Game Thread GAME# 73: BLAZERS @ CLIPPERS - MARCH 24, 2016 - THURSDAY, 7:30 PM (PDT), CSNNW

[Scalma]

Aminu should've been in there as well when Crawford tied it. Or was he? I'd rather have him chase redick around than mccollum, at least his length will be there.

 

[theprunetang]

Hard to count because of all the TV timeouts and then there was a ref stoppage for review.

True, but review stoppage doesn't count. There has to be video footage of the timeout situation. Regardless, nothing could ever come of it. It would just be nice to know.

 

[illmatic99]

I was thinking they could have fouled when they were up by three. Give then 2 free throws and make them foul to get the ball back. But in the end it's just another way to go.

Given our usual late game execution, we woulda fucked it up

 

[HolyBackboard]

Chalk up another loss because of Stotts. I'm getting so tired of his decisions lately. Why in the world would you intentionally foul when your team has all the momentum, is up 7, and there's three minutes left to play?

That decision completely changed the rhythm of the game and the Clips were tough to stop on offense once that foul took place.

The players need to take some blame too. No clue why Harkless is fouling CP3 immediately after the Hack-a-Jordan, either. Also, when there's 11 seconds left and the game is tied, you MUST leave no time left on the clock.

We just can't seem to break through on the road over this past month of so ... beyond frustrating.

 

[Draco]

I was thinking they could have fouled when they were up by three. Give then 2 free throws and make them foul to get the ball back. But in the end it's just another way to go.

What happens when they get the offensive rebound off the second free throw or they foul us and we miss a free throw or we just plain turn it over?

Only way you can ever foul when up 3 is if there's less than 5 seconds and the opponent doesn't have a timeout and its a fast enough smart defender to foul without doing in the act of shooting a 3; extremely rare circumstances to all come together at once.

 

[Strenuus]

Then ban him or ignore him. You bitching about every single thing he writes is actually more annoying than what he writes. I mean who gives a shit?

 

[LuckyShot]

Chalk up another loss because of Stotts. I'm getting so tired of his decisions lately. Why in the world would you intentionally foul when your team has all the momentum, is up 7, and there's three minutes left to play?

That decision completely changed the rhythm of the game and the Clips were tough to stop on offense once that foul took place.

The players need to take some blame too. No clue why Harkless is fouling CP3 immediately after the Hack-a-Jordan, either. Also, when there's 11 seconds left and the game is tied, you MUST leave no time left on the clock.

We just can't seem to break through on the road over this past month of so ... beyond frustrating.

Can't seem to stay out of our own way long enough to close it out.

 

[Strenuus]

Chalk up another loss because of Stotts. I'm getting so tired of his decisions lately. Why in the world would you intentionally foul when your team has all the momentum, is up 7, and there's three minutes left to play?

That decision completely changed the rhythm of the game and the Clips were tough to stop on offense once that foul took place.

The players need to take some blame too. No clue why Harkless is fouling CP3 immediately after the Hack-a-Jordan, either. Also, when there's 11 seconds left and the game is tied, you MUST leave no time left on the clock.

We just can't seem to break through on the road over this past month of so ... beyond frustrating.

From what it sounded like... Harkless was going to foul Jordan (there was 2:11 left) intentionally... and Paul got in front of Jordan.

 

[theprunetang]

Chalk up another loss because of Stotts. I'm getting so tired of his decisions lately. Why in the world would you intentionally foul when your team has all the momentum, is up 7, and there's three minutes left to play?

That decision completely changed the rhythm of the game and the Clips were tough to stop on offense once that foul took place.

The players need to take some blame too. No clue why Harkless is fouling CP3 immediately after the Hack-a-Jordan, either. Also, when there's 11 seconds left and the game is tied, you MUST leave no time left on the clock.

We just can't seem to break through on the road over this past month of so ... beyond frustrating.

Harkless made a mistake and will learn from that. But, he was really close to a steal on that play. It wasn't intentional or anything. That is a very tough learning experience. Don't touch a superstar at the end of a game.

 

[illmatic99]

I'm hoping these late game snafus are due to youth.

 

[Draco]

Then ban him or ignore him. You bitching about every single thing he writes is actually more annoying than what he writes. I mean who gives a shit?

Agreed. Please ignore annoying posters instead of replying with similarly annoying posts.

 

[Strenuus]

Agreed. Please ignore annoying posters instead of replying with similarly annoying posts.

 

[BlazerBeav]

I'm hoping these late game snafus are due to youth.

I hate that excuse - these guys have all played basketball for years.

 

[Draco]

Chalk up another loss because of Stotts. I'm getting so tired of his decisions lately. Why in the world would you intentionally foul when your team has all the momentum, is up 7, and there's three minutes left to play?

That decision completely changed the rhythm of the game and the Clips were tough to stop on offense once that foul took place.

The players need to take some blame too. No clue why Harkless is fouling CP3 immediately after the Hack-a-Jordan, either. Also, when there's 11 seconds left and the game is tied, you MUST leave no time left on the clock.

We just can't seem to break through on the road over this past month of so ... beyond frustrating.

He was 4-14 from the line. It was a good strategy by Stotts. Play the percentages. With his season percentage 81% of the time he misses one or two. Great odds just one of many unlikely events that all went against us.

 

[HolyBackboard]

Harkless made a mistake and will learn from that. But, he was really close to a steal on that play. It wasn't intentional or anything. That is a very tough learning experience. Don't touch a superstar at the end of a game.

