Game Thread GAME# 8: PELICANS @ BLAZERS - NOVEMBER 1, 2018 - THURSDAY, 7:30 PM (PDT), TNT

[KingSpeed]

Barkley just said: "The Blazers got it all!"

He predicts the Blazers to finish above the Pelicans this season.

Nice!! Did he say anything more specific?

 

[e_blazer]

Wait what? We’re a jump shooting team

We’re a damned good jump shooting team.

 

[tlongII]

Don’t get me wrong, I love the new bench... way more firepower... I just want to see them beat a couple good teams at full health before getting excited... but no matter how much Blazers have improved, still need a Jimmy Butler type player to become a legit title contender

We don’t need Jimmy Butler. Adding Sauce and Seth and having ET play point forward solidified our bench. We will be a title contender if Collins develops the way I think he will.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

How can you score 132, outrebound your opponent, and hold your opponent to 22 in 4th quarter but think you didn’t play well?? Pay attention. It was a great win.

They basically played one good quarter and 3 mediocre ones.

 

[ripcityboy]

He deserves all the shit he gets. Sick of hearing anyone criticizing him being labeled a hater. At 25m per he’s held to a different standard than anybody else on the team outside of Lillard. That’s how it works.

I'm just frustrated because he's better than this. And it's like his role on the team isn't registering or he's doesn't realize how bad his play is.

 

[Labinot41]

I have to give olshey credit for extend Laymans Contract, dude knows his role and is finaly hiting some shots

 

[TBpup]

And in the last 5 games he is shooting 75% from deep. He is slowly getting better each game. He had some mistakes on D but the block sure looked nice.

Given the very limited minutes he has received (tough to get much of a rhythm), I'm not sure what more Stotts could expect from him.

 

[James lamphear]

The offensive was good from 1st and 2nd unit. All the fouls tonight what kept NO in the game. But again we gave up to many offense rebounds. Aminu not bad and Nurk not bad but Layman is not good rebounder for his position. I think that what we miss Harkless is his rebounding and defense.

 

[DollaBel]

We did NOT play well, I don’t care what the stats say that was ugly, and very reminiscent of the Wizards game. Only difference was Morris decided to steal Mirotic’s shooting ability for that game and Mirotic hasn’t gotten it back yet

 

[Chris Craig]

Shaq and Charles giving blazers props

 

[Scalma]

And in the last 5 games he is shooting 75% from deep. He is slowly getting better each game. He had some mistakes on D but the block sure looked nice.

I’d say play him more but I’m ok with gradual development as long as he eventually gets more minutes.

 

[KingSpeed]

They basically played one good quarter and 3 mediocre ones.

We were ahead after every quarter

 

[BonesJones]

Our interior defense has been bad except for Zach, theres mental errors all over the place, bad communication. The defense is not good.
Part of it is the fouls, it feels like the NBA is really pushing teams away from even being able to play defense, you’re allowed to waive at them while they shoot but anything else and they’ll probably call a foul.

Our defensive efficiency is pretty much identical compared to last year..

 

[Pinwheel1]

The offensive was good from 1st and 2nd unit. All the fouls tonight what kept NO in the game. But again we gave up to many offense rebounds. Aminu not bad and Nurk not bad but Layman is not good rebounder for his position. I think that what we miss Harkless is his rebounding and defense.

Defense yes but Hark did not rebound well last year. (2.7 per game). He started to rebound better this year but I wonder if that is because he played mostly PF to start this season.

 

[James lamphear]

We did NOT play well, I don’t care what the stats say that was ugly, and very reminiscent of the Wizards game. Only difference was Morris decided to steal Mirotic’s shooting ability for that game and Mirotic hasn’t gotten it back yet

It look ugly due to that there was so many whistle in game.

 

[BonesJones]

He deserves all the shit he gets. Sick of hearing anyone criticizing him being labeled a hater. At 25m per he’s held to a different standard than anybody else on the team outside of Lillard. That’s how it works.

You've been throwing around the "hater" term more than anyone else.

 

[James lamphear]

Defense yes but Hark did not rebound well last year. (2.7 per game). He started to rebound better this year but I wonder if that is because he played mostly PF.

Could be that the case.

 

[oldmangrouch]

How can you score 132, outrebound your opponent, and hold your opponent to 22 in 4th quarter but think you didn’t play well?? Pay attention. It was a great win.

Did you watch the first 3 quarters?

 

[Scalma]

Swanigan had some man boards tonight, boards I know Meyers wouldn’t have even been in position to grab. And it might just be me, but he looks better moving laterally defensively. He’s still slow, but it’s not as bad as I remember.

 

[Labinot41]

Evan Turner the point guard is a lot better than Evan Turner the floor spacer.

 

[Pinwheel1]

We did NOT play well, I don’t care what the stats say that was ugly, and very reminiscent of the Wizards game. Only difference was Morris decided to steal Mirotic’s shooting ability for that game and Mirotic hasn’t gotten it back yet

It was a very frustrating game to watch. No flow. Very physical and lots of fouls. Then as the game went on..everyone looked tired. They kept talking about N.O playing back to back, but the Blazers have played 5 games in a week (Thur-Thurs) Completely different game from the Houston game.

