and six assists. Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 37 points (14-25 FG, 1-8 3-PT, 8-8 FT), five rebounds, four assists and one steal.

• CJ McCollum finished with 19 points (8-21 FG, 3-10 3-PT), three rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block against Utah on April 8.

• Norman Powell added 13 points (4-10 FG, 2-6 3-PT, 3-4 FT), five rebounds, one assist and one steal in what was his seventh game as a Trail Blazer on April 8.

• Rudy Gobert recorded 18 points (6-9 FG, 6-7 FT), 20 rebounds, two assists and one block against Portland on April 8.

• HEAD-TO-HEAD HISTORY:
ALL TIME: Jazz lead, 106-88
PORTLAND HOME: Trail Blazers lead, 65-32
UTAH HOME: Jazz lead, 74-23

 

[Darkwebs]

The Blazers cruised to a victory against the Rockets and have now won 8 of their last 9 games, playing their best stretch of basketball this season.
Portland will be going on their final road trip of the regular season, and it's a doozy; back-to-back games versus the two very best teams in the NBA. What an epic test to see if this suddenly surging Blazers team is for real!

And after official review, the telecast have been upgraded to a national one.

Yes, that's right! These next two games were originally going to be broadcasted locally only, but I guess the viewers across this country wanted more Blazers (or more likely, the cable networks know that the teams with the best records draw better ratings).

Whatever the case, this will be on ESPN, so the Blazers better bring their best, or risk being blown off the court by the Best in the West.

 

[Darkwebs]

PLAYOFF SEEDING RACE

​

The Blazers are still within striking distance of the 5th seed, but the Lakers can also catch the Blazers for the 6th spot, when you see how tough the Blazers' remaining schedule is (they will play the 1st, 2nd and 4th best teams in the West to conclude their regular season).

Coach Stotts has said their goal is the 6th seed, so with the Lakers having a relatively easier schedule than the Blazers, Portland may have to pull an upset or two in these final three games to hold on to the 6th.

 

[blazerkor]

I picked Melo for the poll question. It would be close for me between him and CJ, I just think Melo is just a little more cold blooded and still has it in him to hit that game winner.

As far as this game goes. We can hope for an upset but that's what it would be. Even without their starting back court this team presents major problems for us and I think they want to hold onto that number one spot and home court in the elevation for every possible series they play in.

 

[TBpup]

Another beat up team. Pound them too.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I picked Melo for the poll question. It would be close for me between him and CJ, I just think Melo is just a little more cold blooded and still has it in him to hit that game winner.

As far as this game goes. We can hope for an upset but that's what it would be. Even without their starting back court this team presents major problems for us and I think they want to hold onto that number one spot and home court in the elevation for every possible series they play in.

Weird. I see us winning by 15+. Clarkson is a chucker and not very efficient. Our guards will destroy him. Nurk plays well against Gobert usually. Only guys we have to worry about are Bojan and Joe. I imagine we'll be ready and keyed in. Utah only has 4 home losses but we are the second best road team in the NBA. Plus, we have experience going into tough buildings (Game 7 in Denver) and winning.

This game is especially memorable:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201901210UTA.html

Nurkic had 22 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 blocks, and 1 steal in a win in Utah a couple months before he broke his leg in 2019. Mitchell played in that game too.

 

[kjironman1]

Glad to see white uniforms coming back on the road. Blazers need this game badly.
I watched the Rockets game. Houston basically beat the heck out of the Blazers every chance they got. Crazy hacking fouls that cause weird nagging bruise type injuries. They committed 26 PF's in that game and i noticed Kanter came back in wearing a brace on his left arm. We watched Nurk go to the sidelines to get a finger taped. We watched lillard hit the court numerous times getting up slow. But most of all we watched Powell get absolutely pummeled over and over again.
Does anyone know what happens to DJJ and him getting his "Nards" out of alignment? Whats up with that? Pretty much happens every game he plays any extended minutes?

 

[PCmor7]

Glad to see white uniforms coming back on the road. Blazers need this game badly.
I watched the Rockets game. Houston basically beat the heck out of the Blazers every chance they got. Crazy hacking fouls that cause weird nagging bruise type injuries. They committed 26 PF's in that game and i noticed Kanter came back in wearing a brace on his left arm. We watched Nurk go to the sidelines to get a finger taped. We watched lillard hit the court numerous times getting up slow. But most of all we watched Powell get absolutely pummeled over and over again.
Does anyone know what happens to DJJ and him getting his "Nards" out of alignment? Whats up with that? Pretty much happens every game he plays any extended minutes?

He jumps high and straddles and I think he came down on Kanter's back skying for a rebound. Happened to me once in a college pickup game when I ball-faked and a woman went for it and landed on me. It didn't bother her for some reason, though.

 

[JDC]

The blazers don't make a lot of passes, but when they do...

7th in "Assists to Pass % Adjusted" since Nurk's return.

The adjusted portion takes into account passes that lead to freethrows.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Damn this site fell off. What happened to the engagement? Even i stopped participating much. Time for a new era ?

 

[kjironman1]

The blazers don't make a lot of passes, but when they do...

7th in "Assists to Pass % Adjusted" since Nurk's return.

The adjusted portion takes into account passes that lead to freethrows.

The assist to pass thing is kinda tough to gauge. It's like the assist to win thing?
One thing i can agree with is when Nurk makes good decisions and passes the ball well it leads to better shots which obviously leads to better shot making. That would bring more assists. As Nurk logs more assists the team plays better. It also leads to the second and third pass which gives other players better chances at making shots and obviously more assists as well.
Just so tough to put any stat through this kind of test.

