Rd 1 game 3 Portland vs NOP 6:00pm SNW/NBATV

[GreenRiddler]

Although Lillard has to bare a heavy load of this blame, bad passing can't be put on getting doubled. back to back horrible passing nights.

[Norm2953]

At least they got 100 points for the McGriddle

[monopoman]

Man we keep out scoring them in the 4th too bad we are letting the lead get to large in the other quarters.

[Wizenheimer]

[rant mode on]

no team with such average construction and as weak as Portland should have "untouchable" players. Not if the goal is to compete for championships

for chrissakes, this is the 3rd playoffs for this version of the Blazers; over their last 12 playoff games, Portland is 1-11. They are on a 9 game losing streak. This Blazer team is 2-13 against healthy playoff teams, and one of those two wins came, at home, against the Curry-less Warriors. They are a 3rd seed team about to get swept by the 6th seed and that 6th seed team is missing Demarcus Cousins

and, we heard over and over that the loopy management of this average team considered two of their players "untouchable". That's mismangement because it grossly overrates the talent

it's the same type of mismanagement that so overrated the meaning of Portland beating a crippled Clippers team in the playoffs that caused the Blazers to dig that giant stupid hole they did in 2016 when they signed a bunch of average and below average players to 83M a year in salary

it was exponentially doubling down on a bad bet after misreading the cards. If they want out of the hole, they have to stop digging and the first step is to trashcan that 'untouchable' label

[rant mode off/]

[JasonStern]

Read on Twitter

[d-train]

On a serious note, one silver lining to this clusterf of a 1st round, this dismantling of the Blazers by the Pelicans might make this summer much more interesting than it may have been otherwise

I don't know what will happen this summer but I believe the Blazers will do the same things as if we won this series. That's what I hope for anyway. I hope Olshey remains a steady rational hand amid the chaos from Blazer fandom.

[d-train]

[rant mode on]

no team with such average construction and as weak as Portland should have "untouchable" players. Not if the goal is to compete for championships

for chrissakes, this is the 3rd playoffs for this version of the Blazers; over their last 12 playoff games, Portland is 1-11. They are on a 9 game losing streak. This Blazer team is 2-13 against healthy playoff teams, and one of those two wins came, at home, against the Curry-less Warriors. They are a 3rd seed team about to get swept by the 6th seed and that 6th seed team is missing Demarcus Cousins

and, we heard over and over that the loopy management of this average team considered two of their players "untouchable". That's mismangement because it grossly overrates the talent

it's the same type of mismanagement that so overrated the meaning of Portland beating a crippled Clippers team in the playoffs that caused the Blazers to dig that giant stupid hole they did in 2016 when they signed a bunch of average and below average players to 83M a year in salary

it was exponentially doubling down on a bad bet after misreading the cards. If they want out of the hole, they have to stop digging and the first step is to trashcan that 'untouchable' label

[rant mode off/]

Of course no player is untouchable. That doesn't mean Blazers shouldn't have untouchable players until someone offers something that would make our best players tradable.

Blazers are constructed like a 50 win team that is building/preserving every opportunity to become a 60 win team. I have never heard 1 idea from you that is better than what the Blazers have done.

[Screwston]

No team will win a chip with Lillard as their first option

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm glad I'm not eating because I would have choked at the sixty win comment.

[The Sebastian Express]

No team will win a chip with Lillard as their first option

If you're going to come here to needle Blazers fans after a loss, at least get his name right, and don't do the needling thing again.

Edit: Oh, sneaky edit.

[Wizenheimer]

I have never heard 1 idea from you that is better than what the Blazers have done.

of course not because, as you have said repeatedly, the summer of 2016 was a really great job by Olshey...also, that Meyers Leonard is a "talented" player.

[Screwston]

No team will win a chip with Lillard as their first option

If you're going to come here to needle Blazers fans after a loss, at least get his name right, and don't do the needling thing again.

Edit: Oh, sneaky edit.

Y so serious?

[The Sebastian Express]

No team will win a chip with Lillard as their first option

If you're going to come here to needle Blazers fans after a loss, at least get his name right, and don't do the needling thing again.

Edit: Oh, sneaky edit.

Y so serious?

One of your notes from a moderator simply says 'not very good.' I'm inclined to believe. Enjoy your warning for trolling. I will twelve hour you if it continues.

