Game Thread GAME# 71: BLAZERS @ MAVERICKS - MARCH 20, 2016 - SUNDAY, 1:00 PM (PST), CSNNW

[Natebishop3]

I thought we were 99% locked into the playoffs? I'd be okay with getting the pick still too.

I mean... we're only a half game ahead of the 8th spot, and only 3 games ahead in the win column against Utah. The way we're playing, I could see us falling out.

 

[kjironman1]

This year it hasnt' been great but he is also 12th in the league in % at that time, and its a down year for him in that regard. Your making it sounds like it was a god awful shot but he got a nice shot off, just go rewatch it, it was on point and barely missed. You can say "we should work harder to get a different shot" and I wont argue with you about that but you make it was the very worst thing that could have happened.

But it was a god awful shot. Please tell me anyone anywhere that thought that was a good shot to take right there. It's not how close it came it is the selection and the fact that it came out of a TO with over 13 seconds to take a better shot. Maybe even leave enough time for a rebound. Doesn't matter if you leave 3-4 seconds on the clock. You then rely on defense to win the game for you. That is what good teams do. Teams that don't believe in their defense run the clock down to the last second and heave a prayer.

 

[Rhal]

I mean... we're only a half game ahead of the 8th spot, and only 3 games ahead in the win column against Utah. The way we're playing, I could see us falling out.

8 of 11 at home with 6 of those being playoff teams and 4 of them we play at home. Thats not a bad schedule to end the season on while Utah has 13 games left 7 away 6 at home while they have 6 playoffs teams to play 4 of those at home but its against Thunder/Spurs/GSW are 3 of those.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

This year it hasnt' been great but he is also 12th in the league in % at that time, and its a down year for him in that regard. Your making it sounds like it was a god awful shot but he got a nice shot off, just go rewatch it, it was on point and barely missed. You can say "we should work harder to get a different shot" and I wont argue with you about that but you make it was the very worst thing that could have happened.

I won't speak for anyone else, but my problem is that it was a tie game. If we're down by 2, go for the win from 3, sure.

Default strategies:
If game is tied, drive when you have a defender isolated.
If you're cold, drive - dish or shoot.

So, for multiples reasons he shouldn't have shot the 3. That being said, I had far more problems with the refs than with Lillard, or anyone else.

 

[Rhal]

But it was a god awful shot. Please tell me anyone anywhere that thought that was a good shot to take right there. It's not how close it came it is the selection and the fact that it came out of a TO with over 13 seconds to take a better shot. Maybe even leave enough time for a rebound. Doesn't matter if you leave 3-4 seconds on the clock. You then rely on defense to win the game for you. That is what good teams do. Teams that don't believe in their defense run the clock down to the last second and heave a prayer.

How is it god awful when he got room took a nice looking shot and it didn't go in, yea he may hit that at a 25% clip this year but shots at the end of games are a lot harder to even get a good look at then at any other time, I doubt any team shoots over 40% in that situation. When its the situation like that any shot that you get off that looks good is a good shot.
I would have rather tried to find a different shot but with how they were hitting and the fact that allows us to run all time off the clock and not let them get a game wining shot i'm okay with that shot being taken.
edited because I misused the NBA miner tool.

 

[ripcityboy]

I'm just not okay with rushing it, if we can get a guy thats a good upgrade and isn't a horrible overpay sure then do it, but a horrible decision would be something like "we made the playoffs now spend tons of money to try and get past to the secound round " like paying Dwigh 120m. I'd rather bring in some bargains and maybe one big FA in Lillards window then talking ourselves into some big idea that we can take a big step next year and challenge the Spurs/GSW and end up giving DWight or Al Horford 120m when they dont' lineup with the rest of the team.

If we don't overpay or trade for a problem child.... how will we ever challenge anybody? You need at least two or three All Star quality players to build around and we have one. If this year proves anything its that you can only over achieve with underrated talent for so long. The ceiling isnt high enough to win more than one playoff series. The Blazers HAVE to acquire a premium talent this offseason. I'd they don't, then the exodus last offseason will start to happen all over again.

 

[Chris Craig]

I thought we were 99% locked into the playoffs? I'd be okay with getting the pick still too.

Oh we will be in the playoffs!

 

[HolyBackboard]

Stats that will make your skin crawl ...

Over Portland's last eight losses, they have allowed 122.6 points per game. In comparison, the NBA-worst Kings allow 109.6 ppg.

Deron Williams has two 30+ point performances this season (in 60 games) ... Guess who was the opponent in both of those contests? Portland.

With the way this defense is playing, I would really rather miss the playoffs than get embarrassed by OKC, SA, or GSW.

