Poll o' the day: Will we make the playoffs?

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Will we make the (16 team) playoffs?

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Rastapopoulos

Rastapopoulos

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To do so we have to beat out New Orleans with a much easier schedule, and Memphis, who are ahead, and whom we will have to beat three times to get there.
 
Nope we ain’t good enough and will have no chemistry
 
With a fresh Dame instead a tired and beat up Dame to battle for playoffs spot will make a big difference in his game. Plus 3 bigs that can contest shots will be huge too. But for us to even able to contest the playoffs we must do a lot better guarding the 3 point line where we was really bad this year.
 
I think losing Ariza was the nail in the coffin. Melo just does not have the kind of defensive prowess to excel in the playoffs. Lets see if they can replace Biggie with someone who might make some kind of impact? Right now my vote is No.
 
BigGameDamian said:
Don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but anybody could get sick at any time. It is Florida.
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They're not wandering through Florida. They're gonna be in Disneyworld. Like being in the Catskills in New York, not New York City.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
To do so we have to beat out New Orleans with a much easier schedule, and Memphis, who are ahead, and whom we will have to beat three times to get there.
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We might not have to beat Memphis 3 times. If we can go, say 6-2 and Memphis goes 2-6, we will finish ahead of them. I think it's very possible the "play in" is between Portland and New Orleans. We'll see.
 
I truly believe that provided Dame, Trent Jr., CJ, Collins, Nurkic or Whiteside don’t catch covid or get hurt, we win the championship!
 
UKRAINEFAN said:
I was really split in my opinion; I just couldn't get myself to vote against us getting in.
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Totally. I try to be a realist and it wont be easy at all based on the schedule. But I just couldn't vote against Dame.

And if we get in? LOOK OUT!
 
It's definitely not going to be easy for the Blazers to get in. I see it coming down to the wire, but with Nurk & Collins back, and with Dame doing what he does, I see the Blazers getting in:

Memphis Grizzlies (Current Record: 32-33)
  • vs. Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, July 31 (4:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV) - L
  • vs. San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, August 2 (4:00 p.m. ET) - W
  • vs. New Orleans Pelicans on Monday, August 3 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) - L
  • vs. Utah Jazz on Wednesday, August 5 (2:30 p.m. ET) - L
  • vs. Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, August 7 (4:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV) - W
  • vs. Toronto Raptors on Sunday, August 9 (2:00 p.m. ET) - L
  • vs. Boston Celtics on Tuesday, August 11 (6:30 p.m. ET, TNT) - L
  • vs. Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, August 13 (TBD, TBD) L
Final Predicted Record: 34-39 (.465)

New Orleans Pelicans (Current Record: 28-36)
  • vs. Utah Jazz on Thursday, July 30 (6:30 p.m. ET, TNT) - L
  • vs. LA Clippers on Saturday, August 1 (6:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) - L
  • vs. Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, August 3 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) - W
  • vs. Sacramento Kings on Thursday, August 6 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV) - W
  • vs. Washington Wizards on Friday, August 7 (8:00 p.m. ET) - W
  • vs. San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, August 9 (3:00 p.m. ET, ABC) - W
  • vs. Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, August 11 (9:00 p.m. ET, TNT) - W
  • vs. Orlando Magic on Thursday, August 13 (TBD, TBD) - W
Final Predicted Record: 34-38 (.472)

Portland Trail Blazers (Current Record: 29-37)
  • vs. Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, July 31 (4:00 p.m. ET, NBA TV) - W
  • vs. Boston Celtics on Sunday, August 2 (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC) - L
  • vs. Houston Rockets on Tuesday, August 4 (9:00 p.m. ET, TNT) - W
  • vs. Denver Nuggets on Thursday, August 6 (8:00 p.m. ET) - W
  • vs. LA Clippers on Saturday, August 8 (1:00 p.m. ET, TNT) - L
  • vs. Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, August 9 (6:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV) - W
  • vs. Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, August 11 (5:00 p.m. ET) - W
  • vs. Brooklyn Nets on Thursday, August 13 (TBD, TBD) - W
Final Predicted Record: 35-39 (.473)

Blazers get the 8th seed by percentage points over the Pelicans. Blazers beat Pelicans in play-in series 1-0.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
Mediocre Man said:
We’ve had Dame all year
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Except for those 6 games he missed after he was injured in the Memphis game. The Blazers went 2-4 with him out. Put three of those games in the W column and there's not much debate about the Blazers making the playoffs.
 
e_blazer said:
Except for those 6 games he missed after he was injured in the Memphis game. The Blazers went 2-4 with him out. Put three of those games in the W column and there's not much debate about the Blazers making the playoffs.
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What constitutes putting 3 of those losses in the win column?
 
