Game Thread GAME# 72: NUGGETS @ BLAZERS - MAY 16, 2021 - SUNDAY, 6:00, NBCSNW

[garbagetime]

Dallas can also choose to tank, and i bet they will to avoid the Clippers. In that scenario, Portland wins against Denver, Clippers lose to OKC, and Dallas loses to Minnesota. We end up as the 5th and play the Clippers at 4th, Dallas at 6th plays the Nuggets at 3rd

That is the most likely outcome since the Clippers will definitely be tanking against OKC as they did last night against Houston. They have already shown their weak ass dishonorable hand. This means that the Mavs will be tanking in order to play Denver as they are better off doing that without Murray than playing the Chippers after Leonard and George have finished resting and healing their fake injuries. That leaves the Blazers playing the Chippers in a 4/5 matchup. This league is a joke and every single tanking team should be fined in the neighborhood of $10 to $40 million for being chumps and destroying the integrity of the game. With the reffing as bad as it is, the integrity of this garbage league is already questionable, so all this tanking merely solidifies the league as a refuge for guys who don't want to play every game and can take off as often as they want ala Kyrie Irving with impunity.

 

[Serbian]

Dallas can also choose to tank, and i bet they will to avoid the Clippers. In that scenario, Portland wins against Denver, Clippers lose to OKC, and Dallas loses to Minnesota. We end up as the 5th and play the Clippers at 4th, Dallas at 6th plays the Nuggets at 3rd

What about if mavricks tank and loose but clippers beat okc and we beat Denver? Then clippers are 3rd and mavs are 6th? And we are 5th denver 4th? Not sure...actually I believe Clippers will have hard task loosing to okc even if they tried i think they still beat okc. So mavricks cant fuck around or they end up playing clippers

 

[Chris Craig]

What about if mavricks tank and loose but clippers beat okc and we beat Denver? Then clippers are 3rd and mavs are 6th? And we are 5th denver 4th? Not sure

If that happens and Lakers win

Clippers are 3rd
Denver 4th

Dallas, Blazers, Lakers would be tied.

Dallas wins tie breaker with division win for 5th

Blazers win 2nd tie breaker get 6th

Lakers 7th

 

[Serbian]

If that happens and Lakers win

Clippers are 3rd
Denver 4th

Dallas, Blazers, Lakers would be tied.

Dallas wins tie breaker with division win for 5th

Blazers win 2nd tie breaker get 6th

Lakers 7th

ah yes that pathetic division. Who the fuck has ever cared about division? I just dont get how we have tiebreaker over mavs but because of 3 way tie they get tie breaker because of their division

 

[Chris Craig]

ah yes that pathetic division. Who the fuck has ever cared about division? I just dont get how we have tiebreaker over mavs but because of 3 way tie they get tie breaker because of their division

Yeah, it sucks

 

[Fairly-Hard]

None of this matters anymore IMO.
The Blazers should shut it down.
Not one starter should see the court tomorrow as well as Kanter and Melo.
Simons, Elleby, Little, RHJ, DJJ, Giles, Blevins, TJ Leaf

That is an 8 man rotation and they are mostly well rested and healthy. Lets these guys play all out every minute.

 

[illmatic99]

Denver is gonna tank. They'd be stupid not to. Hope it adds to the bulletin board material for the playoffs.

 

[wizenheimer]

None of this matters anymore IMO.
The Blazers should shut it down.
Not one starter should see the court tomorrow as well as Kanter and Melo.
Simons, Elleby, Little, RHJ, DJJ, Giles, Blevins, TJ Leaf

That is an 8 man rotation and they are mostly well rested and healthy. Lets these guys play all out every minute.

Blazers have a minutes template in their recent past:

 

[Fairly-Hard]

Blazers have a minutes template in their recent past:

View attachment 38536

Nice!

I do understand there are chances of things happening differently. Just my gut feeling that it really won't matter in the end as much as resting the players and avoiding any further injuries.
Also as that game shows. The bench can go out and win a game. We have some players that can ball.
Simons
Little
Jones
Jefferson
Giles
Can all contribute. Even Elleby had a pretty decent game this year.
It would be a fun game to watch for me.

 

[garbagetime]

Nuggets will TANK on Sunday. Why risk injury and beating a team like us which is do or die so they can get 3rd seed and play lakers? The clippers will be hard pressed to loose to OKC who is worst team in nba even with all bench it he tough for okc to win but even if OKC wins, the nuggets got nothing from beating us and then facing lakers. They at least could play us as 6th seed instead of lakers. If clippers win then Denver looses they play mavricks. No way anyone wants to play lakers in 1st round with the refs being 6th man for lakers

I agree with what you say, but you are assuming that the Clips will try to play a real game against OKC. They didn't against Houston. They would be fools to try to set up a matchup with the Blazers, not so much because the Blazers are so good, but more so because they are better than the Mavs. So, why would the Clips try to get a 3/6 matchup with the Blazers when they can tank and get a 4/5 matcchup with Dallas. That is, unless the Mavs get cute and tank against Minn when they see that the Blazers are winning and the Clips losing. They will then tank and shoot for the 6 spot to get the depleted Nuggets and let the Clips and Blazers slug it out with full squads.

 

[blazerkor]

Denver is gonna tank. They'd be stupid not to. Hope it adds to the bulletin board material for the playoffs.

https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-ne...e-on-potentially-ducking-lebron-james-lakers/

Looks like according to you they're going to be stupid not to. I guess we'll see tomorrow but this doesn't seem like spin to me.

 

[Chris Craig]

It's going to be a strange game. Denver will try to tank but the refs will be trying to help the Lakers

 

[Titan]

The end of the season could be a lose and you actually win scenario for some teams.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

If i were the Blazers i would rather play Denver but i would also rather play the Jazz before playing the Clippers.

