Game Thread GAME# 78: BLAZERS @ MAVERICKS - APRIL 3, 2018 - TUESDAY, 5:30 PM (PST), NBCSNW

[DDolla]

Here comes the Spurs lol

 

[BlazerBeav]

We look like we thought we locked in the third seed after the win in New Orleans. On the verge of a collapse.

 

[Jade Falcon]

Here comes the Spurs lol

And LaMarcus playing like he's 27 in Portland.

 

[KingSpeed]

This was a must win game.

Actually, it wasn't, thank heavens. It's not a must win game until a team beats us three times in the playoffs.

 

[Hoopguru]

It's simply a matter of who hits the most three's and plays decent D.
The Blazers live and die by the three most games. Their D has bailed them out some also, however, if they don't improve their shooting it won't , after what seed they finish.
This game is absolute evidence of leaning to much on three point shots and hero ball.

 

[BonesJones]

We'll win those. Besides SA might lose tonight.

San Antonio is up double digits early.. but yeah, they'll lose this game and we'll beat the Rockets. Right.

 

[kjironman1]

So do you guys really think they will lose 5 in a row to end the season?

 

[tykendo]

This game by far.

This one. Because we missed so many open looks. Thought the Blazers were flat energy wise all game except the last 2 min. The Mavericks were hot from 3, and just like Memphis, that's when you are gonna lose if you can't hit open looks. Hopefully Dame's ankle isn't as bad as it looked. Man that Mejri guy is an injury waiting to happen. He's so uncoordinated.

 

[BonesJones]

Smart ass.

 

[KingSpeed]

We look like we thought we locked in the third seed after the win in New Orleans. On the verge of a collapse.

We're good. It's one game. No one will care come playoff time. We're still in the driver seat. 5th best record in the NBA,

 

[BonesJones]

Actually, it wasn't, thank heavens. It's not a must win game until a team beats us three times in the playoffs.

Smart ass..

 

[BonesJones]

So do you guys really think they will lose 5 in a row to end the season?

Definitely possible.

 

[KingSpeed]

San Antonio is up double digits early.. but yeah, they'll lose this game and we'll beat the Rockets. Right.

Games aren't decided in the first few minutes. You know that.

 

[KingSpeed]

Definitely possible.

You haven't been paying attention if you honestly think we'll lose 5 games in a row to end the season.

 

[BonesJones]

Games aren't decided in the first few minutes. You know that.

So the 1st Quarter doesn't matter huh?

 

[tykendo]

San Antonio is up double digits early.. but yeah, they'll lose this game and we'll beat the Rockets. Right.

Unlikely without a healthy Dame. No Davis or Harkless to bring the heat on defense either. But weirder things happened, like losing to two of the worst teams in the last week.

 

[Hoopguru]

So do you guys really think they will lose 5 in a row to end the season?

it could happen very easily but we will see what these guys are made of and if they are worthy of a three/four see.

 

[kjironman1]

Definitely possible.

Nah. Not the way this season is going. They will win a couple more.

 

[Jade Falcon]

So do you guys really think they will lose 5 in a row to end the season?

I think we'll fight out one win. But yes, I think losing all 5 is entirely possible. Stotts simply does not have it in him to make this team step up in crucial times like this.

 

[TBpup]

Didn't even win a single quarter.

To Dallas? That is downright EMBARRASSING!!!

 

[KingSpeed]

Look it would've been nice if we beat Memphis and clinched tonight but as Shonz always said "Nobody said it was going to be easy!" Let's win these last 4 games and earn the third seed. Go Blazers.

 

[Cippy91]

Aminu has hit hit 10 of his last 51 threes. Lillard has hit 20 of his last 104. Cj 15 of his last 55. We all know ET sucks. Napier 11 of his last 27 (including 4/4 today). Pat 7 of 26. Collins 6 of 26.

There's why we've lost to a bunch of scrubs. Stotts has everyone chucking 3s, but no one has been hitting. Lillard and Aminu have been letting the team down pretty badly. Especially Dame. He's the reason this team will probably win 50 games this year, but if he gets credit for that, he also has to get some blame. He's been terrible from all over the field, but especially bad from three.

Simply put, the Blazers have a lot of poor shooters, but still insist on chucking them at a really high rate.

