Game Thread PLAYOFFS: ROUND 2, GAME 2: BLAZERS @ NUGGETS - MAY 1, 2019 - WEDNESDAY, 6:00 PM, TNT

[tester551]

The only concern I have is Denver largely beat themselves tonight. Stotts made great adjustments, but they were missing wide open shots. We need to close out on their shooters better.

And REBOUND THE DAMN BALL!

 

[Driew]

I'd be surprised if Harkless is available in either home game....I cringed when I saw the replay. If that would have been my ankle I'd be on crutches for a week and swallowing massive amounts of pain meds...washed down with scotch

Well....shit...guess Layman will finally get some playing time this playoffs.

 

[DDolla]

I watched the game again and I think Jokic has 8 fouls .... smh

 

[Haakzilla]

I watched the game again and I think Jokic has 8 fouls .... smh

...at least!!

 

[Haakzilla]

 

[KingSpeed]

I'd be surprised if Harkless is available in either home game....I cringed when I saw the replay. If that would have been my ankle I'd be on crutches for a week and swallowing massive amounts of pain meds...washed down with scotch

Relax. He walked off the floor on his own accord. I'm sure you'd be okay too.

 

[stampedehero]

When was the last time we wore these jerseys?

The first playoff game with Denver.

 

[stampedehero]

More Hood less ET.

Amen. ET goes in and loses the ball out of bounds. That dude needs a training/head camp this off season. Maybe three months of Bill Walton could drive him out of being '''horrible"" . He is not a consistent basketball player! In fact, he sucks.

 

[crandc]

This is crazy yo

I understand Kanter is in process of becoming US citizen. That doesn't excuse what Turkey does, of course, but we will cover his games and welcome his vote.

 

[DUB]

Such an important win. We wouldn’t have had much chance of winning the series without winning this one, but now the series is alive.

Denver got away with pushing us off the ball a lot, especially when our players were in the air.

Craig got hurt twice by their players pushing our players into him.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Ohhh the fuck to the yeeaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Blazers Roy]

How the hell did we just win a game without taking one defensive rebound?

And why is Jokic allowed to play with 8 fouls?

 

[Orion Bailey]

How the hell did we just win a game without taking one defensive rebound?

Don't ask, just accept!

And why is Jokic allowed to play with 8 fouls?

Don't accept, just ask!

 

[kjironman1]

There was a timeout called...

That is the context of the conversation on TNT.
But The altercation was happening before the timeout was called. Players went 30-40 feet onto the court. It will be an interesting response being CJ has been suspended for simply stepping on the court before.
Jamal Murray was not even playing so him being on the court to start the altercation is suspect at best and he was on the court before the whistle blew.
The one thing that really stands out is that the push by Jokic would have and should have been a 6th foul without question.

 

[kjironman1]

Looking at the box the rebounding really wasn't that bad.
Total Rebs - Portland 47 Denver 58
Offensive was were the problem came
Portland 7 Denver 23

But really if you take away two possessions one where Denver got 5 offensive rebounds and the second where they got 4 offensive rebounds it would be pretty close.

Losing Harkless had an effect on the boards. One of the reasons the Blazers can play small is because Harkless has insane hops. If Mo cannot play i expect to see Stotts go big again and play more Leonard with Jake.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

This guy's take is kind of how I feel:
"The Nuggets and Blazers are two wildly imperfect teams, stumbling and crashing around and tripping over their own shoelaces, but by God they are going for it. Unlike the Warriors, neither team has an auto-win Death Lineup at their disposal; unlike the Rockets, both teams score their points by doing old-fashioned things like passing the ball and hoping to take open shots, instead of hoping to take contested shots so that they can hurl their bodies unnaturally into the people doing the contesting. It’s refreshing!

