Game 49: Portland vs LA Lakers 7:30PM SNW/ESPN

[d-train]

Nice win

[DusterBuster]

I have very mixed feelings, but I appreciate that this has felt respectful and people see Dame as competing like Kobe would have respected at least.

[DusterBuster]

I’m amazed Ariza was able to play at all here. Glad Melo took the time he needed.

[Brandon-Clyde]

Victory GLB pic

Spoiler:

[Shem]

We're watching something special with Dame right now. We need to sit down and enjoy it while it lasts.

[PDXKnight]

Can’t believe we pulled this off at staples and with la having all the momentum to win this one. All I can say is the blazers killed it!

[Moonbeam]

This was a very tough game to watch. Both teams did well given the circumstances. It feels weird to talk just about basketball after what has happened. Portland is looking good lately, but this is a reminder of how much larger than basketball this all means.

[Shem]

Read on Twitter

[Shem]

Read on Twitter

[monopoman]

Blazers getting **** done this team is improving at a very rapid pace, 4-1 over their last 5 hell yeah!

Facing count em four above .500 teams in that span of time when before that they only had a few wins over above .500 teams.

[DusterBuster]

BTW, Melo is out tonight and it is listed as personal reasons.

This isn't good. Nothing should be more important than winning this game.

**** off.

Compete and let the chips fall where they may as they did.

[d-train]

BTW, Melo is out tonight and it is listed as personal reasons.

This isn't good. Nothing should be more important than winning this game.

**** off.

I might

[trix17]

This isn't good. Nothing should be more important than winning this game.

**** off.

I might

Please do. Some of your posts in this thread are **** up. Learn some empathy man, holy ****.

[monopoman]

Just got a chance to see this game, what a tremendous performance by Lillard doing everything to get this win tonight. If Lillard keeps this up we should be able to secure the 8th seed and maybe climb to 7th if this team really heats up in the last 33 games of the season.

Really nice to see Whiteside and Trent step up and have great games also, nice to see Little also playing with a lot of energy out there and hit some big 3's early in the game.

I will be blown away if Lillard can carry this team to the playoffs then perhaps give the #1 seed some trouble in the playoffs.

[Dzon Dilindzer]

get nurk and collins back, they need some games untll playoffs

we gonna probably lose to lakers, but that series will be fireworks

unless they want to avoid us, which wouldnt suprise me

[mojomarc]

Just got a chance to see this game, what a tremendous performance by Lillard doing everything to get this win tonight. If Lillard keeps this up we should be able to secure the 8th seed and maybe climb to 7th if this team really heats up in the last 33 games of the season.

Really nice to see Whiteside and Trent step up and have great games also, nice to see Little also playing with a lot of energy out there and hit some big 3's early in the game.

I will be blown away if Lillard can carry this team to the playoffs then perhaps give the #1 seed some trouble in the playoffs.

If Portland gets the 7th seed after missing 3/5ths of the starting lineup most of the season, he deserves the league MVP. No one would have meant more to his team. I don't know that he can sustain God mode like this, but I can't remember seeing anything like this in a Portland uniform ever.

[Soulyss]

Just got a chance to see this game, what a tremendous performance by Lillard doing everything to get this win tonight. If Lillard keeps this up we should be able to secure the 8th seed and maybe climb to 7th if this team really heats up in the last 33 games of the season.

Really nice to see Whiteside and Trent step up and have great games also, nice to see Little also playing with a lot of energy out there and hit some big 3's early in the game.

I will be blown away if Lillard can carry this team to the playoffs then perhaps give the #1 seed some trouble in the playoffs.

If Portland gets the 7th seed after missing 3/5ths of the starting lineup most of the season, he deserves the league MVP. No one would have meant more to his team. I don't know that he can sustain God mode like this, but I can't remember seeing anything like this in a Portland uniform ever.

We should be realistic in the fact that there will likely be a dip when Portland trades Whiteside and Nurk has to work his way back into the lineup. I still don't think the playoffs are likely, but this is a lot of fun to watch for now.

