Playoffs Game 5 Rd 1 Portland vs Denver 6:00pm SNW/NBATV

[valleyman33]

Been around a long time, watched the great ones come and go. That was the finest playoff performance by any player I have ever seen. I have never seen anyone in any sport leave it all on the court like I saw tonight. Yes we lost, but it should not take anything away from the greatest Blazer of all time.

[monopoman]

It's a rough ending to the game though this game looks so much better if Dame wills the team to the win also.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Nurk picked up some stupid fouls within minutes.
Refs call some stupid foula.
Covington misses 2 dunks.
CJ - I actually hate him this series. He is either a clown or a moron.

It's really too bad the Blazers spotted the Nuggets a 9 point lead to start the 2nd OT.

There were so many stupid things about this game and I just don't know how that is possible considering Lillard's performance.

It just amazes me how much contact goes uncalled. How do the ref's decide which ticky tack fouls to call and why Nurk? I don't know how Austin Rivers doesn't foul out. That guy is always hanging all over players. How does Nurk foul out, but Rivers doesn't? And that screen foul on Nurk was BS.

Maybe the Blazers need to reach out to the league like they did 20 years ago when the officials did not call things evenly with Sabonis vs Shaq.

[Wizenheimer]

in a way, this game was symbolic of the last 6 seasons. Dame doing everything he can to will the Blazers to wins, but ultimately, his teammates can't give him enough support. Talent wins and Portland does not have enough of it

CJ was terrible in this game. Can't exactly gauge what was worse, his offense or his defense. Probably offense because it was way too much MeJ tonight and MeJ showed up at the worst times

And Nurkic, my gawd, a couple of really dumb fouls. Meanwhile RoCo was missing dunks; other than that, he was the 2nd best Blazer tonight

saw a tweet that Powell's 51 minutes without a rebound was an NBA playoff record.

poorly balance roster, but the architect is nowhere in sight

[Case2012]

I think we should start an online petition to fire Neil olshey. I despise this man. What a pathetic general manager. He's got be up there with Billy king as one of the worst ever. I could write a novel about his mistakes as the architect of this team. Every time he gives a presser, this is how I feel. I know I shouldn't personally hate someone I don't know, but I do. I hate this man. I hate his face. Call me petty, call me irrational, but I'm just keeping it real.

Watch on YouTube

[BlazersBroncos]

We need to find a way to get Dame a legitimate sidekick and if it takes an absurd amount of future 1st rounders, so be it. Its time to sell out for Dame or trade him. We are wasting this mans career. Its not acceptable even if he has the loyalty to take it.

[d-train]

When Nurk fouled out, chucking up the 3-ball was about our only chance. Nurk in the game is what would have won. A game plan and execution that utilizes every player, is what wins. When Blazers are the team assembled by Olshey, and are executing Stotts game plan, we can win when Lillard goes 1 for 11.

We have 2 more tries to win 2 more games. Nuggets don't need a win until game 7. So, refs should allow Nurk to play game 6, according to how the series has been called so far.

[HoopsFanAZ]

1. Nurkic has to play smarter. Fouling out in 24 minutes is unacceptable. Biggest problem.
2. RoCo and Powell are keepers at forward and guard.
3. CJ, Kanter, Melo — defense. Kanter stunk a bit less, but how many fakes by Jokic gesturing to the refs as a fake will Kanter fall for. Squirrel. Melo can be a microwave off the bench, but CJ should be gone to improve at forward. Obvious path to improvement as a team. Olshey not being interested in a trade is no longer the point.
4. Young talent (Simons and Little) are good to keep and can be traded in a serious package.

Lillard is ready for moves. Ready. Olshey has to help Lillard. Wouldn’t be that surprised to see Olshey move up the Vulcan food chain (or to the Lakers and back to the beach) and Ainge come home as GM.

[Norm2953]

I do see Danny Ainge retire as President of the Celtics with Brad Stevens replacing him which makes me wonder
if following suit by removing NO and perhaps moving Stotts upstairs. There will be changes this off season and I
wonder if the move should be to move Dame for NO has destroyed all roster flexibility to make any meaningful
moves.

[Epicurus]

We need to find a way to get Dame a legitimate sidekick and if it takes an absurd amount of future 1st rounders, so be it. Its time to sell out for Dame or trade him. We are wasting this mans career. Its not acceptable even if he has the loyalty to take it.

Wasting his career? Dame is making a fortune playing a game he loves, and receiving a boatload of adulation. Not being on a championship winner is hardly a waste of a career. He would be far from the first excellent player to not have a ring.

[d-train]

We need to find a way to get Dame a legitimate sidekick and if it takes an absurd amount of future 1st rounders, so be it. Its time to sell out for Dame or trade him. We are wasting this mans career. Its not acceptable even if he has the loyalty to take it.

Wasting his career? Dame is making a fortune playing a game he loves, and receiving a boatload of adulation. Not being on a championship winner is hardly a waste of a career. He would be far from the first excellent player to not have a ring.

Yeah, why isn't LeBron wasting his career wherever he goes. Every place LeBron goes is a contender because he is there. Same is true of a few other players, but not Lillard. Lillard is in Portland waiting for the Nowitski plan to work. Guess what, the Nowitski plan is a longshot.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

This one was a real heart-breaker. Those Dame heroics should be celebrated but because we lost they are just painful to rewatch. He did everything he could but the rest of the team didn't do enough. This one should stir some deep reflection even if we somehow pull out the series, but losing a double OT gut punch is an emotional loss that will be hard to come back from..

[mojomarc]

Been around a long time, watched the great ones come and go. That was the finest playoff performance by any player I have ever seen. I have never seen anyone in any sport leave it all on the court like I saw tonight. Yes we lost, but it should not take anything away from the greatest Blazer of all time.

I'd say that this is tied for finest. LeBron in game 1 in 2018 was the unquestioned best. I think Dame matched him last night. And both lost because their surrounding teams were overmatched. With Porter going off last night, this really shouldn't have been close. But god damn Dame. That was pure God mode

[Epicurus]

This game was like listening to Pavarotti backed by a high school band.

[BlazersBroncos]

This game was like listening to Pavarotti backed by a high school band.

This quote arguably sums up the entirety of Lillard's career here.

[JasonStern]

One time Dame was sick and they brought in Air Bud, the basketball playing dog, to fill in and he was dunking on half our roster, and it was like - that's a dog! And he's dunking on you! Get it together CJ!

[soobias]

Dame's performance reminded me of Jordan against the Celtics when he scored 63 in a loss.
I've watched a lot of b ball like the rest of you guys and i don't remember any other performance like that, too bad it was in a loss.
to me it looked like Dame was the only one playing with a sense of emergency.

[mojomarc]

Dame's performance reminded me of Jordan against the Celtics when he scored 63 in a loss.
I've watched a lot of b ball like the rest of you guys and i don't remember any other performance like that, too bad it was in a loss.
to me it looked like Dame was the only one playing with a sense of emergency.

Jordan needed 41 shots and 21 FTs to get 63. What Dame did is more incredible IMO. The issue is: why wasn't Dame taking even more shots, especially early? Maybe he should be more selfish and be taking 30 shots when he's playing like he was.

That said, we're all bemoaning the loss, but there definitely should have been a foul on that shot at the end of OT. That would have won the game in all likelihood.