Game 18: Portland vs Chicago 5:00pm SNW

[DaVoiceMaster]

Why is Melo so popular in Chicago?

[Moonbeam]

What a nice win! The first blowout win of the season.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Moses Brown pretty much sucks offensively.

He's getting to spots well. It doesn't take a lot to go from those misses to making them. But yeah he's blowing some layups.

Another 50 pounds wouldn't hurt.

[d-train]

Why is Melo so popular in Chicago?

Because he's a gangsta.

[Matt800]

Moses Brown pretty much sucks offensively.

He's getting to spots well. It doesn't take a lot to go from those misses to making them. But yeah he's blowing some layups.

Another 50 pounds wouldn't hurt.

Against starting bigs certainly. I was encouraged by his effort and ability to play some defense and get to the hoop offensively though.

[BigtimeNBAfan]

Good to see Melo play well. He shouldn't be a starter. If I'm Stotts I limit his minutes. In limited minutes he could be like this consistently instead of once out of 4 games.

[Case2012]

Watch on YouTube

[Norm2953]

Interesting to go over to the Bulls board for they seem to want to dump Lauri Markkanen and think Portland is the best fit for them. It’d be interesting what they would take for him.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Interesting to go over to the Bulls board for they seem to want to dump Lauri Markkanen and think Portland is the best fit for them. It’d be interesting what they would take for him.

Would you want him? I'm okay with Collins and Skal at this point going forward. Now, that may be because I dont know much about him other than he was a high lotto pick and a big outside shooter.

[zzaj]

He's getting to spots well. It doesn't take a lot to go from those misses to making them. But yeah he's blowing some layups.

Another 50 pounds wouldn't hurt.

Against starting bigs certainly. I was encouraged by his effort and ability to play some defense and get to the hoop offensively though.

At 7'2" and 290, Brown would be up there with Boban...Tacko would be the only bigger player, and by quite a margin.

Nice win tonight against a young team that seemed like they spent a lot of energy the night before. Melo obviously won't play like this everygame, but it sure would be nice if he would. Even at his least efficient he still looks like a more talented player than Mario or Tolliver at PF. If he sticks around and continues to average around 8pts a game he'll pass Garnett on the all-time scoring list...if he averages 13pts he'll pass Havlicek for 16th.

EDIT: I just noticed that Paul Pierce is only 2pts ahead of JH. So Melo could conceivably get into the top 15 if he averages 13 points a game, which is pretty amazing company. He's currently averaging 16pts.

When was the last time the crowd of an opposing team chanted for a Blazer player to re-enter the game? Like, never?

[DaVoiceMaster]

That guy weighs 240lbs now? No way!!!

[zzaj]

That guy weighs 240lbs now? No way!!!

He was measured at 237.2 at the NBA combine...I know, it seems hard to believe.

[Matt800]

That guy weighs 240lbs now? No way!!!

He was measured at 237.2 at the NBA combine...I know, it seems hard to believe.

Yeah he was able to move the reserve chicago guys around just fine. But I'm sure he could get stronger and at least more skilled. I like how many promising players the blazers have.

[Village Idiot]

For me the highlight was that Melo touch pass to a cutting Whiteside.

1. I didn't know Melo could pass like that
2. I thought Whiteside was too lazy to cut

If the team can play this inspired and selfless maybe this season is salvageable.

[BlazersBroncos]

This game was sorta like getting laid after a long dry spell. So very needed.

Crazy to see how much Lauri has regressed. I thought he was good enough to be a top-3 guy on a contender but his development really seems to have stalled.

Melo was lights out. I too believe he probably should be our 6th man but whatever works. He really may be the spark we need, which is pretty nuts to even think about considering how insane that statement would have sounded a month ago.

Really nice to see the starters finally put together a full game where all played well. The energy from the bench was great too even if their shots wernt falling (Other than Skal, who has been a revelation lately)

Moses Brown is one of my favorite super raw big many flyers we have signed in years. I think he could be a quality 3rd string center for years moving forward. His length and height really bother the opponent and he is mobile enough to not get PnR'ed to death.

[d-train]

Moses Brown is one of my favorite super raw big many flyers we have signed in years. I think he could be a quality 3rd string center for years moving forward. His length and height really bother the opponent and he is mobile enough to not get PnR'ed to death.

If nothing else, it's good to have a player who's there just because he works his butt off on defense. It makes a statement to players like Simons, Little, Trent, and Hoard, especially when they are watching from the bench.

[Wizenheimer]

Melo was lights out. I too believe he probably should be our 6th man but whatever works. He really may be the spark we need, which is pretty nuts to even think about considering how insane that statement would have sounded a month ago.

the alternative starters at PF are Tolliver and Hezonja....that's a really bad pair of alternatives

I think Melo needs to be the starter because I think he needs to play with Dame as much as he can. We saw last night that after only 1 game playing together, they are developing a synergy. With Nurkic out, the Dame/Melo combo offers about the only option for a consistent 2-man game. Dame needs that and so does Melo. It also appeared that Melo didn't hold the ball long when playing with Dame. It was a quick shot or a quick couple of dribbles.

the sample size is tiny, but Melo has the highest assisted FG rate of his last 6 seasons so far (that's all I checked). I think that's a good thing
****************************************************************

speaking of assisted FG rates....

Melo:

2015-16 - .360
2016-17 - .425
2017-18 - .555
2018-19 - .633
2019-20 - .680

Hood:

2015-16 - .422
2016-17 - .482
2017-18 - .512
2018-19 - .493
2019-20 - .507

CJ:

2015-16 - .362
2016-17 - .389
2017-18 - .333
2018-19 - .466
2019-20 - .317

Dame:

2015-16 - .303
2016-17 - .319
2017-18 - .274
2018-19 - .286
2019-20 - .139

somebody needs to point out to Dame, CJ, & Stotts that the 2 guards both have by far the lowest assisted FG rates of their careers....and the Blazers are 6-12. One-on-one anyone? Might be a bit of a connection there. Dame was MVP level on offense before his back injury, but it was still hero ball and Portland was losing a lot of games. The team needs less iso and more facilitation. Which again, points to the Dame/Melo 2-man game as perhaps the best path to less iso

[d-train]

Melo has always been a great passer. Maybe sometimes he didn't do much passing, but it was never because he couldn't.