Game 5 Portland vs LA Clippers 7:30 pm

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm really excited for Scoot, Shaedon, Donovan, Toumani and Rayan honestly. They won't all be stars but I feel like they all have potential to be contributors to good teams at minimum.

[Walton1one]

I agree, thus the reason why I think once they get the vets out of the way they would be OK by playing all these young guys together, build some chemistry

I don’t think they would get blown out and only win 10-15 games. Still need vets to help the young guys, but the type of vets that come off the bench and play a support role, not take up a majority of the shots like the current ones on this team

[Brandon-Clyde]

Victory GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Walton1one]

5min left, starters back in, starts with DA hitting a Corner 3, then with 1:30 left, clutch putback off Simons miss

Three straight times, Simons goes one 1v1 to ice the game, blocked twice, and pass out to DA for a missed 3. Is that the best they can come up with?

Clips bad inbound, DA intercepts, ball game, Yay?

[Fluffy]

5min left, starters back in, starts with DA hitting a Corner 3, then with 1:30 left, clutch putback off Simons miss

Three straight times, Simons goes one 1v1 to ice the game, blocked twice, and pass out to DA for a missed 3. Is that the best they can come up with?

Clips bad inbound, DA intercepts, ball game, Yay?

Guess the clips are in the capture the flag race?

Anyway - agree. Bad 4Q decision making. Hope they go and learn from film, but I also hope they can start building offensive schemes for each player. So once a player is hot/cold - the team can help him more and not just stand aside while hero balling.
Grant not hitting anything from 3? Run some moves to let him get going in the paint. Scoot looks smooth from the arc? Run some ball and let him have an easy look. Clingan struggling in the post? Let him come from the lane and promote some easy front facing dunking schemes..

[Norm2953]

Nobody in LA cares tonight after the Dodgers won the WS

[mighty_duck]

What a fun finish!

Camara did an amazing job on Harden all game. Smart, in control, fast feet fast hands. Keep it up, and he'll be on an all-nba defensive team sooner than later.

Why is Clingan only getting 11 minutes of burn??? In those 11 minutes, he got 6 boards (3 offensive), a block, a steal, 7 points on 3-5 shooting (even made a three), boxed out like a champ, altered many shots that didn't get blocked. Set hard picks, and rolled hard on them. The +9 on his +/- isn't a coincidence. And with all due respect to DA for his game winning denial at the end, his -7 +/- is also not a coincidence.

Speaking of that last possession - Clips have the ball, 3.9 seconds. You absolutely have to get a stop. Why is Ant on the court? He did an ok job on D for the game (and carried us on offense!), but if Harden would have gotten the ball on him in a switch, the outcome of the game would have been different.

[zzaj]

Couldn't watch tonight, but it sounds like the Blazers are at least showing some signs of not folding when things aren't going right.

Still unbelievable to me that Clingan is playing sub-15 minutes a game, even if it is a close game.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Last play, Blazers need to defend for 3.2 seconds. Why was Simons in the game? Good God man, LA just spent the last several minutes screening to get Simons against their offensive player. Seems like a no trainer they put Scoot or Rupert in to defend.

[monopoman]

Team is 2-3 when they so far have only played playoff teams or what are very likely to be playoff teams this year, now that is not as big of a deal as it used to be but for a team most thought would have the worst record in the West it's a great start.

[monopoman]

What a fun finish!

Camara did an amazing job on Harden all game. Smart, in control, fast feet fast hands. Keep it up, and he'll be on an all-nba defensive team sooner than later.

Why is Clingan only getting 11 minutes of burn??? In those 11 minutes, he got 6 boards (3 offensive), a block, a steal, 7 points on 3-5 shooting (even made a three), boxed out like a champ, altered many shots that didn't get blocked. Set hard picks, and rolled hard on them. The +9 on his +/- isn't a coincidence. And with all due respect to DA for his game winning denial at the end, his -7 +/- is also not a coincidence.

Speaking of that last possession - Clips have the ball, 3.9 seconds. You absolutely have to get a stop. Why is Ant on the court? He did an ok job on D for the game (and carried us on offense!), but if Harden would have gotten the ball on him in a switch, the outcome of the game would have been different.

I would assume it's the plan to bring him along slowly or to try to showcase Ayton so at the trade deadline they can make a potential deal. It's not like winning games is the top priority this season, the Blazers likely will make a trade the trade deadline to unload a good older player if they can.

[Pattycakes]

Where’s the dude who said we’re winning “4 games in the first 41”? I’m keeping receipts on all y’all

[Pattycakes]

What a fun finish!

Camara did an amazing job on Harden all game. Smart, in control, fast feet fast hands. Keep it up, and he'll be on an all-nba defensive team sooner than later.