[Wizenheimer]

We should be realistic in the fact that there will likely be a dip when Portland trades Whiteside and Nurk has to work his way back into the lineup. I still don't think the playoffs are likely, but this is a lot of fun to watch for now.

what makes you think Portland will trade Whiteside?

personally, I seriously doubt the Blazer front office was thinking then needed a 27M expiring contract as a trade asset when they made the Whiteside trade. They were thinking they needed a starting caliber C after Kanter turned then down because there was the chance that Nurkic wouldn't be back till after the all-star break....which is already more then two weeks after the trade deadline

yeah, if some no-brainer trade comes along they'd take it. But the NBA is drowning in a sea of expiring contracts this season because while Olshey was the biggest idiot GM in 2016, he wasn't the only idiot GM. I think the trade market for Whiteside is very limited, and what market there is almost certainly requires Portland to take on major salary next season; and I believe Portland is determined to stay under the tax line next year

with all that said...watch the Blazers trade Whiteside today and I end up looking like an idiot myself
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Dame has found maybe the single best cheat code in the NBA in years. He's unreal right now. I've never seen a player stay in a zone this long from behind the arc unless maybe Curry. It's not just the last 5 games either; over the last 10 games he's averaging 39 -6 -9 while shooting 52% on FG's and 48% on three's (and for the month of January, he's averaged 34-5-8 while shooting 49% on FG's and 45% on three's). And he's doing this while opposing defenses throw everything they have at him because Whiteside is the only other Blazer consistently having a significant impact right now
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I had to laugh at Collabro and Hurd last night when they were talking about how Portland "just looked different with Ariza and Gabriel on the floor together". Well, that's how a team looks when they actually have length on the perimeter and at the wings. The Dame-CJ-Frazier-Roberts-Napier-Curry-Simons dwarf parade that Olshey has trotted out the last 4.6 years has always left the Blazers with disadvantages to overcome. None of those guys even hit the 6'3 mark, and Trent is the only Blazer guard over 6'3. Portland probably has the shortest back court in the league and that bleeds over into the other wing positions. Length and size in basketball has natural advantages
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it's pretty interesting that right now, Trent and Little are quite a bit better than Simons. Simons is one-dimensional right now and he's not very good at that one dimension. Trent and Little show strong signs of being effective on both ends of the floor. Simons is a sieve on defense. At this point, I don't think the "he didn't play college ball" excuse for Simons holds much validity. Shows the 'danger' of off-season hype

[BlazersBroncos]

We should be realistic in the fact that there will likely be a dip when Portland trades Whiteside and Nurk has to work his way back into the lineup

I am a bit worried that Hassan's play the past two games will make management more hesitant to move him. At the same time, it may have raised his trade value. I am still hoping for a Whiteside, Simons and ??? for RoCo and Dieng type deal. I think that brings us close to a similar talent base and team makeup that Dallas used to win their one-off title.

What Damian is doing is simply amazing. This is a team that is using numerous G-League guys. We started a dude that wasn't getting time on the freaking Kings. We have one of the worst 15th men in the league, Hezonja, playing minutes matched up with Anthony Davis. We have an Offensive Tackle as out backup Center and a child who looks like a deer in the headlings as our backup PG. Make no mistake, Dame is willing this team to victory with very little help.

Should out to Gary Trent. I am susceptible to flavor of the month thinking, but I truly like his skillset more than Simons. He has an NBA body with enough athleticism to play SG or SF, plays within himself and I like that he has developed a modicum of a middle range game. He is the same age as Simons, and we should stop valuing him as a throw in. I say sell high on Simons potential and pencil in Gary as that future swing guy. Moving Simons and drafting or signing a true PG would do wonders to our second unit too. I saw HEZONJA initiate the offense a few times last night. Gross. So Gross.

Ariza is a great pickup and easily worth the two SRP's at this time. Hope he doesn't break down. Wish we had a time machine, he is exactly what we need at SF moving forward.

Great win. Wish we could have a forum enema and flush a few of the bad posters out though. Some gross comments but not from suprising characters.

[Shem]

This isn't good. Nothing should be more important than winning this game.

Come on man... Kobe, like him or not was Melo's close friend... I don't think we should be throwing shade at him for mourning a friend.

Kobe is in the next life laughing at him for being a pussy.

Is that where you are typing your message from? The next life? That's quote a feat.