Trail Blazers Vs. Clippers FINAL preseason game

[Rhal]

Yea I been saying that for months. It's ugly. It's a damn shame too Bc every part of his game is clicking and improving as well. I'm afraid he'll never be around that 38-41% mark he had his first 2 years. Maybe around 32-34% unfortunately

34% is what he shot last year, he wont' dip below that. Not worried about his shot, it'll come back. I can't think of a player who isn't over the age of 30 thats 3p shot dropped off like Lillards without a major injury happening. Seems almost unprecedented that it would happen to Lillard unless his hand is severely messed up from last year and it just hasn't gotten out yet.

 

[SpamKing]

Those obnoxious Clippers announcers were pegging Damian to lead the league in scoring this season

That "bingo" lawler character should hurry up and die already . . .

 

[rasheedfan2005]

Was really excited to see we scored 45 in first quarter. Gonna watch first half re run, maybe ill see if refs fuck us or if its just cheating clippers. Holy fuck I didnt realize they got Josh smith and pierce. Do they have any players who havent made an all star team? Fucking doc rivers always in a position to buy a ring rather than having to be a decent coach. Clipper fans are shit, what do you expect? They are all former l*ker fans

Sucks we lose but hey, we got enough wins to make it to the regular season, next stop playoffs.

 

[Draco]

34% is what he shot last year, he wont' dip below that. Not worried about his shot, it'll come back. I can't think of a player who isn't over the age of 30 thats 3p shot dropped off like Lillards without a major injury happening. Seems almost unprecedented that it would happen to Lillard unless his hand is severely messed up from last year and it just hasn't gotten out yet.

Thats my concern; his hand was injured last February and it will never be the same. At the least he needs to have better shot selection I still see him jacking up the 3 point attempts 5 feet behind the line early in the shot clock. He almost never makes those anymore. Dame still has a ton of value with the other offensive skills he brings but being a 40% 3 point shooter could be the difference in him being an all star vs a dark horse MVP candidate.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Well, we'll always have the first quarter...

I turned off at halftime (I'm on East Coast time, I need sleep) and you could already tell we were going to lose. If I were Terry Stotts, I would've just played scrubs in the second half (which some teams do anyway to give the people about to get cut a chance to say they played real NBA minutes) so we could say "well, it was the scrubs who blew it." So, I GUESS I salute Stotts for not doing that, except it led to a massive bummer.

But at least our team made one Microsoft Billionaire happy.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

No player can create their own shot outside Damian and CJ.

That was a huge factor in their comeback.

No other player gets a chance to try! Why was Harkless 0-0? Will Henderson make a difference?

 

[HailBlazers]

Hendo should help in that department, he's crafty in his own way.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Was really excited to see we scored 45 in first quarter. Gonna watch first half re run, maybe ill see if refs fuck us or if its just cheating clippers.

I don't know if you watched the whole game but we got the benefit of some BIZARRE calls. It was laugh out loud funny when Dame went to the line because he was fouled by Ed Davis.

 

[Draco]

It was interesting how even when we were up by 20 something Dame and CJ both had a negative +- . Both had looked great running the offense. I wonder if that could become a trend while they are both very successful individually the pair of them on the court at the same time isn't ideal. The last few years we had these horrible defensive 2nd units with Damian playing SG alongside Mo Williams or Steve Blake. Glad to see that won't be the case any more with our second units. I'll be interested to see how they fare as starting backcourt duo defensively though.

 

[Draco]

I don't know if you watched the whole game but we got the benefit of some BIZARRE calls. It was laugh out loud funny when Dame went to the line because he was fouled by Ed Davis.

It was funny.

Watching the replay the second time it made sense though; Ed was going to run to the left of Lillard but DeAndre gave him a tiny shove so Ed was off balance and ran into Lillard. I'd probably be pissed if I was rooting for the other team though.

I can't stand that Clippers team and now it's gone down to their fans too constantly bitching at the refs. They literally do it every game; never seen a pro sports team do that.

 

[tlongII]

These are the type of games that are going to get me $100 from Mags.

 

[illmatic99]

Still have a bad taste in my mouth this morning. Ugh.

 

[Pinwheel1]

I was very impressed with Dame's D last night. He was out there battling hard and I think that effected him in the 4th. He looked tired.