Why is Clingan only getting 11 minutes of burn??? In those 11 minutes, he got 6 boards (3 offensive), a block, a steal, 7 points on 3-5 shooting (even made a three), boxed out like a champ, altered many shots that didn't get blocked. Set hard picks, and rolled hard on them. The +9 on his +/- isn't a coincidence. And with all due respect to DA for his game winning denial at the end, his -7 +/- is also not a coincidence.

Speaking of that last possession - Clips have the ball, 3.9 seconds. You absolutely have to get a stop. Why is Ant on the court? He did an ok job on D for the game (and carried us on offense!), but if Harden would have gotten the ball on him in a switch, the outcome of the game would have been different.

I would assume it's the plan to bring him along slowly or to try to showcase Ayton so at the trade deadline they can make a potential deal. It's not like winning games is the top priority this season, the Blazers likely will make a trade the trade deadline to unload a good older player if they can.

Blazers obviously are investing in Da. Don’t get too excited

[Shem]

Where’s the dude who said we’re winning “4 games in the first 41”? I’m keeping receipts on all y’all

You mean you didn't bookmark it?

[BigPuma]

Speaking of that last possession - Clips have the ball, 3.9 seconds. You absolutely have to get a stop. Why is Ant on the court? He did an ok job on D for the game (and carried us on offense!), but if Harden would have gotten the ball on him in a switch, the outcome of the game would have been different.

I was thinking the same thing. But I guess that lineup had played a lot together over the first 5 games so maybe the thinking was that there was less chance of a miscommunication with a familiar group, and that outweighed Ant's weak individual defense.

[dckingsfan]

Kind of feel like this could be a game that goes Portland's direction if:

1) Avdija guards Harden and doesn't get in foul trouble.
2) Portland's length on D bothers the smaller Clippers (and there is defensive efforts).
3) Portland shoots over 30% from 3 opening up the court.

I would lay odds they put Camara on Harden, and that's probably a better matchup. Shut down Powell on the perimeter and play good defense vs. Zubac, and yeah...Blazers HAVE to hit open 3pters if they want a chance to win.

As a fan, I'll be pretty pissed if Clingan only gets 13 minutes in a blowout again.

You nailed that one...

And Portland 42.4% from 3.

[zzaj]

Where’s the dude who said we’re winning “4 games in the first 41”? I’m keeping receipts on all y’all

Probably me...Blazers have a ton of tough games against winning teams and B2Bs. They are certainly playing a lot better than I figured they would. Mostly they are playing average to above average defense and that's making a difference. I still think that we're going to see some big stretches of losses and end up with a .25 record in that initial stretch. But hey, I'm often wrong...I have no problem admitting that.

[zzaj]

Kind of feel like this could be a game that goes Portland's direction if:

1) Avdija guards Harden and doesn't get in foul trouble.
2) Portland's length on D bothers the smaller Clippers (and there is defensive efforts).
3) Portland shoots over 30% from 3 opening up the court.

I would lay odds they put Camara on Harden, and that's probably a better matchup. Shut down Powell on the perimeter and play good defense vs. Zubac, and yeah...Blazers HAVE to hit open 3pters if they want a chance to win.

As a fan, I'll be pretty pissed if Clingan only gets 13 minutes in a blowout again.

You nailed that one...

And Portland 42.4% from 3.

Well I have 77 more to get wrong ...I often am.

[dckingsfan]

I would lay odds they put Camara on Harden, and that's probably a better matchup. Shut down Powell on the perimeter and play good defense vs. Zubac, and yeah...Blazers HAVE to hit open 3pters if they want a chance to win.

As a fan, I'll be pretty pissed if Clingan only gets 13 minutes in a blowout again.

You nailed that one...

And Portland 42.4% from 3.

Well I have 77 more to get wrong ...I often am.

I neglected to point out that you were right on Clingan (11 minutes). But to be fair, he was in early foul trouble.

And not to be hypercritical of Camara but he didn't put much pressure on Harden out at the 3-point line. That allowed Harden to shoot uncontested 3s but more importantly feed Powell coming around screens. It is good that he gets these opportunities - a great learning experience.

[dckingsfan]

Where’s the dude who said we’re winning “4 games in the first 41”? I’m keeping receipts on all y’all

Probably me...Blazers have a ton of tough games against winning teams and B2Bs. They are certainly playing a lot better than I figured they would. Mostly they are playing average to above average defense and that's making a difference. I still think that we're going to see some big stretches of losses and end up with a .25 record in that initial stretch. But hey, I'm often wrong...I have no problem admitting that.

Well, we will have the predictions thread at the end of the year