3/12 - NBA on ESPN | Monday Game Thread

[NCHeels2008]

Heats defense is so good when they start trapping and rotating

[Shem]

Aminu is sucking it bad tonight... put in Collins!

[Ugly0598]

It's just unfair with Lillard

[Prez]

Lillard is still a cheat code.

[KHRICH]

Lillard is an animal...

[Warchant]

Winslow becoming a pretty good player compared to last yr...at least over the last 5-6 games

[Prez]

I hope when it's all said and done, Lillard doesn't get underrated in an all-time sense because he played in the same era as Steph who is basically the god of PG snipers. Because Dame himself is a special talent.

[Roy The Natural]

I hope when it's all said and done, Lillard doesn't get underrated in an all-time sense because he played in the same era as Steph who is basically the god of PG snipers. Because Dame himself is a special talent.

Me too.... He's better than Gilbert Arenas or Derrick Rose were too me.

[monopoman]

I hope when it's all said and done, Lillard doesn't get underrated in an all-time sense because he played in the same era as Steph who is basically the god of PG snipers. Because Dame himself is a special talent.

Meh, having 10 game winning streaks does make the rest of the world take notice. He also does a lot with less, I mean every team above him has arguably more talent. Plenty of teams below him in the wins column have more talent also. He is the type of player that warps the game around him especially in the 4th other teams go out of their way to try to slow him down in the 4th and it never seems to matter.

[NBAFan93]

Man - Portland scary... What teams have been consistently successful against them this season (I know OKC sure hasn’t)? I sure fell bad for whatever team has to face them in the first round.

[Wizenheimer]

Can someone tell me how Portland defense has improved this much this season. I will be honest I thought it wouldnt be possible with Dame and CJ but have they stepped it up on that end as well?

It's really quite easy.... Blazers were rolling with Mason Plumlee a severely injured Ed Davis for about 1/3 of the season, and Meyers Leonard.

The minute Nurkic hit the floor last year Blazers played like a top 10 defense. Now they've got Nurkic, Collins, and a healthy Ed Davis... Having a competent backline is the most important part of a good defense.

Nurkic is the biggest factor. A healthy Ed Davis is another big one. A PF rotation of Aminu/Collins is another

Meyers Leonard going from over 1200 minutes last year to under 200 this year is definitely a factor. Not having Allen Crabbe, the defensive sieve helps too

and Lillard has improved a great deal on defense

Also, Portland changed their defense at screens and picks. The bigs aren't hedging as far into the paint as they did last year and are giving the guards more help at the point of attack

[monopoman]

Yeah we no longer have to play Leonard, hooray for depth at the C/PF position!

[HotTubMike]

Man - Portland scary... What teams have been consistently successful against them this season (I know OKC sure hasn’t)? I sure fell bad for whatever team has to face them in the first round.

Houston is 2-0 against Portland

[dukes_wild]

Man - Portland scary... What teams have been consistently successful against them this season (I know OKC sure hasn’t)? I sure fell bad for whatever team has to face them in the first round.

Houston is 2-0 against Portland

Raps 2-0 vs Portland as-well.

[wjun15]

Can someone tell me how Portland defense has improved this much this season. I will be honest I thought it wouldnt be possible with Dame and CJ but have they stepped it up on that end as well?

It's really quite easy.... Blazers were rolling with Mason Plumlee a severely injured Ed Davis for about 1/3 of the season, and Meyers Leonard.

The minute Nurkic hit the floor last year Blazers played like a top 10 defense. Now they've got Nurkic, Collins, and a healthy Ed Davis... Having a competent backline is the most important part of a good defense.

Nurkic is the biggest factor. A healthy Ed Davis is another big one. A PF rotation of Aminu/Collins is another

Meyers Leonard going from over 1200 minutes last year to under 200 this year is definitely a factor. Not having Allen Crabbe, the defensive sieve helps too

and Lillard has improved a great deal on defense

Also, Portland changed their defense at screens and picks. The bigs aren't hedging as far into the paint as they did last year and are giving the guards more help at the point of attack

I pretty much gave up on Nurkic mid season but if he plays like the way he did today, we are going to be a scary team come postseason. And Zach looks like he improved alot and his confidence is high. Oh, and Turner is actually being good in the 2nd unit. Everything seems to be clicking. Good time for Blazer fans.

