Game 3: Denver (2-0) @ Portland (2-0)

[KAVK]

galllo lost us this game. if tonight is not you night than stop shooting.

Gallo & Rudy shots were not falling but i would not put too much on Gallo alone. Give a credit to POR played really well.

[corona]

that was ugly.

surprised they hung in there with how terrible the shooting was.

[Milkdud]

Portland fan here, I was on board with your team being good this season because of your great depth. After seeing you guys actually play Lawson blew me away how good he has become and Nene played some of the best defense on LA I've seen in awhile.

You guys are going to have a team thats really fun to watch this season.

[PDXKnight]

Good game guys. You had us close to the end and if we weren't hitting so many shots this game would've probably gone the other way. I can't say your team wowed me on paper to start the season, but you guys have a lot of under the radar guys who people need to watch out for, particularly Lawson. Add in the depth factor and the Nuggets could be a dangerous team late season if they keep playing at this level.

[eathb_au]

Hmm, Portland is a team we should be beating.

Still got ways to go to catch up to the Heat and Thunder. And it's games like this which makes me wonder if we can win the championship with Karl. 8 players only on a b2b. Really?

[Jack wore plaid]

Hmm, Portland is a team we should be beating.

Still got ways to go to catch up to the Heat and Thunder. And it's games like this which makes me wonder if we can win the championship with Karl. 8 players only on a b2b. Really?

I am honestly not trying to start any flame wars, but why do you think "Portland is a team you should be beating"

Portland is really good, and better without Roy. Camby is a great defensive center, Aldridge, Wallace and Batum are very good forwards, with Wallace and Aldridge both all star caliber guys. Felton, Matthews, Crawford are all solid. And Portland is a really good defensive team. I'm in no way saying anything bad about Denver, but I find it off you think Denver SHOULD be beating Portland

[Ice32]

I was disappointed in Rudys effort, particularly on defense. Afflalo didn't have a great defensive game either, and Gallinaro shot us out of the game. When the threes are not falling, we gotta go inside more. At one point in the 3rd, we had Portland in foul trouble with 8 mins left and continued to shoot threes.

Coach Karl has got to find more minutes for Brewer, theres no way he would allow Wesley Matthews to hit four threes in a row. Rudy just doesn't really like playing defense, and tonite it showed.

[KAVK]

I was disappointed in Rudys effort, particularly on defense. Afflalo didn't have a great defensive game either, and Gallinaro shot us out of the game. When the threes are not falling, we gotta go inside more. At one point in the 3rd, we had Portland in foul trouble with 8 mins left and continued to shoot threes.

Coach Karl has got to find more minutes for Brewer, theres no way he would allow Wesley Matthews to hit four threes in a row. Rudy just doesn't really like playing defense, and tonite it showed.

I was begging them to get inside in the 3rd soon as POR went over the limit early.

Karl favors to 9 man rotation a lot and he needs to adjust to compressed schedule and start using other guys like Brewer and Bird is just not in the shape that actually risking to put Faried in his place won't be such a bad idea going forward. Al must have went out last night, i could tell just looking at him from up close.

POR looks good though.

[almost famous]

I am honestly not trying to start any flame wars, but why do you think "Portland is a team you should be beating"

Portland is really good, and better without Roy. Camby is a great defensive center, Aldridge, Wallace and Batum are very good forwards, with Wallace and Aldridge both all star caliber guys. Felton, Matthews, Crawford are all solid. And Portland is a really good defensive team. I'm in no way saying anything bad about Denver, but I find it off you think Denver SHOULD be beating Portland

Agreed. No shame in losing to Portland.

[monkfish]

GK is dumb as ffff. He needs to play Kosta Kofous, especially when the team they are playing has one center. Karl uses any excuse to play small ball. That line up with Ty Lawson at SG Arron Afflalo at SF, Danilo at PF, Nene at C KILLED the nuggets. Take AAA out, insert Kouf and BAM! rebounding, D and fresh legs.

[mcmurphy]

GK is dumb as ffff. He needs to play Kosta Kofous, especially when the team they are playing has one center. Karl uses any excuse to play small ball. That line up with Ty Lawson at SG Arron Afflalo at SF, Danilo at PF, Nene at C KILLED the nuggets. Take AAA out, insert Kouf and BAM! rebounding, D and fresh legs.

the nuggets was not outrebounded... simply missing 17 more shoots of blazers you have 17 more possibility to catch the defensive rebound (coincidence the blazer had 16 more defensive rebound of nuggets)

the 40% FG and 20% 3p shooting performance has been the worst from Melo trade... instead the 16 steals of blazers game is the average of the 3 games of 2011-12 season (in the season 2010-11 the best teams average 8-9 steals per game)

I'm confident that if the game was repeated, 9 times out of 10 would be won by the Nuggets

[farzi]

The Blazers turn the ball over less than anyone on average, so pointing out that you guys would play better would mean you would have to agree that Portland would play better, no?

