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Time: 7:00pm Monday
Place: Los Angeles
TV: SNW/NBATV

GLB of the game Olivia Munn

Looks like many posters' wishes were answered.

More time for Giles. Yet I would dump Dame's cousin now and sign either Skal or Noah. Either would help with needed rebounding. I fear against the Lakers, the Blazers will get killed on the boards.

If Carmelo doesn't play this could be nice to see if the team looks better or worse. Like if Giles gets the minutes and is clearly better then hopefully that is respected. I like Carmelo but the team needs to do what helps them win games.

JasonStern wrote:

Read on Twitter

Looks like many posters' wishes were answered.

Hate to say it but that works for me, tired of his total black hole action this year

Melo needs to severely reduce the number of mid range 1 on 1 shots he's taking. He's a good shooter, and should be a spot up shooter at this point. But the way he's playing, totally negates the benefit he has to the offense, and we know he's not playing for his defensive prowess.

There is a basic principle that is not understood about 3-point shooting offense and defense. People wrongly believe that there is a standalone scheme or game plan to score or defend against 3's.

Any NBA player can play lockdown defense at the 3pt line. Many NBA players can knockdown an efficient percentage of open 3-point shots. Great 2-point scoring is what creates good 3-point shot opportunities. And, great 2-point defense is what allows perimeter defenders to stay home on 3-point shooters.

When Blazers are giving up to many easy 3's, it's because our 2-point defense is breaking down. When Blazers aren't making and/or taking 3's, it's usually because our 2-point scorers aren't creating threats that break the defense.

d-train wrote:There is a basic principle that is not understood about 3-point shooting offense and defense. People wrongly believe that there is a standalone scheme or game plan to score or defend against 3's.

Any NBA player can play lockdown defense at the 3pt line. Many NBA players can knockdown an efficient percentage of open 3-point shots. Great 2-point scoring is what creates good 3-point shot opportunities. And, great 2-point defense is what allows perimeter defenders to stay home on 3-point shooters.

When Blazers are giving up to many easy 3's, it's because our 2-point defense is breaking down. When Blazers aren't making and/or taking 3's, it's usually because our 2-point scorers aren't creating threats that break the defense.

any idea how we can fix that?

The best we can do is to best complement Lillard and CJ. There were stretches that RoCo and DJJ played very good. The key is it came in stretches and wouldn't have happened at all if Stotts divided up the forward minutes evenly between our 5 SF's. Stotts made a decision about who he was going to go with and gave those players a chance to work it out. I hope he sticks with this. I don't care who he plays as long as it's not everyone.

I don't know if it's the effect of the shortened season or what, but the amount of overreaction on RealGM to playing rotations, player talent/skill, team success/failures, etc is just off-the-freaking chart absurd so early into a season. Given this sites reputation, that's saying a lot lol.

Asking if teams are "for real" after winning 2 or 3 games in a row, calling for players to be pulled from rotations 2 games into a shortened season with virtually no training camp, and the like has been kinda mind-bogglingly shortsighted, and lacking anything remotely close to context.

I get teams to need to get their act together faster this year because of the shortened season, but man, can we get past a week or two so there's like a 10 game body of evidence in the bag first so we have a more realistic idea of what a team is really going to be?

d-train wrote:
When Blazers are giving up to many easy 3's, it's because our 2-point defense is breaking down. When Blazers aren't making and/or taking 3's, it's usually because our 2-point scorers aren't creating threats that break the defense.

Good point re.defense on uncontested threes. I think the breakdown in the set defense is not, however, on the initial offensive attack but on not securing enough defensive rebounds and not securing loose balls, particularly from deflections. The resultant scrambles mean opening on the three point line. Today given LA's size advantages I fear quite a few open threes. Add to that their capacity for early offense and the Blazers weakness against it, we might see a Mavs/Clippers event.

Epicurus wrote:

d-train wrote:
When Blazers are giving up to many easy 3's, it's because our 2-point defense is breaking down. When Blazers aren't making and/or taking 3's, it's usually because our 2-point scorers aren't creating threats that break the defense.

Good point re.defense on uncontested threes. I think the breakdown in the set defense is not, however, on the initial offensive attack but on not securing enough defensive rebounds and not securing loose balls, particularly from deflections. The resultant scrambles mean opening on the three point line. Today given LA's size advantages I fear quite a few open threes. Add to that their capacity for early offense and the Blazers weakness against it, we might see a Mavs/Clippers event.

Yeah, the primary objective of the defense is to get the ball back. We didn't do that well last year. Our current group should do better, but we'll see. Lakers defense is proficient at getting the ball back. So, out dueling them is not a minimum standard. Also, Lakers are old-school at relentlessly attacking the rim for the easy 2-pointers. This is how they setup their 3's. They do it the right way, which is why they succeed. It starts with talent, of course, but you also need the discipline to stick with the fundamentals.

1st quarter GLB pic

Lakers get the great start out the gate

Jesus Christ.....

Blazers are playing good defense. We need some offense.

Covington hasn't given us much to get excited about...

That was 100% an offensive foul against LeBron

2nd quarter GLB pic