But the shitty truth is, any combination of three Warriors rotation players would turn the earnest bumbling of either of these two teams into a 20–0 game-sealing run. Imagine Mason Plumlee playing rotation minutes in a playoff series against the Warriors. Imagine Terry Stotts pulling names out of a hat to make a five-man Blazers lineup to play consecutive minutes against the Hamptons Five. Imagine the wonderful and magical and extremely poofy Nikola Jokic stepping out to defend Steph Curry or Kevin Durant at 30 feet, 15 times a game, for no fewer than four consecutive games. Imagine Enes Kanter playing three consecutive defensive possessions without somehow going minus-40. It’s ridiculous!"
https://deadspin.com/it-sucks-that-one-of-these-teams-must-be-served-up-to-t-1834463753

 

[kjironman1]

This guy's take is kind of how I feel:
"The Nuggets and Blazers are two wildly imperfect teams, stumbling and crashing around and tripping over their own shoelaces, but by God they are going for it. Unlike the Warriors, neither team has an auto-win Death Lineup at their disposal; unlike the Rockets, both teams score their points by doing old-fashioned things like passing the ball and hoping to take open shots, instead of hoping to take contested shots so that they can hurl their bodies unnaturally into the people doing the contesting. It’s refreshing!

But the shitty truth is, any combination of three Warriors rotation players would turn the earnest bumbling of either of these two teams into a 20–0 game-sealing run. Imagine Mason Plumlee playing rotation minutes in a playoff series against the Warriors. Imagine Terry Stotts pulling names out of a hat to make a five-man Blazers lineup to play consecutive minutes against the Hamptons Five. Imagine the wonderful and magical and extremely poofy Nikola Jokic stepping out to defend Steph Curry or Kevin Durant at 30 feet, 15 times a game, for no fewer than four consecutive games. Imagine Enes Kanter playing three consecutive defensive possessions without somehow going minus-40. It’s ridiculous!"
https://deadspin.com/it-sucks-that-one-of-these-teams-must-be-served-up-to-t-1834463753

To this i say wait until you see Portland play game three at home.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Fridays and Sunday are going to be real interesting.

 

[Wade Garrett]

Honestly I don't really care about how other team handled pressure because I am a Blazers so my focus how we handle the pressure and we must due better in that department.

This is an ignorant comment.
A 15-20 point lead isn't safe for any team if enough time remains.
Any team.

 

[Wade Garrett]

This guy's take is kind of how I feel:
"The Nuggets and Blazers are two wildly imperfect teams, stumbling and crashing around and tripping over their own shoelaces, but by God they are going for it. Unlike the Warriors, neither team has an auto-win Death Lineup at their disposal; unlike the Rockets, both teams score their points by doing old-fashioned things like passing the ball and hoping to take open shots, instead of hoping to take contested shots so that they can hurl their bodies unnaturally into the people doing the contesting. It’s refreshing!

But the shitty truth is, any combination of three Warriors rotation players would turn the earnest bumbling of either of these two teams into a 20–0 game-sealing run. Imagine Mason Plumlee playing rotation minutes in a playoff series against the Warriors. Imagine Terry Stotts pulling names out of a hat to make a five-man Blazers lineup to play consecutive minutes against the Hamptons Five. Imagine the wonderful and magical and extremely poofy Nikola Jokic stepping out to defend Steph Curry or Kevin Durant at 30 feet, 15 times a game, for no fewer than four consecutive games. Imagine Enes Kanter playing three consecutive defensive possessions without somehow going minus-40. It’s ridiculous!"
https://deadspin.com/it-sucks-that-one-of-these-teams-must-be-served-up-to-t-1834463753

Chris Paul will choke and Warriors have no bench.
Put that in the deadspin pipe and smoke it.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

The only concern I have is Denver largely beat themselves tonight. Stotts made great adjustments, but they were missing wide open shots. We need to close out on their shooters better.

It's difficult to rotate correctly when it is not something you have done all season. Sometimes two players have rotated to the same guy and sometimes no one.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

This is an ignorant comment.
A 15-20 point lead isn't safe for any team if enough time remains.
Any team.

