The Blazers lost a close home court Playoff Game 4 due to Blazer coaching mistakes, unlucky mussed shots, and game determining referee mistakes. The 9 man rotation with a team that failed to maintain consistent, determined defense and was again outrebounded should have been given the benefit of energetic hustle talent off of the bench in the form of Meyers as one of the leading Blazer scoring talents, screening leader, box out force against Jokic, and most importantly swish3 scoring threat. If Meyers had been in the game in the 3rd Q, we could have scored our average 26 instead of the pathetic 14 points, due to better screens, rebounds, box outs, passing, and arc shooting. We needed the offense and defense that Meyers offers to win!
Pivotal to losing this game were the terribly incorrect foul call and negated basket against Enes, when it should have been a Millsap foul (a 3 point swing possibly), and the blatant push of Zach by Jokic under the basket that allowed Jokic such an easy offensive rebound putback and score (another possible 4 point swing), as well as numerous pushing fouls on Jokic and fouls of Dame on drives to the basket--and this is on our home court! The Blazers need to stand firm on getting at least consistent call treatment on our home court!
In the 3rd Q, we should have seen off-ball floor patterns and assist passes for Seth, Meyers, and Rod to add to scoring by CJ and Dame and aim for 15+ swish3 scoring and the win. The Blazers can win this series and the Championship if we will game plan, actively substitute, and optimize scoring (avoiding scoring less than 26 per quarter) to allow the obvious determination that won Game 3 to win again!
