Game 43: Portland vs Dallas 6:30pm SNW/ESPN

[Matt800]

It's nice that portland is still almost competitive with so many guys hurt.

[monopoman]

Damn another **** injury! I swear to god this team is cursed this season. I think we have gotten more injuries this season then the past 4 seasons combined.

I was surprised to see Lillard with such a dominant game I heard he had a cold or something that would impact his play.

[DaVoiceMaster]

I would think CJ will miss a few games over the next week, maybe two weeks. He rolled it pretty good. Fortunately he was able to walk so that's promising.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Whiteside really annoyed me last night. Three defensive 3 second calls and one offensive 3 second call. The guy gives the ball handler on any pick and roll all the space they want cuz he hangs back in the paint. That's the one thing I can say about Tolliver is he jumps the pick and roll. Last night, he seemed to always be a half step late or behind, but he's got the right idea. I wish Whiteside would step up some times like that.

The 3 point defense is atrocious. Last night I watched both Hezona and Simons run to guard the same guy, leaving another player wide open for that other player to simply pass the ball to and then he drilled the 3 pointer. This happens all too often. Do the Blazers have a defensive coach? If so, he should be fired this summer. The Blazers should bring someone in that can work on that during training camp. I gotta believe there will be a number of changes again this summer with Hezona leaving, Toller leaving, and we'll see how they handle Whiteside and Bazemore. Will Melo be back? We could potentially see just as many changes next summer as we did this past summer.

[BlazersBroncos]

Man, I would trade this entire squad and multiple future first round picks to get my hands on Luka. He does a bit too much Harden foul hunting for my liking, but everything else about his game is tremendous. I forget how large he is, he seemed to dwarf Mario. Such a special player.

This team just isn't that good. I don't think even with Nurkic and Zach we would be much more than a 8th seed. The iso ball that CJ was playing prior to his injury was disgusting.

I gotta believe there will be a number of changes again this summer with Hezona leaving, Toller leaving, and we'll see how they handle Whiteside and Bazemore. Will Melo be back? We could potentially see just as many changes next summer as we did this past summer.

The only guy that I would want back is Melo as a backup bench gunner and compliment to Zach at PF. But there is an issue. With how well he has played I would be very surprised if a much better team didn't show him interest. And in that case, at his age, why would you stay here? The other guys can walk for all I care.

Simons was playing like a chicken with his head cut off last night. It was pretty sad to watch. I still love his potential, and must remember his age, but he has not made much progress in regards to helping with wins when his shot isn't falling. You cant expect too much out of a guy his age when said player isn't a high lotto pick. For a 20's pick especially with no college, we have to not get too critical of him IMO.

Dame was tremendous. There was a moment where he threw a hard chest pass to Mario, who then threw a weak, rec league pass to Melo in the post. It wasn't necessarily a bad pass, but the sense of urgency was so starkly different between the two. Dame gives his all every night and its marvelous to watch, I just wish Neil gave him better help.

[Roy The Natural]

Man, I would trade this entire squad and multiple future first round picks to get my hands on Luka. He does a bit too much Harden foul hunting for my liking, but everything else about his game is tremendous. I forget how large he is, he seemed to dwarf Mario. Such a special player.

This team just isn't that good. I don't think even with Nurkic and Zach we would be much more than a 8th seed. The iso ball that CJ was playing prior to his injury was disgusting.

I gotta believe there will be a number of changes again this summer with Hezona leaving, Toller leaving, and we'll see how they handle Whiteside and Bazemore. Will Melo be back? We could potentially see just as many changes next summer as we did this past summer.

The only guy that I would want back is Melo as a backup bench gunner and compliment to Zach at PF. But there is an issue. With how well he has played I would be very surprised if a much better team didn't show him interest. And in that case, at his age, why would you stay here? The other guys can walk for all I care.

Simons was playing like a chicken with his head cut off last night. It was pretty sad to watch. I still love his potential, and must remember his age, but he has not made much progress in regards to helping with wins when his shot isn't falling. You cant expect too much out of a guy his age when said player isn't a high lotto pick. For a 20's pick especially with no college, we have to not get too critical of him IMO.