You guys are wasting your time if you are expecting either Dame or CJ to have a better shot selection this year. We don't have a lot of other options. They will need to shoot.......a lot. We scored 45 in the 1st because they both were on. Sure they need to trust the others, and Dame's 30 footers need to go, but other than Leonard and Crabbe I can't say I was too confident when someone else took a shot. Vonleh will get there...with time. Hopefully Hendo will help, but it will take a few weeks once he gets back to develop some on court chemistry with the others.

 

[Tunchi]

Thats my concern; his hand was injured last February and it will never be the same. At the least he needs to have better shot selection I still see him jacking up the 3 point attempts 5 feet behind the line early in the shot clock. He almost never makes those anymore. Dame still has a ton of value with the other offensive skills he brings but being a 40% 3 point shooter could be the difference in him being an all star vs a dark horse MVP candidate.

This is what pisses me off, before when he was Steph Curry lite from behind the arc all he had to do was was work on his defense and finishes and he would have been a perennial MVP but now his regressing garbage 3 point shooting will just continue to make him a nice lil average all star. All the sudden now his defense is much better and his finishes are fantastic, but unfortunately his 3 point shooting is ugly.

I haven't even looked at his percentage this preseason because I don't want to have a heart attack but it's clear we have a large sample size now (since mid Feb) that this 3 point drought he's suffering might be just what he is. A streaky sub par 3 point gunner. Nothing more.

 

[HomerLovesKoolAid]

What the hell was that second half?

I need answers.

I need jlprk to tell me why Crabby couldn't hit the broad side of an Idaho potato truck after half time.

 

[HailBlazers]

I can't stand that Clippers team and now it's gone down to their fans too constantly bitching at the refs. They literally do it every game; never seen a pro sports team do that.

Well it starts at the top with the king bitcher Doc Rivers, who literally cries a river over everything whether a call went against him or not.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

It was interesting how even when we were up by 20 something Dame and CJ both had a negative +- . Both had looked great running the offense. I wonder if that could become a trend while they are both very successful individually the pair of them on the court at the same time isn't ideal. The last few years we had these horrible defensive 2nd units with Damian playing SG alongside Mo Williams or Steve Blake. Glad to see that won't be the case any more with our second units. I'll be interested to see how they fare as starting backcourt duo defensively though.

I don't see how it's possible they both had a negative +/- if we were up by 20 since one of them is always on the court.

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

It's a worry that Lillard is playing so much and going to the basket so much; this will be very hard on him physically. Thought it was really Crabbe and Connaughton missing open shots that lost the game; I hope that Crabbe can take the next step. He now understands he has to keep shooting after he misses a couple; but he doesn't seem to have the confidence to know he will start making the shots. This team seems to have stretches where everything goes great and they feed off it with increased confidence but as soon as things go wrong, they lose that confidence. Sure will be a roller coaster of a season, just like this game.

 

[HailBlazers]

It's a worry that Lillard is playing so much and going to the basket so much; this will be very hard on him physically. Thought it was really Crabbe and Connaughton missing open shots that lost the game; I hope that Crabbe can take the next step. He now understands he has to keep shooting after he misses a couple; but he doesn't seem to have the confidence to know he will start making the shots. This team seems to have stretches where everything goes great and they feed off it with increased confidence but as soon as things go wrong, they lose that confidence. Sure will be a roller coaster of a season, just like this game.

That's what I've been saying. Roy used to constantly do the same thing. It's okay to drive to the basket but he needs to kick it out more before taking all that contact.

 

[Draco]

I don't see how it's possible they both had a negative +/- if we were up by 20 since one of them is always on the court.

It was pretty shocking. An example of how it could've happened;

Dame & CJ -25
Dame +24
CJ +21

 

[blue32]

1-9 from 3? what in the fuckity fuck is going on?

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

It was pretty shocking. An example of how it could've happened;

Dame & CJ -25
Dame +24
CJ +21

OK, now I see, that negative number was when they were both on the court; i misunderstood.

 

[Draco]

OK, now I see, that negative number was when they were both on the court; i misunderstood.

Sort of; the negative number was for the total minutes Dame was on the court. Or the total minutes CJ was on the court. Quite amazing to have that when leading by 20. It's because they were both so very effective as the sole PG, and so ineffective when paired together.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

What the hell was that second half?

