Bubble game 5: Portland vs LA Clippers 10am Saturday

[Sinobas]

Deflating loss. Just when I was getting renewed excitement about Blazer basketball, they drop a key game, getting trounced in crunch time by the Clippers bench.

If we lose vs. Philly, our shot at even getting to the playin is very questionable.

[Wizenheimer]

blazers not making it easy on themselves, but when have they ever?

Dame was the goat instead of the GOAT. Of course there's this factor: after nearly 5 months off; and after missing 2 of the 3 'exhibition games; in the 4 bubble games before yesterday Dame had played 45, 40, 41, & 42 minutes before playing 39 yesterday. It's the same old problem. That problem being in order for Portland to have any real chance, they have to play Dame major minutes. They grind him into the hardwood.

meanwhile, on the other bench Kawhi, Harrell, and Beverly were resting while Lou played 18 minutes and PG13 played 28, and almost none in the 4th Q

it's become a really rare occurrence for Portland to win a game against a good team when Dame is off

[Blazinaway]

blazers not making it easy on themselves, but when have they ever?

Dame was the goat instead of the GOAT. Of course there's this factor: after nearly 5 months off; and after missing 2 of the 3 'exhibition games; in the 4 bubble games before yesterday Dame had played 45, 40, 41, & 42 minutes before playing 39 yesterday. It's the same old problem. That problem being in order for Portland to have any real chance, they have to play Dame major minutes. They grind him into the hardwood.

meanwhile, on the other bench Kawhi, Harrell, and Beverly were resting while Lou played 18 minutes and PG13 played 28, and almost none in the 4th Q

it's become a really rare occurrence for Portland to win a game against a good team when Dame is off

Welcome back Wiz, where ya been?

[Wizenheimer]

blazers not making it easy on themselves, but when have they ever?

Dame was the goat instead of the GOAT. Of course there's this factor: after nearly 5 months off; and after missing 2 of the 3 'exhibition games; in the 4 bubble games before yesterday Dame had played 45, 40, 41, & 42 minutes before playing 39 yesterday. It's the same old problem. That problem being in order for Portland to have any real chance, they have to play Dame major minutes. They grind him into the hardwood.

meanwhile, on the other bench Kawhi, Harrell, and Beverly were resting while Lou played 18 minutes and PG13 played 28, and almost none in the 4th Q

it's become a really rare occurrence for Portland to win a game against a good team when Dame is off

Welcome back Wiz, where ya been?

wearing a mask....made it hard to type

[Epicurus]

Rivers had a advantage at the end with that lineup. If it didn't work, so what, as the game was not critical. Yet it might work as fresh players, even subs, may just be too much in crunch time for a fatigued oppositional lineup. The crunch time Clipper lineup was much quicker than that of the Blazers. Those thinking that Rivers or his players were just giving the game away just don't get NBA coaches or players.

Yeah, because coaches bench their best players when they're trying to close out a close game all the time.

It's like you didn't read my comment or that your perceptual screen is drawn so tightly you didn't understand its meaning. Your attempt to ridicule is totally irrelevant to my point. I bet you hear that often.

[zzaj]

blazers not making it easy on themselves, but when have they ever?

Dame was the goat instead of the GOAT. Of course there's this factor: after nearly 5 months off; and after missing 2 of the 3 'exhibition games; in the 4 bubble games before yesterday Dame had played 45, 40, 41, & 42 minutes before playing 39 yesterday. It's the same old problem. That problem being in order for Portland to have any real chance, they have to play Dame major minutes. They grind him into the hardwood.

meanwhile, on the other bench Kawhi, Harrell, and Beverly were resting while Lou played 18 minutes and PG13 played 28, and almost none in the 4th Q

it's become a really rare occurrence for Portland to win a game against a good team when Dame is off

Welcome back Wiz, where ya been?

wearing a mask....made it hard to type

I'll admit...I was starting to get a little bit worried about ya!

[d-train]

It's not really a problem. It's a challenge. Every team has its challenges. The Blazers challenge is playing without a General on the floor. We have shoot first scoring combo guards. The scouting report against the Blazers is well known. Attack the ball hard and force our ball handlers to make decisions. When our ball handlers or secondary passers, if our ball-handler passes, make good reads, we win. And, with the addition of Nurk and Melo, we have post matchups in addition to ISO matchups. So far, we are not doing well exploiting our mismatches. All of our players have to do better transitioning from playing off ball handler dribble penetration to playing off a post matchup.