My friend is telling me the NBA is rigging a Lakers vs Clippers series and a Knicks vs Nets series. Both for the second round. So essentially you absolutely don't want to draw any of those four teams in the first round.
I hate conspiracy theories but i could see this.

If the NBA rigged games, why wasn’t there Lakers/Clippers last year? Clips had three chances to make WCF and blew all 3 despite big leads.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

What truly sucks is the division winner tie breaker. We played the same amount of games in division as out in conference. Why does winning the division matter? Blazers should win the 3way having won the season series against both of them.

 

[illmatic99]

https://clutchpoints.com/nuggets-ne...e-on-potentially-ducking-lebron-james-lakers/

Looks like according to you they're going to be stupid not to. I guess we'll see tomorrow but this doesn't seem like spin to me.

this is foolish and all talk. let's see what happens when they're faced with a situation down 10 going into the fourth if they'll actually bring jokic back into the game.

that team pulled this same shit two yrs ago to try to get us/OKC in round 2 and avoid GS. They got what they wanted and still lost a game 7 at home.

 

[blazerkor]

this is foolish and all talk. let's see what happens when they're faced with a situation down 10 going into the fourth if they'll actually bring jokic back into the game.

that team pulled this same shit two yrs ago to try to get us/OKC in round 2 and avoid GS. They got what they wanted and still lost a game 7 at home.

We will see tomorrow. It would probably be smart for them to lose this game on purpose, Jokic just doesn't seem like he's down with that... he is just a player though. If they do lose it on purpose, that will be better for us. We'll have our spot in the playoffs and have at least five days to rest and practice.

 

[Zach Collins Enthusiast]

Yeah, i think we are pretty alone here with that take. It’s mind blowing to me just to even think that the Blazers have a chance against the Clippers, like you said it would be worse than what the fucking Pelicans did to us. When we play the Clippers, i can already see the double teams coming at Dame at half court, and how unprepared and how clueless the Players and that Motherfucker Stotts will be. Not to mention that nobody is gonna stop Kawhi on the other end. It will be a disaster on National TV again

If the double teams come he passes to CJ

 

[Labinot41]

If the double teams come he passes to CJ

That worked really well against the Pelicans.

 

[stampedehero]

Nuggets at Blazers, 9 p.m. ET

For the Portland Trail Blazers, it's not complicated: Beat the Denver Nuggets, get a top-six seed. The Blazers can even move up to fifth if the Dallas Mavericks lose at Minnesota by virtue of a tiebreaker in hand. Whom Portland would play in the first round is complex, and it involves Denver.

If the Blazers win on Sunday, the Nuggets would fall to fourth, but only if the Thunder also beat the Clippers. If the Clippers win, the Clips are the 3-seed and the Nuggets are fourth, no matter what. And with the Lakers potentially looming as the 6-seed, moving to the 3-seed might not seem that appealing. -- Royce Young

 

[stampedehero]

If the double teams come he passes to CJ

..........and with our luck, they steal, score and subsequently we foul the shooter on his layup drive.

 

[Labinot41]

I put 10€ for a possible win of 1800€, wish me luck. I got:

Hawks/Rockets: Over 232.5
Brooklyn/Cavs: Win Brooklyn -11.5
Detroit/Miami: Win Miami -5.5
Pelicans/Lakers: Win Lakers -9.5
Blazers/Nuggets: Win Blazers
Minnesota/Dallas: Win Minnesota
Clippers/OKC: Win OKC

 

[Scalma]

None of this matters anymore IMO.
The Blazers should shut it down.
Not one starter should see the court tomorrow as well as Kanter and Melo.
Simons, Elleby, Little, RHJ, DJJ, Giles, Blevins, TJ Leaf

That is an 8 man rotation and they are mostly well rested and healthy. Lets these guys play all out every minute.

We don’t have the playoffs locked up, so why would we sit anyone? We could easily choke in the play in games. Losing two games isn’t that hard.

 

[Hoopguru]

It's going to be a strange game. Denver will try to tank but the refs will be trying to help the Lakers

Thats correct!

 

[Fairly-Hard]

We don’t have the playoffs locked up, so why would we sit anyone? We could easily choke in the play in games. Losing two games isn’t that hard.

Right now the odds are 98% that the Blazers make the playoffs.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba...-seeding-scenarios/1qrw68mnm5a9e1aufr9fqwsfgk

 

[Scalma]

Right now the odds are 98% that the Blazers make the playoffs.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nba...-seeding-scenarios/1qrw68mnm5a9e1aufr9fqwsfgk

And it’ll be 0% if they tank tonight and then choke two games in the tournament. Why not try and avoid that possibility?

 

[Fairly-Hard]

And it’ll be 0% if they tank tonight and then choke two games in the tournament. Why not try and avoid that possibility?

I agree with you there. It would be best to win today. I just happen to feel by the time it's all said and done little will matter.
Also that 98% is presuming the Blazers play their starters and try to win so your point is very valid as well.

 

[riverman]

Starting today every quarter of the game is like a playoff game itself.....it's going to be an interesting playoffs this season...I like our chances...Go Blazers!

 

[Chris Craig]

What truly sucks is the division winner tie breaker. We played the same amount of games in division as out in conference. Why does winning the division matter? Blazers should win the 3way having won the season series against both of them.

It didn't use to. It used to be who had the better winning percentage in all games among the tied teams. They changed it.

 

[twobullz]

If the Blazers win today, they get a week off to rest and recover. Why would they want to sit their starters and have to play multiple games when they could have a week off. Makes 0 sense not to play the starters get the win and rest for a week.