Game Thread: Hawks at Blazers, 01/26/2019

[jayu70]

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[graymule]

Creeping up on that 18 win season. A short way ahead and a long time to get there!
Mostly healthy Hawk team, on the road, out west, where they play pretty well. Do
we dare hope to reach our goal of 18 this trip?

[Jamaaliver]

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Sent from my RC555L using RealGM mobile app

[dms269]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

[Spud2nique]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

Have a lightly caffeinated bev and get ur Hawks gear on. LETS GO!

[ducler]

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[bws94]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

But it's Saturday, lol!

[ATL Boy]

No Dame Lillard, Blazers are resting him.

[hawkmanreturns]

No Dame Lillard, Blazers are resting him.

What? I had this penciled in as a competitank game.

[dms269]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

But it's Saturday, lol!

When I was younger...

[dms269]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

Have a lightly caffeinated bev and get ur Hawks gear on. LETS GO!

I have gotten to the point that caffeine has no effect on me anymore.

[jayu70]

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[DirtybirdGA]

Eff you rip City, lol... I want to see them measure vs their best.

[Spud2nique]

I hate west coast games. First tip happens after my bed time.

Have a lightly caffeinated bev and get ur Hawks gear on. LETS GO!

I have gotten to the point that caffeine has no effect on me anymore.

I still use it as a drug

[lethalweapon3]

Ah, sweet maturity! It wasn’t but so long ago – four years ago, actually – that Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard was sitting around at the Atlanta Hawks’ arena with his lips poked out, his shoulder adorned with a chip the size of a Doerner Fir.

His beef? Dame D.O.L.L.A. would soon be watching the NBA All-Star Game just like the rest of us plebs, presumably with a bowl of cheesy nachos between his couch and his flatscreen. He got to go to the prior one, his first, but All-Star nods get to be like popping Pringles or eating Lay’s. Can’t stop at just one.

Offensively carrying a Portland team that was missing LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez for stretches, Lillard had outplayed Chris Paul to that point of the season… but in the minds of voters, Chris Paul was Chris Paul. Kevin Durant had only played 20-some games, but KD was KD. And, Kobe Bryant was Kobe, until the Laker legend got injured. Instead of going backcourt, the Commissioner’s replacement pick would be Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins.

Damian certainly had reason to be perturbed. Getting previously left off the FIBA World Cup squad for Team USA didn’t help matters. That said, a third-year guard like him didn’t have enough heft to be strutting around every year like he’s Susan Lucci. He eventually would get to the Game as an injury replacement. But on that day, in his mind, Everybody Hates Damian.

“I’m definitely going to take it personal. I said I’d be p*ssed off about it, and I am,” Lillard seethed to bear-poking reporters at pregame shootaround. He was all but threatening to take it out on the court against the Hawks – yes, the winners-of-17-in-a-row Hawks – to make some example to the NBA coaches who snubbed him what they’d be missing in the midseason showcase.

How did things shake out? While Lillard was steaming hot, on that evening, his jumpshot was not. Before a sold-out Philips Arena crowd, he shot 1-for-9 from deep, 6-for-20 overall. Dame dished out 11 assists over 40 minutes of play but also committed six turnovers. Crucially, he went scoreless in the fourth quarter as his Blazers could not quite muster the energy to overtake the red-hot Hawks.

But, you know, time heals all wounds. In addition to finally earning that coveted All-Star selection in 2015, Lillard also got back to the big show in 2018, finishing last season on the honorary All-NBA First Team squad, 4th overall in the MVP voting as Portland concluded with a surprising 3rd-seed in the competitive Western Conference.

Finally growing up, he his found his comfort zone in Portland. In a West Coast city that is just fine not being Seattle, L.A., or San Francisco, Lillard has found room to shine without the urge to prove he must stand shoulder-to-shoulder, in sports fans’ eyes, with MVPs like Curry, Westbrook or Harden. Still, he hungers to show he can lead a team to at least the Conference Finals. And it’s in that area where the Trail Blazers, hosting our road-tripping Atlanta Hawks (10:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Northwest in PDX) tonight, have some work to do.

Under former Hawks coach Terry Stotts’ watch, the Blazers have long presented themselves as The Little Engine That Could. But under the watch of the dearly departed owner Paul Allen, Portland continues to spend like they’re traveling along the Orient Express.

Beyond the five-year, $120 million extension handed to Lillard in the summer of 2015, big-ticket prices are being spent on backcourt mate CJ McCollum and swingman Evan Turner. The Blazers will be in the luxury tax this year, and next, despite being perceived as not a threat to contend for a trip to the NBA Finals in either season, right now.

That was fine and dandy under the deep pockets of the late Mr. Allen, who always wanted to show his commitment to pro sports in the Pacific Northwest was not mere lip service. But with his passing just prior to the kickstart of this NBA season, how much his heiress, sister Jody Allen, maintains the status quo remains to be seen.

Another All-NBA selection for Lillard this season would qualify him under the new CBA rules, for a Designated Veteran Player Extension, one that the team could offer beginning in 2020-21 for five years and around $235 million. Paul Allen likely would not blink at dishing out that kind of payday. But GM Neil Olshey may find himself functioning under different directives, eventually with Lillard’s offer, but beginning with Stotts.

