Game 23: Portland @ Chicago ESPN/CSNNW 4:00PM PDT

[GreenRiddler]

Meyers Leonard -16 plus/minus in just 5 minutes? ouch.

Well that was when the Bulls went on that run. But +/- is a pretty useless stat.

Rose who looked amazing was -5

[GreenRiddler]

I did find it interesting Stotts went to Meyers, Freeland was playing awful, but he was playing bad for a couple of games, which confirmed my suspicion, that stotts will only make rotation changes if guys play bad...and we lose.

If guys play bad and we are winning, like we were before that Minny game he is going to keep playing you.

[GreenRiddler]

I thought the Blazers played really, really well. I also think Kaman absolutely slaughtered you guys-- with him in, Brooks got about 4 layups, got the whole team loose. I think the Bulls just happened to play an even better game. The best they've played this season, no doubt. I love watching your offense. Screens on screens on screens, constant ball movement, high post iso's for aldridge and great pick-setting, 1-5. It gave us nightmares. If it wasn't for Rose having his best night in 3 years, we'd have lost.

Yeah sometime you just got to tip your hat, Brooks and especially Rose just madegreat shots, Rose had the best game he has had like you said since 2011.

[Shem]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la5iI2S2kYI[/youtube]

[Shem]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMC9AROQcfE[/youtube]

[The Sebastian Express]

Welp, Spurs lost to the Lakers at home. They really blew it on national television there.

[Wizenheimer]

just watched replay...

game was decided in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd Q. 23-5 run for Bulls, in large part, fueled by careless Blazer turnovers and poor shot selection...and Meyers not being able to grab a defensive rebound didn't help either

Bulls are a good team though, so winning there is a tall order

61-23 FTA advantage for Blazer opponents in last 2 games... Being allergic to paint points can cause that

I swear, I just can't see how anybody can have any optimism that Meyers Leonard will turn into even a marginal NBA player. Right now, he's about 3 tiers below marginal, and this is his 3rd season. It was a mistake to pick up his 4th season, IMO. Maybe he can be filler in a trade, but I doubt it.

[The Sebastian Express]

I wonder if we can package Meyers, TRob and Claver for an expiring - okay that thought being more ludicrous as it went on, I'm sorry.

[PDXKnight]

Stealing this stat from TBPUP on Twitter
@TBpup22: @BlazerFreeman 1-4 against quality teams so far though. Mavs, Warriors, Griz, Clips Bulls.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Meh with the exception of the Bulls we've struggled against all of those teams in recent years.

[PDXKnight]

Welp, Spurs lost to the Lakers at home. They really blew it on national television there.

Ha.

[GreenRiddler]

I really like that Batum switched it up wit his shot, he didn't make them, but he shot a higher number of 2pter relative to 3pters.

[GreenRiddler]

61-23 FTA advantage for Blazer opponents in last 2 games... Being allergic to paint points can cause that

We are 26th in pts in the paint (37.5) and 28th in FTAs.

Last year we were 26th in pts in the paint(37.9) and 13th in FTAs.

Doesn't seem like a big difference in pts in the paint but a big drop in FTAs. I don't get it, maybe refs hate us.


Edit: In fact the LACs are lower than us in pts in the paint, but much higher in FTAs. So I suspect hte refs just don't respect us.

[Wizenheimer]

61-23 FTA advantage for Blazer opponents in last 2 games... Being allergic to paint points can cause that

We are 26th in pts in the paint (37.5) and 28th in FTAs.

Last year we were 26th in pts in the paint(37.9) and 13th in FTAs.

Doesn't seem like a big difference in pts in the paint but a big drop in FTAs. I don't get it, maybe refs hate us.


Edit: In fact the LACs are lower than us in pts in the paint, but much higher in FTAs. So I suspect hte refs just don't respect us.

I don't think it has much of anything to do with the officials being biased against players in Blazer uniforms (which isn't to say the officials don't have biases)

comparing LAC and Portland, first keep in mind that 'points-in-the-paint' is a general designation and that within that zone there can be different quality shots including shots more inclined to draw whistles. Compare the rate (% of attempts/all attempts) shots st the rim (0-3') for a few primary players on each team:

LAC

DeAndre Jordan .890
Glen Davis .419
Blake Griffin .312
Matt Barnes .250
J.J. Redick .108
Chris Paul .101

PDX

Robin Lopez .569
Chris Kaman .311
Damian Lillard .278
Nicolas Batum .181
LaMarcus Aldridge .177
Wesley Matthews .152

so, when it comes to shots at the rim, Jordan > Lopez; Davis > Kaman; Griffin > Aldridge; Barnes > Batum. Lillard & Matthews on the other hand are quite a bit > then Paul & Redick

and it's important to keep in mind that FT's converted from being fouled on inside shots do not count in those points-in-the-paint numbers even though the fouls were drawn because of being inside shots. In other words, paint points and FTA's are actually connected. LAC gets more points from their inside game which in turn, probably stresses opposing defenses more

and I'd estimate that theory is supported by another team number: LAC is 8th in the league in their FT/FGA ratio, .232. Portland is 26th at .182

AND, that leads into a pretty revealing comparison (IMO). that 0.182 FT/FGA ratio and 26th ranking this season compares pretty unfavorably to Portland's 0.220 ratio and 13th ranking last season. Which in turn, circles back around to Portland's 1 year drops in percentage of total points coming from FT's (from 18% to 15.2%), & fastbreak points (11.0 to 9.7); and an accompanying increase in percentage of total points from Three's (from 26% to 28%)

going back to those individual player numbers, perhaps the biggest difference is between Aldridge and Blake Griffin, especially considering their volume of FGA.

now I'll admit, all this supports my bias against the trends that Stotts appears to be pushing. So maybe, there is another legitimate way to view these numbers. But Aldridge's trend-line, season to season, on % of shots at the rim I find irritating:

2010-11 - .320 (Nate)
2011-12 - .281 (Nate)
2012-13 - .215 (Stotts)
2013-14 - .186 (Stotts)
2014-15 - .177 (Stotts)

(by the way, Batum has a very similar trend-line and I know you don't like his 'shot-selection' ratios)

now, I'll grant it's a bit difficult to argue with Portland success last season. Doing so can seem like nit-picking. But my take is that Stotts is pushing the Blazer offense slowly and surely further from the basket. Portland does not get those easy points. They are 26th in paint-points; 26th in fast break points; 28th in FTRate; 27th in %-of-shots-at-rim; and 29th in opponent turnovers. This means they are extremely reliant on their perimeter shooting, which in turn means they operate with a very small margin of error. If their shooting is off, it gets ugly