 

[kjironman1]

Damn this site fell off. What happened to the engagement? Even i stopped participating much. Time for a new era ?

You fell off because they have won 8 of the last 9 games. Deal with it!

 

[Labinot41]

Melo has been pretty clutch in his Blazer Career so i take him

 

[kjironman1]

Damn this site fell off. What happened to the engagement? Even i stopped participating much. Time for a new era ?

And by the way your boys just lost to the Lakers without James, Nets without Harden, and the Jazz without Mitchell.
So don't go crying about injuries right? I'll bet you been over there posting how they can't compete against good teams right?

 

[BlazerBeav]

Magic number is 2 to avoid the play-in - and since we can't count on Laker losses with their schedule, we need to go out and get 2 ourselves and this one is a good opportunity.

 

[julius]

Magic number is 2 to avoid the play-in - and since we can't count on Laker losses with their schedule, we need to go out and get 2 ourselves and this one is a good opportunity.

that actually is a doable....ish skill. Maybe.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Happened to me once in a college pickup game when I ball-faked and a woman went for it and landed on me. It didn't bother her for some reason, though.

That reminds me when I was playing soccer against a team that had Rich Brooks' daughter, Keri, on it. We both went up for a header. I was taller so I got the ball, she got my nose with her forehead and broke it (for it's third time).

 

[Shaboid]

Let's just win out. Hold up a middle finger to the entire NBA as we stroll into the playoffs with a 7 game winning streak.

 

[wizenheimer]

Utah seems pretty vulnerable without Mtichell and Conley, although I saw on another site that Conley might return for this game. He's been a Blazer killer lately

I'm about 62% expecting the Blazers to win one of the next two games....even though it's a B2B set.

they really need to go 2-1 over the final 3 games so they aren't depending on the Lakers to lose a game...or lose two games. They don't want to go 0-3 for sure. That would just about guarantee a matchup with the Warriors in the play-in, and it would mean the Blazers were 0-12 against the top-4 seeds in the West

 

[Shaboid]

It hasn't been mentioned this year as much as last year in the bubble, but tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan. Time for our two big fellas to FEAST! RHJ too, I suppose.

 

[Hoopguru]

Jusuf Nurkic: #PrayForPalestine

 

[julius]

That reminds me when I was playing soccer against a team that had Rich Brooks' daughter, Keri, on it. We both went up for a header. I was taller so I got the ball, she got my nose with her forehead and broke it (for it's third time).

Shit you're old.

 

[wizenheimer]

by the way, since 7 people voted for Melo taking the last shot in clutch time, I checked and his FG% in the clutch is 29.6%. He's averaging 0.89 points/shot

points/shot in clutch time:

Dame 1.76
RoCo 1.63
Kanter 1.38
CJ 1.22
Powell 1.15
Melo 0.89
Nurkic 0.88
Simons 0.71

http://www.82games.com/2021/2021POR.HTM

 

[KSF-ERIC]

by the way, since 7 people voted for Melo taking the last shot in clutch time, I checked and his FG% in the clutch is 29.6%. He's averaging 0.89 points/shot

points/shot in clutch time:

Dame 1.76
RoCo 1.63
Kanter 1.38
CJ 1.22
Powell 1.15
Melo 0.89
Nurkic 0.88
Simons 0.71

http://www.82games.com/2021/2021POR.HTM

I believe if you look at his entire career, he’s the most clutch player in NBA history. Highest shooting percentage on game winners, that is. I’ve seen the stats on that before. Slightly better than Jordan. Way better than Kobe.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/sports...e-winners-carmelo-anthony-more-042017684.html

Since 2003-2004, according to STATS Inc., he's been the best in the NBA at hitting shots in the final 30 seconds of a game to give his team a lead for good. He's done it 26 times, better than Kobe Bryant (22), LeBron James (20), Dirk Nowitzki (18) and Dwyane Wade (16).

You want it done in the final five seconds? According to ESPN Stats and Information, he's done that 17 times, four more than any other player since he came into the league.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

 

[wizenheimer]

I believe if you look at his entire career, he’s the most clutch player in NBA history. Highest shooting percentage, that is. I’ve seen the stats on that before. Slightly better than Jordan. Way better than Kobe.

2011-12: 1.01 points/shot
2012-13: 1.20 points/shot
2013-14: 1.11 points/shot
2014-15: 1.33 points/shot
2015-16: 1.26 points/shot
2016-17: 1.18 points/shot
2017-18: 0.75 points/shot
2019-20: 1.27 points/shot
2020-21: 0.89 points/shot

Dame over the last 5 seasons: 1.39 - 1.45 - 1.21 - 1.36 - 1.76

 

[KSF-ERIC]

2011-12: 1.01 points/shot
2012-13: 1.20 points/shot
2013-14: 1.11 points/shot
2014-15: 1.33 points/shot
2015-16: 1.26 points/shot
2016-17: 1.18 points/shot
2017-18: 0.75 points/shot
2019-20: 1.27 points/shot
2020-21: 0.89 points/shot

Dame over the last 5 seasons: 1.39 - 1.45 - 1.21 - 1.36 - 1.76

I’m talking game winning shots and not “clutch time.”

 

[wizenheimer]

I’m talking game winning shots and not “clutch time.”

you're also talking about a guy who isn't 27 anymore and has shot under 30% this season in the last 4 minutes of tight games

 

[Labinot41]

Keep in mind that none of Utah or Phoenix want to end-up 7th to play the Lakers in the 1st round. Utah just lost to the Warriors so losing to the Blazers and Phoenix winning its game means losing their first seed. The same goes for Phoenix. I don't see the Blazers winning both games