Paul Allen, over the summer, declined requests to allow Stotts to interview elsewhere, but also chose to put off Stotts’ interest in a contract extension until a later date. Despite the Blazers strong finish to the regular season, earning first-round homecourt, they were run off the floor in the opening round, a sweep at the hands of Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and the Pelicans.

Portland has done well enough (30-20, 4th in the NBA West) to keep Stotts off the hot seat. But he and the Blazers cannot afford another poor first-round showing, 0-10 in their last ten playoff games. Otherwise, Jody Allen may want a closer inspection of this team’s $125-130 million annual investments. Advancing further will require a more effective sidekick for Lillard, and it appears, with all respect due to McCollum (20.7 PPG, 35.7 3FG%), that he finally has one.

The Blazers’ new #2 is not McCollum (at least, not until his jumpshot steadies) but the man in the middle. Jusuf Nurkic re-upped with Portland on a team-friendly four-year deal last summer, and the Bosnian Beast is mutually rewarding the Blazers with near All-Star-caliber play at center. He ranks 9th in the NBA in O-Reb%, 5th in Defensive Box Plus/Minus (as per bball-ref stats), while averaging a double-double (15.2 PPG, 10.4 RPG; also career-high 3.2 APG) for the first time in his five-year NBA career.

Defensively, Stotts’ charges are funneling opposing offenses into tough two-point shots (23 percent of opponent FGAs betw 10 feet and the three-point line). From there, the order is to rebound, rebound, rebound. Portland’s 6th-place ranking in D-Reb% is led by Nurkic, Maurice Harkless, and Al-Farouq Aminu sealing off the paint while Turner and the Blazer guards strive to shoo shooters off the three-point line.

Not a lot of steals (12.3 opponent TO% and 14.4 PPG off TOs, next-to-lowest in NBA), not a lot of blocks, just force tough shots and expect Lillard and McCollum to create shots of superior quality at the other end.

Atlanta will be unable to rely on bullying the Blazers around in the paint the way they did with the Bulls, during Wednesday’s resounding 121-101 win in Chicago. But they will want to find quality open three-point shot opportunities, not the kind Trae Young heaved (1-for-12 FGs) in his last game.

Young (12 assists, 3 TOs @ CHI) is probably going to have Kevin Huerter (neck) available for tonight’s contest. But with Blazers bigs packing the paint, he and Jeremy Lin will also continue to find open treys for John Collins (4-for-4 3FGs @ CHI, career-high 35 points), Alex Len and Omari Spellman. As this road trip goes on, coach Lloyd Pierce will go deep into his bag of available bodies, including Oregon Duck Tyler Dorsey and his former AAU mate Daniel Hamilton. But the reserves and starters at the guard and wing positions must be focused on moving the ball, in search of decent shots for their teammates, and not trying to trade baskets with Lillard and McCollum.

The Hawks will be on the West Coast all throughout this week and next, and it will be a prime opportunity for Atlanta’s trade targets to shine. Especially so for Kent Bazemore (out, ankle), if he can return to action soon, versus Western Conference teams in need of a boost to ensure a competitive push into the postseason. Hopefully, there will be no need for some Hawks players to make a return expedition.

Portland, for example, relies on hot-shooting Seth Curry and Turner to play alongside Lillard (35.3 minutes/game), and may need a veteran ballhandler, like Lin, to relieve him. Need a wing defender, or just wing depth, Messrs. Olshey and Stotts? A steady, stretchy post player? Call 1-800-SCHLENK.

Happy Birthday Vince! And, Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3

[Spud2nique]

Nice game thread lw3! I remember that 2015 night in Portland and remember that it was the night where I said..”oh man we are for real.” Well, we were for while in a great season and in particular a great night.

I think tonight is the night McCollum puts the Blazers on his shoulders and becomes #2 again although Jusuf turned out to be much better than I projected.

We catch a break with the oaktown hometown (mine) boy out. The rest of this road trip might be tough for the young guys. Let’s see what they got!

GO HAWKS!!!

Blazers 117
Hawks 108

McCollum 37 points 7 dimes
Nurkic 17 points 12 boards

Collins 27 and 9
Trae 22 and 8

Ps yes indeedy happy birthday VC!

[lethalweapon3]

No Lillard tonight!
(I'm late to that news, was too busy scribbling the pregame thread!)

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~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

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~lw3

[kg01]

Nice game thread lw3! I remember that 2015 night in Portland and remember that it was the night where I said..”oh man we are for real.” Well, we were for while in a great season and in particular a great night.

I think tonight is the night McCollum puts the Blazers on his shoulders and becomes #2 again although Jusuf turned out to be much better than I projected.

We catch a break with the oaktown hometown (mine) boy out. The rest of this road trip might be tough for the young guys. Let’s see what they got!

GO HAWKS!!!

Blazers 117
Hawks 108

McCollum 37 points 7 dimes
Nurkic 17 points 12 boards

Collins 27 and 9
Trae 22 and 8

Ps yes indeedy happy birthday VC!

Aye, guess what McCollum's spirit animal is?

Woodchuck. Get it? Would chuk ...

I'm here all week, tip your dolfans.

[DirtybirdGA]

The sandman is coming, I may have to find out about this on the ticker... lol