Game 17: Portland vs Houston 4:30pm TNT

[Brandon-Clyde]

vs



Time: 4:30pm
Place: Houston
TV: TNT

GLB of the game Odette Anable

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Another game I must miss because of work so the quarter by quarter GLB pics

1st quarter

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2nd quarter

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3rd quarter

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4th quarter

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Bonus GLB pic

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[ducler]

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[Moonbeam]

Big leads just don’t feel safe. Hope Portland can bounce back in the second half.

[Sinobas]

Garbage.

[Moonbeam]

Some huge shots from Gary and Ant!

[Moonbeam]

It's going to be a long wait until CJ and Nurk get back. In the mean time, I'm going to focus on enjoying good performances from the young guys. Great to see some fiery shooting out of Trent Jr, and Simons had some great ones as well.

What year was it that some of us were rooting for "competitive losses"? We might be in for another period of that.

[Matt800]

I didn't see much of the game, but saw that Portland made 17 3s on 42% and lost. How did they pull that off?

[whatchaknow]

Sucks to lose but there were some positives. I thought the defense was better for most the game. They Will never be good on that end with this current personnel but I saw more effort on that end from guys like Gary, ant, Nasir, Rodney and Harry. Felt like Kanter was scored on about 497 times tonight and Melos close outs are hard to watch

[monopoman]

Man two three point losses in a row, ouch. Really tough to see the Blazers lose games like this because you expect Lillard to dominate in the last few minutes.

[JasonStern]

Depth certainly a reason, but not an excuse. Stotts making it really hard to defend him.

[GEE]

The Box Score is pretty telling. 38 minutes of Melo shooting 3-15 (0-4) for 6 points. He must of been in there for his tough defense. Meanwhile only 15 minutes for Giles & 4 for Little. The reason I bring this up is because I'm constantly confused by the forward rotation.

Assuming Collins was our starting PF, Melo was announced as our backup PF preseason which I thought was great. So, with Collins IR Stotts instead went with two SFs in Jones Jr & ROCO instead of starting Melo, and now ROCO is out with a concussion. Shocking.

Now Melo is finally starting which brings up the next question, who was the 3rd string PF supposed to be? To me it should have been Giles. With that job/assignment issued before the season started, to stay ready considering the Blazers injury history, and be the 3rd string PF & C. So why, with Melo shooting an abysmal 3-15 (0-4), did he get 38 minutes and Giles only got 15?

We can blame the small fish like Simons and Hood, and ask for upgrade trades for the like but I think the responsibility, or blame should lie at the very top. As Chad in the pregame pointed out, we've sucked on D for 6 of the last 8 years and we are currently 29th in the league. He also mentioned the not having a defensive coach adjustment/hire to take over those duties and fix it. Problem is, what good coach wants to come here and take on that task, knowing what personnel/lineups (usually small) you will have to work with.

Olshey should go, if he can't break up the lovefest between Dame, Stotts and himself. IMO, Dame is trying to do what he can to help this team win, but he simply doesn't know how. Though putting up big offensive numbers, Dame has looked confused at times, and Stotts is so pre-programmed going into games he still has shown no ability to adjust to anything. Just horrible team basketball, and quickly becoming unwatchable.

TWENTY - FREAKIN' - NINTH !!!

[whatchaknow]

I know offense isn’t really the problem but it’s so damn inconsistent and over reliant on contested shots. While watching the last couple years it’s almost like Lillards extended range has actually made our offense tougher to come by. He has to be picked up so far out, it’s tougher to get into our sets and all his looks start so far away from the hoop. When I watch other teams it never seems like there offense starts as far out and the ball pressure isn’t near as tight. So many contested passes, tipped handoffs, and ball denials that throw the plays off. I don’t just something that came to mind today

[Epicurus]

There are sites which offer shot quality for all teams and others offering open/contested shots, among other things. I doubt if any of us are that well trained so our impressions from one viewing of a game while rooting for our team reflect reality. Oh well, reasoned thinking is boring compared to emotional thinking.

[GEE]

I know offense isn’t really the problem but it’s so damn inconsistent and over reliant on contested shots. While watching the last couple years it’s almost like Lillards extended range has actually made our offense tougher to come by. He has to be picked up so far out, it’s tougher to get into our sets and all his looks start so far away from the hoop. When I watch other teams it never seems like there offense starts as far out and the ball pressure isn’t near as tight. So many contested passes, tipped handoffs, and ball denials that throw the plays off. I don’t just something that came to mind today

I agree with what your saying... everything looks hard. Dame is showing some traits of Brandon Roy IMO, and that isn't meant to be a compliment. I'll be nice and just say, too much dribbling by Dame, too much ISO, and too much live and die by the 3. Our offense is actually pretty unimaginative IMO.

[Epicurus]

IMO----yes,lol!

[whatchaknow]

There are sites which offer shot quality for all teams and others offering open/contested shots, among other things. I doubt if any of us are that well trained so our impressions from one viewing of a game while rooting for our team reflect reality. Oh well, reasoned thinking is boring compared to emotional thinking.

Read the whole post if you’re gonna respond. Pretty clear you used “emotional thinking” when responding only to one little part of the post. Oh well what fun is “reasoned thinking”

[Epicurus]

I did and responded to the whole post. Going on first impressions is emotional thinking. We all do it, but correctives exist and fortunately they are available with a few clicks.

[JasonStern]

The Box Score is pretty telling. 38 minutes of Melo shooting 3-15 (0-4) for 6 points. He must of been in there for his tough defense. Meanwhile only 15 minutes for Giles & 4 for Little. The reason I bring this up is because I'm constantly confused by the forward rotation.

Yeah, Melo was awful that game. But the roster is pretty decimated. Playing Little more minutes isn't the answer.

My main problem with Melo is that exact 3-15 stat. When his game is off, Stotts continues to allow him to keep shooting.

It will never, ever happen due to team consistency/chemistry reasons and pushback from fans, but (if the roster wasn't as decimated) I would totally not let Melo travel with the team. Just play half the season and be fully rested and ready to perform. He can be a valuable piece as we saw in the bubble, but travel, back-to-backs, heavy minutes, etc. really limit his ability to play at high level on a consistent basis. Not bashing Melo for this. I'm his age. I get it.

[Epicurus]

The only way to prevent Anthony from shooting is to put him on the bench. If he gets the ball with a man on his back, he will by habit do his Melo thing. He doesn't accept that 1. it was never that efficient despite the number of points; and 2. He doesn't even do it now that well. But he will do it and can't help it. Of course, as you note, benching him for Little, despite the Melo thing, probably would make matter worse. I wish the front office would have worked on getting a decent backup traditional PF (strong rebounder and screener and enforcer) and left Anthony to enjoy retirement. But NO and others like being the transition place for a Hall of Famer.

[monopoman]

I mean this team is decimated by injuries pretty badly, this season we have even more guys down than last year. Now we have more depth than last year so it doesn't seem as bad though.

Let's list them all:

Zach Collins
Jusuf Nurkic
Derrick Jones Jr. (Likely out for a game or two at most.)
CJ McCollum
Robert Covington (Likely out for another few games at most.)

I mean what is even more devastating is that nearly everyone injured is a starter ideally. Collins is the one some would argue should be coming off the bench but he would likely start depending on matchup assuming everyone was healthy.