Mediocre Man said:
What constitutes putting 3 of those losses in the win column?
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Oh, just the way that the team, and especially Dame, had been playing prior to his injury - winning 7 out of 11 games prior to the Memphis game where he went down. Pure speculation, but what else is this board about anyway? You speculate your way, I'll speculate mine. ;)
 
The odds were very small to begin with, and frankly, many folks are underestimating the impact of losing Ariza. In the short term, replacing Ariza with Collins is a net loss.
 
Look, if the break wouldn't have happened, we would have made the playoffs we had the easiest schedule of the team's in contention for that eighth spot and a couple of our "hard" games were against the team in the eighth spot. So with the team the way it was, with uncertainty about Nurk and Zach, we make the playoffs.

Now we have a rested Dame, we have Nurk and Zach back, which is more impactful positively than losing Ariza is negatively and we have experience in the late season and playoffs on our side against the teams that are most likely our contention. I actually look at the schedule, look at our team's roster, our team's mentality, and the teams that are supposed to be our competition and I think we get this. I see us going 8-0 or 7-1 in the play in games and then winning the first game to clinch the eighth seed since winning that much will put us as the eighth place team.

I can actually see Dame going supernova, with Nurk there to keep other team's honest. That's just going to be our most used and potent weapon (the Dame/Nurk pick and roll/pop) we will also have both CJ and Carmelo who can spread the floor for spot up threes and isolate against just about anyone. Then there's Zach and Hassan who both excel at cleaning up in the paint. Ant is instant offense off the bench, Trent won't be a huge drop off when he's in and I think we might actually get something out of Rio.

Obviously our offense is our strength but I don't think our defense is going to be that bad at all. If we start Melo which I think we will (this is assuming Dame, CJ, Zach and Nurk are starters) then our defensive strategy is simple; we don't allow the three to beat us. We close out on all viable three point shooters, we play them tight and try not to get blown by but we expect to get blown by quite a bit given what we know about Dame, CJ and Melo. If teams have it in them to actually beat us with the lost art of the mid-range jumper then maybe we could be in trouble but I don't think that's going to happen in today's NBA. Obviously Zach and Nurk are going to be really hard to score on inside. If we went with Trent starting which I think is very unlikely our perimeter D would be marginally better because while Trent can close on the three and let less guys get by him, he's easier to shoot over and get posted up on (from bigger SFs) than Melo.
 
Jaren Jackson 110%, Brandon Clarke healthy, Ja Morant adds 12 pounds of muscle. This is going to be really tough. https://sports.yahoo.com/grizzlies-ja-morant-says-added-130043428.html
https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/basketball/news/grizzlies-jaren-jackson-feels-110-percent/
1 day ago: Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said Wednesday that Clarke (quadriceps) is "looking good, feeling good," implying that the rookie will be ready to go for the resumption of the 2019-20 season in Orlando later this month, Michael Wallace of the Grizzlies' official site reports.
 
Nurk and Zack are back! And Whiteside off the bench. We are a defensive powerhouse now, baby!
 
blazerkor said:
If we went with Trent starting which I think is very unlikely our perimeter D would be marginally better because while Trent can close on the three and let less guys get by him, he's easier to shoot over and get posted up on (from bigger SFs) than Melo.
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A few reasons why you're wrong:
1.) Often time we have our SF guard opposing guards, so Trent isnt too "undersized" for that role.
2.) A big part of making it hard for an offensive player to shoot over you is by closing the distancing effectively and being in the shooters space. Trent is much better at doing so than Melo, and therefore, is harder to shoot over.
3.) I'd rather have our bigs help on someone posting up Trent than to deal with guys driving straight at them all game, for multiple reasons.
4.) A big part of perimeter defense is being able to get through all types of screens. Trent is good at that, while Melo is horrible.
 
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