Bubble game 3: Portland vs Houston 6:00pm TNT/SNW

[DaVoiceMaster]

Spurs 2% ... ouch!

[Brandon-Clyde]

BC - the same GLB picture for the 3rd and 4th quarters? Good thing you tossed in a couple extras in the 4th quarter. You damn near cost us the game!

Whoops, I was paying attention to the game and did the GLB pics quick(plus working graveyard tonight so a bit sleep deprived)

[DaVoiceMaster]

At least you threw in some extra GLB pix tonight which clearly helped.

[zzaj]

One thing we hadn't seen in a while. Nurk having one of those games where he misses a lot of layups. So glad that didn't come back to haunt us. Such a huge win!

Yeah it seems like he sometimes has trouble against smaller defenders. Or at least doesn't dominate them offensively. Hassan seems to have an easier time with that. Fortunately Portland has both

I also wonder if it's easier on players to be in this bubble because they don't have to do any traveling. Like portland's playing a lot of minutes and games in short succession. But they don't have the travel aspect messing with sleep or anything like that.

I knew the "finishing" Nurk was too good to be true. But overall, it seems the time working on his game has actually helped in that dept.

As for the bubble...IMO, it would have to be a HUGE bonus for a team like Portland that travels so much. As a musician, when I'm on tour even with great accommodation and flights instead of buses shows are still much, much more exhausting than when I'm in one place for a while...

[DaVoiceMaster]

I imagine Nurkic is probably tired. He hasn't played 3 games in 5 days (or 6 games in maybe 12 days including the scrimmage gsmes) in over 14 months. He's gotta get back in game shape.

[BlazersBroncos]

I was hopeful about Hassan and to his credit he had a good game for a backup but something about his body language since becoming a backup makes me feel like at any moment he is going to walk back into the tunnel and just quit on us.

Most confusing + / - of the night has to be Simons at a team best +13 despite doing nothing out there lol

[dunlop212]

One thing to consider as this plays out. You typically talk about the loss column, because we're used to talking about races with winning records, and teams with fewer losses have a better win pct if they are tied in the gb column. This race involves teams with losing records, so the win column is the one to watch. Portland is 2 games up in the win column in the race for #9.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Great win, definitely the Blazers most complete game in the bubble so far. Executed our game plan which was shut down Harden/Westbrook and make the other Rockets beat us (same thing teams do to Lillard/McCollum) and feed the ball inside. Our shooters showed up and Carmelo had his best defensive game as a Blazer while being a great 3rd option offensively. It wasn't all perfect but I'm not gonna dwell on the mistakes. We got the W and can look to the next game. Nuggets front-line and long perimeter defenders will give us headaches.

[The Sebastian Express]

Only a game behind Memphis now..

[Matt800]

Only a game behind Memphis now..

Yeah awesome! Although to my understanding if Memphis wins 0 games, Portland still needs to win 2 more games to pass them. If Memphis wins 1, Portland needs to win 3 to pass them.

[BlazersBroncos]

Even if we dont pass MEM, I would take us in the play-in 10/10 times. We are a better team than them, especially with JJJ out.

A team with Val and Brooks as the 2/3 options isnt beating Portland unless Morant goes completely insane out there.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

Only a game behind Memphis now..

Yeah awesome! Although to my understanding if Memphis wins 0 games, Portland still needs to win 2 more games to pass them. If Memphis wins 1, Portland needs to win 3 to pass them.

memphis plays okc, toronto, boston and milwaukee

maybe they can win one game, but probably will go 0-4

on the other hand, we should win two or three games out of five, although were playing good teams except brooklyn

[DaVoiceMaster]

I think Dallas may be out of the running for 6th place by the time the Blazers play them so they may take it easy by resting players. I gotta assume the Blazers beat Brooklyn, which means they need to win 1 more game against either Denver, Clippers, or Philly. I would think they could give Phillt a run for their money. Winning those 3 games should get them into either the 8th or 9th position.

[Matt800]

I think Dallas may be out of the running for 6th place by the time the Blazers play them so they may take it easy by resting players. I gotta assume the Blazers beat Brooklyn, which means they need to win 1 more game against either Denver, Clippers, or Philly. I would think they could give Phillt a run for their money. Winning those 3 games should get them into either the 8th or 9th position.

