Game Thread WEST FINALS, GAME 4: WARRIORS @ BLAZERS - MAY 20, 2019 - MONDAY, 6PM, ESPN

[MarAzul]

Well in some ways, Damian reminds me of Damon ( Stoudamire). Can always drive in there, then can't do shit with it.

Difference is, I think a good coach could get him to make better choices. I don't think anyone could change Damon.
Perhaps a Van Gundy could make Damian significantly better. Leonard too!

 

[H.C.]

I guess you haven't watched Collins very closely in these playoffs.

I'll buy you one of these this off-season.

 

[James lamphear]

Stotts is not going anywhere he probably will get extension by this team going this far.

 

[B-Roy]

We beat this team with a healthy Nurk.

I'm sorry, were you watching the same series? We got 4-0ed. Nurk would have helped win a few games, but we still probably lose the series.

Blazers just break down in crunch time or when things stop going their way. What does Nurk do in a close game when Dame and CJ just throw up bad shots every possession? And Nurk would just get exploited on the PnR.

 

[Ripcity4life77]

I hope everyone has a good evening -- i am done for tonight - i could rag on Stotts all night but he is not worth my time. I am going to need a couple days to let this season sink in and such but GO Blazers and i hope the Warriors lose to the East Champs

 

[illmatic99]

Yeah...the Clippers with a less talented team took two games off the Champs with KD. I know the Warriors were cruising in that series but they were definitely cruising in this game as well.

Overall, fun season for sure. No one can take away the shot, and a WCF berth. But I hope this series shows how far away to a championship we actually are, and that Stotts is not the coach to take us there.

However, I'm almost 100% sure Stotts bought himself another season with this WCF run. *SIGH*

What? Klay and Curry played the entire second half. In what way were they cruising?

 

[e_blazer]

They’ll lose again though if they even make it this far because they’re just broken vs this team. Its so mental, one team knows they can turn it on for 5 minutes and win and the other team knows that whatever lead they get doesnt matter.

I know that the team wont do anything, but they should because this group is has had their will snapped in half by GS.

Of course they will probably lose again unless we get really lucky. There are a lot of great teams in the West. Blowing up a team that gets this far without its starting center isn’t the solution, IMO. Sure, if you can trade CJ for AD, go for it, but anything less would be a mistake.

 

[MARIS61]

Its hard to say this because theyve accomplished a lot this year without Nurk, but they've gotta break up this team, and move on from Stotts. In this series they were up 17,19, and 17 points and LOST those leads in minutes and LOST those games.
I really like this team, I respect those guys what they've done this year, but its pretty clear that like what Lebron did to teams out east, Like the Raptors, Indy, Washington, even Boston. GS has broken the Blazers.
I hate to say it but even a Healthy Nurk cant help them if Dame / CJ just looked lost when it matters.
Hats off to the Blazers, Dame, CJ, Stotts, all of them for an incredibly fun ride this year, but I think its pretty obvious they know they cant beat GS and they need a radically different team that isnt broken to challenge them.

I disagree.

GS was behind 17, 19, and 17 points and barely won 2 of those games.

Blazers proved that even without their very formidable starting center they are at the very least the 3rd best team in the league, likely the 2nd best.

Bake it!

 

[B-Roy]

What? Klay and Curry played the entire second half. In what way were they cruising?

They cruised the 1st half and played 11 players.

 

[GhostOfPGA]

I'm sorry, were you watching the same series? We got 4-0ed. Nurk would have helped win a few games, but we still probably lose the series.

Blazers just break down in crunch time or when things stop going their way. What does Nurk do in a close game when Dame and CJ just throw up bad shots every possession? And Nurk would just get exploited on the PnR.

we got 4-0’d but we had 15+ point leads in three of the games... Nurk’s defense and post offense dominates the Warriors.

 

[James lamphear]

Well in some ways, Damian reminds me of Damon ( Stoudamire). Can always drive in there, then can do shit with it.