I'm not blaming, Moe. He was one of the best players on the court tonight and he's always aggressive, which I'll take over a passive player any day of the week. It's more Stotts' strategy of intentionally fouling. Just play defense!

I would have liked the team to call timeout once Dame was getting denied at the end of the game. That last possession was ...

 

[HolyBackboard]

He was 4-14 from the line. It was a good strategy by Stotts. Play the percentages. With his season percentage 81% of the time he misses one or two. Great odds just one of many unlikely events that all went against us.

Why, though? We had all the momentum and it changed the rhythm and flow of the game. Make the Clippers work for their points and take some time off the clock in doing so.

 

[Cippy91]

I refuse to blame the coach. Guys look at all the open shots missed. Harkless made mistakes, Plumlee had a crucial turnover in the 4th. It's just a young team still growing and learning. Chill

 

[illmatic99]

I'm not blaming, Moe. He was one of the best players on the court tonight and he's always aggressive, which I'll take over a passive player any day of the week. It's more Stotts' strategy of intentionally fouling. Just play defense!

I would have liked the team to call timeout once Dame was getting denied at the end of the game. That last possession was ...

Refresh my memory. Was that Crabbe inbounding the ball there?

Horrible decision to get it to Ed 25' from the basket in that situation. That too with a timeout remaining.

Also, how the fuck does CP still get away with his cheap shit still? Dude was mugging Dame on that last possession

 

[Strenuus]

Sorry. Overboard.

Stepping away for a bit.

 

[HailBlazers]

I hate that excuse - these guys have all played basketball for years.

And the veterans on the opposing team even more.

 

[Draco]

Why, though? We had all the momentum and it changed the rhythm and flow of the game. Make the Clippers work for their points and take some time off the clock in doing so.

Clipps just called a timeout and setup a play and got better offensive players in the game. They can hit three's in a flurry as we saw with Reddick and Crawford at the end. They have a great chance to score at that time despite what happened a few minutes earlier. There was still 4 minutes left; plenty in a 7 point game. Maybe Clippers have to yank DeAndre from the game for a minute when we foul and he is certainly a difference maker on both ends. If he misses both as often happens Stotts made the right play.

Of course its easy to say with hindsight what should have been done because we know what was done didn't work. But in a similar situation in the future I like fouling DeAndre and hope to see us do it again.

 

[HolyBackboard]

Thoughts on sitting Lillard for the Philly game? He rolled both ankles tonight and we should be able to beat the Sixers handily (I know we lost by 25 earlier this year to them).

 

[Draco]

Thoughts on sitting Lillard for the Philly game? He rolled both ankles tonight and we should be able to beat the Sixers handily (I know we lost by 25 earlier this year to them).

If trainers say he has no higher risk of reinjury he can play. Keep his minutes at or under 30. We have rest days before and after.

I would sit Dame and CJ and anyone else with accumulated fatigue against Golden State. Thats game two of a 4 games in 5 day stretch and our only back to backs left. Golden State will have a rest day. We need every other win we can get. We may be favored in every other game the rest of the season. Miami will be playing second of a back to back on long trip and 3 in 4 nights. Boston is a coin flip. OKC won't have anything to play for and will be playing 3 in 4 nights; they may sit starters. If we can beat all the cellar dwellers 7-2 is certainly in play here on out. That gives us a 50/50 chance at the 5 seed.

 

[illmatic99]

Thoughts on sitting Lillard for the Philly game? He rolled both ankles tonight and we should be able to beat the Sixers handily (I know we lost by 25 earlier this year to them).

Both him and CJ I'd sit. We have enough to handle Philly

 

[handiman]

Both him and CJ I'd sit. We have enough to handle Philly

We might win a rugby match without those two, but a basketball game? Maybe if we hold the cheese stakes below 60 pts...

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Our two best players had mediocre games. Still, this game was stolen.

When shots aren't falling this team goes on long droughts because they have no low-post scorer.

Oh, if Rivers playing his son this many minutes isn't nepotism I don't know what is.

 

[Tunchi]

I'll tell you what it was better than I expected

 

[kjironman1]

What happens when they get the offensive rebound off the second free throw or they foul us and we miss a free throw or we just plain turn it over?

Only way you can ever foul when up 3 is if there's less than 5 seconds and the opponent doesn't have a timeout and its a fast enough smart defender to foul without doing in the act of shooting a 3; extremely rare circumstances to all come together at once.

Well on that note. You are absolutely wrong on fouling with only 5 seconds left and i can give you countless examples but just for fun i'll play along. What happens when you give up a 3 to Crawford and they tie it up. That didn't turn out so well now did it? You can go Doomsday on any approach. The Blazers played their heart out on the second of a B2B in their gym. I didn't have that game picked as a win in the first place. Now they get a long stretch of home cookin. It will get them time to work on things in practice. Defense and late game situations i am sure will all be part of that practice time. I expect to see a much improved Blazer team in the next 2 weeks. Just like the last time they spent a long period playing at home.

 

[blue32]

Tough loss, Dame -3 ouch. poor shooting night for him. I didn't get to the see the last 5 minutes, but we were up. Bummer

 

[illmatic99]

Still pissed, but I'm getting over it. It does seem like we have had an unusually large # of losses like that.

Corey Brewer, ZBo, Dirk, Redick, etc. Man, this has been so tough.