 

[BonesJones]

I'm just not okay with rushing it, if we can get a guy thats a good upgrade and isn't a horrible overpay sure then do it, but a horrible decision would be something like "we made the playoffs now spend tons of money to try and get past to the secound round " like paying Dwigh 120m. I'd rather bring in some bargains and maybe one big FA in Lillards window then talking ourselves into some big idea that we can take a big step next year and challenge the Spurs/GSW and end up giving DWight or Al Horford 120m when they dont' lineup with the rest of the team.

Al Horford doesn't lineup with the rest of the team? He is a perfect fit for us. Id live to have a starting lineup of Lillard/McCollum/Parsons/Davis/Horford

 

[HolyBackboard]

Apologies if this has been discussed, but why did Portland call timeout after Dallas missed both of those FTs in regulation? Push the ball up the court and attack. Don't call a timeout and let the defense regroup. Dallas is an aging team who is not known for their defense ... I'm just not seeing the logic in the timeout with the game tied. You're essentially playing with house money with the game tied, so why not put the pressure on them? There's also a better chance of getting a mismatch out of the transition defense than a set play out of a timeout.

 

[TBpup]

Stats that will make your skin crawl ...

Over Portland's last eight losses, they have allowed 122.6 points per game. In comparison, the NBA-worst Kings allow 109.6 ppg.

Deron Williams has two 30+ point performances this season (in 60 games) ... Guess who was the opponent in both of those contests? Portland.

With the way this defense is playing, I would really rather miss the playoffs than get embarrassed by OKC, SA, or GSW.

Quite right....look at this road trip. Blazer guards can score but you have to play defense too.

Westbrook - triple/double in the 1st half.
Parker - season high 16 assists.
Holiday - 30 points
Williams - 31 points

That is brutal!! It is also why I've been a proponent of CJ coming off the bench so someone like Crabbe or Henderson can play D on the other teams best backcourt scorer. With Dame/CJ, they give up as much as they score against better backcourts.

 

[Sinobas]

Al-Foruq-off! Why did we pay this guy? We need an upgrade, and Aminu should come off the bench. Most guys get up to play against their former team, but Aminu sucked, missing so many wide open 3s.

 

[TBpup]

Apologies if this has been discussed, but why did Portland call timeout after Dallas missed both of those FTs in regulation?

Especially if what they did was they play they called Time Out for.....yuck.

 

[Chris Craig]

Quite right....look at this road trip. Blazer guards can score but you have to play defense too.

Westbrook - triple/double in the 1st half.
Parker - season high 16 assists.
Holiday - 30 points
Williams - 31 points

That is brutal!! It is also why I've been a proponent of CJ coming off the bench so someone like Crabbe or Henderson can play D on the other teams best backcourt scorer. With Dame/CJ, they give up as much as they score against better backcourts.

Crabbe can't play D to save his life

 

[TBpup]

Crabbe can't play D to save his life

He may not be good but he's still better than Dame or CJ....sadly.

 

[kjironman1]

How is it god awful when he got room took a nice looking shot and it didn't go in, yea he may hit that at a 25% clip this year but shots at the end of games are a lot harder to even get a good look at then at any other time, I doubt any team shoots over 40% in that situation. When its the situation like that any shot that you get off that looks good is a good shot.
I would have rather tried to find a different shot but with how they were hitting and the fact that allows us to run all time off the clock and not let them get a game wining shot i'm okay with that shot being taken.
edited because I misused the NBA miner tool.

Well i guess you found someone somewhere that feels that was a good shot. Heck you even called it nice looking.
He was off balance with a defender in his face. Not one pass was made to anyone anywhere.

 

[kjironman1]

Al-Foruq-off! Why did we pay this guy? We need an upgrade, and Aminu should come off the bench. Most guys get up to play against their former team, but Aminu sucked, missing so many wide open 3s.

Mavs fans were singing Cuban's praises every time he missed. Go read their thread. They are so glad he is gone.

 

[kjironman1]

Apologies if this has been discussed, but why did Portland call timeout after Dallas missed both of those FTs in regulation? Push the ball up the court and attack. Don't call a timeout and let the defense regroup. Dallas is an aging team who is not known for their defense ... I'm just not seeing the logic in the timeout with the game tied. You're essentially playing with house money with the game tied, so why not put the pressure on them? There's also a better chance of getting a mismatch out of the transition defense than a set play out of a timeout.