Dame was tremendous. There was a moment where he threw a hard chest pass to Mario, who then threw a weak, rec league pass to Melo in the post. It wasn't necessarily a bad pass, but the sense of urgency was so starkly different between the two. Dame gives his all every night and its marvelous to watch, I just wish Neil gave him better help.

This team probably would have blown Dallas out last night with a healthy Nurk and Zach. I get that what's left of the team is pretty bad. But with a healthy Hood, Collins, Nurk, Skal all playing and in the rotation this team's probably hunting for a 3-5 seed. Let's not overreact here.

[Roy The Natural]

Whiteside really annoyed me last night. Three defensive 3 second calls and one offensive 3 second call. The guy gives the ball handler on any pick and roll all the space they want cuz he hangs back in the paint. That's the one thing I can say about Tolliver is he jumps the pick and roll. Last night, he seemed to always be a half step late or behind, but he's got the right idea. I wish Whiteside would step up some times like that.

The 3 point defense is atrocious. Last night I watched both Hezona and Simons run to guard the same guy, leaving another player wide open for that other player to simply pass the ball to and then he drilled the 3 pointer. This happens all too often. Do the Blazers have a defensive coach? If so, he should be fired this summer. The Blazers should bring someone in that can work on that during training camp. I gotta believe there will be a number of changes again this summer with Hezona leaving, Toller leaving, and we'll see how they handle Whiteside and Bazemore. Will Melo be back? We could potentially see just as many changes next summer as we did this past summer.

I've been saying it all year. This HAS TO fall back on the coaching. It's one thing when team's are just out-talenting you. I get it. Dallas is a better team than hobbled Portland and talent dictates they should win. But the endlessly repeated mistakes by this team on defense goes beyond talent. There is no reason or excuse for this level of confusion to remain an issue at this point in the season. The team still has no idea what it's supposed to do defensively for about 30% of possessions on most nights. That's why they lose to the Knicks, Warriors, Wolves, and Cavs of the world. Even when the aforementioned teams, as bad as they are, are missing significant players.

Quite frankly, the team still seems confused. How can that not fall back on the coaching staff at this point?

[BlazersBroncos]

This team probably would have blown Dallas out last night with a healthy Nurk and Zach. I get that what's left of the team is pretty bad. But with a healthy Hood, Collins, Nurk, Skal all playing and in the rotation this team's probably hunting for a 3-5 seed. Let's not overreact here.

I just disagree. I think Dallas healthy with Zinger is a better team that a full healthy PDX.

Hood is about on par with THJ and Zach is about on par with Maxi. I am a Zach stan, but he really want showing out in preseason or the few games he played. We act like he is Zinger when healthy. Right now its all potential. Arguing that he develops into more Maxi Kebler than Myles Turner isn't some crazy projection.

Nurkic may have been enough to turn the tides, but even then we are talking about how the team needs to be 100% healthy to beat a squad that is a 4-6 seed. That doesn't bode well for the idea that we have a WCF contending talent base, which is what many expected.

[d-train]

This team probably would have blown Dallas out last night with a healthy Nurk and Zach. I get that what's left of the team is pretty bad. But with a healthy Hood, Collins, Nurk, Skal all playing and in the rotation this team's probably hunting for a 3-5 seed. Let's not overreact here.

I just disagree. I think Dallas healthy with Zinger is a better team that a full healthy PDX.

Hood is about on par with THJ and Zach is about on par with Maxi. I am a Zach stan, but he really want showing out in preseason or the few games he played. We act like he is Zinger when healthy. Right now its all potential. Arguing that he develops into more Maxi Kebler than Myles Turner isn't some crazy projection.

Nurkic may have been enough to turn the tides, but even then we are talking about how the team needs to be 100% healthy to beat a squad that is a 4-6 seed. That doesn't bode well for the idea that we have a WCF contending talent base, which is what many expected.

We don't need to have all of our players healthy. We do need solutions for our playmaking deficiencies. We know Nurkic (or another high pick-n-roll playmaker) puts us over the top in playmaking. Maybe Lillard/CJ/Melo plus an inside scorer puts us over the top in playmaking, this is a open question. For certain, Lillard/CJ/Whiteside has a gaping hole in playmaking. We don't have a single player solution as a playmaker, so we have to have a combination of players that works.