The resting players or taking it easy part is a big concern. If Memphis or any other teams Portland is competing with get an easy win against a resting team it could really change the situation. Like Dzon just mentioned, it's very possible that Memphis would lose all 4 of their games if the other teams were trying. But if they get to play a resting team or two, that makes it way harder for Portland to pass them. Although even if Por is in 9th it seems like they could beat Mem in a play in tournament when Mem is without one of their best players.

[DaVoiceMaster]

The Lakers have nothing to play for in their remaining games. I cant imagine James and Davis playing more than 15-20 minutes per game. Other teams will fall into that same position as she's 8 games get played out.

[monopoman]

I think Dallas may be out of the running for 6th place by the time the Blazers play them so they may take it easy by resting players. I gotta assume the Blazers beat Brooklyn, which means they need to win 1 more game against either Denver, Clippers, or Philly. I would think they could give Phillt a run for their money. Winning those 3 games should get them into either the 8th or 9th position.

The resting players or taking it easy part is a big concern. If Memphis or any other teams Portland is competing with get an easy win against a resting team it could really change the situation. Like Dzon just mentioned, it's very possible that Memphis would lose all 4 of their games if the other teams were trying. But if they get to play a resting team or two, that makes it way harder for Portland to pass them. Although even if Por is in 9th it seems like they could beat Mem in a play in tournament when Mem is without one of their best players.

It could also help us we could be facing one of the teams that is resting players, because their playoff spot is locked up. The later we play the teams with a secure spot the better, because those teams will be less likely to give their main guys minutes.

[Matt800]

I think Dallas may be out of the running for 6th place by the time the Blazers play them so they may take it easy by resting players. I gotta assume the Blazers beat Brooklyn, which means they need to win 1 more game against either Denver, Clippers, or Philly. I would think they could give Phillt a run for their money. Winning those 3 games should get them into either the 8th or 9th position.

The resting players or taking it easy part is a big concern. If Memphis or any other teams Portland is competing with get an easy win against a resting team it could really change the situation. Like Dzon just mentioned, it's very possible that Memphis would lose all 4 of their games if the other teams were trying. But if they get to play a resting team or two, that makes it way harder for Portland to pass them. Although even if Por is in 9th it seems like they could beat Mem in a play in tournament when Mem is without one of their best players.

It could also help us we could be facing one of the teams that is resting players, because their playoff spot is locked up. The later we play the teams with a secure spot the better, because those teams will be less likely to give their main guys minutes.

True. And resting might not happen. I think there's almost a week between the last game and the playoffs if I read it correctly. That combined with teams knowing that every bit of practice helps after the months off, makes resting seem less likely. The teams that would make sense to rest would be the 8th and 9th seeds as soon as they lock up that position. Because they have to play in the play in tournament, and don't have the time off the other teams have.

[monopoman]

The resting players or taking it easy part is a big concern. If Memphis or any other teams Portland is competing with get an easy win against a resting team it could really change the situation. Like Dzon just mentioned, it's very possible that Memphis would lose all 4 of their games if the other teams were trying. But if they get to play a resting team or two, that makes it way harder for Portland to pass them. Although even if Por is in 9th it seems like they could beat Mem in a play in tournament when Mem is without one of their best players.

It could also help us we could be facing one of the teams that is resting players, because their playoff spot is locked up. The later we play the teams with a secure spot the better, because those teams will be less likely to give their main guys minutes.

True. And resting might not happen. I think there's almost a week between the last game and the playoffs if I read it correctly. That combined with teams knowing that every bit of practice helps after the months off, makes resting seem less likely. The teams that would make sense to rest would be the 8th and 9th seeds as soon as they lock up that position. Because they have to play in the play in tournament, and don't have the time off the other teams have.

More likely it might be a case of reduced minutes, maybe like 20 MPG for their top players 15 or so for their solid players, and then distribute the rest among the bench. Even with something like that as long as the Blazers take the game seriously should still be much easier to win when their players are playing like less than 2/3rds their normal regular season load. If there wasn't the huge break before these 8 games I bet we would see more teams taking the games off near the end especially those near the top.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Dallas and maybe Brooklyn are the only teams that may be in a position to rest players. Denver, Clippers, and Philly are all in a dog fight for positioning so I don't see them resting anyone.