Great point. If you listen to Rice before the second miss he actually asked that question. Should have pushed the ball and pounded it inside at the very least drew a foul.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Apologies if this has been discussed, but why did Portland call timeout after Dallas missed both of those FTs in regulation? Push the ball up the court and attack. Don't call a timeout and let the defense regroup. Dallas is an aging team who is not known for their defense ... I'm just not seeing the logic in the timeout with the game tied. You're essentially playing with house money with the game tied, so why not put the pressure on them? There's also a better chance of getting a mismatch out of the transition defense than a set play out of a timeout.

IMO it s because he did not want to take the chance of not getting the last shot. Same reason why he had Dame take a long 3.

 

[kjironman1]

IMO it s because he did not want to take the chance of not getting the last shot. Same reason why he had Dame take a long 3.

Yes that was probably it but they had plenty of time to talk this over and even did substitutions.
I really like Stotts as a coach but on this one i think he simply made a mistake. Live and learn.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

Why is Aminu taking 12 three pointers?

Probably because Mavericks strategy was to leave him wide open.

 

[kjironman1]

Probably because Mavericks strategy was to leave him wide open.

And boy was he wide open a lot of times.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I'm really impressed with what Plums did. He has games where he looks like a top-5 center.

We're playing with three legitimate starters.

A SF is needed.

A veteran PF is needed.

 

[Chris Craig]

He may not be good but he's still better than Dame or CJ....sadly.

If Crabbe worked on his D, he would be a solid player...CJ is to damned selfish with the ball...the only way he'll pass is if he loses the ball and another Blazers saves it...

 

[Pinwheel1]

Yes that was probably it but they had plenty of time to talk this over and even did substitutions.
I really like Stotts as a coach but on this one i think he simply made a mistake. Live and learn.

Yes that is what I posted during the time out as well as right after it happened. I knew it was coming and was not in favor of it.

 

[Draco]

Quite right....look at this road trip. Blazer guards can score but you have to play defense too.

Westbrook - triple/double in the 1st half.
Parker - season high 16 assists.
Holiday - 30 points
Williams - 31 points

That is brutal!! It is also why I've been a proponent of CJ coming off the bench so someone like Crabbe or Henderson can play D on the other teams best backcourt scorer. With Dame/CJ, they give up as much as they score against better backcourts.

Crabbe is arguably a worse defender than CJ. He commits more fouls than our foul prone bigs and gives up easy layups. I could see a legit argument for Henderson starting defensively though.

If you look at our team defense the one common denominator to all the terrible lineups is Lillard. We've had excellent defense with just CJ in the game.

With Dame on court our opponents get 109.7; off court 104.2
CJ on court 106.8 off court 110.4

In 2014-15 opponents scored 105.2 with Dame on the court 100.4 with him off.

Some may wonder if the team would be better by trading Lillard?

 

[dviss1]

Missed the game... How the HELL do we score 120 and lose.....?

 

[Draco]

I'm really impressed with what Plums did. He has games where he looks like a top-5 center.

We're playing with three legitimate starters.

A SF is needed.

A veteran PF is needed.

Aminu is fine. Yeah it'd be nice if we had this perfect SF who defends, creates his own shot and hits threes but theres what maybe 7 of those in the league? Aminu makes enough three's and covers up for our backcourts defense. He's making less stupid turnovers than when he started this year; I suspect he improves further after a full year with teammates and familiarity. I like Aminu along with our starters where we don't need offense. He's a productive role player and fits well with Dame, CJ and Plumlee. That trio has really good offense. Off the bench we normally want more offensive punch than Aminu has.

The problem right now is we basically have Vonleh as that same defensive player with limited offense alongside Aminu. That's a bad pair. One of them needs to be upgraded. If we had a legit PF we wouldn't notice the problems at the SF spot. We could even play Aminu at PF with the right starting SF here; so really I think we can aim for an upgrade at either starting forward spot.

 

[WillG]

If you look at our team defense the one common denominator to all the terrible lineups is Lillard. We've had excellent defense with just CJ in the game.

With Dame on court our opponents get 109.7; off court 104.2
CJ on court 106.8 off court 110.4

Some may wonder if the team would be better by trading Lillard?

As much as we all love Lillard; it's a good question, and one that has to be asked to fully investigate all avenues of improving the team in the long run.

We would get a much bigger return from trading Lillard, vs trading CJ, that could potentially provide a more substantial upgrade/ or upgrades at multiple positions for the team.

 

[kjironman1]

As much as we all love Lillard; it's a good question, and one that has to be asked to fully investigate all avenues of improving the team in the long run.

We would get a much bigger return from trading Lillard, vs trading CJ, that could potentially provide a more substantial upgrade/ or upgrades at multiple positions for the team.

It's a couple losses against good teams and now you guys are "Trading" the best PG this team has seen in decades.....
Think about that.