I need answers.

I need jlprk to tell me why Crabby couldn't hit the broad side of an Idaho potato truck after half time.

The team was practicing the art of tanking.

 

[Rhal]

This is what pisses me off, before when he was Steph Curry lite from behind the arc all he had to do was was work on his defense and finishes and he would have been a perennial MVP but now his regressing garbage 3 point shooting will just continue to make him a nice lil average all star. All the sudden now his defense is much better and his finishes are fantastic, but unfortunately his 3 point shooting is ugly.

I haven't even looked at his percentage this preseason because I don't want to have a heart attack but it's clear we have a large sample size now (since mid Feb) that this 3 point drought he's suffering might be just what he is. A streaky sub par 3 point gunner. Nothing more.

5 games isnt a large sample size its a very small sample size. Hell two months isnt even a large sample size when its about evaluating an aspect of someones game.

 

[Tunchi]

5 games isnt a large sample size its a very small sample size. Hell two months isnt even a large sample size when its about evaluating an aspect of someones game.

Dude add these 5 games to the garbage 3 shooting hes had since FEB.. The sample size just isnt these 5 games its from FEB-Today.. Look that up and get back to me.. You'll be surprised

 

[Rhal]

Dude add these 5 games to the garbage 3 shooting hes had since FEB.. The sample size just isnt these 5 games its from FEB-Today.. Look that up and get back to me.. You'll be surprised

Yea because I havent acknowledged his 3p shot was off the second half of last year. Everyone who watched the Blazers knows his shot was off the last 40 or so games. Thetr was a reason for that, injured fingers on his shooting hand. That will most definitely negatively effect your shot. He also had that play where Wade went under him when he was jumping and Lillard came crashing to the ground on his back. His back seemed to bother him the rest of the year, another injury that greatly effects your 3p shot, Kyle Korver had a great interview where he talks about how badly a bad back effects your 3p shot.
Damian should be healed up from both of those now so they shouldn't be effecting his 3p shot. Thats why im throwing those last 40 games out the window and chocking the shooting up to an injury.

 

[Tunchi]

Yea because I havent acknowledged his 3p shot was off the second half of last year. Everyone who watched the Blazers knows his shot was off the last 40 or so games. Thetr was a reason for that, injured fingers on his shooting hand. That will most definitely negatively effect your shot. He also had that play where Wade went under him when he was jumping and Lillard came crashing to the ground on his back. His back seemed to bother him the rest of the year, another injury that greatly effects your 3p shot, Kyle Korver had a great interview where he talks about how badly a bad back effects your 3p shot.
Damian should be healed up from both of those now so they shouldn't be effecting his 3p shot. Thats why im throwing those last 40 games out the window and chocking the shooting up to an injury.

Ok thats fair you can use the injury excuse but whats the reason for his anemic 3 point shooting now?

 

[Rhal]

Ok thats fair you can use the injury excuse but whats the reason for his anemic 3 point shooting now?

No clue, he has shot poorly in 4 out of 5 games in preseason but thats a small sample size and its preseason. I won't start to worry about it until mid December if he is still shooting under 35% at that time ill start to give more thought to his shot regressing but until there is a bigger sample size it doesnt really bother me.

 

[Trackjack]

Yea because I havent acknowledged his 3p shot was off the second half of last year. Everyone who watched the Blazers knows his shot was off the last 40 or so games. Thetr was a reason for that, injured fingers on his shooting hand. That will most definitely negatively effect your shot. He also had that play where Wade went under him when he was jumping and Lillard came crashing to the ground on his back. His back seemed to bother him the rest of the year, another injury that greatly effects your 3p shot, Kyle Korver had a great interview where he talks about how badly a bad back effects your 3p shot.
Damian should be healed up from both of those now so they shouldn't be effecting his 3p shot. Thats why im throwing those last 40 games out the window and chocking the shooting up to an injury.

Dame had some good 3pt shooting this pre-season last night Wasnt one of them. I look at it like this other teams still have to guard him out there because they still honor his shooting ability. So it open him up for the drive to the bucket or the pull up 2. As long the other team as to honor it then that allows him do other things on offense.