 

[Chris Craig]

Yelled some this game. Mostly second half. Not at 100% at all. Gonna go rest my vocal chords. Took the advise and had hard candys on hand. Gotta go somewhat easy till i'm back at 100%

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Our defensive efficiency is pretty much identical compared to last year..

I dont know a nice way to say this, but whether the stats say they’re playing good defense or not when I watch them it is so easy to see a very bipolar defensive team. Yes they go through stretches of good defense (especially with Zach), but they go through stretches of playing some of the laziest defense too. Mental errors, no communication, not getting the defensive rebound to finish it off just lot of little things.

 

[Chris Craig]

I dont know a nice way to say this, but whether the stats say they’re playing good defense or not when I watch them it is so easy to see a very bipolar defensive team. Yes they go through stretches of good defense (especially with Zach), but they go through stretches of playing some of the laziest defense too. Mental errors, no communication, not getting the defensive rebound to finish it off just lot of little things.

Feels like part of that is the ease of offense.

 

[noknobs]

He deserves all the shit he gets. Sick of hearing anyone criticizing him being labeled a hater. At 25m per he’s held to a different standard than anybody else on the team outside of Lillard. That’s how it works.

He had a bad game, oh no, he sucks. Even though his shooting is in a slump he's still averaging 19.3 ppg, 2 apg, 4.3 rpg. Defenses have to game plan around him and there's no reason to think his shooting won't improve. To be *8* games into a season and read comments that we'd actually be a better team without him is crazy. I don't even get it. I guess there has to be someone to be mad at.

 

[Chris Craig]

Denver won again? Son of a bitch

 

[KingSpeed]

He had a bad game, oh no, he sucks. Even though his shooting is in a slump he's still averaging 19.3 ppg, 2 apg, 4.3 rpg. Defenses have to game plan around him and there's no reason to think his shooting won't improve. To be 10 games into a season and read comments that we'd actually be a better team without him is crazy. I don't even get it. I guess there has to be someone to be mad at.

It’s ridiculous. And only 8 games in!

 

[Darkwebs]

Nice!! Did he say anything more specific?

When they were showing highlights from the game, after a cut of Nurkic declaring "This is our house!", Chuck started clowning on Nurk/Blazers, saying the Pelicans kicked Portland's ass in the playoffs ("took their peanut butter and jelly sandwich, took their lunch money, and even took a pair of their Jordans"), so Nurk has no business of shouting "This is our house."

But then he got serious and said, "They're good, though, Ernie", referring to the Blazers. He then agreed with a comment Lillard made about our bench being much improved this year.

Ernie then asked, "With a healthy Anthony Davis, who's a higher seed? (Blazers or Pels)

Barkley then said without hesitation, "The Blazers."

Ernie: "Really?"

Barkley: "Yeah. The Blazers got it all!"

Then Chuck said he worries about our toughness, though. However, he believes we will have a better record than the Pels.

Shaq then said, "They (Blazers) remind me of the Wizards. They have 2 guards, sometimes they play phenomenal together, and sometimes we say we need to break them up."

Barkley then responded: "The Blazers are a much better team than the Wizards."

To which Shaq agreed.

Kenny said he felt that Dame and CJ do produce consistently in the regular season, and that the playoffs sweep of the Blazers was an anomaly based on 2 guards who felt underrated (Rondo and Holiday). And then agreed that the Blazers would be a much better regular season team than the Pelicans.

 

[e_blazer]

The four playoff games against the Pelicans, CJ was the leading scorer. We all know how those turned out, so I’ll take the balanced scoring of this year’s team. CJ will get out of his slump eventually, and then the wins will come easier.

To those complaining about the Blazers not playing well, I’d point out that winning ugly is essential to a good season. The Blazers are 6-2 this year as compared with 4-4 at the same point last season.

 

[KingSpeed]

When they were showing highlights from the game, after a cut of Nurkic declaring "This is our house!", Chuck started clowning on Nurk/Blazers, saying the Pelicans kicked Portland's ass in the playoffs ("took their peanut butter and jelly sandwich, took their lunch money, and even took a pair of their Jordans"), so Nurk has no business of shouting "This is our house."

But then he got serious and said, "They're good, though, Ernie", referring to the Blazers. He then agreed with a comment Lillard made about our bench being much improved this year.

Ernie then asked, "With a healthy Anthony Davis, who's a higher seed? (Blazers or Pels)

Barkley then said without hesitation, "The Blazers."

Ernie: "Really?"

Barkley: "Yeah. The Blazers got it all!"

Then Chuck said he worries about our toughness, though. However, he believes we will have a better record than the Pels.

Shaq then said, "They (Blazers) remind me of the Wizards. They have 2 guards, sometimes they play phenomenal together, and sometimes we say we need to break them up."

Barkley then responded: "The Blazers are a much better team than the Wizards."

To which Shaq agreed.

Kenny said he felt that Dame and CJ do produce consistently in the regular season, and that the playoffs sweep of the Blazers was an anomaly based on 2 guards who felt underrated (Rondo and Holiday). And then agreed that the Blazers would be a much better regular season team than the Pelicans.

Thanks for the rundown!