[Moonbeam]

If you're going to come here to needle Blazers fans after a loss, at least get his name right, and don't do the needling thing again.

Edit: Oh, sneaky edit.

Y so serious?

One of your notes from a moderator simply says 'not very good.' I'm inclined to believe. Enjoy your warning for trolling. I will twelve hour you if it continues.

This is the same poster who kept popping into game threads back in 2014 hoping for a Rockets-Blazers first round matchup. I also am inclined to believe the note.

[Wizenheimer]

I really don't want my wife to read this thread....I'd be getting 12 hour warnings every day

[The Sebastian Express]

I really don't want my wife to read this thread....I'd be getting 12 hour warnings every day

Would you even hear her over all the beer you've been drinking? Be honest. How much did tonight cost you?

[zzaj]

When you are relying on Napier, Pat and rookie Collins as Playoff caliber players things aren't going to end up well. But kudos to Gentry and the Pelicans. He's gotten his players ready. And they look ready, focused and confident in their game plan. It's exactly the opposite of Portland, and that is telling.

Hopefully this series is a big wake up call for Paul Allen. My wish is that he sees the snakeoil that Olshey has sold him and decides to make some wholesale changes...changes that should have come as soon as the Lillard/Wes/Batum/Aldridge core was broken up. Not getting a jump on a rebuild to take advantage of the most years of Lillard's prime was a massive blunder, IMO. One that may have put butts in seats in the short term, but likely set the team back by at least 5 years. Things have broken well for the Blazers the past 3 seasons and there have been excuses for the Blazers come playoff time. Well, not anymore. THIS is the #3 team getting blown out be the #6 team.

Stotts isn't for me either. He's not a terrible coach by any stretch, I just don't think his system is right for this personnel. It's reliant on good 3pt shooting for spacing and the team lacks good 3pt shooters. The high PnR allows defenses time to respond when they have good shotblocking and in at least 2 seasons Stotts hasn't found a counter to this. The 'dynamic' offense ends up too often in ISO plays or turnovers off of poor reads. And it leaves players unsure of offensive roles. Defensively? I don't know which I hate more...the ineffective ICE or thinking that he can do like the rest of the league and go to a switch everything system with 2 >6'3" guards. Maybe somebody like Budenholzer can bring a San Antonio type of system to the Blazers.

Nurkic. He'll only be 24 at the start of next season but if I was GM I'd have to think long and hard about committing huge money to a player whose 90s, under the rim style of play doesn't really jive well with Stotts' brand of offense and where the NBA is trending. He's got questionable hands, a lack of touch around the basket, and rarely gets rebounds outside of his area. That being said, I don't know that the Blazers can do much better. At a minimum, he absolutely HAS to become more of a threat from 15' in this offense.

[Wizenheimer]

I really don't want my wife to read this thread....I'd be getting 12 hour warnings every day

Would you even hear her over all the beer you've been drinking? Be honest. How much did tonight cost you?

I can't drink!!

I have an infection and am on an antibiotic that doesn't work with alcohol. And I have to say, it was torture watching this game with a glass of water at my side

[Wizenheimer]

Nurkic. He'll only be 24 at the start of next season but if I was GM I'd have to think long and hard about committing huge money to a player whose 90s, under the rim style of play doesn't really jive well with Stotts' brand of offense and where the NBA is trending. He's got questionable hands, a lack of touch around the basket, and rarely gets rebounds outside of his area. That being said, I don't know that the Blazers can do much better. At a minimum, he absolutely HAS to become more of a threat from 15' in this offense.

I've been a proponent of re-signing Nurkic, even for 20M a year.

but watching this game and this cluster**** of a roster, I was thinking if re-signing Nurkic would just be throwing good money after bad. There is simply too much dysfunction on the roster to just go out and re-sign free agents because they might end up a lost asset. That was the kind of thinking that dug that 2016 hole

[monopoman]

I really don't want my wife to read this thread....I'd be getting 12 hour warnings every day

Would you even hear her over all the beer you've been drinking? Be honest. How much did tonight cost you?

I can't drink!!

I have an infection and am on an antibiotic that doesn't work with alcohol. And I have to say, it was torture watching this game with a glass of water at my side

I handle almost all games with just water by my side, I only drink during games when it's at a bar or something.