Game 4: Portland vs New Orleans 7:00pm

[zzaj]

I only got to watch the first half and a little of the 3rd quarter...

NO did a GREAT job of attacking the high PnR and pressuring the perimeter in general. It totally took Lillard and CJ out of the game and the Blazers found themselves scrambling to find open guys on broken plays.

NO did a great job with their defensive scouting, and that's part of why Turner looked so effective early in the game--the Blazer offense with Turner as PG and posting up probably wasn't a big emphasis in the scouting report. Despite him putting up reasonable numbers, the offense running through him still looks confused. It typically ends in a "one shot only" scenario with players out of position...it'll look good when it goes in, but terrible if it doesn't. Stotts will need to do better if he wants to beat any good teams and get the most out of Lillard and CJ as well.

Nurkic is going to have to figure out how to be less 'hands-ey' on defense. Also, I'm beginning to think that he relied on that extra bulk from last season to gain space in the post and the extra weight to maintain balance and position. As well, the extra weight seemed to make him play at a pace that was more natural for him. I think it'll take a while for him to get in a groove offensively and defensively. We have to remember that he's still a pretty inexperienced player.

The Lillard/Nurkic PnR has obviously been scouted and teams are playing it well. Teams are blitzing up on Lillard and not allowing the time it takes for Nurkic to set the screen in the correct place, so a lot of those Pick plays seem disjointed. There is no solution to this other than to run action prior to the high PnR to get the defenders slightly sagging off of Lillard.

We have yet to see a collective great games from Lillard/CJ/Nurkic and 2 role players. The good news is the Blazers have mostly played poor teams. The bad news is I think it'll take 5 players having good games to beat the really good teams. Stotts has to figure out how to get Lillard/CJ/Nurkic/Turner/Harkless/Davis into a groove together.

I'm really wanting to see more of Collins...

[Norm2953]

There seems to be some validity to the notion that the first game back from a long road trip is like
another road game for Portland seemed to be a step slow tonight for it took well into the third
quarter before Dame had a basket. Just a sloppy, ugly game with no pace which explained over
100 rebounds

[Soulyss]

Feel sorry for Anthony Davis. Whenever he really gets going it feels like he gets injured. I hope it's just a one game thing for his knee.

Also some fouls Nurk didn't need to make but at least the other bigs stepped up when called upon.

glad the other guys stepped up but Nurk needs to pull his head out

he's a young guy playing for a contract... he's pressing... someone (dame, cj...) will at some point pull him aside, smack him upside the head and say... JUST PLAY.

He's young, he will be fine... This team is deep, and dispite Nurk & Dame playing like garbage, we still won by 10.

[Soulyss]

When was the last time Lillard struggled this much on his first 9 shots or so?

He had a game or two like this last year... I think he had like a 4-18 against Boston, and maybe like a 3 - 16 against someone else... I think it was that loss in Philly?

Good thing about Dame is I can't ever remember it carrying over to the next game.

[Soulyss]

There seems to be some validity to the notion that the first game back from a long road trip is like
another road game for Portland seemed to be a step slow tonight for it took well into the third
quarter before Dame had a basket. Just a sloppy, ugly game with no pace which explained over
100 rebounds

Opening night they have more on their plate, meet and greets, etc... I suspect that their whole routine was simply.. off. Better measure of them tomorrow night against the Clips.

[Blazinaway]

Feel sorry for Anthony Davis. Whenever he really gets going it feels like he gets injured. I hope it's just a one game thing for his knee.

Also some fouls Nurk didn't need to make but at least the other bigs stepped up when called upon.

glad the other guys stepped up but Nurk needs to pull his head out

he's a young guy playing for a contract... he's pressing... someone (dame, cj...) will at some point pull him aside, smack him upside the head and say... JUST PLAY.

He's young, he will be fine... This team is deep, and dispite Nurk & Dame playing like garbage, we still won by 10.

never said he would not be fine and maybe Dame will do the head pulling, for now its still stuck

[a_sensei]

A weird game and an ugly win but it just looks like a win in the standings. Pelicans length and attacking defense really mucked things up and took the Blazers out of their game. Center position stepped up big combining for 29 points and 19 rebounds.

Player Grades:
Ed Davis
A-
Another fantastic effort by “Shirt Off Ed.” 12/10 in 21 minutes. Brought much needed energy, keeping possessions alive while the offense was struggling.