I don't think those stats reflect overall that they are bad shooters, they have just been missing. Collins is solid from three. Aminu is as well. Lillard and CJ are our best three point shooters. ET definitely isn't a good three point shooter and Bazz is also solid. They have just been missing a ton when previously most of those guys were on fire on that win streak. Moe as well before his injury. On fire from three. This team is just taking too many threes but i definitely think as of right now they need to go back to driving and pounding the ball inside to Nurk since he has been fairly consistent for a while now.

 

[Titan]

Here comes the Spurs lol

I guess I will be rooting for the Lakers tomorrow, yuck.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

To Dallas? That is downright EMBARRASSING!!!

No argument here.

Is it overboard to point out that if the Blazers lose the rest of their games and the Spurs, Jazz, and Wolves all win out, Portland could conceivably drop to 6th by next Wednesday?

 

[kjironman1]

Some good things about this game were Pat and Shabazz are hitting shots again. Leonard played another solid game.

 

[DreamKillah]

Hard to be happy after that gutless shit show . . .

 

[kjironman1]

No argument here.

Is it overboard to point out that if the Blazers lose the rest of their games and the Spurs, Jazz, and Wolves all win out, Portland could conceivably drop to 6th by next Wednesday?

Yeah. Neither of those things are probable. Possible yes. Probable no.

 

[HolyBackboard]

Another loss chalked up to Terry Stotts. I know it's an unpopular opinion around the Trail Blazers fan base, but yet again, Stotts' continued mismanagement of Jusuf Nurkic is costing us games to inferior teams.

Dallas had no rim protectors in the game the entire night and instead of feeding the Beast, he allows the team to throw up 40 3-pointers (10 by Aminu alone)!!! Nurk was 7-8 from the floor while players such as Aminu continue to have the green light to shoot any shot on the court. In my opinion, the only Blazers who have the green light to keep shooting when their shot's not dropping are Dame and CJ.

This same exact scenario played out last week in Memphis where Nurk was 5-6 and Gasol played minimal minutes. And if we want to go even father back, the Boston game unraveled when Portland went small and took out Nurkic after one pick and pop Al Horford 3.

While this is a glaring trend, and quite frankly terrifying if you're hopeful of this team making any noise in the post-season, it wasn't the reason Portland lost the game.

How on earth do you allow the Dallas Mavericks to score 115 on your defense? Where was the urgency? Dallas ran a simple pick and roll offense the entire night and we simply made no adjustments. It felt like Dallas was hitting every 3 they took, but they were really just 17-44. I won't blame Stotts entirely for the defensive output as the players didn't look mentally prepared for tonight's contest and with just five games to go and no playoff seeding locked up, that's pretty inexcusable.

 

[kjironman1]

Another loss chalked up to Terry Stotts. I know it's an unpopular opinion around the Trail Blazers fan base, but yet again, Stotts' continued mismanagement of Jusuf Nurkic is costing us games to inferior teams.

Dallas had no rim protectors in the game the entire night and instead of feeding the Beast, he allows the team to throw up 40 3-pointers (10 by Aminu alone)!!! Nurk was 7-8 from the floor while players such as Aminu continue to have the green light to shoot any shot on the court. In my opinion, the only Blazers who have the green light to keep shooting when their shot's not dropping are Dame and CJ.

This same exact scenario played out last week in Memphis where Nurk was 5-6 and Gasol played minimal minutes. And if we want to go even father back, the Boston game unraveled when Portland went small and took out Nurkic after one pick and pop Al Horford 3.

While this is a glaring trend, and quite frankly terrifying if you're hopeful of this team making any noise in the post-season, it wasn't the reason Portland lost the game.

How on earth do you allow the Dallas Mavericks to score 115 on your defense? Where was the urgency? Dallas ran a simple pick and roll offense the entire night and we simply made no adjustments. It felt like Dallas was hitting every 3 they took, but they were really just 17-44. I won't blame Stotts entirely for the defensive output as the players didn't look mentally prepared for tonight's contest and with just five games to go and no playoff seeding locked up, that's pretty inexcusable.

You do realize he was in foul trouble right?

 

[KingSpeed]

Why does Lonzo Ball miss a lot of games? What injury does he have?