Difference is, I think a good coach could get him to make better choices. I don't think anyone could change Damon.
Perhaps a Van Gundy could make Damian significantly better. Leonard too!

I hate to tell people Van Gundy offensive is slower then Stotts. I remember the Knicks team when he coach.

 

[BonesJones]

Watching this offensive I am surprised we actually made this far this totally a bad half court offensive but guess Nurk playing it built around 3 players.

We have guards that excel making insanely tough shots. They lift Stotts up with them. How often do we see a set where we can say "Wow, thats something new and creative that got us a great look"? Rarely if ever.

 

[BonesJones]

I hate to tell people Van Gundy offensive is slower then Stotts. I remember the Knicks team when he coach.

Yeah I'm not a fan either. Give me Messina.

 

[illmatic99]

They cruised the 1st half and played 11 players.

They were missing Iggy/Cuz/KD. No shit. they were looking for pieces and didn't find any. it wasn't some deliberate attempt to lay down.

 

[H.C.]

We have guards that excel making insanely tough shots. They lift Stotts up with them. How often do we see a set where we can say "Wow, thats something new and creative that got us a great look"? Rarely if ever.

Next year I'm hoping to see Lillard & CJ moving with purpose and cutting hard to get open off of traps.
Portland just doesn't do enough of that.

 

[B-Roy]

I hate to tell people Van Gundy offensive is slower then Stotts. I remember the Knicks team when he coach.

A retread is probably not the right move. All the good coaches in the league came from good scouting and discussions with the right people. Not really sure Olshey is gonna do that.

 

[James lamphear]

I'll buy you one of these this off-season.
You got me lol

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

I disagree.

GS was behind 17, 19, and 17 points and barely won 2 of those games.

Blazers proved that even without their very formidable starting center they are at the very least the 3rd best team in the league, likely the 2nd best.

Bake it!

Well they played GS worse then Houston and the Clippers so...

 

[Hoopguru]

Well in some ways, Damian reminds me of Damon ( Stoudamire). Can always drive in there, then can do shit with it.

Difference is, I think a good coach could get him to make better choices. I don't think anyone could change Damon.
Perhaps a Van Gundy could make Damian significantly better. Leonard too!

Neither Van Gundys would sit well for Dame.

 

[GhostOfPGA]

You know the funny thing is, we trapped Curry this game and EVERY time we did he had Draymond Green wide open to cut to the basket and/or make a play... Harkless/Aminu/Turner did fuck all while being wide open.

 

[Hoopguru]

Well they played GS worse then Houston and the Clippers so...[/

Would have played Jake some in series.

 

[LayneStaley]

Stotts isn’t going anywhere after taking us to our first wcf in 19 years. If Allen was alive he’d be getting a 10 year extension. Everyone just better hope whatever roster tinkering we do works.

 

[HailBlazers]

Collins defense and size would alone be worth playing over Turner though. Turner didn’t do jack shit for us in OT. We couldn’t rebound with him.

I don't understand why Collins and Leonard never played together.

 

[illmatic99]

We lost this game on the boards.

Out shot them from the field and three, Out assisted them! Dame shot better than Curry. CJ shot better than Klay. Meyers outplayed Draymond for most of the night. but nearly a 20 rebound difference is gonna bite you in the ass eventually

 

[3putt]

Neither Van Gundys would sit well for Dame.

Maybe they don’t need to be his friend but his coach first.

 

[MarAzul]

I don't understand why Collins and Leonard never played together.

The did some tonight. Not enough but it went well when they did.

 

[illmatic99]

we lost two games in this series by one possession. Don't hang your heads

 

[beast blazer]

Warriors are a championship team because they know how to close games. Portland did not deserve to advance.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

I have enjoyed talking basketball with many of you guys this year. Tomorrow Ill feel better Im sure, but man such a great run to get this far to just choke it away like they did... Thats hard to swallow, they may never have this opportunity again.

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

we lost two games in this series by one possession. Don't hang your heads

Its the way they lost that sucks, like it really felt like GS toyed with them and took large chunks of the games off because they knew they could.