I think that Mr. Lamphear is an astute observer of the game.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Those fucking trash ass Denver fan really chanted "ref you suck"

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Those fucking trash ass Denver fan really chanted "ref you suck"

Multiple times actually I think I heard it 3 times.

 

[SIeepwalker]

This league needs another FBI investigation.

I've never seen such an obvious, game-long attempt by referees to change the outcome of a playoff game.

Adam Silver is a disgrace.

What ? I've seen way worse as recently as.... last game. And the game before that too

 

[Pinwheel1]

We were rusty and they were aggressive. Smart strategy by Denver against a team that hadn't played in a while.

We CAN'T lose home court. Winning at altitude is rare. They're beatable on the road. Our legs were gone in the 4th at 5280. We were gassed.

I think you are right. I thought by being there for 5 days would help them get adjusted. But there was no energy from our guys in the 4th quarter. Dame in particular looked gassed at the end. One time late he seemed to defer to CJ as he barely crossed the half court in time. But he was playing all out for most of those 39 minutes.

Props to CJ who played 41 tough minutes. He didn't always shoot great but he hit some clutch shots in the 4th. (20-6-6)

The Blazers did what they needed to do after game 1. They made it ugly. You got to do that on the road. I don't think you can run with certain teams on the road
and Denver because of the altitude is one of them. .

 

[noknobs]

That is the context of the conversation on TNT.
But The altercation was happening before the timeout was called. Players went 30-40 feet onto the court. It will be an interesting response being CJ has been suspended for simply stepping on the court before.
Jamal Murray was not even playing so him being on the court to start the altercation is suspect at best and he was on the court before the whistle blew.
The one thing that really stands out is that the push by Jokic would have and should have been a 6th foul without question.

What are you talking about? Players were already heading back to their bench, Kanter included, before he got confronted.

 

[Pinwheel1]

This guy's take is kind of how I feel:
"The Nuggets and Blazers are two wildly imperfect teams, stumbling and crashing around and tripping over their own shoelaces, but by God they are going for it. Unlike the Warriors, neither team has an auto-win Death Lineup at their disposal; unlike the Rockets, both teams score their points by doing old-fashioned things like passing the ball and hoping to take open shots, instead of hoping to take contested shots so that they can hurl their bodies unnaturally into the people doing the contesting. It’s refreshing!

But the shitty truth is, any combination of three Warriors rotation players would turn the earnest bumbling of either of these two teams into a 20–0 game-sealing run. Imagine Mason Plumlee playing rotation minutes in a playoff series against the Warriors. Imagine Terry Stotts pulling names out of a hat to make a five-man Blazers lineup to play consecutive minutes against the Hamptons Five. Imagine the wonderful and magical and extremely poofy Nikola Jokic stepping out to defend Steph Curry or Kevin Durant at 30 feet, 15 times a game, for no fewer than four consecutive games. Imagine Enes Kanter playing three consecutive defensive possessions without somehow going minus-40. It’s ridiculous!"
https://deadspin.com/it-sucks-that-one-of-these-teams-must-be-served-up-to-t-1834463753

I will tell you one thing, I will take Mason Plumlee coming off my bench against anyone. The dude brings it every night.
5 boards and 2 blocks in 12 minutes.....

 

[kjironman1]

What are you talking about? Players were already heading back to their bench, Kanter included, before he got confronted.

No. Go watch the video again. The whistle blew and Murray was on the court as well as Turner.
But i'm not gonna argue this with you. There was indeed a timeout called and they may very well leave it alone.
Guess we will find out here in about 2 hours right?

 

[kjironman1]

I will tell you one thing, I will take Mason Plumlee coming off my bench against anyone. The dude brings it every night.
5 boards and 2 blocks in 12 minutes.....

If you read Nuggets Boards they are destroying Mason Plumlee. Seriously i could not believe what i was reading. Plumlee works as hard as any guy in the league.