[Roy The Natural]

It's really quite easy.... Blazers were rolling with Mason Plumlee a severely injured Ed Davis for about 1/3 of the season, and Meyers Leonard.

The minute Nurkic hit the floor last year Blazers played like a top 10 defense. Now they've got Nurkic, Collins, and a healthy Ed Davis... Having a competent backline is the most important part of a good defense.

Nurkic is the biggest factor. A healthy Ed Davis is another big one. A PF rotation of Aminu/Collins is another

Meyers Leonard going from over 1200 minutes last year to under 200 this year is definitely a factor. Not having Allen Crabbe, the defensive sieve helps too

and Lillard has improved a great deal on defense

Also, Portland changed their defense at screens and picks. The bigs aren't hedging as far into the paint as they did last year and are giving the guards more help at the point of attack

I pretty much gave up on Nurkic mid season but if he plays like the way he did today, we are going to be a scary team come postseason. And Zach looks like he improved alot and his confidence is high. Oh, and Turner is actually being good in the 2nd unit. Everything seems to be clicking. Good time for Blazer fans.

I had kind of given up too, but he's played A LOT better for a while now. They brought his usage down a ton, and made him more auxilliary. It seemed like early on they were trying to force him to take a step forward by force feeding him the ball or something. Over the 2.5 months or so his TS% is in the much more acceptable .55 range. They've also learned to play him less when he's struggling, still hasn't ironed out the kinks yet, but it's not too often we're forced to endure long stretches of Nurkic struggling anymore.

[King-]

Nurkic is the biggest factor. A healthy Ed Davis is another big one. A PF rotation of Aminu/Collins is another

Meyers Leonard going from over 1200 minutes last year to under 200 this year is definitely a factor. Not having Allen Crabbe, the defensive sieve helps too

and Lillard has improved a great deal on defense

Also, Portland changed their defense at screens and picks. The bigs aren't hedging as far into the paint as they did last year and are giving the guards more help at the point of attack

I pretty much gave up on Nurkic mid season but if he plays like the way he did today, we are going to be a scary team come postseason. And Zach looks like he improved alot and his confidence is high. Oh, and Turner is actually being good in the 2nd unit. Everything seems to be clicking. Good time for Blazer fans.

I had kind of given up too, but he's played A LOT better for a while now. They brought his usage down a ton, and made him more auxilliary. It seemed like early on they were trying to force him to take a step forward by force feeding him the ball or something. Over the 2.5 months or so his TS% is in the much more acceptable .55 range. They've also learned to play him less when he's struggling, still hasn't ironed out the kinks yet, but it's not too often we're forced to endure long stretches of Nurkic struggling anymore.

Dude is 23 and has been playing basketball for only 8 years. There's going to be plenty of stretchs where Collins looks like he doesn't even belong on the floor (like there were before his most recent consistent play), and he's probably been playing basketball since he was in diapers.

People give up on young players way too soon, you're never going to have a flawless team, even CJ has had terrible stretches this year, he's allowed to play out of it, and he's basically already a finished offensive product. You're not gonna bench him, are you? Benching Nurk for some missed layups and ugly shots is bad and can stun his development, IMO, he's a big man who's relatively still new to basketball compared to other players; offensive patient around the basket is one of the last things a player likely develops given that situation.

He's got all the physical tools and his defense has never lost a step, I never gave up on him. It's part of the league.

[NoBias]

Man - Portland scary... What teams have been consistently successful against them this season (I know OKC sure hasn’t)? I sure fell bad for whatever team has to face them in the first round.

Houston is 2-0 against Portland

Yep the raptors have also destroyed them.