Keys to upsetting LA

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Whiteside... see Davis?

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Make lebron score himself 40ppg... you want him trying to get past guys and scoring. He doesn't have a quick first step like 10 years ago. He won't be able to do that for 40mpg. He can still setup teammates for assists all day which you want to prevent.

Leave their bad 3pt shooters open but guard guys that get hot.

Work for great looks on offense they can't guard our backcourt.

Win the hustle and hunger plays.
 
  1. Hit open three pointers. We will be tough to beat if our guys can hit the wide-open shots that Dame gets them.
  2. Have no injuries. We have no depth, and having a key guy unavailable would really, uh, hurt. Getting CJ feeling better will be great, too.
  3. Control the defensive glass. Opponents have got too many extra possessions off of offensive rebounds the last couple of games. We can't afford that against the Lakers.
  4. Don't blow big leads. We have had it happen in the playoffs too often, and we saw it today: the Blazers giving up big leads. We can't do that.
 
Is covid striking some of the key players out of the question?

In all seriousness, if these guys have any sort of defensive ability now is the time to use it. Our offense will be good, but things will tighten up and if we have games here or there where we can't hit anything, it'll be tough if we aren't playing any D either.
 
Play more of Nurk with Whiteside together - it’s a different look; make LA work hard for every bucket. No second-chance points: OUT REBOUND them!

Dame needs to keep shooting. BUT how about going off in the 3rd quarter rather than wait for 4th quarter heroics!?

Trent needs to get hot again! He cooled off. Time to play crazy again.

I’ll take a 20 and 20 game from Nurkic and we win every time.

finally...one more bench player has to emerge: Gabriel could be the guy.
 
Blazers have to offer substantial resistance to Lebron and AD. Try and deny position and movement. They have to prevent both from going off in the same game and combining for 65-70 points and 20 rebounds. Try and limit Lebron's triple doubles

but being it's the Blazers, I worry about some Laker role player(s) going berserk. Kuzma, or KCP or Waiters or Caruso posting a couple of 25 point games on scalding hot shooting.

In other words, Blazers have to play their best defense of the season without losing their offensive mojo
 
Don’t do stupid stuff.

NBA players routinely make bad decisions throughout the course of a game that cost probably 5+ points per game. You never get those points back.

1. Fouling a 3-point shooter
2. Fouling a 2-point jump shooter
3. Risky passes that have no reward
4. Careless rushed transition turnovers. First secure the damn ball!
5. Overly aggressive perimeter defense then getting beat
6. Poor shot selection
7. Taking yourself out of the play on defense leaping at a shooter (and risking a foul) instead of just getting a hand up and staying in position to box out or rebound.

Thankfully we rarely do #1 and Dame goads our opponents into #1 a lot. But we do foul 2-point jump shots way too much. Dame did #3 at least 3 times today. One example was Dame passed the length of the floor to CJ and then CJ found himself facing 3 or 4 set defenders. CJ proceeded to commit #5 and missed a contested two point shot with zero chance of ORB. What pray tell was the point of the long risky pass? We do #5 all the time. The rest we do here and there like almost every team. For the most part these are all avoidable.

Be smart and spot yourself a 5 or so point lead!
 
Don't be pushovers in the 3rd quarter
 
I have a feeling dame is going to get double teamed the whole series and so it is going to be up to everyone else having to make their open shots... Mainly cj, Melo and trent.... If there 3 point shots are falling consistently we are going to have a good shot at winning this series. ... That and we must play at least some good defensive possessions as the bubble games show that we need to tighten up our defense!
 
wizenheimer said:
Blazers have to offer substantial resistance to Lebron and AD. Try and deny position and movement. They have to prevent both from going off in the same game and combining for 65-70 points and 20 rebounds. Try and limit Lebron's triple doubles

but being it's the Blazers, I worry about some Laker role player(s) going berserk. Kuzma, or KCP or Waiters or Caruso posting a couple of 25 point games on scalding hot shooting.

In other words, Blazers have to play their best defense of the season without losing their offensive mojo
Click to expand...
That would be typical Blazers if they let scrubs like Caruso, JR or Waiters go for 25
 
BlazerRx said:
I have a feeling dame is going to get double teamed the whole series and so it is going to be up to everyone else having to make their open shots... Mainly cj, Melo and trent.... If there 3 point shots are falling consistently we are going to have a good shot at winning this series. ... That and we must play at least some good defensive possessions as the bubble games show that we need to tighten up our defense!
Click to expand...
He's gonna get trapped by one guard and either Davis or McGee, Dame is faster than anyone on the court, he can get by the double team
 
Labinot41 said:
He's gonna get trapped by one guard and either Davis or McGee, Dame is faster than anyone on the court, he can get by the double team
Click to expand...
Perhaps, but guaranteed he is going to see a second line of defense once getting by that double team and its going to consist of him then kicking it out to an open guy on the perimeter. Just hoping that open guy is able to hit the shot consistently.
 
Take a crap-ton of threes. Always have two of Nurk/Whiteside/Collins on the court, and play more drop defense that gives up perimeter shots while clogging the middle. Make AD and LeBron beat us by taking longer shots and passing to role players.

If we take a ton of threes and they take a ton of contested 2's plus wide open threes, our shooting and Dame Lillard can still carry us to the win in a series. Hitting three pointers is the only reason we had the best offense in the bubble.

I just don't think their role players are good enough three point shooters to carry them, especially in the pressure of the playoffs. So LeBron/AD will be trying to score a lot if they want to keep up with our offense. Those two don't beat Dame/CJ/Trent in a three point shootout, so it's going to be all about scoring inside the arc for them.

You have to concede something, so you might as well force LA to play 2006 offense while we play 2020 offense. They have a better team, but we have a more modern offense. Go with your strength. I don't like our chances, but I really didn't see them getting this far, so who knows.
 
This is Dame's chance to take that step into legend. If he plays out of his mind and we beat the Lakers, people will take about this series for a really long time.
 
Natebishop3 said:
This is Dame's chance to take that step into legend. If he plays out of his mind and we beat the Lakers, people will take about this series for a really long time.
Click to expand...

I think he's already a legend. If he never wins a ring, I think people will still talk about him in 20 years.

But if he can beat LeBron while erasing the memory of the AD sweep while averaging 45 ppg (because let's face it, that's probably the only way this happens)....man. What a legend.
 
I do not think that Lakers will double Dame, at least not in the first match. They will go to outscore us, as they know our defense liabilities. LBJ and AD will attack the rim, low post, and it will cause a lot of calls and our Big players will very soon get in foul troubles. Also they are aware of our weak perimeter defense. They can simply outscore us and live with Lillards threes. Our hope is that our other players will have a shooting night and help Lillard, and do not let them second chances, must have full control on defensive rebounds. Must take in calculation that Nurk, Collins and Whitesside will get fauls on each contact vs AD as he is bigger authority to the refs. Not mention LBJ...

It doesn't look good on paper but... They are not GSW in prime, they can have bad night, and Dame time can happen always... Play with hart and energy... no pressure as we are underdogs for everybody. Just play basketball and put some respect on Portlands name!
 
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