[mcmurphy]

The Blazers turn the ball over less than anyone on average, so pointing out that you guys would play better would mean you would have to agree that Portland would play better, no?

maybe the fact that SAC and PHI are at the bottom in the steals help the Blazers stat...

this is not to remove the credit to the Blazers... the Blazers is a very good team, unselfish, without ego superstars... I am convinced that with the Nuggets will be the surprise of the season

kudos to you

[Wizenheimer]

The Blazers turn the ball over less than anyone on average, so pointing out that you guys would play better would mean you would have to agree that Portland would play better, no?

maybe the fact that SAC and PHI are at the bottom in the steals help the Blazers stat...

well...last season the Blazers were tied for 3rd in the NBA in turnover rate while being second in the NBA in forcing opponent turnover rate. They led the NBA in turnover differential. Portland was also 5th in the NBA in total steals (Denver - 13th), and that while playing at the slowest pace

obviously, the Blazers have had personnel changes, but still, you'd expect some trends to track from season to season with most of the primary rotation players still in place

so, it's pretty obvious the biggest anomaly from the game is not Denver shooting but Portland turnovers

[mcmurphy]

The Blazers turn the ball over less than anyone on average, so pointing out that you guys would play better would mean you would have to agree that Portland would play better, no?

maybe the fact that SAC and PHI are at the bottom in the steals help the Blazers stat...

well...last season the Blazers were tied for 3rd in the NBA in turnover rate while being second in the NBA in forcing opponent turnover rate. They led the NBA in turnover differential. Portland was also 5th in the NBA in total steals (Denver - 13th), and that while playing at the slowest pace

obviously, the Blazers have had personnel changes, but still, you'd expect some trends to track from season to season with most of the primary rotation players still in place

so, it's pretty obvious the biggest anomaly from the game is not Denver shooting but Portland turnovers

I'm not sure if the biggest anomaly is the Portland turnovers instead of Denver shooting

obviously to make appropriate comparisons you should consider only the last 25 games of last season of Denver (similar starting lineup, as you said "you'd expect some trends to track from season to season with most of the primary rotation players still in place")

in the last 25 games Denver performed very well (both offensively and defensively):
48% FG, 39% 3P, 8.6 stls, oppFG 44%, opp3P 32%, oppTO 14,4

before the Melo trade:
47% FG, 39% 3P, 6.9 stls, oppFG 46%, opp3P 35%, oppTO 12.6

so the steals and opponent Turnover improved from below average to top league

shooting 40% FG and 20% 3P is a big anomaly when your average is 48% and 39%

last year the average oppFG% of Portland was 46.7% and opp3P% 34.5%... I don't think Blazers defense has improved so much

repeat, kudos to you... but Denver is not less than you

[legendarywalton]

Denver is not less than you

From now on, I will always refer to teams worse than the Nuggets in this fashion.

[eathb_au]

Denver is still a long way to go to reach the Thunder/Heat though, which kinda sucks.

If Portland is our level, crown the Thunder as West champs already.

[Shem]

Coach Karl has got to find more minutes for Brewer, theres no way he would allow Wesley Matthews to hit four threes in a row. Rudy just doesn't really like playing defense, and tonite it showed.

Hey, weren't you the guy on the Mavericks board during the playoffs last spring who kept pushing for more minute for Brewer and even called Rick Carlisle an idiot for not playing him more?

So here I am seeing you at the Nuggets board pushing for more minutes for Brewer since he changed teams. Are you just a big Corey Brewer fan and just cheer on the team he plays for?

[Ice32]

Coach Karl has got to find more minutes for Brewer, theres no way he would allow Wesley Matthews to hit four threes in a row. Rudy just doesn't really like playing defense, and tonite it showed.

Hey, weren't you the guy on the Mavericks board during the playoffs last spring who kept pushing for more minute for Brewer and even called Rick Carlisle an idiot for not playing him more?

So here I am seeing you at the Nuggets board pushing for more minutes for Brewer since he changed teams. Are you just a big Corey Brewer fan and just cheer on the team he plays for?

Im an NBA fan (from Australia) and support the league (Im not loyal to any one city/team). Yes I like several players in this league and several teams. Whilst I did support Dallas last year, I also supported Denver since the Melo trade. I don't recall calling Carlisle an idiot, but the impact Brewer had in the Playoffs of Game One vs the Lakers was huge. Dallas were stupid letting Brewer and Rudy go for almost nothing. But hey, Denver got better and are looking like a fun team to watch.