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Time: 7:00pm
Place: Portland
TV: SNW

GLB of the game Amanda Seyfried

1st quarter GLB pic

2nd quarter GLB pic

3rd quarter GLB pic

4th quarter GLB pic

4th quarter lineup with Kanter, Melo, CJ ... and Jones ... bring Lillard back after several Charmin soft defensive-free plays by the Blazers ... wow. Just fricking wow.

Bonus GLB pic

I think Portland might have done better in the last 2 games with more Kanter in the end of the game. Like with the 10 seconds left play, Kanter is probably better as he is a lot better at scoring around the hoop.

Competitive losses is the name of the game!

Also I hope Lillard is not playing through an injury out of concern for losing too many games if he sits out. They are still losing with him, and scraping into the playoffs with him not at full strength is not going to amount to much anyways.

Matt800 wrote:Also I hope Lillard is not playing through an injury out of concern for losing too many games if he sits out. They are still losing with him, and scraping into the playoffs with him not at full strength is not going to amount to much anyways.

I don't think it would matter if he's at full strength because whoever they play in the first round will still double and trap Dame all over the court. Portland has ultimately failed against that kind of defense for 6 straight playoffs. I don't see anything with this team to suggest they have solved that particular rubix cube

this season, like every one over the last 8 years, is a failure of roster construction

Wizenheimer wrote:

Matt800 wrote:Also I hope Lillard is not playing through an injury out of concern for losing too many games if he sits out. They are still losing with him, and scraping into the playoffs with him not at full strength is not going to amount to much anyways.

I don't think it would matter if he's at full strength because whoever they play in the first round will still double and trap Dame all over the court. Portland has ultimately failed against that kind of defense for 6 straight playoffs. I don't see anything with this team to suggest they have solved that particular rubix cube

this season, like every one over the last 8 years, is a failure of roster construction

I think it would make a difference, but yeah there are teams that can execute those traps well enough that it does stop him. It would be nice if they could stay healthy so at least if they got beat we wouldn't wonder if a healthy Nurkic or a healthy Collins or Lillard or whoever would have changed things.

CJ pissed the game away down the stretch by either missing shots or throwing the ball away.

That upcoming six game road trip might be the thing that puts Portland in the lottery when the
season is finally over. Heads might finally roll if that happens...

Nurk had an excellent offensive game tonight, but damn he totally choked on his last shot. I wonder if we ever will see Lillard, McColum, andd Nurk having good games together. Too match up better with their speed, maybe Little rather than Anthony next game. They took less than 8 seconds on the average to convert after our misses.

Another close game blown. Blowing close games really doesn’t bode well, these memphis games are our last remaining “easy games” besides a few. For a young team losing games this way is a good sign for an older team i think it’s a sign of the team having something majorly wrong with chemistry as veteran experience usually at least nets you some of those close wins... But then again Knowing the blazers we probably fall in 10th and then win 2 in the play in round this blowing a lotto shot and guaranteeing a first round smashing..

I thought it was pretty clear he intentionally missed it. Although he probably should have missed it a little more to get it a little further from the rim.

I really get tired of the team jacking up so many 3 pointers. I get we have some 3 point shooters and they net you more points, but I gotta wonder how well the team would do if they actually tried to work the ball a little closer to the basket than jack up a 25 foot shot with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

Oden2 wrote:Another close game blown. Blowing close games really doesn’t bode well, these memphis games are our last remaining “easy games” besides a few. For a young team losing games this way is a good sign for an older team i think it’s a sign of the team having something majorly wrong with chemistry as veteran experience usually at least nets you some of those close wins... But then again Knowing the blazers we probably fall in 10th and then win 2 in the play in round this blowing a lotto shot and guaranteeing a first round smashing..

True an extent, but maybe less so with a squad of vets who have not played much together and thereby built the needed chemistry or whatever once calls the mutual confidence and blending in the various lineups. In this past month three new significant players had to be blended together in an ongoing season ( Powell, Nurk, and McC---maybe throw in H-J).

DaVoiceMaster wrote:I thought it was pretty clear he intentionally missed it. Although he probably should have missed it a little more to get it a little further from the rim.

I really get tired of the team jacking up so many 3 pointers. I get we have some 3 point shooters and they net you more points, but I gotta wonder how well the team would do if they actually tried to work the ball a little closer to the basket than jack up a 25 foot shot with 15 seconds left on the shot clock.

I think Lillard in particular needs to rethink the freedom he has to take threes. That freedom has been largely a positive; yet it must be coupled with good judgment, which I fear has been lacking at times particularly in close games. Recently he has shot the team into trouble in close games by ignoring the game situation, including the clock. It is like he can't resist his desire to drive a final nail by hitting a long three. But the clock can not be ignored in favor of low percentage shots early in it.