Caleb Swanigan
A-
Swanigan seemed to be in the right place all night. Like Davis he brough much needed energy, grabbing eight rebounds (five offensive) plus three assists in 16 minutes. On the defensive end he took a nice charge against Cousins, and probably should have gotten the call on another and his block of a Diallo dunk attempt at the end of the first quarter was especially memorable.

CJ McCollum
A-
Given Lillard’s shooting struggles it was surprising to see McCollum not make much of an effort to assert himself in the first half. CJ scored 16 or his 23 in the fourth quarter and was instrumental in the Blazers victory. Team high +17.

Meyers Leonard
B+
Leonard only played six minutes but hit both his shots, had two rebounds, a steal, baited Cousins into a carry and a travel and generally didn’t look lost. The minutes were important with Nurkic in early foul trouble.

Evan Turner
B
Turner filled up the stat sheet with 13/7/4 plus a block and a steal. The Pelicans defensive strategy including leaving Turner open on the perimeter, Turner obliged by taking all the open looks (as is encouraged by Blazer coaches) and he went 1-5.

Pat Connaughton
B
Connaughton was productive, hitting a pair of threes and a showing the ability to slash to the hoop at one point. Pat also grabbed six rebounds in 23 minutes.

Al-Farouq Aminu
B
On a night when most of the starters had their struggles Chief played a nice game going for eight points (3-6 shooting), seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal in his 26 minutes. Aminu matched up well against Anthony Davis early in the game.

Jusuf Nurkic
B-
Nurkic was productive when he was on the floor. 12/7 in 20 minutes. His early foul trouble and a very silly third foul broke the rotation but the reserves stepped up in his place.

Damian Lillard
C-
Lillard had a horrendous shooting night, turned the ball over six times and took some questionable shots in the second half, likely trying to kickstart his night. On the other hand he again showed improvements on defense, had five rebounds and seven assists and was involved in some of the big plays late in the game.

Maurice Harkless
C-
Harkless didn’t shoot well (0-6) and was the only Blazer that played more than four minutes with a negative +/- (-8). He did have a couple of blocks and was unintentionally part of the biggest play of the night when he banged into Anthony Davis.

[Downtown]

I especially liked the unit of Davis and Swanigan up front off the bench. They seem to work well together and Stotts should continue to pair them up as first off the bench.

The only problem I saw was that neither could contain Cousins and it was only when Stotts put Nurkic in at the end did Cousins momentum get stopped and he got frustrated and basically gave up.

But I can see a couple good combinations arising with the forwards. Guys like Leonard and Collins are definitely going to be the odd men out and will have to really earn their minutes with some impressive practices.

If Connaughton continues to be productive off the bench we will soon forget about Allan Crabbe.

[Blazinaway]

I especially liked the unit of Davis and Swanigan up front off the bench. They seem to work well together and Stotts should continue to pair them up as first off the bench.

The only problem I saw was that neither could contain Cousins and it was only when Stotts put Nurkic in at the end did Cousins momentum get stopped and he got frustrated and basically gave up.

But I can see a couple good combinations arising with the forwards. Guys like Leonard and Collins are definitely going to be the odd men out and will have to really earn their minutes with some impressive practices.

If Connaughton continues to be productive off the bench we will soon forget about Allan Crabbe.

agree with all except Crabbe is already long forgotten

[Case2012]

http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/sports/pelicans/article_7ad2a8e2-b97f-11e7-811f-97d0bd373f28.html
I hate to advocate anyone losing their job, but they are so bad.

[monopoman]

http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/sports/pelicans/article_7ad2a8e2-b97f-11e7-811f-97d0bd373f28.html
I hate to advocate anyone losing their job, but they are so bad.

If your read below it appears they use the term for other teams, when the Blazers go on a run. I can't recall them using that saying before but I will listen more closely for the rest of the year to see if they use it again. I highly doubt they were making a Katrina joke though I mean that is about as ridiculous as someone making a 9/11 joke about the Knicks.

[Wizenheimer]

I was at the coast (Florence) the last three days (it was spectacular there for late October; T-Shirt and short weather) so I missed the game

I recorded it but after reading this thread, it sounds like it was a pretty ugly game...made uglier by Anthony Davis getting injured. Damn...the injuries so far are something else

speaking of which, the Blazer injury report:

Wade Baldwin IV 2017-10-25 Thumb: Baldwin IV had surgery on his thumb to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament and is expected to miss six weeks.

CJ Wilcox 2017-10-24 Knee: Wilcox had right knee surgery and is expected to be sidelined for six-to-eight weeks.

so Portland's 2-way players are now 0-way players